So my album is still kind of under construction (only half have captions), but in case anyone is interested they are online now at this address:
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Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
Europe, Take 2
So I left off at 6 am in Vienna, when we boarded the train to...
Prague!
So after possibly the most terrifying thing ever on the train (Katie and I almost had to get off in the middle of nowhere Czech Republic because our train passes don't cover the country and we didn't have any money, but thank god the conductor was really really nice and didn't kick us off!), we arrive in the morning and make it to our hostel. The place was smelly (a theme I found Prague to have), but not too bad, and there were 5 of us in a 5 person room so that was nice. The guy who ran the hostel was really nice, giving us his cell phone number for emergencies and everything.
So after we dumped our stuff we went for a walk around the city. We walked down to the Jewish quarter and around, then across the river to this park at the top of the hill. There's a big structure at the top, and we found out later it is a statue of a metronome. I guess the hill used to have a statue of Stalin and then one of Gorbachev, so after the iron curtain fell they put the metronome up to symbolize changing times. We got some great views up there, and then played in the park. Then the walk home took a little while since we ended up having to walk around and kind of on a highway for a bit. But we made it back and all crashed for a couple hours.
Then after we woke up two of Colin's friends from home got in to Prague and met us at the hostel. The five of us hung out there for a while and then headed out to a bar in town, which was a great time!
The next morning was a rough one- we all forgot to set alarms so the woman from the hostel had to wake us up at check-out time. Once we were all in order and ready to go, we headed into town where the astronomical clock and the market are. After chilling around there for a bit we went on probably the worst walking tour in the world. Seriously. We think it was the guy's first time, but he was overly detailed, boring and kinda creepy all at the same time. Not to mention impossible to hear and we were in a big group. He took us all over the city and we saw some of the Kafka sites, the Jewish quarter, the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle. The city was gorgeous and it was a really nice day out, but the guide was so bad.
Then we ate at a weird restaurant called Czech Kitchen that our hostel guy suggested. The food was okay, but we realized that some of us were eating liver and that was a turn off. After that we got our stuff from the hostel and headed to board our night train.
Budapest
This was probably the night train from hell. There were 5 of us in an 8 person compartment where the seats didn't recline at all and one of the benches was broken. The bathroom was flooded (I managed to not use it for the entire trip thank god), the car smelled- it was just bad. I ended up getting a couple hours of sleep, but most everyone was up all night.
So we arrived in Budapest completely exhausted and go to our hostel where the guy tells us that he didn't have room for all of us but that we could stay in one of his other hostels. So we go over there and check in and wait for the room to be ready (while the boys sleep in the common room). When our room was ready Colin, Rob and John went and slept all day, but Katie and I walked around, down the beautiful Andrassy, then to the fine arts museum. We were both exhausted too so we went to a great little cafe right across from the museum for some coffee. We headed back down Andrassy and stopped by St. Peter's Basilica which was absolutely gorgeous. Just after walking around for these few minutes I already loved the city. It wasn't as touristy and crowded as a lot of the other cities- it felt like a real city where people actually live. But it also was absolutely gorgeous and had a great history. Katie and I both realized right away that we loved it.
Then on our trip back we spotted some delicious Don Simon in the window of a liquor store so of course we had to get it. We went back to the hostel and hung out in the common room and met a bunch of people staying in the hostel. This hostel was really great because the guys who ran it were just American guys who were really cool and laid back. They all sat around and drank with us too, and then one of them took a bunch of us out to a bar. The bar was kinda weird, it looked like it had been bombed out inside, but we all had a good time.
The next morning Katie and I got up and hiked up to the top of this hill to the citadel, this really cool old fort with a great view. We saw the freedom statue up close, which you can see from most of the city. It was built to commemorate Hungary's liberation from the Nazis, and its a woman holding an olive branch I think. Some kind of leaf or plant, anyway. We didn't go inside because you had to pay, and all it is is more view and a wax museum or something like that. But we walked back down through the park and played on some swings.
Then we went back to the hostel and woke the guys up to go to the baths! These were the best park of the whole city. We went to the big bath house that's on Hero's Square, and it was just amazing. There were like 10 indoor baths that had all different temperatures and minerals. They were pretty relaxing but we spent most time at the outdoor ones, one was warm and really deep, and the other was the 'fun' bath with all different jets and a whirlpool and everything. Oh man, it was just what we needed after traveling for so long! We stayed for a few hours, and i felt like I'd gotten a new back by the time we left.
We went back to the hostel and showered and got ready to go out, then we went to this really fun club. Half of it was outside and really relaxed, and then inside was a big crazy dance party. It was a really great night, and Katie's last night with the group. She was going to take a 5 am train, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen, haha.
The next morning we had to move to another hostel because they didn't have room for us in the one we were in. So we woke up, checked out and checked into a new hostel while Katie went to the train station to book a ticket. Then we all met up at the Terror House, a really creepy museum that was a Nazi and Soviet jail at different times. It was mostly about the different atrocities committed by the soviets, and the different forms of torture. It was very disturbing, but a good museum. The only disappointment was that a lot of the exhibits were video or audio with no translation, and considering how much Hungarian we all knew... It was okay though, the written information was always translated to English so we got the point. Half way through Rob and John decided it was too intense and decided to go to the amusement park instead, and after the museum Colin went back to the hostel, Katie and I got a coffee and much-needed salad before we had to say goodbye and she went to catch her train.
When I got back to the hostel I took a long and much-needed nap. Katie and I had been managing on just a few hours of sleep a night for about a week, especially when we started staying out late with the boys and then waking up early to sightsee, so I was absolutely exhausted. When I woke up we went to get some food then just watched movies at the hostel and relaxed- other than when the crazy girl who ran the hostel kept trying out her impression of a southern accent on me and asking we weird questions. Imagine hearing "My name is Laura" 15 times in a row in a strange accent kind of resembling Janice from Friends. Weird.
Bratislava
Anyway what I really should have done after Budapest was hop on a night train to Bucharest where I was supposed to meet Katie Napleton on April 14. I misjudged the train schedule since Slovakia is not on my pass or in my timetable book and thought I could get there on the 14 from Bratislava. So I went with John and Rob and Colin for the night, and when I got there found out that it was impossible and ended up stranding Katie in Buchrest.
When we got in to Bratislava we went to the hostel that we booked, which of course didn't actually have room for us so we had to go to a different one (the themes of hostels misbooking us and everything being under construction were very prevalent on this trip). So we headed to another one closer into the city, which was fine. We hung out there for a bit then went out for dinner at this place called Slovak Pub. Apparently I am very bad at ordering Slovakian food, and this was my first hint. I ordered some dumplings (like gnocci) off the vegetarian menu. Yummy, right? No, I got really weird pasta covered in powdered sugar. Totally ridiculous and disgusting.
After that we had a couple drinks at the hostel and then went out to a bar for a couple more. I was tired so I headed home while they all went out to some insane nightclub I guess. I'm just glad I got a good night's sleep haha.
The next day I went to the train stationa nd tried to figure out some plans to maybe meet Katie somewhere between Bratislava and Bucharest, but in the end we decided just to meet the next day in Budpest. The guys all went to a waterpark for the day, so I decided to go and explore the city. I walked around the little touristy area, down the Hviezdoslavovo Namestie which is a gorgeous promenade that runs from the National Theater to the water where the New Bridge is. There's fountains and statues and they were setting up a stage for something when I was there. I relaxed, sat on a bench and wrote in my journal, it was beautiful out!
I met the guys back that the hostel and Rob left to fly home, so we had a little goodbye. Then Colin and John and I met up with an Irish guy who was staying in our hostel. He was a strange guy, but really nice, and he'd lived in Bratislava 10 years earlier (we couldn't believe he was 35, he seriously looked the same age as me) and was back for the first time. So we went back to the Slovak pub and this time I also ordered something that turned out to just be bread. It was stupid. We had a few drinks and hung out, John, Colin and I then went to another bar for a few drinks.
The next morning Colin and John were heading out to Krakow, and I was heading to Budapest so we checked out of the hostel and got some food then headed to the train station. We said goodbye and they got on their train while I waited for mine.
Budapest, Revisited
I got in to the station and waited around for Katie Napleton to get in, which was really exciting to see her! We hopped on the metro and checked into the hostel (the same one we stayed at the week before which was pretty funny). Then we wandered for food and found this great Italian place where the pasta was delicious! Then we just went back to the hostel and chatted about our travels, since we had both been traveling for a few weeks by now.
The next day we woke up and got some breakfast to eat in the park before we headed out to go on a walking tour. I was a little skeptical of the whole walking-tour idea after the one in Prague but we figured we'd give it a try, and I'm so glad I did! Our tour guide was this girl about 20 years old, a university student and she was GREAT! She took us to Hero's Square, which is where they have a memorial to all these different Hungarian kings and she went through each one and so told us the history of Hungary which was incredible. It was pretty much constantly a battleground for centuries and a constant political struggle. Sarah was really funny because she told all the stories like the countries were talking to each other- "The Soviets said, 'Oh, Hungary! You want us to get the Nazi's out of your country? Oh, we can help you.'" She was so cute!
The rest of the tour we walked through the park, to St. Peter's Basilica, and then to the castle area up in Buda where St. Matthias Gothic church (under construction, of course) and the Royal Palace are. It was so great and we literally saw the whole city. It was cool too, because Sarah asked us before the tour started that if we wanted we could pay 1,000 Forint less (about 4 Euros) for the tour and she just wouldn't tell the office that we'd gone. I guess the company is going under and they haven't paid her in 2 months, so of course we agreed.
Then we ate up in Buda before we headed back to the hostel and went out with a bunch of the people staying there too. It was funny because two of the guys there had been at my hostel in Bratislava, and then a couple other people there were going to the same cities as us afterwards, so it was kind of like traveling with them too haha.
The next day we wanted to go to the baths, but I had lost my bathing suit and it was the day after the Virginia Tech shootings so we got kind of wrapped up in the coverage. We did go out to lunch, but just came back and talked to a Canadian guy and Australian girl who were also watching the coverage of the shootings. It was really crazy to think about all that happening, and I just thank god I don't know anyone at that school because it would have been really hard to find anything out from Budapest.
Vienna, part deux
So we got to Vienna in the evening and checked into our hostel. We went out for dinner and had some great sausage and sauerkraut- yum! Our hostel had a bar in it so we went back there for a beer and then went straight to bed. Katie really fell in love with the city right away so we decided to stay two nights and booked for the second night.
In the morning we headed into town and took one of the bus tours around the city since it was kinda cold and rainy. We saw all the important sites, and then after the tour went to the Opera house and got a tour there of the whole building wish is really just gorgeous. It was really different to see all the behind the scenes stuff after seeing an Opera there and seeing how it all works. Then we walked around and took some pictures, went to the palace and the gardens.
For dinner we went to this place right down the street from the hostel called Mozart Stube where we got this ridiculously huge Schnitzel for 5 Euro. Amaaazing! Then we went out with Jack, an Australian guy we met at the hostel in Budapest, Toby, a kid from Libertyville who was also at our hostel in Budapest and Carl, a kid who goes to Virginia Tech (Katie told him to use his student ID to try to get free drinks. It wasn't as funny as she thought it was). The 5 of us went to a few bars, including a really swanky that I'm not sure how we got into, and ended up back at Mozart Stube in the end. We all went back to the hostel then and went to bed, except I called my mom first since there was an available phone :)
The next morning we checked out, got lunch and then went to the train station to catch our train to...
Prague II
So we got in to Prague in the afternoon and are way too exhausted to do anything so we just got groceries and made dinner, then went to bed.
The next day we got up and went to the best restaurant EVER! It's this place called Bohemia Bagel, and its pretty much everything I've been missing from America. Sandwiches, Bagels, pancakes- everything! They even had self-serve, free refills fountain drinks. We ate and then chilled out in the connected internet cafe for a couple hours. Then we went into the Jewish quarter and did the museum that includes 6 parts- the Spanish Synagogue, the Old Cemetery, the Ceremonial Hall, Pinkas Synagogue and Maisel Synagogue. All of it was so beautiful, and it's crazy to think that most of the artifacts were collected by curators during WWII because Hitler wanted to have a museum devoted to the extinct race. So sick.
Then we went and bought our tickets to Krakow the next day and got ready to go out to dinner. We were planning to meet the Australian guy Jack from Vienna and then meet Dan and Evan, friends from high school. So we meet Jack and his friend then walk down the street and I'm thinking, I'm going crazy this girl looks like Nicole. It really started to freak me out and I was trying really hard not to stare at this woman. But then I saw Dan behind her and she turned and it WAS Nicole! I was so shocked it was very strange. It was so great to see her though. We all went to this fabulous vegetarian restaurant where Nicole and I caught up, and really caught up with Dan and Evan who I haven't seen in a long time. Oh yeah and another kid from high school was there who I literally haven't seen in ages. It was a big party! We all went out together then and it was a great time.
The next morning Nicole came and met us bright and early at 8:30 for pancakes at Bohemia Bagel (we really just could not get enough!) They were amazingly delicious and we scarfed them down before we got on the train to Krakow. Had to say goodbye to Nicole which is always sad, but I knew I'd be seeing her in a week and a half haha.
Krakow
Well, it was sad to get off the very last train ride I'd be taking on my trip. So many good times, so many bad times on trains, but overall it's the best way to travel in Europe. If I could, I'd probably take trains everywhere! Well, maybe not but I did really like it.
We got in to the city and immediately could see that it was really cool and beautiful. It's tiny though too. I think it was a great city to end on because we were both losing steam a bit on the sightseeing, so we didn't mind just wandering around a relaxing a bit. The night we got in we went and checked into our hostel which was great! It was ranked 4th best hostel in the world, and we agreed. If you ever go to Krakow, Mama's Hostel is where it's at. It was really homey and clean and just nice all around. At this point we both checked our bank accounts as well and I realized I was running pretty low, and Katie only had $45 in her account. That was alarming.
After we got over that shock we went to this place called Bagelmama (we were really into bagels and mamas at this point). Did you know the bagel originated in Poland? Now you do! They were delicious bagels and soups. We also ate a lot of bagels from street vendors which are more like the original Polish ones, kinda a mix between pretzel and bagel. Yum!
We went back to the hostel and watched The Graduate and took it easy, then went to bed. The next morning we went up to Wawel Castle where we toured the state rooms. They were really unique and didn't look like a typical castle. There were tons of tapestries, and not nearly as much gilded decor as castles usually have. The courtyard was gorgeous and there was a good view of the city too. Then we went down to the bank of the river and saw the dragon, a statue representing a dragon fabled to have lived there. It was pretty sweet. It spits fire and everything. Then we sat on the bank soaking up some sun and writing postcards.
Then we went back to the hostel and hung out, watched Happy Gilmore and then went out for dinner at a really great sushi place- yum! And then got some desert and went to bed early since we had to be up really early for our tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau.
The tour was really interesting. On the bus ride there they showed a documentary about the camps, and then we were with a guide through all of it. We spent a lot of time at Auschwitz, since most of it has been converted into a museum about the holocaust and atrocities of the camp. They took us through rooms filled with the victim's shoes and tons and tons of hair. Literally everyone has about 20 grams worth of hair on their head, and the Nazis collected hundreds of kilograms which really helps you begin to understand how many people were killed there. We went through the prison which is really just a torture and execution building. And then we also walked through the incinerator and gas chambers, the only one of 5 at the two camps that the Nazis didn't destroy before liberation. It was really eerie and disgusting.
Then we went to Birkenau. The only problem with the tour was that we barely spent any time here. They walked us through the sleeping quarters and bathrooms but then we had to leave. I thought Birkenau was much more shocking because the conditions were much more poor than at Auschwitz, since the barracks were built by the prisoners themselves out of material taken from the houses that used to be in the area (the barracks at Auschwitz were old Polish army barracks). It was surprising that half of the barracks had been dismantled by former residents who came back from the war and wanted to rebuild their communities and live on the land again. It's amazing that anyone could think of living there after all that had gone on, but our guide was telling us that Polish people are very community-based and wanted to move back into the same community they had left. Even though all the information at Auschwitz was interesting and it was a good museum, I think that it would have been a more effective and moving experience to walk around Birkenau (which is 20 times the size of Auschwitz) and take in all the horror that happened there.
After that we were pretty emotionally exhausted and headed back to town for some lunch and then we wandered around and had a couple drinks that night. The next morning we got up and flew back to Galway! I know that given an indefinite amount of time and money I would love to keep traveling, but I was ready to come back. And especially now that I'm back and realize that 1) I love Galway and 2) I only have a few weeks left here! But I would have to say, seeing all the places I did, meeting so many interesting people and having amazing travel buddies made this trip one of the most amazing things I've ever done, and I wouldn't change one part of it if I had the chance. My only hope is to go back everywhere again!
If you made it through all my ramblings, then kudos! If not, I promise I won't judge you, haha. I'll post again soon to write about Nicole and Katie's visit to Galway and then my trip to Amsterdam- also both fantastic!
Prague!
So after possibly the most terrifying thing ever on the train (Katie and I almost had to get off in the middle of nowhere Czech Republic because our train passes don't cover the country and we didn't have any money, but thank god the conductor was really really nice and didn't kick us off!), we arrive in the morning and make it to our hostel. The place was smelly (a theme I found Prague to have), but not too bad, and there were 5 of us in a 5 person room so that was nice. The guy who ran the hostel was really nice, giving us his cell phone number for emergencies and everything.
So after we dumped our stuff we went for a walk around the city. We walked down to the Jewish quarter and around, then across the river to this park at the top of the hill. There's a big structure at the top, and we found out later it is a statue of a metronome. I guess the hill used to have a statue of Stalin and then one of Gorbachev, so after the iron curtain fell they put the metronome up to symbolize changing times. We got some great views up there, and then played in the park. Then the walk home took a little while since we ended up having to walk around and kind of on a highway for a bit. But we made it back and all crashed for a couple hours.
Then after we woke up two of Colin's friends from home got in to Prague and met us at the hostel. The five of us hung out there for a while and then headed out to a bar in town, which was a great time!
The next morning was a rough one- we all forgot to set alarms so the woman from the hostel had to wake us up at check-out time. Once we were all in order and ready to go, we headed into town where the astronomical clock and the market are. After chilling around there for a bit we went on probably the worst walking tour in the world. Seriously. We think it was the guy's first time, but he was overly detailed, boring and kinda creepy all at the same time. Not to mention impossible to hear and we were in a big group. He took us all over the city and we saw some of the Kafka sites, the Jewish quarter, the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle. The city was gorgeous and it was a really nice day out, but the guide was so bad.
Then we ate at a weird restaurant called Czech Kitchen that our hostel guy suggested. The food was okay, but we realized that some of us were eating liver and that was a turn off. After that we got our stuff from the hostel and headed to board our night train.
Budapest
This was probably the night train from hell. There were 5 of us in an 8 person compartment where the seats didn't recline at all and one of the benches was broken. The bathroom was flooded (I managed to not use it for the entire trip thank god), the car smelled- it was just bad. I ended up getting a couple hours of sleep, but most everyone was up all night.
So we arrived in Budapest completely exhausted and go to our hostel where the guy tells us that he didn't have room for all of us but that we could stay in one of his other hostels. So we go over there and check in and wait for the room to be ready (while the boys sleep in the common room). When our room was ready Colin, Rob and John went and slept all day, but Katie and I walked around, down the beautiful Andrassy, then to the fine arts museum. We were both exhausted too so we went to a great little cafe right across from the museum for some coffee. We headed back down Andrassy and stopped by St. Peter's Basilica which was absolutely gorgeous. Just after walking around for these few minutes I already loved the city. It wasn't as touristy and crowded as a lot of the other cities- it felt like a real city where people actually live. But it also was absolutely gorgeous and had a great history. Katie and I both realized right away that we loved it.
Then on our trip back we spotted some delicious Don Simon in the window of a liquor store so of course we had to get it. We went back to the hostel and hung out in the common room and met a bunch of people staying in the hostel. This hostel was really great because the guys who ran it were just American guys who were really cool and laid back. They all sat around and drank with us too, and then one of them took a bunch of us out to a bar. The bar was kinda weird, it looked like it had been bombed out inside, but we all had a good time.
The next morning Katie and I got up and hiked up to the top of this hill to the citadel, this really cool old fort with a great view. We saw the freedom statue up close, which you can see from most of the city. It was built to commemorate Hungary's liberation from the Nazis, and its a woman holding an olive branch I think. Some kind of leaf or plant, anyway. We didn't go inside because you had to pay, and all it is is more view and a wax museum or something like that. But we walked back down through the park and played on some swings.
Then we went back to the hostel and woke the guys up to go to the baths! These were the best park of the whole city. We went to the big bath house that's on Hero's Square, and it was just amazing. There were like 10 indoor baths that had all different temperatures and minerals. They were pretty relaxing but we spent most time at the outdoor ones, one was warm and really deep, and the other was the 'fun' bath with all different jets and a whirlpool and everything. Oh man, it was just what we needed after traveling for so long! We stayed for a few hours, and i felt like I'd gotten a new back by the time we left.
We went back to the hostel and showered and got ready to go out, then we went to this really fun club. Half of it was outside and really relaxed, and then inside was a big crazy dance party. It was a really great night, and Katie's last night with the group. She was going to take a 5 am train, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen, haha.
The next morning we had to move to another hostel because they didn't have room for us in the one we were in. So we woke up, checked out and checked into a new hostel while Katie went to the train station to book a ticket. Then we all met up at the Terror House, a really creepy museum that was a Nazi and Soviet jail at different times. It was mostly about the different atrocities committed by the soviets, and the different forms of torture. It was very disturbing, but a good museum. The only disappointment was that a lot of the exhibits were video or audio with no translation, and considering how much Hungarian we all knew... It was okay though, the written information was always translated to English so we got the point. Half way through Rob and John decided it was too intense and decided to go to the amusement park instead, and after the museum Colin went back to the hostel, Katie and I got a coffee and much-needed salad before we had to say goodbye and she went to catch her train.
When I got back to the hostel I took a long and much-needed nap. Katie and I had been managing on just a few hours of sleep a night for about a week, especially when we started staying out late with the boys and then waking up early to sightsee, so I was absolutely exhausted. When I woke up we went to get some food then just watched movies at the hostel and relaxed- other than when the crazy girl who ran the hostel kept trying out her impression of a southern accent on me and asking we weird questions. Imagine hearing "My name is Laura" 15 times in a row in a strange accent kind of resembling Janice from Friends. Weird.
Bratislava
Anyway what I really should have done after Budapest was hop on a night train to Bucharest where I was supposed to meet Katie Napleton on April 14. I misjudged the train schedule since Slovakia is not on my pass or in my timetable book and thought I could get there on the 14 from Bratislava. So I went with John and Rob and Colin for the night, and when I got there found out that it was impossible and ended up stranding Katie in Buchrest.
When we got in to Bratislava we went to the hostel that we booked, which of course didn't actually have room for us so we had to go to a different one (the themes of hostels misbooking us and everything being under construction were very prevalent on this trip). So we headed to another one closer into the city, which was fine. We hung out there for a bit then went out for dinner at this place called Slovak Pub. Apparently I am very bad at ordering Slovakian food, and this was my first hint. I ordered some dumplings (like gnocci) off the vegetarian menu. Yummy, right? No, I got really weird pasta covered in powdered sugar. Totally ridiculous and disgusting.
After that we had a couple drinks at the hostel and then went out to a bar for a couple more. I was tired so I headed home while they all went out to some insane nightclub I guess. I'm just glad I got a good night's sleep haha.
The next day I went to the train stationa nd tried to figure out some plans to maybe meet Katie somewhere between Bratislava and Bucharest, but in the end we decided just to meet the next day in Budpest. The guys all went to a waterpark for the day, so I decided to go and explore the city. I walked around the little touristy area, down the Hviezdoslavovo Namestie which is a gorgeous promenade that runs from the National Theater to the water where the New Bridge is. There's fountains and statues and they were setting up a stage for something when I was there. I relaxed, sat on a bench and wrote in my journal, it was beautiful out!
I met the guys back that the hostel and Rob left to fly home, so we had a little goodbye. Then Colin and John and I met up with an Irish guy who was staying in our hostel. He was a strange guy, but really nice, and he'd lived in Bratislava 10 years earlier (we couldn't believe he was 35, he seriously looked the same age as me) and was back for the first time. So we went back to the Slovak pub and this time I also ordered something that turned out to just be bread. It was stupid. We had a few drinks and hung out, John, Colin and I then went to another bar for a few drinks.
The next morning Colin and John were heading out to Krakow, and I was heading to Budapest so we checked out of the hostel and got some food then headed to the train station. We said goodbye and they got on their train while I waited for mine.
Budapest, Revisited
I got in to the station and waited around for Katie Napleton to get in, which was really exciting to see her! We hopped on the metro and checked into the hostel (the same one we stayed at the week before which was pretty funny). Then we wandered for food and found this great Italian place where the pasta was delicious! Then we just went back to the hostel and chatted about our travels, since we had both been traveling for a few weeks by now.
The next day we woke up and got some breakfast to eat in the park before we headed out to go on a walking tour. I was a little skeptical of the whole walking-tour idea after the one in Prague but we figured we'd give it a try, and I'm so glad I did! Our tour guide was this girl about 20 years old, a university student and she was GREAT! She took us to Hero's Square, which is where they have a memorial to all these different Hungarian kings and she went through each one and so told us the history of Hungary which was incredible. It was pretty much constantly a battleground for centuries and a constant political struggle. Sarah was really funny because she told all the stories like the countries were talking to each other- "The Soviets said, 'Oh, Hungary! You want us to get the Nazi's out of your country? Oh, we can help you.'" She was so cute!
The rest of the tour we walked through the park, to St. Peter's Basilica, and then to the castle area up in Buda where St. Matthias Gothic church (under construction, of course) and the Royal Palace are. It was so great and we literally saw the whole city. It was cool too, because Sarah asked us before the tour started that if we wanted we could pay 1,000 Forint less (about 4 Euros) for the tour and she just wouldn't tell the office that we'd gone. I guess the company is going under and they haven't paid her in 2 months, so of course we agreed.
Then we ate up in Buda before we headed back to the hostel and went out with a bunch of the people staying there too. It was funny because two of the guys there had been at my hostel in Bratislava, and then a couple other people there were going to the same cities as us afterwards, so it was kind of like traveling with them too haha.
The next day we wanted to go to the baths, but I had lost my bathing suit and it was the day after the Virginia Tech shootings so we got kind of wrapped up in the coverage. We did go out to lunch, but just came back and talked to a Canadian guy and Australian girl who were also watching the coverage of the shootings. It was really crazy to think about all that happening, and I just thank god I don't know anyone at that school because it would have been really hard to find anything out from Budapest.
Vienna, part deux
So we got to Vienna in the evening and checked into our hostel. We went out for dinner and had some great sausage and sauerkraut- yum! Our hostel had a bar in it so we went back there for a beer and then went straight to bed. Katie really fell in love with the city right away so we decided to stay two nights and booked for the second night.
In the morning we headed into town and took one of the bus tours around the city since it was kinda cold and rainy. We saw all the important sites, and then after the tour went to the Opera house and got a tour there of the whole building wish is really just gorgeous. It was really different to see all the behind the scenes stuff after seeing an Opera there and seeing how it all works. Then we walked around and took some pictures, went to the palace and the gardens.
For dinner we went to this place right down the street from the hostel called Mozart Stube where we got this ridiculously huge Schnitzel for 5 Euro. Amaaazing! Then we went out with Jack, an Australian guy we met at the hostel in Budapest, Toby, a kid from Libertyville who was also at our hostel in Budapest and Carl, a kid who goes to Virginia Tech (Katie told him to use his student ID to try to get free drinks. It wasn't as funny as she thought it was). The 5 of us went to a few bars, including a really swanky that I'm not sure how we got into, and ended up back at Mozart Stube in the end. We all went back to the hostel then and went to bed, except I called my mom first since there was an available phone :)
The next morning we checked out, got lunch and then went to the train station to catch our train to...
Prague II
So we got in to Prague in the afternoon and are way too exhausted to do anything so we just got groceries and made dinner, then went to bed.
The next day we got up and went to the best restaurant EVER! It's this place called Bohemia Bagel, and its pretty much everything I've been missing from America. Sandwiches, Bagels, pancakes- everything! They even had self-serve, free refills fountain drinks. We ate and then chilled out in the connected internet cafe for a couple hours. Then we went into the Jewish quarter and did the museum that includes 6 parts- the Spanish Synagogue, the Old Cemetery, the Ceremonial Hall, Pinkas Synagogue and Maisel Synagogue. All of it was so beautiful, and it's crazy to think that most of the artifacts were collected by curators during WWII because Hitler wanted to have a museum devoted to the extinct race. So sick.
Then we went and bought our tickets to Krakow the next day and got ready to go out to dinner. We were planning to meet the Australian guy Jack from Vienna and then meet Dan and Evan, friends from high school. So we meet Jack and his friend then walk down the street and I'm thinking, I'm going crazy this girl looks like Nicole. It really started to freak me out and I was trying really hard not to stare at this woman. But then I saw Dan behind her and she turned and it WAS Nicole! I was so shocked it was very strange. It was so great to see her though. We all went to this fabulous vegetarian restaurant where Nicole and I caught up, and really caught up with Dan and Evan who I haven't seen in a long time. Oh yeah and another kid from high school was there who I literally haven't seen in ages. It was a big party! We all went out together then and it was a great time.
The next morning Nicole came and met us bright and early at 8:30 for pancakes at Bohemia Bagel (we really just could not get enough!) They were amazingly delicious and we scarfed them down before we got on the train to Krakow. Had to say goodbye to Nicole which is always sad, but I knew I'd be seeing her in a week and a half haha.
Krakow
Well, it was sad to get off the very last train ride I'd be taking on my trip. So many good times, so many bad times on trains, but overall it's the best way to travel in Europe. If I could, I'd probably take trains everywhere! Well, maybe not but I did really like it.
We got in to the city and immediately could see that it was really cool and beautiful. It's tiny though too. I think it was a great city to end on because we were both losing steam a bit on the sightseeing, so we didn't mind just wandering around a relaxing a bit. The night we got in we went and checked into our hostel which was great! It was ranked 4th best hostel in the world, and we agreed. If you ever go to Krakow, Mama's Hostel is where it's at. It was really homey and clean and just nice all around. At this point we both checked our bank accounts as well and I realized I was running pretty low, and Katie only had $45 in her account. That was alarming.
After we got over that shock we went to this place called Bagelmama (we were really into bagels and mamas at this point). Did you know the bagel originated in Poland? Now you do! They were delicious bagels and soups. We also ate a lot of bagels from street vendors which are more like the original Polish ones, kinda a mix between pretzel and bagel. Yum!
We went back to the hostel and watched The Graduate and took it easy, then went to bed. The next morning we went up to Wawel Castle where we toured the state rooms. They were really unique and didn't look like a typical castle. There were tons of tapestries, and not nearly as much gilded decor as castles usually have. The courtyard was gorgeous and there was a good view of the city too. Then we went down to the bank of the river and saw the dragon, a statue representing a dragon fabled to have lived there. It was pretty sweet. It spits fire and everything. Then we sat on the bank soaking up some sun and writing postcards.
Then we went back to the hostel and hung out, watched Happy Gilmore and then went out for dinner at a really great sushi place- yum! And then got some desert and went to bed early since we had to be up really early for our tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau.
The tour was really interesting. On the bus ride there they showed a documentary about the camps, and then we were with a guide through all of it. We spent a lot of time at Auschwitz, since most of it has been converted into a museum about the holocaust and atrocities of the camp. They took us through rooms filled with the victim's shoes and tons and tons of hair. Literally everyone has about 20 grams worth of hair on their head, and the Nazis collected hundreds of kilograms which really helps you begin to understand how many people were killed there. We went through the prison which is really just a torture and execution building. And then we also walked through the incinerator and gas chambers, the only one of 5 at the two camps that the Nazis didn't destroy before liberation. It was really eerie and disgusting.
Then we went to Birkenau. The only problem with the tour was that we barely spent any time here. They walked us through the sleeping quarters and bathrooms but then we had to leave. I thought Birkenau was much more shocking because the conditions were much more poor than at Auschwitz, since the barracks were built by the prisoners themselves out of material taken from the houses that used to be in the area (the barracks at Auschwitz were old Polish army barracks). It was surprising that half of the barracks had been dismantled by former residents who came back from the war and wanted to rebuild their communities and live on the land again. It's amazing that anyone could think of living there after all that had gone on, but our guide was telling us that Polish people are very community-based and wanted to move back into the same community they had left. Even though all the information at Auschwitz was interesting and it was a good museum, I think that it would have been a more effective and moving experience to walk around Birkenau (which is 20 times the size of Auschwitz) and take in all the horror that happened there.
After that we were pretty emotionally exhausted and headed back to town for some lunch and then we wandered around and had a couple drinks that night. The next morning we got up and flew back to Galway! I know that given an indefinite amount of time and money I would love to keep traveling, but I was ready to come back. And especially now that I'm back and realize that 1) I love Galway and 2) I only have a few weeks left here! But I would have to say, seeing all the places I did, meeting so many interesting people and having amazing travel buddies made this trip one of the most amazing things I've ever done, and I wouldn't change one part of it if I had the chance. My only hope is to go back everywhere again!
If you made it through all my ramblings, then kudos! If not, I promise I won't judge you, haha. I'll post again soon to write about Nicole and Katie's visit to Galway and then my trip to Amsterdam- also both fantastic!
Friday, April 27, 2007
This is Going to be Intense
**I started writing this and including pictures, but it takes forever to load the pictures onto the blog, so I will put them all up in an album online so everyone can see them. I just need to find a photo site that doesn't crash my computer every time i use it!**
So I got back to Galway from my travels on Tuesday, and have been spending my time studying and eating vegetables, and now it is time for me to blog this whole thing. Since I have been in school mode for a couple days, I will outline my trip for you before I begin to write in detail (I'm so organized...).
Wedding/St. Patrick's Day/Family Time in Ireland
Madrid with the Moms, Nicole and Many Others
Barcelona with Katie Ham, Sarah and Colin
Paris with Katie Ham, Colin, Melissa and Alex
Munich, Salzburg and Vienna with Katie Ham and Colin
Prague and Budapest with Katie Ham, Colin, Rob and John
Bratislava with Colin, Rob and John
Budapest and Vienna with Katie Napes
Prague with Katie Napes, Nicole, Dan, Evan and Eric
Krakow with Katie Napes
So when you look at a map I literally traveled across Europe in a month! And I have a lot to write about so, I'll get to it!
Ireland
So my vacation actually started a little early when the McGivneys all came over here for my Uncle Matt's wedding. We all went up to County Down on St. Patrick's Day for it, and it was a blast! Here are a couple pictures from the reception:
So I got back to Galway from my travels on Tuesday, and have been spending my time studying and eating vegetables, and now it is time for me to blog this whole thing. Since I have been in school mode for a couple days, I will outline my trip for you before I begin to write in detail (I'm so organized...).
Wedding/St. Patrick's Day/Family Time in Ireland
Madrid with the Moms, Nicole and Many Others
Barcelona with Katie Ham, Sarah and Colin
Paris with Katie Ham, Colin, Melissa and Alex
Munich, Salzburg and Vienna with Katie Ham and Colin
Prague and Budapest with Katie Ham, Colin, Rob and John
Bratislava with Colin, Rob and John
Budapest and Vienna with Katie Napes
Prague with Katie Napes, Nicole, Dan, Evan and Eric
Krakow with Katie Napes
So when you look at a map I literally traveled across Europe in a month! And I have a lot to write about so, I'll get to it!
Ireland
So my vacation actually started a little early when the McGivneys all came over here for my Uncle Matt's wedding. We all went up to County Down on St. Patrick's Day for it, and it was a blast! Here are a couple pictures from the reception:
Of the Wedding:
And the church:
After the reception we all went back to our cottages and changed, then went out for a couple drinks to celebrate. After all the old folks went home, the brothers, cousins, Colin and I all went to O'Hares (I think was the name), a nightclub in Newcastle, to celebrate St. Patrick's day. In the end after some confusion we all made it home safe and sound.
The next week was more family fun! Kyle came and stayed with me in Galway, and we took a great tour out to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.
We're really good at taking pictures of ourselves:
Kyle in front of a tomb on the Burren that's like 3,000 years old:
The Cliffs of Moher on a foggy day:
The next few days were filled with me writing papers and finishing up some of my classes, some more McGivney time in Galway, and then on Friday we all went over to Navan (just outside of Dublin) to stay with Linda for the night. Brian and Mary met us as well, and we all had a great time.
Saturday morning (April 24) we all had breakfast then my mom and I went to the airport and the boys went into Dublin.
Madrid
We arrived in Madrid Saturday evening and had a really stressful time getting from the airport to the hotel, but we finally made it there where Shelley, Diane, Nicole, Katie, Amy, Carrie, Joey and Sarah were waiting for us. It was quite a crowd! That night we went out for pizza (where my mom and I got served a pizza with ham and eggs on it- it was not our day). Then a few of us went out to a Belgian beer house for a couple interesting and tasty beers, and then back to the hotel to bed!
Sunday morning my mom and I woke up early to go to the Prado since it was the free day! Nicole warned us about lines, but there wasn't one when we got there and we walked straight in! (When we left, the line was all the way down the block, so we got pretty lucky!) The museum was absolutely amazing, with a great collection of Spanish artists. I thought the de Goya was the best and most interesting, but there was also a lot of el Greco, Titian, Velazquez, Bosch and some other great artists. It was a really awesome museum, and compared to most other European art museums, very managable. We saw everything in about 2 hours, and then were out to catch some sunshine!
Then we walked around a little. We wanted to walk down to Puerta del Sol but there was a protest going on so we just made a little circle and walked to Retiro Park where we met the rest of the crew for lunch.
After the birds pooed on Shelley on Spanish TV, we walked down to a really gorgeous end of the park and broke open our Don Simon boxed sangria, which was delicious! Then we ventured out to Nicole's cute apartment for some more Don and some much-needed internet.
That night all of the kids went out for dinner to this great place that has 100 different types of little sandwiches (bocadillos), and they're all a euro each, so we got a few of them. After that we met the mamas for some flamenco dancing, which was definitely my favorite thing in Madrid! Here are some pics:
They were soooo good! I can't even begin to think about how they move their feet so fast. It's like tap-dancing times 50. WOW!
The next day was Segovia time. The trian took about twice as long to get there than we thought, so we ended up only having about 3 hours. It's a tiny town though, so we saw the three "must-see" things.
It was kinda hectic rushing around, and a little stressful to get back to the station and make our train back to Madrid, but overall it was successful! When we got back we went to Friday's (yes, how American...) for happy hour and appetizers with Nicole and her roommate Kate. From there it was to a fabulous Mexican restaurant (soooo good, especially compared to the 'Mexican' I've had in Ireland) and then the young ones all went out to an Irish bar.
The next day was Toledo for all of us, which is a really beautiful medieval city. The highlights were the absolutely gorgeous cathedral and the Synagogue.
Also a highlight of Toledo was that Joey bought a really badass sword. Toledo is known for its swordmaking, and Joey took home the ultimate souvenir. Pretty sweet!
That night Colin came to Madrid and met us at the hotel. We went to dinner at a really good paella place with the whole gang, plus Colin's family friends who live in Madrid. It was delicious! From there we went to a tiny little old fashioned bar for a few drinks, then back to the hotel where there was much attempted persuasion to get Jayne to go to Portugal with everyone, but it wasn't successful. There were some emotional goodbyes and goodnights, and we were all off to bed.
The next day Colin and I went and did some sightseeing around the city. We did one of those bus tours and sat on the upper deck so we could see all the main monuments, and then ended up at the royal palace and Cathedral de Almudena which were both beautiful. We also had lunch with Colin's family friends Maria and Beatrice
That night Colin, Katie, Sarah and I all experienced our first night train which was really creepy. We decided to get beds, which means you're in a compartment with 3 beds on each wall. In my compartment there was a drunk creepy man, 2 extreeeemely smelly people and a woman who was like a corpse on her bed. Needless to say, we didn't get the beds ever again.
Barcelona
Barcelona was definitely one of my favorite cities on the trip! It's beautiful and the culture is so rich. It was really crowded when we were there, but other than the 50 thousand school field trips, the trip was perfect!
We got to Barcelona in the morning and encountered some trouble when checking into the hostel, but it all worked out fine. We left our bags there and went out to do some sightseeing. We walked down Las Ramblas and saw the Columbus statue:
Then walked along the harbor:
After that we decided to grab some lunch from the market and take the hike up the hill to Parc Guell, the absolutely gorgeous Gaudi park. We sat up there and enjoyed the sun, our lunch and of course some Don Simon (in a bottle this time-classy!). It was so nice out and such a great relaxing day. On the way out we looked around at the Gaudi houses that are supposed to look like Hansel and Gretel houses. So cool!
That night we hung out in the hostel bar drinking sangria for a while, then headed out for tapas. We went to a place in the guidebook, but ended up with a waiter who was a total jerk. Everything we ordered he said they were out of until he convinced us to order the most expensive thing on the menu, knowing that we didn't really know the language. He was terrible. After that we went out to a bar and then back to the hostel.
The next morning Colin and I had to check out since there wasn't room in the hostel for us for that night. We wandered around until we finally found a hostel with room (Barcelona was ridiculously crowded since it was coming up to holy week and there were tons of people vacationing there). The Hostel Parisien was great! It was tiny and owned by these older Spanish women who didn't speak any English. Very charming.
Then we went to a museum about the history of the city, which was really cool. We got to go down below the museum into the ruins of the roman city that Barcelona is built on top of. We also went to a special exhibit about the rise of republicanism in Spain before Franco. I definitely recommend it to anyone in Barcelona!
Then Colin and I took another bus tour which took us up to the Montjuic area where the national palace and olympic stadium is. It was a fantastic view of the city, and just completely beautiful. We got some food and went back to the hostel and stayed in for the rest of the night.
The next day we spent finding an internet cafe and trying to see if the train strike in France was still on, since we wanted to catch a night train to Paris that night. Thankfully it had ended and we got our tickets booked, picked up our stuff from the hostel and went the Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral which has been under construction since the 1883. Of course it started to rain as soon as we got there, and we didn't have enough time to go inside, but the outside is really just incredible. It's a really unique style, just as all of Gaudi's works.
We caught a train to Cerbere, a really tiny dead town where we had to wait to catch the night train to Paris. Colin went out looking around and said that there was actually nothing there. Shops with nothing inside of them, no one around- really weird. We got on the train though and it was fine- we were in seats this time, which sounds worse but was actually a lot better than the beds!
Paris
Paris is a very beautiful city, but one that I would think would be better for a longer stay and when it isn't such a popular travel time. It felt very rushed and very very crowded. But I did get to see Melissa, one of my best friends from high school and college- definitely the best part!
We got in to the train station and since we didn't have a hostel just took the metro into the city near the opera house. There we had a delicious croissant and then found an internet cafe. While we were frantically searching for hostels, we got in touch with my friend melissa and decided to go over to her apartment. Since the hostel search proved to be pretty useless as everything was booked, Melissa let us stay at her apartment that night and we got a hostel for monday.
After bumming around and catching up for a bit, Melissa and her roommate Alex took us on a little walking tour of the city. We originally had planned to get to Paris on Sunday because the first Sunday of the month all the museums are free. But when we walked around the lines were so long and the weather was so nice we decided not to go in any of them. Instead we walked along the Seine and saw the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, Champs-Elysees, and of course the Eiffel Tower! The city was so beautiful and despite the throngs of crowds we had a great time. Instead of waiting hours to go up in the tower, we decided to nap and relax in the park under it which was fabulous!
After that we went back to Mel's apartment in the Latin Quarter and then out for delicious fondue at a restaurant right near by. Afterwards we went back to Mel's to drink some wine and play the 1987 British version of Trivial Pursuit. Not as easy as it sounds.
The next morning we woke up later than planned (of course). Melissa and Katie got us breakfast and we hung around until Colin, Katie and I had to go check in to our hostel. After we got our room (which was not nearly as bad as other people had rated it online, thank god!) we headed off to see Notre Dame. The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous, especially all the architecture. Then we walked for a few minutes to the Saint-Chapelle cathedral. We were a little disappointed in it because although it is an extremely unique structure, it is really expensive to get in, it's small, we waited in line for a long time, the altar was under construction and I misread something that said there was a tower with a good view inside. I thought the decor was really cool and the stained glass was gorgeous, but overall it wasn't what I was expecting. And the whole under construction thing became a common theme on our trip. Especially the idea that you shouldn't have to tell people that part of something is under construction and can still charge them full price. It can be pretty frustrating.
When we left the cathedral I realized that unlike most museums in Paris, the Louvre is open on Monday but not Tuesday (we had been planning to go on Tuesday), so we rushed over there even though we only had an hour and a half to spend there. We saw the Mona Lisa (which was pretty disappointing, but you have to do it) and then Colin and I went to see the Venus de Milo, which was cool but the room was packed with people taking pictures of it. Colin and I then looked at the other Italian renaissance paintings and then went up to the floor of French art works. That museum is huge! I could seriously spend a week in there and not see everything. I'm glad we did make it there though, it was cool to see.
Colin went back to the hostel to change and Katie and I went into the Latin Quarter to have a couple drinks during happy hour. This was so much fun, since everyone was just sitting on the sidewalk enjoying the weather and people watching. At one point, a French man came and put down an amplifier, got out his microphone and started singing all these songs in French. Then this crazy guy across the street started doing a bizarre mixture of dancing and exercising, putting on a show for everyone. Even the bartender came out and started watching/laughing. It was hilarious.
Then we made our way to Mel's and all of us went out for some pizza, which was of course, delicious! We hung out at Melissa's again until the last metro back to the hostel.
The next day we woke up and headed straight to Musee d'Orsay, where we were surprised to see that the line was longer than it was on the free day! But we waited anyway because we all really wanted to see it, and it was definitely worth it! The art was absolutely amazing, a lot of impressionism which I love. The only problem with the museum is that they allow you to take pictures. They say no flash, but no one is there to enforce it, so it is actually disappointing that they are allowed to house these works when they're allowing them to be ruined. Also, it is amazing how people take pictures of EVERYHTING. There were more people taking pictures of the paintings and looking at them on their cameras than there were people actually looking at the paintings. It completely ruined the van Gogh room for me. Anyway, enough of that rant...
Then we met up with Melissa and Alex for some yummy crepes and then we caught the night train to Munich!
Munich
The night train to Munich was really good- It was me, Katie and Colin in a compartment with seats and a German guy named David who was about our age. We talked to him about what Munich is like, and even managed to get some sleep.
I was really excited for Munich because my mom and I spent a night there a few years ago and it seemed like such a cool city. And since I loved Berlin so much I was excited to get back to Germany in general.
We checked in to the hostel right when we got there and there was a free walking tour leaving right around then so we decided to all go on it. It was great! We saw everything all over the city, like the Glockenspiel and the Marienplatz, all the different churches and the English Gardens. The guide was really good and he showed us different parts of the city that had history related to the Nazis and the Soviets which was really cool. After the tour we and a guy and a girl from Cornell who were on the tour too all went to a Bavarian restaurant that the guide recommended. We all got sausage and potato salad and sauerkraut- it was sooo good!
Then we went back to the hostel and took a nap before happy hour in the hostel bar. We wanted to go out that night but after wandering around the city center we couldn't find anywhere to go so we just hung out at the hostel instead. This is when Katie made a plan for us for the next week until she left, which it was nice to know what we would be doing for a few days in advance!
The next day we took the train out to Dachau, a town where there is a concentration camp. Being there was really shocking, and the museum and film inside the camp were very disturbing. By the end of the day we were all pretty emotionally exhausted, but I'm really glad I went because it did help prepare me better for Auschwitz.
When we got back we decided to go to the famous Hofbrauhaus for a gigantic mug of beer (which took us 2 hours to drink!). Then we ended up going back to the hostel and going out with some people we met there (from Buffalo Grove, actually- small world!) back to the Hofbrauhaus! They all wanted to go to a club, so we took the metro with them out to the club area, but Katie and I weren't up for it so we went back to the hostel and Colin followed us not long after.
Salzburg
Our original plan was to go to Vienna after Munich, but since it was Easter weekend we found that there was no way we would be able to get a hostel. We were done with Munich though, and decided to head to Salzburg instead. I'm really glad we went there since it is absolutely beautiful and we never would have planned on it! We wanted to do some Sound of Music stuff but the tours are really expensive so we decided to spend the day in town instead.
We walked around town and saw Mozart's birthplace, sat on the river and had lunch, went to the Hohensalzburg Fortress and then took a very long walk trying to find these trick fountains that we read about. For some reason they didn't put the distance to scale on our map and we didn't realize before we took off that they are actually about 5 miles outside the city. That was kind of frustrating.
I'm pretty sad that I don't have any pictures of Salzburg. Actually my batteries ran out on the walking tour in Munich and when I replaced them with some of the 50,000 I brought with me I realized that all the batteries I brought were expired. That will teach you to get batteries at a 2 euro store when they are buy one get one free. The only batteries I could find in Salzburg were about 8 euro for 4, which seemed pretty outrageous so I waited until Vienna to get more and take pictures.
Vienna
We took the morning train to Vienna the next day, and since we couldn't get a hostel for that night either we decided to just go for the day, stay up all night and catch a train out the next morning. Vienna was really cool but I liked it a lot better the second time I went and spent more time there than this time since it was very rushed. We walked around for a little while when we got in, and I decided to go the Royal Apartments and the Sisi museum while Katie and Colin walked around a little more. The Sisi museum was kind of interesting, but a little much. The apartments were really cool though since they looked exactly like they did when Sisi and Franz Josef were living there.
We all met back up and did Rick Steves' tram tour of the city where you go around the ring of the city and see the most important sites. Then we went and got in line for the Opera, since you can get standing room tickets for 2 euro. We were really lucky and ended up getting the last 3 tickets! The opera was Simon Boccanegro (I think) and it was amazing. The singing and orchestra were beautiful, and even though I couldn't see anything for the first half, we got great seats and started to understand what was going on after intermission.
Since we knew we had to stay up all night, we decided to go see a movie afterwards. Katie and I saw Stranger Than Fiction, which was great! Then we wanted to go find a bar to hang out at until our train, but when we went into the bar area we realized that all the bars there are really intense, more like clubs and you can't really just sit and have a drink so we went back to the trainstation and waited for our train at 6 am.
I'll finish up the trip later and let you know about photos, but right now I have to get out of the house!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Not quite like the movie Hostel...
So now I am in Bratislava and I've stolen away a couple minutes on the free internet. My plans got a little screwed up and I ended up being here instead of in Bucharest with my friend who I was supposed to meet there. Lost some money on the hostel I booked but I'm going back to Budapest tomorrow to meet her there so it all works out...
Budapest was incredible! I actually am excited to go spend a couple more days there. Not sure from there but probably back to Prague as well and we are flying out of Krakow which is supposed to be amazing as well. Is it okay if I just do this for the rest of my life? Yeah? Okay, good.
Can't believe how the time has flown and I only have 10 days left! I'll have to make the most of it I guess and pack everything in. Shouldn't be a problem haha.
Well the weather is gorgeous so I'm gonna go catch some Slovakian rays. Miss you all!
Budapest was incredible! I actually am excited to go spend a couple more days there. Not sure from there but probably back to Prague as well and we are flying out of Krakow which is supposed to be amazing as well. Is it okay if I just do this for the rest of my life? Yeah? Okay, good.
Can't believe how the time has flown and I only have 10 days left! I'll have to make the most of it I guess and pack everything in. Shouldn't be a problem haha.
Well the weather is gorgeous so I'm gonna go catch some Slovakian rays. Miss you all!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Hungary? Yum yum!
So this blog is really starting to irritate me. It likes to delete everything I write right before I'm about to post it. Pretty obnoxious.
Anyway we are in Budapest now, got in this morning after riding the train from hell last night. We're all pretty exhausted and are waiting to get into our room now, probably do a little sightseeing and maybe go to the baths this afternoon.
Since I wrote last, I've been pretty busy. We went to Paris for a few days where we saw the Louvre, d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees (spelling?) and of course my little Melissa! There was a little problem with getting a hostel, but in the end it all worked out (thanks to Mel's futon and free internet). Lesson learned: book your hostel a couple days before arrival.
From Paris we went to Munich which was a blast! We hung out around the city the first day, drinking German beer and eating sausages and potato salad.The next day we went to the concentration camp at Dachau, which was a really moving experience. The plan from there was to go to Vienna for a day and a night, but since it was easter weekend, we couldn't get a hostel anywhere. So instead we took a little detour and spent the night in Salzburg which was absolutely beautiful. From there we went to Vienna for the day, stayed up all night and took a 6 am train to Prague.
Prague was great- Katie Colin and I met up with Colin's two friends from home, Rob and Jon and we all had a great time. We took probably the worst walking tour in the world, but it was nice to see the whole city.
Well I think this smelly girl is about ready for a shower! Hope everything is well with all of you, and I hope to be able to post again soon!
Anyway we are in Budapest now, got in this morning after riding the train from hell last night. We're all pretty exhausted and are waiting to get into our room now, probably do a little sightseeing and maybe go to the baths this afternoon.
Since I wrote last, I've been pretty busy. We went to Paris for a few days where we saw the Louvre, d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees (spelling?) and of course my little Melissa! There was a little problem with getting a hostel, but in the end it all worked out (thanks to Mel's futon and free internet). Lesson learned: book your hostel a couple days before arrival.
From Paris we went to Munich which was a blast! We hung out around the city the first day, drinking German beer and eating sausages and potato salad.The next day we went to the concentration camp at Dachau, which was a really moving experience. The plan from there was to go to Vienna for a day and a night, but since it was easter weekend, we couldn't get a hostel anywhere. So instead we took a little detour and spent the night in Salzburg which was absolutely beautiful. From there we went to Vienna for the day, stayed up all night and took a 6 am train to Prague.
Prague was great- Katie Colin and I met up with Colin's two friends from home, Rob and Jon and we all had a great time. We took probably the worst walking tour in the world, but it was nice to see the whole city.
Well I think this smelly girl is about ready for a shower! Hope everything is well with all of you, and I hope to be able to post again soon!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Hola!
So I´m sorry it´s been a while, but I am alive and doing well!
I´ll post details later, but the short of it is that the Ireland wedding was fabulous, St. Patrick´s day was fun fun fun with the cousins, and the rest of the McGivney visit to Ireland was great. It was really fun to see everyone and show them around my new hometown of Galway.
A week ago my mom and I flew to Madrid and met up with some chicas and had a great time there. Activities included the Prado, Retiro Park, Segovia, Toledo, the Royal Palace, flamenco dancing and Tapas. Muy Bueno!
Then on Wednesday Katie, Colin and I took an overnight train to Barcelona which was interesting. We´ve been hanging out here for the past couple days, despite difficulties with hostels and now knowing whether or not there is still a strike on the trains in France (which would strand us here). Anyway cross your fingers, I´ll be on a train to Paris tonight where I will update you a little more. Right now I´m going to meet Katie and Sarah at the market, then the Picasso Museum and Sagrada Familia are on the schedule for this afternoon. Miss you all and PLEASE post your addresses in my comments or email them to me at emcgivn2@uiuc.edu so I can send postcards!
Eileen ´Hablan Ingles?´McGivney
I´ll post details later, but the short of it is that the Ireland wedding was fabulous, St. Patrick´s day was fun fun fun with the cousins, and the rest of the McGivney visit to Ireland was great. It was really fun to see everyone and show them around my new hometown of Galway.
A week ago my mom and I flew to Madrid and met up with some chicas and had a great time there. Activities included the Prado, Retiro Park, Segovia, Toledo, the Royal Palace, flamenco dancing and Tapas. Muy Bueno!
Then on Wednesday Katie, Colin and I took an overnight train to Barcelona which was interesting. We´ve been hanging out here for the past couple days, despite difficulties with hostels and now knowing whether or not there is still a strike on the trains in France (which would strand us here). Anyway cross your fingers, I´ll be on a train to Paris tonight where I will update you a little more. Right now I´m going to meet Katie and Sarah at the market, then the Picasso Museum and Sagrada Familia are on the schedule for this afternoon. Miss you all and PLEASE post your addresses in my comments or email them to me at emcgivn2@uiuc.edu so I can send postcards!
Eileen ´Hablan Ingles?´McGivney
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Sweden, Cont'd...
So to pick up where I left off, the wedding was absolutely stunning. (Sorry Shelley, no digital pictures but I'll bring some to Spain to show you!) The ceremony went completely smoothly, Denise looked gorgeous and had this white cape with a hood with fur- I mean I felt like I had time-warped to 1500. Then the reception was in a castle that was up on a hill, surrounded by all these snowy woods. Mmmm, it was great!
We got to the Castle and did a Champagne toast, then had dinner. All the speeches were really sweet and moving (I even got a shout out for coming all the way from America haha), the dinner was absolutely delicious, and the whole place looked beautiful. Colin was the Toastmaster for the night, so all throughout the dinner he had to introduce everyone who spoke, and he even teared up a little when he gave the last toast of the night. It was precious!
Then we went into another room for cake and some Bailey's before we headed into the reception with the dance floor and everything. Then some of Colin's cousins performed singing and Irish dancing. Brian played the accordian and Mary sang and danced, it was really cool. Then a couple Swedes performed as well- it was all really nice. Then we just basically danced the night away! I spent most of the night with Colin's cousins and got to know some of the family better. Everyone had such a great time.
Then Sunday we all woke up really late, and Colin and I took his cousin and his girlfriend to try sushi (again haha), but I'll tell you it's not the best food to eat when you've had a late night. They liked it though. A bunch of Colin's family went downtown, but we were all exhausted and decided to stay around the apartments and play in the snow instead! I wish I had seen everything in the downtown since it's supposed to be gorgeous, but I just couldn't be bothered that afternoon.
Then Monday morning we flew out back to Dublin, Brian and Mary drove me back to Galway and it was all wonderful! I watched the Oscars on Monday night (actually, here they do the Oscar 'Highlights.' Soooo much better! They only play the main awards and the fun in-between bits, and it's only like 2 hours long. Seriously I think they should do that in the states. Then you don't have to stay up until midnight to see who won best picture! Plus they use a British announcer which always sounds better).
Then on Tuesday morning Ray flew in and I went and picked him up at the bus station and showed him some of my favorite places in Galway. Then we went back to mine, hung around and then met up with my friend Grant to go out to a couple pubs. And of course at the end of the night hit up the BEST kebab place in the world I'm pretty sure. If you ever go to Galway, go to Charcoal Grill. You'll only be able to die happy after that.
Yesterday we did about the same thing except then we went out with my friend Katie. Originally we wanted to go to this place called The Crane which is supposed to have the best 'trad' (traditional Irish music) in Galway, but the downstairs was packed and the upstairs you needed a ticket for some reason, so we went to another place around the corner that had some good music too. We made it an early night though since Ray had to catch an 8 am bus. I dropped him off this morning, then went home and worked on a paper, went to class and now I'm waiting for my 5:00. Everyone caught up on my life? Good.
These next couple weeks/weekends will be spent writing papers mostly. I have a ton of my final essays due over break/right when I leave for Spain, so I want to get them all done before the parentals get here. There are a few classes though that still haven't said when the exams/essays are which is really frustrating. I think by early next week I'll know my full schedule hopefully!
Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is gearing up for St. Patty's Day!
We got to the Castle and did a Champagne toast, then had dinner. All the speeches were really sweet and moving (I even got a shout out for coming all the way from America haha), the dinner was absolutely delicious, and the whole place looked beautiful. Colin was the Toastmaster for the night, so all throughout the dinner he had to introduce everyone who spoke, and he even teared up a little when he gave the last toast of the night. It was precious!
Then we went into another room for cake and some Bailey's before we headed into the reception with the dance floor and everything. Then some of Colin's cousins performed singing and Irish dancing. Brian played the accordian and Mary sang and danced, it was really cool. Then a couple Swedes performed as well- it was all really nice. Then we just basically danced the night away! I spent most of the night with Colin's cousins and got to know some of the family better. Everyone had such a great time.
Then Sunday we all woke up really late, and Colin and I took his cousin and his girlfriend to try sushi (again haha), but I'll tell you it's not the best food to eat when you've had a late night. They liked it though. A bunch of Colin's family went downtown, but we were all exhausted and decided to stay around the apartments and play in the snow instead! I wish I had seen everything in the downtown since it's supposed to be gorgeous, but I just couldn't be bothered that afternoon.
Then Monday morning we flew out back to Dublin, Brian and Mary drove me back to Galway and it was all wonderful! I watched the Oscars on Monday night (actually, here they do the Oscar 'Highlights.' Soooo much better! They only play the main awards and the fun in-between bits, and it's only like 2 hours long. Seriously I think they should do that in the states. Then you don't have to stay up until midnight to see who won best picture! Plus they use a British announcer which always sounds better).
Then on Tuesday morning Ray flew in and I went and picked him up at the bus station and showed him some of my favorite places in Galway. Then we went back to mine, hung around and then met up with my friend Grant to go out to a couple pubs. And of course at the end of the night hit up the BEST kebab place in the world I'm pretty sure. If you ever go to Galway, go to Charcoal Grill. You'll only be able to die happy after that.
Yesterday we did about the same thing except then we went out with my friend Katie. Originally we wanted to go to this place called The Crane which is supposed to have the best 'trad' (traditional Irish music) in Galway, but the downstairs was packed and the upstairs you needed a ticket for some reason, so we went to another place around the corner that had some good music too. We made it an early night though since Ray had to catch an 8 am bus. I dropped him off this morning, then went home and worked on a paper, went to class and now I'm waiting for my 5:00. Everyone caught up on my life? Good.
These next couple weeks/weekends will be spent writing papers mostly. I have a ton of my final essays due over break/right when I leave for Spain, so I want to get them all done before the parentals get here. There are a few classes though that still haven't said when the exams/essays are which is really frustrating. I think by early next week I'll know my full schedule hopefully!
Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is gearing up for St. Patty's Day!
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