With a satisfyingly structured day of sightseeing behind us, we set out on day two in Prague with less plans and open minds about wandering around the city all day. Our guide yesterday did say the the secret to Prague was to turn 3 corners and you are suddenly away from tourists or turn 3 corners and you might get lost but that's ok. We wanted to go back to the Jewish Quarter of the city for the first part of the morning, so we left the hostel, found a delicious pastry shop (it's a good thing we probably walk on average about 8 hours a day because I literally eat croissants and cappuccinos for breakfast every morning) and made our way into town. The Jewish quarter of Prague is the area of Prague where while under anti-semantic rule, all the Jews we forced to live in a walled off portion of the city. This confinement lasted for hundreds of years: whole generations knew nothing but life within the walls where poverty and disease spread from one crowed home to the next. Because of the confinement, the one cemetery in town that could comfortably hold a few thousand people is the finally resting place of an estimated 100,00 people, buried in 10 to 12 layers. Because the space was so limited and burial is an integral part of the Jewish faith, the coffins were just stacked on top of one another and the headstones places together. The effect now is staggering. 12,000 Headstones of all shapes and sizes on slightly uneven, hilly ground. Twisted and turned this way and that. Some fallen, some still standing. All in some stage of decay but still worthy of honor and respect.
The graveyard is part of a synagogue turned memorial to the unimaginable number of Jews that were ripped from their home and deported to ghettos, concentration and death camps during the holocaust. Prague once held the third highest population of Jews in Europe, and now most of those name are on the walls on the synagogue as lives lost to a senseless reign. You may wonder, as we did, if Prague has such a strong Jewish population, why wasn't it bomber and destroyed by Hitlers army? There are two reasons: the first is that Hitler loved the city of Pragu, so he wanted to keep it looking nice. The second, if you can believe it, is that Hitler wanted to preserve the Jewish Quarter to eventually use is as an "open air museum to an extinguished race". Let that sink in. A museum...for a race that would no longer exist...because he killed them all. The museum now seems so much more important because his idea almost came true, but for a much greater and purer purpose: to ensure that people are educated about his terrible wills and actions so they never happen again. It was hard going through the museum, to see wall and after wall with name after name, but it is a necessary hardship and I think a duty that we have. We owe it to those people to learn about what happened, and even though learning does not make up for suffering, it feels like it is the beginning to heal some wounds. The Jewish Quarter was also an introduction to what we will see in a few days when we go to Dachau outside of Munich.
With slightly heavy hearts we went back into the Easter market to get lunch (a tasty vanilla sugar bread baked on a rotating stick over open coals and potatoes with ham and cabbage) and then to go across the Charles Bridge and up a very large hill to get the best view of the city. Turns out the top of the hill is surrounded by trees and a large stone wall so the best view is actually from a tower that you have to pay to get up in, but we still enjoyed the hike and got great views on the way up and down. Being in some sort of nature was also a huge plus. En route back to the city center, we stopped by what is known just a the Lennon Wall. I don't know hope it started, but now it is a colorful, happy wall of song lyrics (some Beatles, but also other artist too), graffiti art and memorials to Lennon himself that you could stare at for days and still find new things to read. All the hopeful messages about peace and love seemed to be fitting after the sadness that we experienced that morning. Seeing the words "All you need is love" and "You may say that I'm a dreamer..." were comforting and helped to restore my faith in humanity as a whole a little bit.
We had high hopes to grab some discounted last minute tickets to the ballet that night, but alas it was not meant to be and they were sold out. Instead we turned a few corners and found a nice restaurant to have Katlin's birthday meal at. I'm so glad that I could celebrate her birthday in Prague with her! Not everyone has such a good friend to travel and experience all of what the world has to offer with. Prague was an especially good place to have a birthday too. In terms of the city, we think that it surpassed Barcelona to the top spot of favorite places so far. It just had so much to offer for everyone. The history, the culture, the energy and atmosphere...anyone could find something that they wanted to do here. And the attitude of the country was refreshing. They just separated from Slovakia and gained independence as a country less than a decade ago. They have done all of these amazing things, invented household items (is anyone drinking a pilsner right now? Wearing soft contact lens? Using a microwave? You should thank the Czechs) and not to be forgotten...they picked themselves up invasion after invasion, ever hopeful to one day become a country of their own. But they have not really be given the respect they deserve until recently. It is up and coming town rooted in history and it has paved a special place in our travel hearts.
For all the real Jay-Z fans out there, please enjoy this ending quote, as someone so poetically put on the Lennon wallI...I think it sums up our trip in Prague and the attitude of the city as a whole:
" I got 99 Praguelems but Prague ain't one."
If you're not quite familiar with that particular song of his, here's what it might mean. You are probably always going to have problems, but at least your city, your beloved Prague is not one of them.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Czech it out!
Disclaimer: The puns that can be made about Prague are bountiful and I'm going to apologize in advance for using them in this post. It's Praha-bably going to get a bit annoying, but just bear with me.
After not connecting well to Vienna, I have to admit that I was a bit concerned about getting excited about Prague. We had heard such great things! People love the city! The culture is fun! There's the biggest castle complex in the world! What can be bad about it? The answer, we would come to find out, is nothing. Prague completely lived up to what we hoped it would be and far more. Hooray for the Czech Republic! For a land that has been invaded and forcefully overcome by other countries for the past 600 years, Prague has managed to retain a wonderful, gentle sense of pride for what they are now. Although they do not force the traditions and history that they held on to through the rein of foreign nations, angry dictators and communism upon you, I feel like everyone that comes is welcomed in and invited to explore their past, and that's exactly what we did.
Our first day in Prague began with a three hour guided tour of the important parts of the city, which is basically everywhere. The best part about the tour set up is the company that runs the tour called New Europe. Their founding principle is that everyone should be able to experience a city to its fullest, despite their budget, so you can join a tour in about 10 cities across Europe for no charge. The guides don't get paid for the basic city tour (although they do have paid tours in other parts of the city) and simply work for tips. It's neat because you then get to decide what you think the tour was worth or what youwould have paid for the tour and then tip that much. It works for us because it is a heck of a lot cheaper than other tours and the guides work a lot harder to make them tour fun and interesting because they will make more money if we enjoy it. Anyways, our tour was Czech-ceptional and I don't think that I have ever learned so much applied history and culture in 3 hours before. The other good thing about such a comprehensive tour is that we get to see a bit of everything and decide at we want to come back and explore more. After the tour, we went up the the Prague Castle, which is still the home of the president of Prague whose name I don't remember but I do know he stole a pen from the Chilean president (it's a funny story, you should google it). The castle has an impressive cathedral (really any church in Europe is incredible), grand views of the river, a prison/dungeon, an alley of really tiny houses and other cool castle-y things. It's strange to think that someone still lives there...I don't know that I would want to though. The sweet views don't quite overcome the damp, stone feeling that is everywhere in the place. My cold bloodedness wouldn't do well there.
On the way back down from the castle and after a czech dinner, we stopped in one of the Easter Markets that popped up everywhere in the city for the upcoming holiday. Think really small scale state fair, but with less farm animals and vegetables (eastern Europe hasn't really caught on to that whole fresh produce trend yet) but still with meat on a stick, wonderful sticky sweet bread treats, knickknacks and entertaining performances (Czech dancing probably trumps country singing in this case though). After a stroll around the square, we went back to the hostel, found our roommates (Americans studying in Madrid and on holiday in Prague) and went out for a beer. The beer was much needed because in the time between getting back to hostel and dinner, we went to book out next hostel in either Berlin or Munich (we hadn't quite decided yet) only to find that Easter in Europe is about as popular as St. Patrick's day in Dublin and there were only really expensive and really icky rooms left to be had. After about a half an hour of slight panic, we decided to go to A: go to Munich instead of Berlin and B: go ahead and book a hotel (yes, I did mean hotel instead of hostel) for our first night in Brussels, which is the Saturday before Easter. We decided on a hotel because the other options were to save 5 dollars and stay in a 40 or 50 bed dorm in a less than well rated hostel or find a bar that is open all night. Since neither of those were valid, we embraced the idea of having at least one night of solid rest with a nice bed, two fluffy pillows (hostels only give you one...it makes my neck sad), a tv (we don't really miss watching tv per say, but we could use a lazy night in) and the grand finale for me...a bathtub! I'm so looking forward to a nice soak in a hot bath, it's hard to describe. So anyways, our panic subsided and now we are happy campers excited about our hotel and being in Brussels, the chocolate capital of the world during Easter so we can eat lots of delicious Easter bunnies.
It was also a nice Pra-ha! moment (another pun...I do apologize but they are such fun) when we realized that even though we made a slight error in planning, we did not freak out and we figured it out. I think this trip has really given us a chance to develop skills that we wouldnt really ever get back home, like making friends out of little or no connection, planning out day after day of what we want to do (I know it doesnt sounds tough, but we have to make a conscious decision every minute about what we are doing and are going to do next. It can get a bit exhausting sometimes). We are also much better at weighing options and cost/benefit analysis (sometimes when it comes to trains, it really is worth 10 euros for an extra 2 hours in a city) and then adapting to changes when circumstances beyond our control. It was then that I reallz realized...we are growing up! And we are learning about ourselves as well as other cultures on this trip. We are just expanding our boundaries left and right. Still, we still cant forget the dumb, blind faith that got us here and continues to help everything work out for us. I think this may be how real life is...a lot of hard work, thinking on your feet, and also having faith that things will probably work out, because they usually do. It was a Pra-ha! moment indeed.
Our first day in Prague began with a three hour guided tour of the important parts of the city, which is basically everywhere. The best part about the tour set up is the company that runs the tour called New Europe. Their founding principle is that everyone should be able to experience a city to its fullest, despite their budget, so you can join a tour in about 10 cities across Europe for no charge. The guides don't get paid for the basic city tour (although they do have paid tours in other parts of the city) and simply work for tips. It's neat because you then get to decide what you think the tour was worth or what youwould have paid for the tour and then tip that much. It works for us because it is a heck of a lot cheaper than other tours and the guides work a lot harder to make them tour fun and interesting because they will make more money if we enjoy it. Anyways, our tour was Czech-ceptional and I don't think that I have ever learned so much applied history and culture in 3 hours before. The other good thing about such a comprehensive tour is that we get to see a bit of everything and decide at we want to come back and explore more. After the tour, we went up the the Prague Castle, which is still the home of the president of Prague whose name I don't remember but I do know he stole a pen from the Chilean president (it's a funny story, you should google it). The castle has an impressive cathedral (really any church in Europe is incredible), grand views of the river, a prison/dungeon, an alley of really tiny houses and other cool castle-y things. It's strange to think that someone still lives there...I don't know that I would want to though. The sweet views don't quite overcome the damp, stone feeling that is everywhere in the place. My cold bloodedness wouldn't do well there.
On the way back down from the castle and after a czech dinner, we stopped in one of the Easter Markets that popped up everywhere in the city for the upcoming holiday. Think really small scale state fair, but with less farm animals and vegetables (eastern Europe hasn't really caught on to that whole fresh produce trend yet) but still with meat on a stick, wonderful sticky sweet bread treats, knickknacks and entertaining performances (Czech dancing probably trumps country singing in this case though). After a stroll around the square, we went back to the hostel, found our roommates (Americans studying in Madrid and on holiday in Prague) and went out for a beer. The beer was much needed because in the time between getting back to hostel and dinner, we went to book out next hostel in either Berlin or Munich (we hadn't quite decided yet) only to find that Easter in Europe is about as popular as St. Patrick's day in Dublin and there were only really expensive and really icky rooms left to be had. After about a half an hour of slight panic, we decided to go to A: go to Munich instead of Berlin and B: go ahead and book a hotel (yes, I did mean hotel instead of hostel) for our first night in Brussels, which is the Saturday before Easter. We decided on a hotel because the other options were to save 5 dollars and stay in a 40 or 50 bed dorm in a less than well rated hostel or find a bar that is open all night. Since neither of those were valid, we embraced the idea of having at least one night of solid rest with a nice bed, two fluffy pillows (hostels only give you one...it makes my neck sad), a tv (we don't really miss watching tv per say, but we could use a lazy night in) and the grand finale for me...a bathtub! I'm so looking forward to a nice soak in a hot bath, it's hard to describe. So anyways, our panic subsided and now we are happy campers excited about our hotel and being in Brussels, the chocolate capital of the world during Easter so we can eat lots of delicious Easter bunnies.
It was also a nice Pra-ha! moment (another pun...I do apologize but they are such fun) when we realized that even though we made a slight error in planning, we did not freak out and we figured it out. I think this trip has really given us a chance to develop skills that we wouldnt really ever get back home, like making friends out of little or no connection, planning out day after day of what we want to do (I know it doesnt sounds tough, but we have to make a conscious decision every minute about what we are doing and are going to do next. It can get a bit exhausting sometimes). We are also much better at weighing options and cost/benefit analysis (sometimes when it comes to trains, it really is worth 10 euros for an extra 2 hours in a city) and then adapting to changes when circumstances beyond our control. It was then that I reallz realized...we are growing up! And we are learning about ourselves as well as other cultures on this trip. We are just expanding our boundaries left and right. Still, we still cant forget the dumb, blind faith that got us here and continues to help everything work out for us. I think this may be how real life is...a lot of hard work, thinking on your feet, and also having faith that things will probably work out, because they usually do. It was a Pra-ha! moment indeed.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Silly Putty In A City
To paraphrase little oprhan Annie, tomorrow is only a day away and when in Vienna, it will be better! After our not so fun day, we were relieved that at least our room was big and the pillows were fluffy, so we got a great night sleep and woke up to wind but no rain! After breakfast at the hostel (not free but they had a cappuccino machine so it was totally worth three euros) we went to see the Spanish riding school's morning workout. The school is all about incredible moves with Lippizaner horses and highly trained riders set to music. It's like dressage riding, but a class of its own and it was very cool to see. We explored around a bit in the sun to try to find our bearings better than yesterday and settled into a cafe to have cake and coffee for lunch before going back to the Spanish riding school for a guided tour of the stables and grounds of the school, which was really interesting. We figured we should probably find out a bit about theist story of the city we were in, so we went to the Wien museum after the tour and then grabbed dinner before one of the most exciting parts of Vienna...the opera! Apparently its one of the best opera houses in the world and we heard that you can get standing room tickets for 3 euros by standing in line 90 minutes before a show, so that's exactly what we did. So for less than the price of a glass of wine in the theatre, we got to see l'exlixer d'amore. The spelling is probably wrong but it's a fun Italian opera about, you guessed it, unrequited love. Even though we were the second to last row in the place, the sound was amazing and the actors were obviously having fun on stage, plus the atmosphere is so cultured that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Overall, the day went much more smoothly than yesterday. The weather still wasnt fully cooperating (wind replaced the rain), but we felt like we took in more that the city had to give than we did yesterday and we could recognize why people really liked Vienna. Our final morning (this morning) was quite interesting. Even though the ease of the hostel breakfast was appealing, we planned to find another authentic cafe in the large, lively market outside the hostel. Well, turns out that the market is most active on Saturdays and completely dead on Sundays (of course) so we had to make other plans. After asking the front desk for a recommendation, we made our way out to find pastries and coffee. When we get there, we open the door, only to be abruptly ushered out because they do not open at a normal hour on Sundays, they wait until eleven, as does the entire city, apparently. Since they were closed, we decided to walk around little bit and only use the hostel breakfast as a last resort. Finally we found a bakery that was authentic enough for our cold, hungry bodies (it was a chain but one that started in Vienna and hasn't spread very far out) and ducked in. While we were enjoying pastries and cappuccinos, it started snowing outside! Snow in Vienna was not on the forecast at all, but not much surprises us anymore, so we just went with it. After breakfast we walked around a little bit more, only to find that we were in the city center already. Turns out that all of Vienna that we had been seeing was about a ten minute walk from our hostel but he had no idea because we had such a time orientating ourselves (we still are blaming the weather, our terrible map and the less than helpful hostel staff). But really, why didn't the staff tell us that we could walk to all the things that we had been taking the metro to? Ah! We had a good chuckle and then quickly found our bearings that had eluded us the past 48 hours.
Since we got more acclimated to the city layout in the last hour than the rest of our stay combined, it's hard to say exactly how Vienna was. The city is full of art and music and history, which is classy and cultured, but I think we need better weather to soak it all in. Having a city talked up also gives it big shoes to fill, and I think that hurt us a bit too. The hostel being a party hostel didn't help either. Individually everything we did was really nice and enjoyable; the horses were very cool, the opera for 3 euros is a once in a lifetime opportunity that worked out for us, the museums were great collections, the food was really tasty. It just didn't feel like successful city as Barcelona or Florence did. When we first get into a new place, I always feel like we are kind of blobs that fall on top of the buildings, like if you rolled out silly putty and laid it on a model city. If we are able to get a feel for the city quickly, our blobs start to warm up and sink down into all the side streets and corners filled with the best of the culture, the hidden gems that not everyone sees. If we stay rigid for some reason, we only see down into the main parts and watch from above, not fully immersed in the people and the place. Since we didn't start to warm up until today, I feel like even though we hit almost all the high points, we really didn't experience Vienna like it deserves. I think that we will just have to give it another shot during a warmer and less rainy season!
Overall, the day went much more smoothly than yesterday. The weather still wasnt fully cooperating (wind replaced the rain), but we felt like we took in more that the city had to give than we did yesterday and we could recognize why people really liked Vienna. Our final morning (this morning) was quite interesting. Even though the ease of the hostel breakfast was appealing, we planned to find another authentic cafe in the large, lively market outside the hostel. Well, turns out that the market is most active on Saturdays and completely dead on Sundays (of course) so we had to make other plans. After asking the front desk for a recommendation, we made our way out to find pastries and coffee. When we get there, we open the door, only to be abruptly ushered out because they do not open at a normal hour on Sundays, they wait until eleven, as does the entire city, apparently. Since they were closed, we decided to walk around little bit and only use the hostel breakfast as a last resort. Finally we found a bakery that was authentic enough for our cold, hungry bodies (it was a chain but one that started in Vienna and hasn't spread very far out) and ducked in. While we were enjoying pastries and cappuccinos, it started snowing outside! Snow in Vienna was not on the forecast at all, but not much surprises us anymore, so we just went with it. After breakfast we walked around a little bit more, only to find that we were in the city center already. Turns out that all of Vienna that we had been seeing was about a ten minute walk from our hostel but he had no idea because we had such a time orientating ourselves (we still are blaming the weather, our terrible map and the less than helpful hostel staff). But really, why didn't the staff tell us that we could walk to all the things that we had been taking the metro to? Ah! We had a good chuckle and then quickly found our bearings that had eluded us the past 48 hours.
Since we got more acclimated to the city layout in the last hour than the rest of our stay combined, it's hard to say exactly how Vienna was. The city is full of art and music and history, which is classy and cultured, but I think we need better weather to soak it all in. Having a city talked up also gives it big shoes to fill, and I think that hurt us a bit too. The hostel being a party hostel didn't help either. Individually everything we did was really nice and enjoyable; the horses were very cool, the opera for 3 euros is a once in a lifetime opportunity that worked out for us, the museums were great collections, the food was really tasty. It just didn't feel like successful city as Barcelona or Florence did. When we first get into a new place, I always feel like we are kind of blobs that fall on top of the buildings, like if you rolled out silly putty and laid it on a model city. If we are able to get a feel for the city quickly, our blobs start to warm up and sink down into all the side streets and corners filled with the best of the culture, the hidden gems that not everyone sees. If we stay rigid for some reason, we only see down into the main parts and watch from above, not fully immersed in the people and the place. Since we didn't start to warm up until today, I feel like even though we hit almost all the high points, we really didn't experience Vienna like it deserves. I think that we will just have to give it another shot during a warmer and less rainy season!
Good faith, bad map
When we came into the city, we were rolling off of a strange trip in a night train. The car that we were in had two triple bunk beds where katlin and I were on the third bunk on both sides. After climbing over the luggage of the two men already on the bottom two beds and getting our packs up, we discovered that our next twelve hours were to be spent horizontally since there was not even enough head room to sit up straight. On top of the small space, the car felt like an oven and there was no room to change out of my jeans and into pajamas (getting down to the bathroom was just not worth it). I also managed to anger the man below me because my water bottle stared leaking on him of course, but I couldn't understand what he was gesturing/saying in german. Once I stopped the leaking and tried to convey my apologies, I accepted that this was to be a highly uncomfortable night and tried to get some sleep. When we finally got to stand up straight the next morning, we pretty much immediately had to put the children on and get on a metro to find our hostel. After getting directions from a kind Austrian since in my haze that morning had omitted a line from my directions off the hostel website, we emerged from the metro to cold, cold rain. Luckily the hostel was only about a two minute walk from the metro stop and so we got inside before we froze. Not so lucky, it was only 10 in the morning so our room wasn't ready and we had to storage our luggage and head out without properly unpacking.
We decided to go to St. Stephens church, the biggest landmark in town and then to lunch before buying tickets the see the Spanish riding school's public workout for the next day. The church was impressive but cold and damp, while lunch was a very welcomed break of good luck. We found an authentic looking restaurant and Katlin managed to find schnitzel, warm sourkraute and potatoes on a very intimidating menu. Thank goodness she did. Not only was I starving, but it was, we decided, like Austrian comfort food. Back home, it may have been ham with collards and mashed potatoes but either way it was a meat, soft potatoes and stewed, salty vegetable and it was just what we needed. The bad weather greatly influenced our decision to get on a tram that made a circle around the important buildings of the city, and after that we went to the art museum. The time to actually check into our hostel finally rolled around so we went back to transfer our bags and unpack as much as we can. We also tried to plan out of next day a bit better, since we felt like we came in pretty unprepared for the city. You see, we had heard so many good things about Venna that i think we just expected to get in and walk into the heart of town and be drawn in to things to do, but that wasn't quite the case for many reasons. First, the weather really was terrible and gloomy. It's hard to be excited about just walking around when it's nasty outside. Secondly, the map that the hostel gave us was ridiculously bad. It was of the entire city, which in theory is helpful but not when they sacrifice street names for size. Third, the reception wasn't exactly very helpful with telling us what to do either. Normally when we check into a hostel, this is about what happens: the staff is overly excited to see you and give you a handy map with almost comically blown up tourist sites on it. They then circle everything good about the city and tell you where the metro is and what ticket to buy, or that you don't need a metro ticket at all. Our hostel, besides handing us a map, did none of this. The map makers obviously do not spend time wandering a city with their maps either, because if they did, they would realize that their map sucks. Besides the lack of street names, the size makes it incredibly cumbersome and hard to fold back. Its so large that it basically acted as a sail in the gusting winds. Honestly, it did. We really really hated that map.
Despite our good intentions to find bratwurst for dinner, we got a bit turned around in in the cold rain and ended up at a tasty, trendy Mediterranean restaurant where we saw fresh vegetables for the first time in ages. (A crisp cucumber slice? What's that? Refreshing and delicious with hummus and falafel is what is was.) We went back to the hostel with no real plan for the night in mind but ended up meeting our roommates and going down to the bar in the hostel (yes, there was a bar in the hostel, if that gives you an idea of what most people in the hostel were there to do) to check it out. After a game of pool and our small free drink, we turned in for the night with the hopes that tomorrow would be better (read drier, more navigable, less dreary).
We decided to go to St. Stephens church, the biggest landmark in town and then to lunch before buying tickets the see the Spanish riding school's public workout for the next day. The church was impressive but cold and damp, while lunch was a very welcomed break of good luck. We found an authentic looking restaurant and Katlin managed to find schnitzel, warm sourkraute and potatoes on a very intimidating menu. Thank goodness she did. Not only was I starving, but it was, we decided, like Austrian comfort food. Back home, it may have been ham with collards and mashed potatoes but either way it was a meat, soft potatoes and stewed, salty vegetable and it was just what we needed. The bad weather greatly influenced our decision to get on a tram that made a circle around the important buildings of the city, and after that we went to the art museum. The time to actually check into our hostel finally rolled around so we went back to transfer our bags and unpack as much as we can. We also tried to plan out of next day a bit better, since we felt like we came in pretty unprepared for the city. You see, we had heard so many good things about Venna that i think we just expected to get in and walk into the heart of town and be drawn in to things to do, but that wasn't quite the case for many reasons. First, the weather really was terrible and gloomy. It's hard to be excited about just walking around when it's nasty outside. Secondly, the map that the hostel gave us was ridiculously bad. It was of the entire city, which in theory is helpful but not when they sacrifice street names for size. Third, the reception wasn't exactly very helpful with telling us what to do either. Normally when we check into a hostel, this is about what happens: the staff is overly excited to see you and give you a handy map with almost comically blown up tourist sites on it. They then circle everything good about the city and tell you where the metro is and what ticket to buy, or that you don't need a metro ticket at all. Our hostel, besides handing us a map, did none of this. The map makers obviously do not spend time wandering a city with their maps either, because if they did, they would realize that their map sucks. Besides the lack of street names, the size makes it incredibly cumbersome and hard to fold back. Its so large that it basically acted as a sail in the gusting winds. Honestly, it did. We really really hated that map.
Despite our good intentions to find bratwurst for dinner, we got a bit turned around in in the cold rain and ended up at a tasty, trendy Mediterranean restaurant where we saw fresh vegetables for the first time in ages. (A crisp cucumber slice? What's that? Refreshing and delicious with hummus and falafel is what is was.) We went back to the hostel with no real plan for the night in mind but ended up meeting our roommates and going down to the bar in the hostel (yes, there was a bar in the hostel, if that gives you an idea of what most people in the hostel were there to do) to check it out. After a game of pool and our small free drink, we turned in for the night with the hopes that tomorrow would be better (read drier, more navigable, less dreary).
The best bike ride ever
Oh the bike tour! We met at the office bright and early to get a can out of town and to their office out in the country. After getting our bikes and helmets we were off! Our guide's name was Joseph, an 29 year old Australian that has lived in Italy for the past two years, and he was a spectacular guide. The tour was set up so you rode around to different checkpoints where everyone would stop to admire the view or monument and Joseph would then tell us things about the land or the families that go out and pick the olive trees and press them for oil together during the harvesting season. It was a great mix of freedom and information, and even though we were together with Joseph the whole time, we still felt like it was relaxed and un-touristy. We also got to ride out at our own pace most of the time, so we could enjoy views of the countryside or pick up speed and just have fun riding down hills.
After about 2 hours of riding and stops, we arrived at the Corsini estate who have an impressive vineyard and olive grove where they produce Corti wine and olive oil. We toured the oak cellars and the fermenting vats before sitting down to a tree course meal with two of there red wines. The first course of polenta suofle with yellow curry sauce was delicious and not expected, while the soup (chickpeas and other beans and veggies in broth) tasted like hearty Italy. The pasta course was spaghetti with anchovies, which no one really enjoyed unfortunately. I think anchovies are an acquired taste, one that we do not have yet aquired (our chosen adjective to describe it was "icky"... I think we may need to aquire a few more years to have more refined levels of taste and maturity). The wine was top notch, probably the best chianti I've ever had. Quick wine lesson, wine that is called chianti is only actual chianti if it is grown within a certain region of Tuscany in very strict guidelines about soil, harvest time, composition of grapes, and of course, taste. Any wine to pass the Chianti board (yes, it is a board of old men who drink wine for a living, if you were wondering) then gets a thin pink label around the neck of the bottle with a number on it that you can plug into their database to find out when and where it was made. Any other chianti without that label is probably still made in that region, but it is not true Chianti. After lunch, we cycled (our bottoms were very, very sore after getting un- accustomed to the hard seats during lunch) to a local gelato shop and grabbed a treat before heading back down to town. The last stop was a little overlook of the Florence skyline where we took pictures with Joseph and our friends before cruising down the final hill.
The whole tour was a great get away from the hustle of the city and something that I would recommend to anyone (we went with Florencetown, if you ever are in the area) and definitely do again. After the tour we went back to the hostel (most hostels have luggage storage if you have checked out but aren't leaving the city yet) to freshen up and grab a bite to eat in town before hopping on our night train out to Viennna. It was a long but incredible day...I'm so glad we switched our tour to do it with our hostel friends. Meeting new people and using our friend making skills has been an really amazing part of this whole trip. It's neat because with hostel friends, you get to skip the slightly awkward part where you don't know if they want to be friends or not and since no one is really in their element, everyone bonds quickly. It's also hard though, because you spend two or three days with a great group of people like Jon, Fiona and Molly and then you just split off. These friends will definitely be friends that we remember though, that's for sure.
After about 2 hours of riding and stops, we arrived at the Corsini estate who have an impressive vineyard and olive grove where they produce Corti wine and olive oil. We toured the oak cellars and the fermenting vats before sitting down to a tree course meal with two of there red wines. The first course of polenta suofle with yellow curry sauce was delicious and not expected, while the soup (chickpeas and other beans and veggies in broth) tasted like hearty Italy. The pasta course was spaghetti with anchovies, which no one really enjoyed unfortunately. I think anchovies are an acquired taste, one that we do not have yet aquired (our chosen adjective to describe it was "icky"... I think we may need to aquire a few more years to have more refined levels of taste and maturity). The wine was top notch, probably the best chianti I've ever had. Quick wine lesson, wine that is called chianti is only actual chianti if it is grown within a certain region of Tuscany in very strict guidelines about soil, harvest time, composition of grapes, and of course, taste. Any wine to pass the Chianti board (yes, it is a board of old men who drink wine for a living, if you were wondering) then gets a thin pink label around the neck of the bottle with a number on it that you can plug into their database to find out when and where it was made. Any other chianti without that label is probably still made in that region, but it is not true Chianti. After lunch, we cycled (our bottoms were very, very sore after getting un- accustomed to the hard seats during lunch) to a local gelato shop and grabbed a treat before heading back down to town. The last stop was a little overlook of the Florence skyline where we took pictures with Joseph and our friends before cruising down the final hill.
The whole tour was a great get away from the hustle of the city and something that I would recommend to anyone (we went with Florencetown, if you ever are in the area) and definitely do again. After the tour we went back to the hostel (most hostels have luggage storage if you have checked out but aren't leaving the city yet) to freshen up and grab a bite to eat in town before hopping on our night train out to Viennna. It was a long but incredible day...I'm so glad we switched our tour to do it with our hostel friends. Meeting new people and using our friend making skills has been an really amazing part of this whole trip. It's neat because with hostel friends, you get to skip the slightly awkward part where you don't know if they want to be friends or not and since no one is really in their element, everyone bonds quickly. It's also hard though, because you spend two or three days with a great group of people like Jon, Fiona and Molly and then you just split off. These friends will definitely be friends that we remember though, that's for sure.
Florence part two
Even though we were really excited to be going on the bike tour on Wednesday, we actually delayed it by one day so our friends ( Jon from Chicago, Fiona from Canada and Molly from South Carolina) could join us. You see, we actually scored a pretty great deal on the trip by going to a little side stand of the company and since we wanted to leave the next day, they sell spots for half price just to fill them. Our friends unfortunately couldn't by the tickets at half price at the official office but got them for cheap the next day instead, and we just pushed our reservation back a day. Instead, we wandered around the city doing some necessary errands like buying our train ticket for the next day and stopping by the one euro store (think dollar store in America, but a little bit nicer). After that, we enjoyed the great weather and had pizza for lunch outside the Duomo with our friends. Not wanting to go inside for much of anything, we went over the the Santa maria novel and sat outside for a bit, marveling at the impressive church facade that looks unified but was actually constructed in two levels, one before the plague hit Florence and one a few years after. We found an old pharmacy shop that is being redone for the it's 400 anniversary celebration that a guide told us about...they sell all the something's that they did in the past, specifically loose tea, soaps, perfumes, lotions, and oils, all made the old fashioned way. An afternoon treat of gelato cooled us off before we went back to the hostel to relax, eat dinner and pack.
In an effort to experience Florence nightlife while still getting rest for our bike trip the day after, we went out with Jon, Molly, Fiona and their two other hostel roommates to an Irish pub down the street for a beer. It was nice to sit outside and relax with our new friends and just talk about our travels and life in general. Katlin actually pointed out that the pub was a wonderful combination of our whole trip thus far: we were in Florence at an Irish pub where the local men had gathered to watch the soccer match between Milan and Barcelona, drinking carlsberg, an English beer. It seems like the travel gods were smiling down on us and giving us a pat on the back for a travel job well done so far. Did I mention how we love those hostel gods? They have been good to us, especially when I accidentally booked the wrong room in Florence...I didn't notice that I selected a private 4 bed room instead of a normal mixed bed dorm. In hostel terms, private means that no one else can stay in the room and you pay for every bed in there, so instead of having 2 beds, I had essentially booked us 4. Luckily, the hostel was very accommodating and kind; they opened the room up and found two other girls that took the other beds. We toasted the hostel gods that night for sure.
In an effort to experience Florence nightlife while still getting rest for our bike trip the day after, we went out with Jon, Molly, Fiona and their two other hostel roommates to an Irish pub down the street for a beer. It was nice to sit outside and relax with our new friends and just talk about our travels and life in general. Katlin actually pointed out that the pub was a wonderful combination of our whole trip thus far: we were in Florence at an Irish pub where the local men had gathered to watch the soccer match between Milan and Barcelona, drinking carlsberg, an English beer. It seems like the travel gods were smiling down on us and giving us a pat on the back for a travel job well done so far. Did I mention how we love those hostel gods? They have been good to us, especially when I accidentally booked the wrong room in Florence...I didn't notice that I selected a private 4 bed room instead of a normal mixed bed dorm. In hostel terms, private means that no one else can stay in the room and you pay for every bed in there, so instead of having 2 beds, I had essentially booked us 4. Luckily, the hostel was very accommodating and kind; they opened the room up and found two other girls that took the other beds. We toasted the hostel gods that night for sure.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Time and money fly in Florence
Florence is pretty sweet, I must say. Much better than Rome on any scale for sure. Florence just feels like it has a lot more character and more to offer as a whole city and not just for the historic monuments that you need to see. When I think of Rome now, I think of a quote from Picasso that we saw in Barcelona: " If you already know exactly what you are going to do, what's the point in doing it?". Granted, I don't feel quite that strongly against Rome, but I do feel like you go to Rome knowing what you want to do and see, and so that's what we did. Rome felt a bit rigid, where as Florence feels open to exploration. The city evens seems to welcomes you to wander up and down the river, through the streets or on a grassy piazza. Not having set plans here is a valid agenda, in fact I think our traveling style is better suited to that kind of city anyways.
That is not to say that Florence is lacking when it comes to history though! We toured the Santa Maria del Fiore and the famous duomo yesterday and it's probably my second favorite church that we've been to so far. The inside isnt glamorous or overdone, it's just meant to be a place to be faithful. On their pamphlet, it said " the Duomo is the house of God and of his people. But the duomo, above all, like every other church, is above all 'the house of prayer for all nations'. So it is your house, even if you are not Florentine, even if you are not a believer. Welcome!" I thought that was a perfect way to say what church really could be, not what organized religion sometimes feels like. We climbed all the way to the top of the dome (463 steps, mind you) and it was amazing. The claustrophobia I felt while going up and Katlin's dislike of heights? Not so amazing. The climb begins in a regular sized stone stair case, continues up a one person wide spiral stir case, climbs the curve of the interior dome and finally you ascend to the viewing area after going straight up 10 steps. But we made it and it was completely worth it.
Yesterday we decided to go on a free walking tour that was quite good and took you around to all the less well known but actually more interesting places around the city. Then we fell victim to the shopping that is here and bought jewelry (necklaces for both of us) and other neat Florentine goods at the leather market. Then we had dinner with Ben, one of our roommates from the hostel in Barcelona. How cool is that? He is studying here and so we said we would try to meet up again and we actually did! Today we explored museums and more of the city with 3 people that we met at the hostel here and tomorrow were taking a bike tour of the Chianti wine country with them. I honestly can't believe this is real life sometimes, it just sounds so incredible. I go back and forth between having a hard time believing that we are actually abroad and thinking that being where we are and doing what we are doing is no big deal. Like yesterday when we were planning to meet Ben, he suggested that we find each other at the steps in front of the Duomo. I said yes, because that made a lot of sense directional wise, but later at dinner, it hit me. We just used an incredible dome as a casual meeting point. Oh you know, just reconvening at the largest dome ever built without scaffolding. Just the most prominent building on the Florence skyline. A place of incredible religious significance. No biggie. And then, as if that wasn't enough, from there we climbed a hill to see that very city skyline at sunset and had an authentic Italian dinner all with a new friend that we would probably never met otherwise. No big deal, right? Totally a big deal! Crazy! It does feel natural though, like this is right where we are meant to be right now. It's positively wonderful to feel this way and I can't believe that we are only halfway through our trip.
That is not to say that Florence is lacking when it comes to history though! We toured the Santa Maria del Fiore and the famous duomo yesterday and it's probably my second favorite church that we've been to so far. The inside isnt glamorous or overdone, it's just meant to be a place to be faithful. On their pamphlet, it said " the Duomo is the house of God and of his people. But the duomo, above all, like every other church, is above all 'the house of prayer for all nations'. So it is your house, even if you are not Florentine, even if you are not a believer. Welcome!" I thought that was a perfect way to say what church really could be, not what organized religion sometimes feels like. We climbed all the way to the top of the dome (463 steps, mind you) and it was amazing. The claustrophobia I felt while going up and Katlin's dislike of heights? Not so amazing. The climb begins in a regular sized stone stair case, continues up a one person wide spiral stir case, climbs the curve of the interior dome and finally you ascend to the viewing area after going straight up 10 steps. But we made it and it was completely worth it.
Yesterday we decided to go on a free walking tour that was quite good and took you around to all the less well known but actually more interesting places around the city. Then we fell victim to the shopping that is here and bought jewelry (necklaces for both of us) and other neat Florentine goods at the leather market. Then we had dinner with Ben, one of our roommates from the hostel in Barcelona. How cool is that? He is studying here and so we said we would try to meet up again and we actually did! Today we explored museums and more of the city with 3 people that we met at the hostel here and tomorrow were taking a bike tour of the Chianti wine country with them. I honestly can't believe this is real life sometimes, it just sounds so incredible. I go back and forth between having a hard time believing that we are actually abroad and thinking that being where we are and doing what we are doing is no big deal. Like yesterday when we were planning to meet Ben, he suggested that we find each other at the steps in front of the Duomo. I said yes, because that made a lot of sense directional wise, but later at dinner, it hit me. We just used an incredible dome as a casual meeting point. Oh you know, just reconvening at the largest dome ever built without scaffolding. Just the most prominent building on the Florence skyline. A place of incredible religious significance. No biggie. And then, as if that wasn't enough, from there we climbed a hill to see that very city skyline at sunset and had an authentic Italian dinner all with a new friend that we would probably never met otherwise. No big deal, right? Totally a big deal! Crazy! It does feel natural though, like this is right where we are meant to be right now. It's positively wonderful to feel this way and I can't believe that we are only halfway through our trip.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)