My adventures in Vienna and Prague: Week 3

August 18-19, 2007
A couple of people and I decided to wake up extremely early to go to the Naschmarkt for some flea market shopping and food before Henri’s 11am tennis match at the sports stadium. We walked up and down the market area for about an hour. People were selling a lot of old useless things. I found some pretty nice jewelry, but I wasn’t willing to pay the price for it. Some of the locals were selling some pretty old beat up stuff like shoes and broken electronics. Some of my friends did buy some really neat gears! We got hungry after walking around, so we stopped by a local café and had some really interesting food. The café served ‘dinkle pourage’ … we didn’t know what it was so we ordered it to find out! I had this really tasty mystery sandwich. We called it the mystery sandwich because we didn’t know what was in it. But luckily, it turned out very delicious.

It was getting close to time; we all headed back to Simmering and hopped on the S-Bahn to go to Henri’s match. The problem was that we didn’t know which S-Bahn train to get on. In the end, we asked around and got on the wrong train. We ended up going around in circles and that wasted like an hour of our time. But eventually, we all found the correct route to take to the tennis match. When we got of at our stop, we were already an hour and a half late! Little did we know that we had a good half an hour walk before arriving at the stadium. By the time we reached our destination, Henri’s match was over long before. After all that work, we just went back to Simmering.

Top and bottom image: Our mini adventures riding on the S-Bahn to random places...

Later the next day, Emily and I went to the Schönbrunn (beautiful well) Palace.

This was built in 1696 and was the summer home of the Habsburg. The architecture and gardens greatly defines the tastes of the Habsburg monarch. Empress Maria Theresa asked Nicolò Pacassi (an architect) to reshape the Schönbrunn Palace to fit the style of the Rococo era. The monarch lifestyle was very lavished and elaborate. Every room had a different theme and unique design. My absolute favorite room was the Blue Room.

The Schönbrunn palace gardens

August 14-17, 2007

My 4 days in Prague through pictures…

Prague Day 1

6 hour bus ride to Prague, Czech Republic at 8 am in the morning. I slept most of the way there. I woke up a few times for WC breaks and for passport check.

The class arrived in Prague around 2:30pm. When we got our hostel keys and determined who is rooming with who, we all headed towards our hostel.

We stayed at the Traveller's Hostel near Old town. After carrying all our luggages and bags up 5 flights of stairs, we finally reached our room. Natesha, Sherry, Laura and I shared a room. I walked into the room and just completely froze. I was thinking..."this is our hostel for the next 3 days?! Ew..." The place seriously looked like it was going to fall apart. A couple of the students felt really uncomfortable living in the conditions of the hostel so they went on a hotel search later on. I was not pleased with our accomdations for this Prague trip.

The hostel room that i stayed in....

The tiny hall way....

After dropping off our baggage, we met at check-in area for our guided walking tour at 4:30pm around Prague. The tour was lead by Irena, an old Czech lady whos English was not very clear. She was our tour guide for the next 3 days.

The class walking down the streets of Prague on our tour.

This is Old Town Square in Old Town (Staré Mĕsto)

The architecture of the buildings in Prague was absolutely amazing. Each building is unique with its own intricate design and color.

St. James Church at Old Town

The Stavovské divadlo, Prague's oldest theatre. This is also the theatre that Mozart's Don Giovanni premiered at.

Natesha and I in front of the famous Old Town Hall Tower and Astronomical Clock.

At the 5 o'clock hour the clock chimes. The windows open and inside little dolls are moving around. During the summer, the streets of Prague are scattered with tourists and watching the clock chime and the dolls moving around is quite a big event!

This is the Týn Church at Old Town. The church is currently undergoing restoration on the clock face of the tower.

After a long day, having fun is the best reward.

Prague Day 2

Sherry and I woke up extra early and explored Old Town. We wanted some tasty pastries and coffee, but we remembered that there was self-served breakfast at the hostel.

Beautiful Prague at 7:30 in morning.

After breakfast, everyone met downstairs at 9:15am for the tour with Irena.

We went to Charles Bridge. This picture is the bridge tower before setting foot on the bridge itself.

Me on the Charles Bridge.

The Bridge was so lively with people and small venders selling touristy goodies.

On this statue, people are suppose rub the gold and make a wish.

We crossed the Charles Bridge and into Malá Strana.

We passed by the St. Nick's Cathedral on our way to the Prague Castle.

(left to right) Me, Laura and Sherry sitting in front of a pond at St. Nick's.

Our walk to the Prague Castle....

After a long hike up to top, we make it to the castle gates.

The guards at the gate looked pretty neat!

The Pražský hrad (Prague Castle) is located over the River Vltava.

The St. Vitus Cathedral. There was a tremendous amount of people lined up to enter the cathedral. The line wrapped all the way around the the cathedral! It was crazy. This was where half the class went missing and we couldn't find each other.

Me and the view from the top.

After the tour ended for the day, a couple friends and went to find some local Czech food to eat. Sherry and I walked around the city and bought tickets to see Mozart's Don Giovanni (puppet show).

Before the Don Giovanni puppet show, Sherry and I walked along the Charles Bridge. It was so beautiful. It's a just different feel at night.

Mozart's Don Giovanni.

The cast of the puppeteers.

The puppet show was really funny. It's a shorter modernized version of the original. I really enjoyed the show! I'm especially amazed with the cast and their talent with manuvering the puppets. Next time if I ever go back to Prague, I would love to see what the original Don Giovanni has to offer.

I ended the night having fun with some friends. (left to right) Siobhan, me, Rricha.

Prague Day 3

On the last full day in Prague, Irena took the class on another tour around the Jewish Ghettos.

Jewish Cemetery in Josefov (Jewish Town)

A regular clock and a clock that works in the reverse order.

One of the few Jewish Synagogues that we visited on the last tour with Irena.

We visited the exhibition of children's drawings in Pinkasova Synagoga from the Jewish ghetto in Terezin (where Ruth Kluger was when she was a child). Seeing the children's depiction of what was going on in Terezin disturbed me.

After the last tour, Sherry and I walked around Old Town to do last minute souvenir shopping and stopped by a restaurant to eat lunch.

Lunch! Pork knuckle with horseradish! It was a gianormous portion!

Famous Czech pancakes. YUMMY.

During my souvenir shopping, a random mole was walking down the street...

Me in front of the Powder Tower located just outside of Old Town Square.

The National Theatre located near the Vltava River just before New Town.

Sherlock Holmes old place... now it's a cigar and tabacco pipe store.

Me in front of Hotel Imperial aka the Imperial Cafe.

What can I say.... I really liked my cappuccino.

When evening hit, Sherry and I made our journey up to the Petřínská rozhledna (Petřín lookout tower), even though the weather turned freezing and it was starting to rain. The tower kind of resembles the Eiffle Tower in Paris. The tower stands tall on top of the hills of Petřín. It was built in 1891 for the use of a watch tower and also a transmissions tower.

A view from the middle of the tower.

Me from the middle of the tower.

Yay! Sherry and I made it to the top!

The view from the top is spectacular... this is Praha! Isn't it just stunning?

After that long hike to the top, I treated myself to some delightful gelato ice cream! It was simply the best gelato I've ever had.

Prague Day 4

Not much of a day in Praha.. just a 6 hour bus ride back to Vienna. After those 3 days of non-stop walking on cobble stone, my feet and body needed a serious break! Later in the evening, the weather got really bad. It rained, thundered and lightening-ed like crazy!

August 12-13, 2007
In the late afternoon the day after Budapest, a couple students (who didn’t go to Budapest for 2 days) and the professor went to see the 1949 movie, The Third Man, showing at the Burgkino. The theater was definitely smaller than those in the US, but the seats are so much more comfortable and squishy. I really enjoyed the movie; this was not my first time seeing The Third Man though.

Afterwards, a small group of us went to a microbrewery that the professor recommended. It was absolutely appetizing.

The night ended with ice cream/ dessert at a gelato place in Stephansplatz. What a great way to end the night!

Stephansplatz at night... just beautiful. I love it.

The next night was Rricha’s 20^th Birthday Celebration Dinner!

(left to right) Siobhan, Rricha, and Mackenzie.

Happy Birthday Rricha!!!

Basically the whole entire class showed up to the dinner party at this amazing Italian restaurant. The food was wonderful; the atmosphere was fantastic and best of all everyone was having a great time. We ended the night at the Rathaus, celebrating with ice cream and dessert.