Prague

Praha

[not all entries will be this long.]

Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, located smack in the middle of Europe. Home of Pilsner Urquell, the famous Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge, the Prague Castle, and aggressive occupation by the Germans during WWII. Prague has been a cultural hub of Europe for over 1,000 years.

Prague Castle and the Old Town Square, Prague

Who: Deanna, RedShirt, Cliff, and myself

Where: Prague, Czech Republic

When: April 10-13, 2009

Main activities: Pub crawl, Communism Museum, Salvador Dali Exhibit, Lennon Wall, St. Vitus Cathedral, Torture Museum

Redshirt, myself, Deanna, and Cliff in the Old Town Square

Dee and I couldn't get seats on the same flight from Zurich. I flew out the day before she did; 

I had an extra night in Prague and she got an extra day in Zurich with the Argentineans. 

Day 1

I took a train from the airport into town. It was very easy to find the Old Prague Hostel we stayed in --very nice place if you ever go. While I was by myself I toured the Old Town Square and bought some  trinkets for the fam. My dad got a few painted egg shells (that were very hard to transport, imagine that.) and my sister got a Russian doll set from one of the tent-vendors you can see in the pictures. I also went to a indoor mall that was at the bottom of a building, pretty interesting set up. 

-Being involved in retail now, it's fun for me remembering the different formats in these places- 

Is that nerdy?

Old Town Square vendors, Prague

Deanna didn't arrive until the next day and I wasn't about to sit in the hostel all by my self all night... in Prague? lol no, never.

That night, I went with a fellow hostel resident on the Prague Pub Crawl which took us to three different local bars and one GIANT night club with 5 floors and a different atmosphere on each level. It was pretty rad. I recommend it. Especially if your there to rage. 

I mean, I got drunk. What else is there to say? 

Made it back okay...

Always :)

Day 2

When Dee arrived the next morning I was as happy as a clam :) 

We explored a little bit to soak in the city. 

Deanna and I in the Old Town Square

The famous Astronomical Clock Tower

She adores with The Beatles :)

During our reconnaissance of all that Prague has to offer, we came across a few attractions that sparked our interest:

The Torture Museum

Torture Museum, Prague

Torture Chair, a cage, The Iron Maiden 

Three floors of medieval torture techniques and apparatuses, this place is not for the faint of heart. Each instrument contained it's own description (in English) and purpose. It was fascinating to learn some of the grotesque practices that were exercised for even the most minute of offenses. It included things such as the Iron Maiden, saws, chastity belts and the torture chair. The level of creativity in these devices was horrendous, and astonishing! Like a bad car wreck you can't not look at as you drive by.

...and people think society today is sick and twisted.

The Communism Museum

Another gem we found located near the square, our affinity for history would not let us pass this one up. 

"The theme of the Museum is "Communism- the Dream, the Reality, and the Nightmare"

Ironically located above a [McDonald's] next to a casino, this museum offered artifacts, photos, and even videos that painted a picture of the city/country during the 40 years under the communist regime (1948-1989). If you decide to go, be sure to bring your reading glasses because the written descriptions carry much of the weight of information. I think it focused less on the ideologies of communism and more than the effects it had on society: I distinctly remember reading about the lingering effects Nazi propaganda had on Czech society. Our experience at this museum helped mold my views on capitalism, oppression and tyranny, and liberation.

...and people think society today is restrained from freedom.

After an afternoon of intellectual snacking, we finally went back to our comfort zone: fruity alcoholic drinks and real carb-y snacks. 

We found a bar called Bed Lounge Restaurant and Bar right off the Square and relaxed.

No chairs, no couches. It was called Bed for a reason.

Fruity drinks :) Cheers!

 Day 3

There were a few other members of our program in Spain that we knew would be in Prague at the same time. We had a full day of exploration with them as well.

Meet Cliff and Redshirt:

On the Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge

View from Charles Bridge [+ zoom]

Cliff, Deanna, and I on the bridge

Dee, Redshirt, and I on the bridge

We had lunch at a restaurant near the bridge with a great view. I can't be sure where it was, but from what I remember it might have been this place. 

[Again, more food details will come later! 

The food was pretty regular in these places. 

Spain definitely had some photo-worthy food

.... hence why I look 10 lbs heavier in all of these pictures!] 

In search of the Lennon Wall, we stopped and grabbed some craft beers in a store down the road from where we ate.

[After much wandering around we found it]

The Lennon Wall

What began as any other boring alleyway, this wall began transforming into the public diary against communist oppression in the 1980's. The REAL wall of scrutiny for a social movement (not quite like Obama's FB campaign) has since collected Lennon-inspired quotes, murals and graffitiart that layer each other year after year. Representing the ever consistent ideas of generations. 

Peace.

Love.

Equality.

(I just put my name on it.) 

Like signing a petition

Signed it. there.

From here we went to the St. Vitus Cathedral, a glorious Roman Catholic monastery surrounded by gardens, palaces, and defense towers. 

Incredible, right?

Dare you to find me a Catholic Cathedral that isn't. 

View of Prague from the hill

The last major thing I remember from Prague (Dee and Cliff please add a comment if I'm forgetting anything!) is the Salvador Dali Exhibition, which I believe is a permeant showing of his work.

Of course, I couldn't take any pictures of the exhibits, but I do love Dali: 

here are a few of his pieces [I think, but I can't be sure.] that we saw:

(pulled from Google. Love Google.)

Cisnes reflejando elefantes, 1937

Geopoliticus, 1943

I went to more than one Dali museum during my time in Europe. These pieces may not be at this exact museum, but for anyone that is unfamiliar with his surrealist-style, there are a few examples. 

I know this entry was pretty heavily concentrated with museums and sight seeing but...

STAY TUNED

From here, we flew to Amsterdam 

Oh yes, we did :)

Thanks for reading!

Editor's note: Interlaken

Thank you Deanna!

...she reminded me of a few things I forgot to mention:

1) We went to Hooters because the entire town was over priced!

Although, we did go to a Swiss restaurant one night. I can't remember the name of it (and don't want to look that far back in my bank history) but the food didn't stand out. I promise when I get to the next phase of this blog we will have more food details. yum! When we got our checks I saw that my credit card number was typed out in full on the top of the receipt! Well, because my daddy taught me good I scratched it out. Of course. Who leaves their credit card number written down on a table in a foreign country?

After we paid for dinner we were walking back to the hotel. About 100 yards away from the restaurant we hear someone running after us and screaming in German. It was our waitress chasing us down, she was so mad! At first I didn't understand why, but she pointed to the piece of paper with my scratched out CC information and said she needed the number to pay for the food. This didn't make since to me but we walked back to the restaurant with her and I had someone type the number in. Absolutely refused to let her write it down. If I remember right, Dee disagreed with me on this but better safe than sorry!

2) We have a pretty good since of direction most of the time.
This is not one one of those times.
When we rented bikes we started out going the wrong way in this small town and somehow got onto the highway next to the mountains.

Woops :/ 

Dee was so pissed!! Yellin at me lol there wasn't any traffic. but still...

Woops :)

Deegirl lets skype asap I know you will help trigger my memory for Prague!

Theres a few more pictures of Interlaken :) 

Switzerland

I thought hard about where to start...

This is the story of when Deanna and I went to Switzerland. 

[If this ends up way too long or detailed, please comment and let me know what you think. I'll adapt my blogging etiquette.]

Who: Deanna and myself
Where: Zurich and Interlaken, Switzerland
When: April 7-10, 2009
Main activities: Skiing, cliff diving, very weird Swiss party

The journey of how we got there is a story in it's self. I'll just start in Zurich...

Zurich

The train system there is nuts. D knows a little German but it was still hard to get around. We Couch Surfed (basically a community of people around the world that let other people crash on their couch. Cheapest way to stay anywhere. Sorry dad.) and stayed with two Argentinean guys that for some reason got the vibe that D and I weren't friends. 

[Probably because we were exhausted from drinking the airline out of wine] 

a house in Zurich

We both agreed that Zurich was very clean, had generally beautiful people, and everyone was nice to us. It wasn't our destination though and only stayed for one night.

... but we got drinks in the train station though, of course.

Interlaken

We took the morning train to Interlaken and checked in at the Balmers Herberge Hotel. It was off season so the hotel was semi-vacant besides the staff and a few fellow travelers. They accidently let one of us stay for free and, of course, as broke 19 year-old girls, we didn't tell them :/ but our room had a balcony with a glorious view of the Swiss Alps. Literally took our breath away to see after such a long trip. So naturally, that night we just reminisced and enjoyed the view.

View from our porch

Swiss Alps

We took the bus to the Jungfrau Ski Region which has three mountains. We skiied (actually she snowboarded, I just like skiing better) the top mountain [Kleine Scheidegg] because the day we went just happened to be the 12th annual Snowpen Air Concert. Both of us combined gave 0 shits about seeing Joe Crocker on our only day to ski. 

The concert echoed through the mountain all day and cleared the slopes for us to own.

 Just D and me with a mountain to ski :)

Joe Cocker concert? lmao no, never.

Our own personal Swis Alp? Yes, all day.

Needless to say the skiing was incredible. We stopped to reminisce near a little cottage in the middle of a long run and listened to Joe Cocker echo through the Alps.

 Since there were no other people on the slopes to follow, and we were a little reminiscent, we accidently slid all the way down to a different mountain. At the time we freaked out. We thought we were in another town [which is half true, I guess] but being the resourceful young ladies we pride our selves to be, we just hopped another train to get back to where we started.

On the train from Grindelwald

[Ok maybe there were two other people, but I bet they were just on their way to the Joe Cocker concert.]

Interlaken day #2

We only had time/money to ski for one day, but we stayed for three nights. The next day was wonderfully eventful too. We rented bikes and rode around Interlaken, which is located between two beautiful lakes (see below) and had lunch at Hooters... seriously. But I don't remember why. 

-Deanna? Why in the world did we go to Hooters!? 

dontknowwhatthislakeiscalled, Interlaken

Interlaken, Switzerland

Hooters. Wasn't lying. Same wings.

I can't give a lot of detail about the specifics of this part because I didn't keep the company's card or anything [but I probably just Googled it] and found a place that would help me jump off a cliff. I've always wanted to bungee jump but the best I find was 'cliff diving'. 

The difference:

Bungee jumping you are tied at the feet and dive off a bridge. 

Cliff diving I was harnessed at my waist and jumped off, like in a bad dream when you free-fall. 

-Why they are inverted like that, I have no idea-

I jumped into a crevice in a mountain and swung on the end of a cord 300 ft below. 

This guy (<-- link!) is actually doing the same thing I did, same place!

Dee wouldn't do it with me but she came along for support, and to photo document. 

- Thanks Dee :) 

Ready...

Set...

DID IT !!! 

Bucket list, check.

Sad story:
Some other girl took a video of my jump. I gave her my email and made her promise to send it to me. But she didn't. Bitch :'(

That night we wanted to party but it was off season like I said, so the only people in town were staff or locals. The locals in Interlaken are a strange bunch of people. I remember a wild wear-everything-you-own theme party, a basement, some weird Swiss drug that we didn't touch, and free tank tops! 

woo!

Bye bye Balmer dog

The next day, we said good bye to the Balmers Resort and took a train back to Zurich and stayed with those Argentinean guys again, flew out in the morning. 

from here, we flew to Prague

Stay Tuned.