Our five-day sojourn in the Czech Republic began unexpectedly in the city of Pardubice when we accidentally missed our stop in Prague and went 115 km past! Life lesson #729: Don’t trust the train workers with limited English who tell you that the train stops twice in Prague! We eventually made it to Prague and to our favorite hostel yet: Sir Toby’s.
Prague was great. We decided before arriving that we wanted to stay there a little longer in order to take it easy, catch our breath after the whirlwind first three cities, and enjoy the atmosphere of the city. People talk about the magical aura that hovers over the unique city of Prague—the latest hotspot for tourists these days. After having been there I’m not sure I fully tapped into the aura that you hear about—I very much enjoyed the city, but I’d say what really made it unforgettable for Margaret, Sarah, and me were the people we met and experiences we shared. Our hostel was full of characters—we met all kinds of people from all walks of life: British, Australian, American, French, Bosnian, Czech, to name a few. Meeting people in this way has been an incredibly eye-opening experience. There is a sort of instant bond between us, regardless of how different they may be from me, it exists because of being fellow travelers on a journey somewhere. Many people, I think, are looking for more than just the next site, city or pub, but in fact they are searching for something greater to fill the empty God-shaped void inside of everyone. I think I am learning more from these traveling peers than I realize even right now.
Other highlights of Prague were: Stumbling upon a park of apples, pears, and peacocks! It is a rare treat to be able to walk through a park and get free snacks growing from the trees! Also, exploring the Jewish Quarter and the synagogues and memorials in that area. We took a free walking tour, went to the Prague castle, John Lennon Wall, Mucha museum, and climbed the hill to the famous beer garden/café. We also did laundry, slept-in, and ate McDonalds—(yeah, we did, and it was awesome).
On Friday morning we said au revoir to Sir Toby’s and our new friends and took the train to Budapest!
Budapest: August 14-16
**Had some camera issues lately. All of the Budapest Pictures, and lots of the others are courtesy of Sarah N.!
We arrived in Budapest on the Friday of their biggest weekend music festival of the year, the “Sziget Festival” (sp?). Consequently, we had a hard time finding a place to stay, but got lucky and ended up having our own room in a small B&B-style hostel. First of all, I had a completely incorrect mental image of this city. Mainly due to my own ignorance, but anyway, I was blown away by the beautiful architecture and historic look of everything. We spent the afternoon/evening exploring the Buda side of the city and then ate my favorite traditional dish so far: Chicken Goulash with Goulaska—delicious, especially the Hungarian pasta over which it was served.
On our full day in Budapest we started with the famous cakes and coffee at Lukos (sp?). Yum. Then we went to the House of Terror museum. No, not a haunted house or London Dungeon type tourist trap, it’s an actual legit museum, and by far one of the most magnificent I’ve ever been to. The house on Andrassy Boulevard (the Champs Elysée of Budapest) was the former headquarters of the Nazi and Soviet regimes in Budapest and the site of interrogation, torture, and completely inhumane treatment of people. The museum depicted Budapest’s tragic history dominated by the occupation of the Nazis and then the Soviets. It was a lot of history to take in—and I’m sure I still don’t really understand exactly how it all happened, but the museum was effectively moving and thought-provoking—truly a must see if you or anyone you know is going there.
We spent the rest of the day exploring, the riverbank area. I went inside the Four Seasons [Trey], and it was beautiful occupying the former Gresham Palace. Dinner was discouraging because when we finally found a place to eat, we were turned away because the waiter said we had to order three full [huge] meals, and we really just wanted soup and salad [tourist-exploitation at its finest]. We found somewhere else eventually. One of THE things to do in Budapest is to “bathe” at one the mineral bathhouses sprinkled throughout the city. Our hostel recommended one “where the locals go” and after dinner we decided to rally, and check it out. This particular bath is open from 10pm-4am on the weekends, so you can imagine the crowd we found there. But we had so much fun! It was really relaxing and a great experience to go down in the books. The next day we went to the WAMP market before taking our afternoon train to Vienna. Our hostel owner recommended this so called “fashion market” which is only open one Sunday a month, and it was not a disappointment. Tons of really beautiful handmade jewelry, clothes, paintings, etc, and lots of fun since we haven’t bought anything this whole trip.
Vienna: August 16-19
In my opinion, going to Vienna from Prague and Budapest was definitely a rung up on the ladder of developed countries. We were overjoyed to switch back to the Euro after using Czech and Hungarian currencies, but not as much overjoyed about everything being more expensive.
Great dinner our first night in Vienna with the first green food (salad) I’d had in while. The next day we walked around the Hapburg palace area, museum quarter, and Rathaus park. We took the tram to see Kunst Haus—the house with no straight lines with a permanent exhibit of Hundertwasser’s work. It was interesting, but I’m glad to say that we went on half price ticket day. Afterwards we went to the famous Demels Café for the classic mélange and Sacher Torte (coffee and chocolate cake).
Because the Vienna Opera, Boys Choir, Philharmonic etc. all go on vacation for July and August, the city has an incredible film festival where each night they play a different opera, ballet, or concert in the park. We made a picnic from the grocery store and went back to Rathaus Park to claim our seats for the evening. A gigantic screen was set up in front of the Rathaus (parliament building) and with incredible high quality audio and video we watched/heard a 2008 concert filmed in Berlin: Waldebühne 2008- Los Ritmos de la Noche, Gustavo Dudamel. It was outstanding… and best of all, completely free! We came back to our hostel to find that we now had two roommates who happen to be from Paris! It was so fun chatting with them, two girls traveling around together—definitely made me grateful for the French practice I’ve had.
Our last day was similar to the first, more exploring of Vienna. We ate some bizarre but famous open-faced sandwiches from Trzesniewski, took a tour of the Opera house, St. Stephen’s, and found a wine tavern outside the center. We couldn’t resist going back to the film festival for another show, which turned out to be Mozart’s Requiem—amazing. Low point of today: everything I ate was in the beige/brown-color family, that’s no good…
And that pretty much brings me here, on the train to Salzburg sitting with two older retired Austrian and Swiss women who just finished a 10-day bike trip along the Danube—so legit. I’m riding past vibrant green countryside, farmhouses, barns, trees, and cottages. The sky is blue…and our train has air conditioning! Am I dreaming or is this real?!
Thanks for reading,
c.
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