Prague, Czech Republic

We (Emily, Sara, Jeremy, and I) got to Prague via WizzAir! Which you can’t miss because if Barbie had an airline, it would be WizzAir…hot pink & purple planes, buses, check in counters, seats, flight attendants, everything. After about 20-30 minutes of trying to figure out the bus to the metro to the city center and getting over the fact that crohns have a ridiculous exchange rate, we managed to get into actual Prague.

From here, we walked a couple blocks out of the city center to our hostel the “Czech Inn,” cute, right? The Czech inn is a “famous” hostel, AKA its one of the best ones ever! Remember Balmer’s from Switzerland? It’s one of the same kind. Basically, these hostels have been voted “famous” for being the hippest, most fun hostels in their respective cities. Ironically, these hostels have also been the cheapest, with Czech Inn running 315cz a night, or about 12euros.

After “czeching” in to our private room (pleasant surprise), we headed out to a traditional Czech restaurant up the street. U’ Belinu (I think) was the name of it, and it was amazinggg food. I got beef goulash in a bread bowl- scrumptious. For dessert, I had deep fried, marzipan-stuffed plums soaked in a bailey’s cream sauce (Oh. My. God.); It was epic. Our meal cost about 200cz or roughly 8euros (with a beer, sooo cheap). Next we headed up the street to a Music Bar that was playing a lot of American music videos, so we hung around, got a drink, and then realized that we were significantly older than the entire crowd…and then, Happy Birthday started playing (techno version, of course). We had managed to crash a Czech sweet 16 (their drinking age). Haha, oops. Realizing this, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel.

The next day we took a tram to Old Town/ Prague castle. The funny thing about metros, trams, buses, etc, is that buying tickets is all done on the honor system, and through observation, the only honorable ones are the tourists who can’t speak the language and have a terrible time trying to figure it out, so we decided to skip the hassle and enjoy free transport the entire trip…here’s to acting like the locals!

The Castle, the largest in Europe, was also the largest disappointment in Europe. Except for it’s outstanding (yet foggy) views of the city, I could have done without it. It was prettier from a distance, and it was expensive. Halfway through this trip I made a pact that I wouldn’t pay to go inside any more cathedrals, and we discussed it with some people standing in line who said it wasn’t even that memorable, so we opted to just wander around and not go inside any of the buildings.

From the castle, we headed to Charles Bridge. It was really crowded, but the artists and vendors on the bridge were cool. We rubbed the bronze dog that everyone else was crowded around to rub without knowing why (later, I googled it and it is supposed to bring good luck and a promised return to prague, so not a bad deal). After crossing the bridge, we did some souvenir shopping (got my “Czech me out!” shirt), and headed for Old Town Square. Along the way someone pointed out a piercing/tattoo place, and Jeremy had been wanting to change out his earring so we stopped in. Twenty minutes later, I walked out with a brand new tragus (ear) piercing. When in Prague...(and the exchange rate is really good)…why not? Haha, we finally made it to the square where we got hot wine & sausages with onions, yumm! We then meandered back across the city towards the hostel. We saw the national museum, the astronomical clock, and all the other sights you “have to see” when you go to Prague.

We took naps back at Czech Inn and then got ready to go to dinner. We went to a microbrewery where we got just as amazing food. I got a Brewer’s Pocket…porkloin stuffed with bleu cheese and ham and deep fried… and a traditional Czech beer. Then we headed back to old town for a bar crawl. I hadn’t done one yet, and with the exchange rate being so good, this was going to be the place over Florence & London (up next).

We (along with about 70 other people) headed to the first bar, where it was all you can drink beer, vodka, rum, & absinthe for the first 90minutes. We grabbed a table and a pitcher and made the most of it with drinking games. A group of Englishmen joined us, and we made good friends with them by the time the 90 minutes was up. Then we moved on to 2 more bars (one in a mall?) and finally a dance club where we stayed until roughly 4:30am. It was a pretty good deal, we didn’t pay for any drinks at all other than paying for the pub crawl itself, and we managed to make pretty good friends who we’ll hopefully see in London.

The next morning I dragged myself out of bed at roughly 11, got down to breakfast by 11:30, and “czeched” out by noon.

Prague was a lot of fun: good, friendly people who loved speaking English, amazing food, pretty city, great exchange rate. I spent 3000 crohns… about 120euros (that was so bizarre all weekend). It was a really relaxing weekend as well (traveling with only 4). Definitely a place I’d love to return to.

The Ardennes

First of all, my apologies for the lapse of time in updating, however, somehow, I just knew I’d find time to update mid-studying for finals. Blogging, an appropriate procrastination technique, indeed.

After returning from Fall Break in sunny Espana, we had a day of rest, then the group was off to The Ardennes for three laid-back days of history, history, history.

We started off in Bastogne, Belgium, a major site in the Battle of the Bulge. Here we met up with our guide, who has lived in Bastogne his entire life, and experienced the war (and its aftermath) as a young boy. It was really moving to see all of Belgian people’s appreciation for the American troops that liberated the area. American Flags were flying everywhere in town; it was actually a strange sight (I’ve been in Europe too long). We went to the Bastogne Historical Center and watched a short film on the Battle of the Bulge, and then we climbed the American Remembrance Monument. Afterwards, we headed to the woods to see what remains of foxholes used by the Band of Brothers, the Easy Company. (I was pretty glad that we had all watched Band of Brothers the day before because you could really imagine how miserable it must have been). We saw various monuments and a German cemetery, which housed 6 bodies to every cross. The rain and cold of the day made the experience even more intense. After our rainy walking tour wearing my sperry’s, I was beginning to be able to relate to the disastrous trench-foot of WWII. We headed to the hostel in Luxembourg City, had a mediocre meal in the hostel’s dining room, and stayed in (and warm) for the night.

The next morning, we woke up and took the bus (good ole’ Sonya was our driver) to the city center where we picked up our guides (very entertaining) and headed to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. Here we saw General George Patton’s grave along with the thousands of other American soldiers who died in WWII. After the cemetery, we headed back to the city center and toured Luxembourg City. It’s such a cute, small city to fit in the cute, small country.

From Luxembourg, we headed off to Trier, Germany: the oldest city in Germany. We had a two hour walking tour here, and thankfully, it was a bit warmer, but unfortunately, Trier was pretty boring. Throughout this trip, I’ve come to realize that the guide can really make the trip… our guide was not so great, and thus, Trier was not so great. We saw the roman gate that still stands at the city’s edge and the famous market place, but mostly, we just wanted to get to dinner.

Dinner was a Germany Vineyard and consisted of soup, salad, pork chop, and dessert. Along with each of these courses, we were able to taste a different wine from the vineyard. We met Sebastian, who led us through the meal and our wine tastings. He was also responsible for the mix of the grapes and flavor of the wines. He talked about the grapes and wine scientifically, and they were definitely the perfect concoction. The best dessert wine ever!

Finally, on our last day of the trip, we headed back to Belgium, to Bouillion, to go even further back in history and see where the first crusade began (and also perhaps Bouillion base?). We went to an “interactive” museum (outdated, boring) on Godefroid de Bouillion, and then toured his castle. First, we sat in the courtyard of the castle and watched a bird show (ughh, terrifying), followed by a tour, complete with guide dressed in medieval apparel. People were much shorter in those days, and 85% of our group spent the entire tour crouched down. It definitely was the best castle of the trip, felt very much as you’d expect a castle to feel…fairytale-style!

Directly from the castle tour, we made the return trip to Antwerp, home-again, home-again. 3 countries, 4 towns, 3 days…and it was still probably the most relaxed (and cheapest!) of our trip.

Madrid, Spain

We got to Madrid at about 4 or 5pm. We took our daily siesta, then we got ready to go out for dinner. We went to an authentic Spanish restaurant on the 6^th floor of an apartment building. We got Sangria and tried to make out what was on the all-spanish menu of raciones. Annie and I ended up ordering a “Fried Variety Platter” and hoping for the best. We got an appetizer platter of different things to share, and luckily, it was pretty good. When our food came out, everyone got pretty silent. Emily and Beth ended up with rabbit. Caitlin and Jess ended up with chicken wings. Meaghan got whole shrimp, with the heads and legs and all still attached. And Annie and I got a fried variety platter…of fish, calamari, mini-squids, and anchovies. Gross. All we ate were the fish bites. It was pretty disastrous, oops.

After dinner, we went to the bar in the hostel and got a couple cheap beers. Most people went out to Madrid’s famous club, Kapitol, but Annie, Jess, and I stayed back to avoid spending money. We ended up avoiding spending a lot of money because we met two Italian friends who took us out to a jazz bar and bought us a bottle of champagne, haha, it was pretty fun. After we got back from the bar we headed right to bed (it was 4am, or so).

The next morning we had to be up for breakfast before 10, and it was definitely painful for the whole group. We were all exhausted from the night before. We left our luggage in the hostel’s luggage room, and checked out by 11am. We first headed to El Rastro, the flea market, which was HUGE. There were SO many people there. We wandered around for a while, then got Doner Kebap (a favorite here in Europe). We also stopped in a Dunkin’ Donuts, where Annie and I got AMAZING dolce de leche donuts (mmm!).

After we had some energy from the food, we went to El Museo de Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. We wandered around and got to see Picasso’s Guernica (so amazingggg) before they started to close and kicked everyone out. I was really disappointed we didn’t get to the Dali rooms before they closed L. We made our way to a park where we proceeded to play homeless and take a siesta on a grassy knoll.

Refreshed, we started to make our way across the entire city to the Palacio Real (the royal palace…their “white house”) to meet up with a lot of the group. Along the way, we stopped at the Prado (found out it was free after 5pm), the plaza mayor, and a couple other places. At the palace, we just relaxed on the stairs for a while, then everyone decided they wanted to go back to the Prado (all the way back across the city…), so we definitely got some exercise walking. The Prado was worth it though (and free!). I got to see El Bosco’s Garden of Earthly Delights, and Velasquez’s Las Meninas, which were both a pretty big deal to me. They were literally huge!

After the Prado, Annie, Jess, and I headed off (halfway) back across the city to El Tigre, a tapas bar that was supposed to be good. It was packed!! We weaved our way through the crowd to the very back corner where we found a little bit of space along the wall. We each went up one at a time for a drink. When you buy a drink; they give you tapas for free! I ordered a Mojito (6euros for 1L mojito…cheap!) and the bartender handed me a huge plate of tapas. There were prosciutto on bread slices, these cheesy, fried mashed potato-y, delicious tapas, and a lot more. It was definitely well worth the 6euro for the drink, because the plate of tapas I got filled me up (and made up for our interesting dinner the night before)!

We headed back to the hostel, where everyone was sitting in the bar trying to kill time until we had to go to the airport. We went out and got some gelato (hazelnut and nutella flavored), and then found an irish pub that was playing NFL games to hang out in for a while.

At about midnight, we caught the last metros to the airport, and curled up on the floor with the other hundreds of people waiting for Ryanair flights (miserable). I managed to get a good 4 hours in before we boarded the plane and headed back to Antwerp.

I’ve decided that I LOVE Spain. I definitely want to spend a lot more time in the country travelling around and seeing all the other coastal towns. Madrid was great (I feel like I know it well after walking so much), even though I enjoyed Barcelona better. I loved that I could use the little bit of Spanish that I remember and people could understand me, and I could understand them! It’s definitely inspired me to get back into Spanish at some point. A great fall break!

Barcelona, Spain

DAY 1: Tourist Day

We got up and got breakfast at the hostel, then decided to do a bike tour of the city. We walked from Barceloneta (the beach- where we were staying) to the city center and met up with the Fat Tire Bike Tours group. All 21 of us JMU students that came to Barcelona decided to do the tour, so we were a pretty big group. While we were waiting, I talked to our guides (Australian & American) and pretty much decided it was my dream job. The bike tour was great! Our guide, Buddah, was hilarious, and we got to see a lot of the tourist-y things we intended to: Arch de Triumph, Sagrada Familia, etc.

After the tour, Leigh and I went to the Picasso museum to see some of his work. Museums here are always so impressive because I just can’t get over the fact that I’m seeing the ACTUAL work that I’ve studied in classes for so long. It’s really making me glad that I took GART 200 last spring.

That night a few of the girls went out to get Paella. It was absolutely delicious. Yummy rice and seafood all mixed together and brought out in the biggest skillet I’ve ever seen. So tasty! We kept it pretty low-key this night…hung out on the beach and in the hostel.

DAY 2: Beach Day!

Today was the day I knew I’d need to be around some internet to register for spring semester. It also turned out to be the warmest, prettiest day of the week, so it was a perfect day for the beach. Since our hostel was right on the water, we just leisurely woke up, got breakfast, and got ready to go lay out. The Mediterranean was cold, but not much colder than the Atlantic this summer. We laid out and relaxed and spent a lot of time warding off people soliciting everything from sunglasses to massages. We got a pitcher of sangria from a little bar right on the beach, and we got food from SPAR, the grocery right around the corner for lunch and dinner.

At night we went to Chupitos, the shots bar nearby. They had a wall of shots and each was only 2euro (very cheap!). We hung out there for a while, then headed to Opium, a nightclub on the beach. The lines were crazy, and we had free passes, but it turned out that we had missed the cutoff for the amount of free people they were letting it. It was 15euro otherwise, sooo we bailed on that plan and just called it a night.

DAY 3: Gaudi Day!

We got up and got ready to go the next morning and headed out to check out some of Gaudi’s houses and his park. We jumped on a city bus and got off at the first house. It was crazy! The front was completely covered in mosaics, and it had no straight lines. It was beautiful, and looked so funny stuck in the middle of the row of traditional Spanish architecture. The next house was even better, but best of all was the park.

We took another city bus up the mountain to Park Guell, where Gaudi originally intended to create a community for the rich and famous to live outside the inner city, but his houses were absolutely crazy, and they looked like gingerbread houses, so no one actually wanted to live there. Now it is just park that was packed with people trying to see all the beautiful mosaics and buildings. We saw the famous mosaic lizard fountain, and the tunnel where america’s next top model did a fashion shoot. It was probably one of my favorite places. It had a great view of the entire city.

After dinner (from the grocery, again) we went to the Dow Jones Bar. I felt like such a nerdy business student, but it was so fun! The prices on drinks change depending on what people are buying and selling. It was pretty much all American students (as was Chupitos), and we actually met up with JMU students from the study abroad program in Salamanca and the program in London. Everyone went to Barca for fall break! I also ran into Katie Der, from High School- She’s studying abroad in Barca for the semester. We had a lot of fun buying whatever was cheapest and getting something nice every time the prices “crashed” or went back to their starting price. After Dow Jones, we went to Shoko, another club on the beach, where we managed to get in for free and danced until 4:30 in the morning.

Saturday Morning we woke up and got our last hostel breakfast and checked out. We struggled to fit all of our 6 days worth of clothes back into our Ryanair approved carry-ons, and we we off to Madrid!

All in all, I think Barcelona has been one of my favorite places so far. It was beautiful, warm, and on a beach… how can you go wrong? I definitely will be back!

Munich, Germany

Our Barvarian Experience

Our first stop on the way to Munich was at Dachau Concentration Camp. It was incredibly moving and emotional to be able to see the actual place where it all started. Dachau was the first concentration camp. Appropriately, it was snowing/sleeting throughout the entire walking tour. It was freezing, but it just added to the effects.

After we checked into our hostel (quite the disappointment compared to the Mercure in Salzburg), we relaxed for a bit before catching the tram to downtown Munich. We headed to Hofbrauhaus, the world famous beer house, for all an all you can eat buffet, and lots of beer (again, thanks JMU, for our wonderful cultural experiences). It was so fun- with the long tables and delicious food, the dancers in their lederhosen, beer maids carrying 12 liters at once, and the entire place singing and swaying with our beer mugs. It definitely was the ultimate Barvarian Night. Prost!

The next morning, we did another snowy walking tour of Munich, again with GREAT guides, super fun (even in the cold). We saw a lot of the history from Hilter’s days in power- what was destroyed and what had been rebuilt. Then we got some lunch at (another) Augustiner Bierhaus, where we got to try the preferred beer of the pope: Augustiner Edlestoff (which I guess, somehow, makes it the beer of God). We went back to the hostel for a little bit, and then headed out to the BMW Museum.

The BMW Museum was probably the coolest museum I’ve ever been to. It was HUGE, first of all, and it was completely interactive. The building was designed perfectly, and all the beautifulllll cars were lined up throughout. It was really cool to see the concept cars and my new favorite, the Isetta! So cute and tiny with it’s motorcycle engine! I could have probably spent a day and a half in there- that’s how much there was to see.

On the tram ride back, a couple of us jumped off at a random stop to get China Express, haha, an all you can eat Chinese buffet, including a beer, for 6,80euro. It was everything we wanted and more! Then we headed back to A&O Hostel, and headed upstairs to the rooftop bar to play drinking games with the cheapest beer possible.

All and All, Salzburg and Munich were great. I’d love to go back and see Eagle’s Nest when the weather is better. Actually, I’d love to go back and see all of it when it was warmer and I felt like adventuring more.

Up Next: Barcelona and Madrid for fall break, followed by the Ardennes in Luxemborg with school. Cheers!

Salzburg, Austria

These are a Few of my Favorite Things

A 12 hour bus ride got us to Salzburg, Austria. Most known as the home of Mozart and The Sound of Music, this city is probably one of the most underrated in Europe. Once we arrived, we checked into our very posh Mercure Hotel (thanks, JMU), and I went out exploring with some of the guys. First thing to note: it was cold (if you know me, you know I HATE the cold) and it sucked. Second thing to note: It was gorgeous! The city was nestled right up against the cliffs of the Austrian Alps, and on top of the cliffs is the Fortress. It was breathtaking!

In the morning, we got up, at a spectacular continental breakfast, and went to meet our guides for a walking tour. It was snowing. A three hour walking tour… in the snow. “Kill me” was all that was going through my mind. Fortunately, our guide was hilarious and highly entertaining. She was also pretty good at getting us into warm cathedrals, trams, and other buildings just when I thought I was going to freeze to death. We saw plenty of sites where the Sound of Music was filmed, the fortress (amazing views of the city), Mozart’s house and birthplace, and plenty of good shopping and cute cafes (too tempting!).

After the walking tour, a couple of us went around shopping (see: window shopping), and hanging out in the city. Our first stop was Café Tomaselli for some hot chocolate to warm us up. Later, we stopped and got “Bretzels” at a stand, and also went to Demel Café for cake and tea, mmm. We headed back to the hotel earlier than necessary and caught a nap (in the most comfortable beds, ever!) before dinner. Coach Kelly led us off into the city for dinner at Die Weisse, a brewery (thanks jmu), where we each got a beer and Weiner Schnitzel. It was delicious! We also had Salzburg’s apple Strudel.

The next day, we were suppose to go to Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s private getaway, but it was closed due to bad weather, so we had a free day. I spent the day relaxing, and doing a whole lot of nothing. We tried to go see the largest ice caves in the world, but they were also closed by the time we got around to it. At night, we went out to Augustiner Bier Huis, where we got to experience firsthand, the party that is a beer house. We got liter beers and schnitzel sandwiches and pretzels. It was quite the experience!

Dublin, Ireland

24 hours in Publin,…er, I mean Dublin.

We got to Dublin late (of course, thanks ryanair) and successfully navigated our way to Four Courts Hostel. The hostel was easily identified because it was right across the Liffey from Four Courts (duh.) The huge monument would be essential in finding the hostel post-pubs.

After we threw our stuff down in the hostel, we headed out. First, food. Although we originally were looking for some traditional irish grub, a group of us ended up at Eddie Rocket’s, the irish cousin of america’s famous Johnny Rocket’s. The cheap, diner food we’ve all been missing was just too tempting. I had nachos, and DIET coke (not Cola Light), and we had to TIP!! (WHAAT?!) Oh, and did I mention everyone spoke English? Lovin’ Ireland already.

Satisfied with our food, we went out in search of what else? Pubs! We went to The Porterhouse, one of the more famous Pubs that we’d all read about in “The Bible” (aka Let’s Go Europe 2009…thanks ash!) It was probably the coolest bar I’ve ever been inside. Three stories of home brewed beer, an old guy singing 90s covers (essential for any good bar), and cheerful people. Had a porterhouse red, (very thick/heavy, but delicious), met some cute irish boys, and after one beer we were finally convinced of how tired we were. With plans to get up early and explore, we headed back to the hostel.

The next morning, we got up and headed out. We wandered through trinity college (very pretty), and as we were leaving, we saw it… something I didn’t think I’d actually miss, but something I’ve been craving for far too long. It was like a light came shining down from the heavens on…STARBUCKS. Oh man, that was best Venti Caramel Macchiato I’ve ever had. There are NO starbucks in Belgium. There are barely any coffee places. And if you do find coffee, it’s about the size of an espresso shot and approximately 5euros. MMM, it was so good, and warm- just what I needed.

We went to Dublin Castle (extremely disappointing), Christ Church (one of the better churches I’ve toured so far), and of course, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We also stopped at Leo Burdock’s: Dublin’s Oldest Chipper, for some Fish N Chips. I barely ate half of what they gave us, but it was a perfect way to warm up!

Up next was the Guinness Storehouse, which I was really only interested in for the Gravity Bar and the view from the top, but it turned out to be the best brewery I’ve been to (Brewery Count: 3). I loved seeing all the famous advertising. The view from the top was pretty amazing, and I don’t think it was a waste of time or money, but I doubt I’d ever do it again.

We headed back to the hostel to start pregaming for the Ireland v. Italy world cup qualifying game. A couple people walked to the stadium to see if it was possible to get tickets, but the cheapest ones were 100euro. After everyone had their fair share of Irish Car Bombs (obviously), we went to a pub to watch the game. Will and Annie had gone to a quieter pub earlier in the day that was outside of temple bar, and that’s where we headed. Since we got there early, we had an entire corner booth to ourselves with a great view of a TV. Everyone decked out in green for Ireland, and we got student discounts on “Smiddick’s” (Smithwick’s) and Carlsberg’s. The game was really exciting! It was great seeing how into all the irish people were. We were singing and cheers-ing right along with everybody when Ireland scored. In the 87^th minute, Ireland scored for 2-1, and in the 89^th minute, Italy tied the game.

We left the bar and Eric and I escorted a few people back to the hostel, and along the way I complimented an Irishman on his Flag/Cape, and he gave it to me, hah! Then we tried to meet up with everyone else, but by this point, we were all over the place, and people headed their own ways. Will and I did some random wandering before we headed back to the hostel. I had to be up at 6am to leave for the early flight back (love ya, ryanair).

Ireland was a lot of fun, but I definitely want to go back and have a chance to get out of the city. I wish I could have stayed longer, but the early flight back was so much cheaper, that it didn’t make sense to stay. Oh well, something else to add to my bucket list!