Sunshine at last...in Prague!

My apologies that this post is so delayed...but I finally have time to sit down and relive the last city of the big trip for you all!

Our train left Vienna very early in the morning...and we were up before 7 to pack/shower and hit the road. (Not my favorite thing...but traveling motivates one to get up!) We took a short metro ride to our train station, and then climbed aboard the train for the 4 hour+ train ride to Prague! I was excited to see more compartments like on our last train, and we all munched on some goodies we picked up at the train station for breakfast. Soon, we all were trying to nap...when Theresia made a discovery! We could pull all the seats down to create beds! WIN! We woke ourselves up enough to resituate ourselves and then we were OUT on our much more comfortable seats! :) We had a very COLD compartment though, so we all had our scarves and coats either on or being used blankets...and eventually had enough and relocated to a different compartment. The trip passed quickly as we slept for almost the entire trip, ha, and then munched on the rest of our snacks until we reached Prague.

We were a little worried about finding our hostel in Prague, as there were LOTS of directions...but we soon figured out it was simpler than we originally anticipated. We took the metro on two different lines, then walked two blocks and we were there! This hostel looked and felt more like a hotel than a hostel, and we had our own suite of three beds, a mini kitchen and most importantly - our own bathroom! After a week of being affected by others' sleeping routines, it was nice to have our own room. We also had the luxury of leaving our stuff out in our room instead of having to repack it and lock it up every day. THAT was nice! We unloaded our stuff and hit the streets!


The sun was shining!! We hadn't seen sun the whole trip, let alone since arriving in Europe. This was perhaps the third sunny day I have experienced since arriving on the continent, and the other days had only a few hours of it. Needless to say, we all were in a great mood and wanted to take as many pictures as possible to capture the sunlight!! We walked along the Vltava river toward Old Town - the place where most of the big sites were. We caught our first glimpse of Prague castle and St. Vitus cathedral, which truly took our breath away! We took pictures from far away....then as we got closer...then from the middle of the Charles Bridge! Haha...we took TOO many, but we couldn't help it as the sun made it look gorgeous, on top of the obvious beauty of the structure itself. After satisfying our picture taking needs, we headed into the heart of Old Town in search of the Astronomical Clock we had heard so much about.

We needed some lunch at this point and the smell of a shop selling kabobs (their word or perhaps another term for schwarmas) caught out eye. It was delicious and the guys working there were pretty entertaining as well. We downed our lunch and headed out in search of the Clock...

Prague is pretty small, so it didn't take long until we were in eye sight of the Astronomical Clock tower and the square that surrounds it. We luckily arrived right before the top of the hour and got to witness the small windows opening above the clock face and seeing the figures that rotated past. A trumpet player leaned out at the top of the tower as well and played a little tune. It wasn't until then that we noticed we could go to TOP of this tower! So...we did! We climbed up the ramps inside...which were a bit easier than stairs, but still made your calves ache! The view at the top was worth it - as you could see across all of Prague. We took pictures on every side...and took even more of Prague Castle! (Hey...it was a good shot! And one can't have too many pictures, right?!?)


After...we grabbed some hot wine to warm up, as the sunshine had disappeared and the chill was creeping in. The hot wine was delicious!!! Theresia told us that she and her mom make homemade hot wine at home...I think she should pass along the recipe! :)

We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through the town, checking out some of the stores and shops until we ended up on Wenceslas Square. We walked down to the end where the National Museum sits to take some pictures of the whole street/square. Dusk was just setting in - so the pictures turned out pretty cool!

We headed back to our hostel to get a suggestion for a dinner spot that served authentic Czech food...as we loved the local food so much in our last two spots! We learned of a beer hall/restaurant that was 5 minutes from our hostel...so we headed there to fill our stomachs! We walked in to the sounds of men singing loudly to an accordion player and clinking their beer steins! Hilarious! We all got a good chuckle watching them at their table...singing loudly and happily downing their drinks. We all ordered some type of meat (the name escapes me) and also had some traditional kinedliki, which are dumplings. My meat also came covered in saurkraut! YUM! The dumplings weren't my favorite...but the meal was wonderfully filling. We also each got a beer that was brewed by this particular beer hall - one of the best I've ever had! Oh - and the beer hall was founded in 1499, no big deal. (SO COOL!)

We went home to rest up and get ready for another day out on the town! We had seen most of the sites we wanted to see this first day, and all that was left was Prague Castle...so we slept in and then leisurely headed out the door on Day #2. We started with breakfast which consisted of hot blackberries on top of crepes along with sour cream and whipped cream. Oh yeah, it was drizzled with honey as well. IT WAS DELICIOUS! One of the best things I've ever tasted. (Clean plate club below.) Full and in great moods from a wonderful breakfast we wandered towards Charles Bridge which would take us over to the castle.


Walking across the Charles Bridge we saw multiple homemade goodies at souvenir stands - earrings, magnets, photographs etc. We knew we'd be coming back at the end of the day to purchase some! We followed the crowd that was headed up to the castle, winding through the streets of Lesser Town. We found the historic steps that lead up to the castle and cathedral - which were LONG and STEEP! (Joy). We started the long walk to the top which was made easier by the beautiful view we could see as we climbed higher and higher. (Oh...and the sun was out again! YES!) We took plenty of pictures once we got to the top..and then walked over to the St. Vitus cathedral to look around inside. It was built originally back before the year 1000, but has been added to and expanded much in the centuries that followed. It was beautiful inside and we took lots of pictures. I was especially impressed with the intricate stained glass on the windows...each which had a unique color palette. I was also blown away by the age of the church - it's amazing what our species was capable of, back before they had the technology of today. Truly amazing to see!!

We took a small tour of Prague castle afterward...but we couldn't take pictures. We saw another smaller church as well as other buildings that were a part of the Castle. We ended on this little street that had small shops with homemade Czech gifts taunting us in their windows. We looked in multiple of these shops and even purchased a few things! We then went to find some lunch...and found a cafe not far away. I had a delicious lox sandwich and then Carolyn and I shared this mouth-watering piece of chocolate and cherry cake. YUM!

We proceeded to simply stroll around for the rest of the afternoon in Lesser Town...stocking up on souvenirs and also revisiting the Charles Bridge for some fun jewelry as well. We grabbed dinner later that night at a favorite and cheap place - Subway! Always nice to have a taste from home once in awhile...especially when it's easy on the wallet! We ended the evening with a lot of Olympics watching (with German commentary) and then hit the sack.

The day of traveling home was a long one - with an hour plane delay, missing a train and doing LOTS of waiting in lines. (My favorite. Not.) But - we were safely home by about 9 the next night...and all needing to do LOTS of homework to get ready for the busy week that lay ahead.

Prague was a wonderful way to end our trip - with a laid back approach to the city and stunning views from everywhere we went. Great food was had and also some of the coolest souvenirs of the trip were found as well. The trip as whole was a blast! The girls and I all were on the same wave-length about what to see and when to eat etc., which makes everything very fun and less stressful. We all liked to eat, ha, so we enjoyed quite a lot of local cuisine in each of the respective countries we visited - which is just as cool as touring old buildings (to me...but perhaps that's because I love to eat!). It was nice to finally be home in Maastricht - which truly does feel like home now. I came home expecting a roommate...and there was still an empty bed to greet me. I feel I may end up alone in this large room for the semester - which is actually kind of fun! (I host a lot of get-togethers due to this...and all the space available, which is also a bonus!)

The top ten for this trip is coming soon, lots of fun tidbits to share with you all! :)

Paris Trip's Top Ten Fun Facts

As you might have guessed, or even enjoyed reading, these Top Ten Fun Facts seems to sum things up well. We had quite a few hilarious moments on our Paris trip, and I thought it only seemed fitting to add a Top Ten for them all.

1) Setting one alarm isn't a good idea. Setting two alarms IS a good idea. Setting the alarm for the right time IS a good idea. Having your phone on loud, so to be alerted about alarm issues IS a good idea. Haha - we started off the trip with a slight hiccup, but we ALL learned that it was good to be aware of the above. :)

2) When tired, one will revert to the only languages they naturally speak. I only know two languages, with Spanish being my second. Apparently, when one gets tired, one reverts to using the language they know instead of the language they should be. Example A: asking for a chocolate croissant "por favor" instead of "s'il vous plait". Rather embarrassing.

3) Bring the extra batteries you packed in your PURSE, not back home in your bag. Or, when you're at the top of the Eiffel Tower, you will have no back-up batteries. Fail.

4) Always bring comfortable, warm pants to sleep in. Or, perhaps your roommates, whom you never met, will open the window when they arrive home at 4 AM and create an ice-box feeling in your room. This is not fun, especially when you're not wearing warm clothes. :)

5) Certain cultures will always do the same thing for pictures. You can tell it's a European taking a picture when they simple stand there with a solemn face - no smiling. You can tell it's Americans when they take a jumping shot in front of a monument. And well, when you see the peace signs coming out...well...we all know our Asian tourist friends love the peace sign.

6) Crepes are EVERYWHERE!! The restaurants that sell them are all conveniently located next to all the big sites, so the tourists, weary and hungry, look over and think - YES, CREPES! Like we did. Didn't matter how much they cost - we would eat them. Score for them. Score for our stomachs. Fail for our wallets. :)

7) Pride Points. Pride Points are one of the best things you can do to make a trip more fun. Instead of betting money, or food, you bet pride points. The amount you earn is up to the discretion of your peers that are present. If you lose, you go negative. If you win - well, you get your amount of Pride Points. Example...guessing exactly what time it is on the dot, without any help would be 50 Pride Points. Falling off your chair, for whatever reason would be a -40 Pride Points. If you're having a boring day - start the Pride Point game with your friends. Guarantee to make your life better, and funnier.

8) Booking trains the day of, or two days before a trip = expensive. Booking trains weeks in advance = cheap. Noted.

9) Some of the best things are free. I don't mean the places we saw, though those are OBVIOUSLY cool. I mean the four hour conversation we had amongst the four of us, covering every topic we could think of. Cost nothing, and not only was it great, but it was a wonderful way to really get to know more about the people you're with. One of the best parts of the trip.

10) Nutella makes everything better. If you don't know what this magical substance is...it's like a chocolate spread that you can put on anything you wish. The consistency of creamy peanut-butter. It's AMAZING on crepes. But if you buy yourself some Nutella, know that you'll end up eating it ALL. But, it's worth it. (Note...in the picture above...the crepes have Nutella on top. Glorious.)

**Next trip up on the docket is a Triple Tour...flying out next Monday evening (no school due to Carnaval) to Budapest where we'll be until Thursday morning. Thursday we take the train to Vienna, and we'll be there until Saturday morning. Saturday morning we take the train to Prague, and we'll be there until Monday - when we fly back home. SO very excited, and it's almost the same group as in Paris, just no James this time, as he'll be in Barcelona with a different group. Flights and hostels are booked, only the trains left to take care of. More details to come as it gets closer!!

Paris - The City of Light

I was SO excited to begin my exploration of Europe (outside Maastricht, of course) in Paris. I love art and couldn't WAIT to see some of the amazing historic landmarks that call Paris home. Our group consisted of Carolyn (MN), myself, Theresia (Sweden) and James (Canada)...just as planned. We left EARLY on Sat morning, and despite a slight hiccup with the train/alarm malfunctions, we made it to Paris in one piece. We checked into the hostel, which was only about a 10 minute walk from the train station, and then headed out for the day.

Our hostel was in the northern part of Paris, so we had to hike down to the central area to see all the 'big' sites. We stopped for some lunch on the way, little pizzas and a mini pastry for the road. We hit the Louvre first, and our first glance of the glass pyramid had us all excited! We took quite a few pictures out front before we headed into the pyramid, and down into the museum. We found out that European Union students got in for free - which I found quite ironic. (The Minneapolis Institute of Art is NOT free...but the LOUVRE WAS! Nuts!). We immediately set off to see La Joconde (french for Mona Lisa). It's a ways into the museum, so we got to see quite a lot of famous art on the way. I recognized a few from Art History, which was really fun. We finally found the Mona Lisa, and I won't lie, my heart rate definitely increased. It's so insane to see something that you've heard about since you were little, and has been around for so long, as well as has quite the mystery AND history about it. Was a terrific way to start our Paris weekend! We looked at the statue room and then headed out to see Notre Dame.

The cathedral is on an island in the middle of Paris, but it's hard to tell it's an island at all. Everything is so closely packed together, you don't really realize you're crossing that many bridges. I was surprised by how light the stone was, but was not about how majestic it seemed. We walked around the inside (also free!) and it was surreal. So calm, with people EVERYWHERE! The area where people sit, called the nave, had people scattered everywhere in seats. Some praying, some gazing up at the magnificent architecture and some simply people watching. My camera was a bit inept at getting some decent pictures, but it WAS pretty dark - so at least my pictures capture that.

After Notre Dame we took a crepe break. Mine had nutella and whipped cream on top. SO GOOD! We became official crepes fans after that! Getting our second wind, it was off to the Eiffel Tower - which was on the far West side of Paris. (Notre Dame is in the Central area of Paris).

We could glimpse the Tower, but it seemed like we weren't ever going to reach it! When we finally did, and stopped to take our first pictures, it lit up for the night! It was so beautiful to see against the dark sky - one of the most beautiful pictures I got of all the weekend! We went to go wait in line, and as the VERY top was closed, went up to the next best thing - the second level. The elevator goes up at an angle at first, then rises vertically the rest of the way. I was a little freaked, I'll admit. The top was FREEZING but an amazing view of the city. We were able to walk around and take pictures from each side. We didn't stay for long as it was REALLY COLD and quite windy. We then headed to a little French cafe to grab some dinner and rest our legs. I got bœuf bourguignon (basically a beef stew) that I only knew about from the movie Julie and Julia, haha. It was delicious, filling, and warm - the perfect thing to end the day. We hailed a taxi, and were lucky enough to have it drive right around the Arc de Triomphe (though our driver was a bit of a maniac, especially in the roundabout around the Arc!). We hit the pillow around 10/10:30, wiped out.

Sunday we were up and eating breakfast by 7:30/8 (which was some great coffee and croissants with apricot jam - the hostel's complimentary breakfast) and off on the train to Versailles! It took about an hour to get there and we all were still a bit sleepy. We spotted a Starbucks on the way to the Palace, and stopped for some java. The caffeine was necessary. Coffee in hand, we headed to Versailles. (We then lucked out AGAIN as Versailles on the first Sunday of the month is free!) We toured the inside first - and saw all the State Rooms (including the Hall of Mirrors, Throne Room and King and Queen's respective bedchambers) and then went out to explore the extensive gardens. Statues were everywhere, and the garden was HUGE! We just walked around the main walkways, but there were numerous little off-shoot type mazes all over. We took an great picture in the front of the gardens - which you can see above. We grabbed some paninis for lunch as we walked around and then headed out.

Next on the list were the Catacombs of Paris. We took our metro from Versailles part of the way to the Catacombs, and then walked the rest. (It's in the southern part of Paris.) We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, and munched on some delicious French candies while we waited. :) Once inside we all got a little creeped out as we descended the stairs and began walking down the stone tunnels. It reminded me of the fortification tour in Maastricht, but here we were walking into an underground graveyard - so a bit more creepy. We had to walk a ways before we even entered the area with bones. The bones were stacked up, very tightly packed to about 4.5 feet high. They were even stacked to make designs with the skulls. All you could really see were skulls and femur bones, and it looked like the other bones were stacked back farther towards the walls where you couldn't see. Supposedly over 8,000 people are buried down there, but by the looks of all the femurs, you'd guess it to be a lot more. At one point we lost the people in front of us, and behind us, and became a little freaked that we had gotten lost. Lost in the Catacombs, mind you. We were VERY relieved to spot the shadows of the people ahead of us a few minutes later, haha.

We grabbed some snacks and then decided we'd attempt to walk back to our hostel. This was quite the feat as we were in southern part of Paris, and had to walk back up to the northern part. We took our time, but were very relieved to spot our hostel in the distance. After a stop at a little grocery store for some food - we headed in to eat and relax. Our dinner was a bit of a hodge podge (red wine, crusty bread, cheese, BBQ chips, Pringles, orange flavored chocolate and chocolate waffle cookies) but it was filling and a great end to a wonderful weekend. Our group of four had some great conversation as the wine was consumed and no topic wasn't touched. Off to bed around 11/11:30.

Monday was simply travel-home day. We caught a train around ten and enjoyed the comfortable chairs and the view out the window on the way home. We walked home from the train station as well, getting home a little after 1.

All in all it was a great trip - lots of fun! It was amazing to see the sites of Paris in person, and we got some great pictures to remember it all by. My Shutterfly site has ALL my pictures if you'd like to look through them. Can't wait for the next trip!!!