Excuse My Soapbox

 

I wrote a post on the transatlantic flight to Prague, so now it only seems fitting that I write one on the flight back, just to bookend the whole experience. The last plane post was tough, but contrary to what I would have thought at the time, I think this post is even harder to write.

 

In case you haven’t caught on, I am totally sold on the whole study abroad thing.  And I intend to convince many students to at least look into study abroad.  Here are some reasons why I think any Rockhurst student (or any student in general) should think about going abroad:

 

1.      Rockhurst will always be Rockhurst.  This is what one of my friends from Rockhurst told me about going abroad—that Rockhurst will always be there when you get back, and the friends you have there will remain your friends.  Sometimes it almost scares me that I would have missed out on essentially a whole bonus college experience if I had never gone outside of my comfort zone.  And let’s face it, college is great, so why not get two college experiences out of your college career?

2.      A new set of friends.  One thing that really scared me was the fact that I didn’t know ANYONE in my program.  No one was even from my state, much less my school.  But while you are abroad with a limited group of people, they become your family.  My roommate Monica said that her mom told her she would make life-long while abroad, and I heard that from my aunt, too—and Monica and I have decided that we are going to be like that.  In fact, I have already mentally composed a Facebook message with life updates to send her as soon as I get home, and it has barely been 24 hours since I’ve seen her. 

3.      Some things are worth going broke for.  I’m out of money.  I will be selling my soul to the West County Y this break and to the Learning Center when I get back to Rockhurst in order to scrape up enough minimum wage to salvage my bank account.  And I don’t regret one plane ticket, one crepe, one museum pass, or one souvenir of it. 

4.      “Once you get the wanderlust, there’ll be no working for ya.”  An old Irish gentleman told me this on my plane back from Dublin as I was telling him about my travels.  And he’s right.  I’ve got the wanderlust.  I intend to see more of the world and more of my own country.  I am currently trying to figure out how to rebuild my bank account enough to visit all of my new friends in Denver, California, Vegas, and all sorts of cool places.

5.      The hardest part is the end.  My friend Dylan said that this was the piece of advice one of his friends gave him about study abroad, and I have found it to be most true.  Leaving home was hard, and friends and family can testify to the amount of tears I shed.  But leaving Prague has been infinitely harder. 

 

Basically, there is nothing more fun, more enlightening, and more of a growing experience than seeing the world while you are a student. 

 

Feel free to contact me if you want to learn more about study abroad at Rockhurst from a student’s perspective, check out study abroad options on the Rockhurst website: http://www.rockhurst.edu/academics/international/study-abroad/overview/.  Then just take a deep breath and just DO IT!

 

 

 

Nine Facts I Have Discovered in the Czech Republic

1.      My 3^rd grade maps skills teacher was wrong about me.  I was terrible at map skills.  Like highly noticeable difference in test scores.  And normally I am the last person in the world that you want navigating, but for one weekend in Paris I was the Map Queen, and I managed the streets and metros of Paris with (relative) ease. 

2.      I love riding trams.  I have gotten better at being alone while I am abroad, and I have found that there is nothing more peaceful than riding public transportation around Prague with nothing but your ipod and a view of the city whizzing by. 

3.      I’m into Art Nouveau.  I thought I had seen at least a little bit of every kind of art, but I had never run into the Art Nouveau of Prague.  Think bright, pastel colors—I just looked out my window and I see buildings that are yellow, blue, green, and pink.  And I refuse to leave without getting a poster by my favorite Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha.

4.      I can make new plans.  I had plenty of plans for after I graduated, but I re-thought every one of them this semester.  Staying in Kansas City would be great, but what about a year of Jesuit Volunteer Corps or Alumni Service Corps?  Or teach abroad?  Or apply to be a travel director?  Why not?

5.      I can eat Indian food.  An odd discovery in the Czech Republic, I know.  I have always been a notoriously picky eater, but I have tried a lot since I got here—Indian food being the most unusual for me.  But now I know that I can walk into a restaurant without panicking that I won’t find something on the menu.  And that chicken vindaloo is delicious. 

6.      I am an airport pro.  A year ago if you dropped me by myself in an airport without instructions I wouldn’t have been able to find the exit, much less my plane.  After several trips and a miserable 24 hours in the Rome airport, I could practically be a flight attendant.   

7.      I have many “persons.”  I have so many people in my life now both here and at home that I can share all of the good and the bad with.  My friends at home (and Sam studying in Florence) have kept up to date on all my adventures and have patiently helped me through both my homesickness and now my reluctance to leave.  But I have people here now too—Monica, Brinda, Dylan, Neave, Andy, Stef…the list goes on.  And I hope they will still be a part of my life after this semester.    

8.      I have the best family in the world.  And I can never, ever, even begin to thank them for talking me into doing this, providing me with the means to do this, and following every minute of this semester with so much joy for me. 

9.      I can start over.  Landing in a Czech-speaking country with no sleep, no friends, and no clue what my life was going to look like was terrifying.  But in only a few months I have found a home here—with people I care about, places that have grown familiar, experiences that have changed me.  And it breaks my heart to leave this new life, but I look back on my start here and I have hope that even though this will never happen again, new adventures will. 

 

Around the World in 94 Days

Today is a bittersweet day, because I have just arrived home (to Prague) from my last trip around Europe.  My dad asked me via skype earlier what my favorite city had been so far, and I didn’t have a definite answer.  So I have decided to give each place I have visited its own award based on what I loved most about it:

Budapest: Best City Along a River

I love cities with rivers going through them, but I have to say Budapest does the river thing the best.  With a castle, Parliament, and the Chain Bridge all along the Danube, it was beautiful to walk along there during the day and even more beautiful to do a river cruise at night when everything was lit up.

Munich (Oktoberfest): Most Comeback Potential

Oktoberfest is a cool German experience, but it is one of those things that you should know what you are doing going into it—versus just booking a bus ticket and a tent a week before you go.  With the right group and the right travel arrangements, as well as time for sightseeing in Munich, I could definitely redo Oktoberfest the right way.

 

Rome: Historical Heaven Years of theology, Latin, and art history finally became useful when I was in Rome.  Between wandering through the ruins of the Forum and getting to explore the Vatican at night, I don’t think I will ever have another experience so rich in the history I have spent years studying.

Berlin: The Cool Kid Place to Live

With tons of contemporary art, futuristic buildings, and a students and artists’ part of town featuring murals on the Berlin wall, this has to be some sort of hipster Mecca.  I had no expectations for Berlin, but I ended up wishing I could have spent more time there.

 

Ireland: Most Perfectly Met Expectations

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Ireland was everything that Hollywood and my Irish heritage promised me.  I would love to spend a few weeks there seeing the whole countryside and few more cities.

 

Florence: The Total Package

It was hard to decide what stuck out most about Florence, because there were so many good things.  I got to see Michelangelo’s David, hang out with my friend Sam, and eat the best pizza I have ever had (Gusta Pizza).  Basically an all-around great trip.
 

Venice: The Pretty City

Venice was small, but stunning.  The canals and the colors make it unlike any place I’ve seen before.  Sam and I spent most of our day lost in random allies with flower boxes and laundry over our heads, but we were perfectly okay with that.
 

Paris: Too Good to Be True

Paris was perfect.  For almost four days I forgot the rest of the world existed and lived in a city of gothic churches, cool bookstores, crepes, art museums, easy public transportation, and just all around beautiful streets…I could go on forever about Paris.  In a perfect alternate universe, I live in Paris in an apartment with wrought iron, a flower box, and shutters, and I ride my bicycle around all day to get my baguettes.  And I’m perfectly fashionable.  Again, I could go on all day about Paris. 

 

Vienna: Best Decked

Vienna was a lot like Prague, only with a lot more Christmas decorations.  Think giant sparkling lights hanging over the streets of the city center.  Not to mention some out of this world Christmas markets.  Definitely the perfect time of year to go. 

I can’t believe I am done travelling, but hopefully by this time next year I will have found a way to add a few more cities to this list. 

My Own Divine Comedy

 

Florence is all about its famous Florentine’s, and it just so happens that one of my personal favorite Florentine’s pretty much wrote the story of my trip to Florence: Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy.

In the Divine Comedy Dante gets a tour of both heaven and hell, and I am pretty sure I too got a little tour of both of these while in Italy.

 

Me in front of Dante's tomb

 

My lovely tour guide for the heavenly part of my trip was my friend and former Rockhurst housemate Samantha, who is studying in Florence.  She showed me all of the coolest churches and museums in Italy (two of my favorite things) and kept me well fed with the best pizza, gelato, and “Secret Bakery” treats you could imagine.    

Sam and I at the Piazza Michelangelo

 

The heavenly high point was our trip up to San Miniato.  We hiked quite a few steps to get to this beautiful little church, but it was completely worth it.  We had a perfect view of the city, and especially of the famous Duomo.  The view alone would have made the trek worth it, but San Miniato had more to offer. 

 

We went into the church itself, and it was unlike any cathedral I’ve visited so far.  It was very dark—lit only by candlelight—and the place where the altar would normally be was actually divided into an upper and lower level.  The lower level featured an almost cave-like space.  There were vaults and columns and an altar nestled in the back with rows of pews hiding in the forest of columns.  We sat there for a while and felt like early Christians in some sort of secret underground church.  The best part was that on the upper level there was an organ, and for some reason on this random Monday afternoon someone was playing it, so we had some ethereal background music to our underground experience.  We wrapped up this divine visit with a walk through the most beautiful graveyard I have ever seen—filled with beautiful sculptures, flowers, and a sense of peace you could only find on a heavenly mountaintop like that. 

The rest of my time in Florence itself and our day in Venice was equally heavenly—the hell didn’t start until the Rome airport. 

I am now convinced that Dante failed to discover a level of hell—the one where you miss your flight and spend eternity in a Rome airport eating muffins and McDonalds, sleeping on metal chairs, and wondering if you are crazy or if there really aren’t toilet paper dispensers in ANY of the bathroom stalls.  Apparently this level of hell is reserved for those who hogged a bench in front of Michelangelo’s David sculpture for too long.  Thus missing the train they needed. 

 

This picture I snuck could also be what landed me in hell.

 

I wish I could say that I handled this low point of travelling with good humor and grace, but those are pretty much the opposite of how things went down.  My 24 hours began with me sniffling on the phone to my mom (sometimes you just need to hear your mom’s voice in these situations, even if there is absolutely nothing she can do), followed by the purchase of multiple books in a fit of self pity (I actually read all of them), and ending with me descending the escalator to my gate looking like some sort of airport jungle woman with bloodshot eyes, hair sticking up everywhere, and a muffin clutched in my hand.

Clearly delerious enough to document my attempt to sleep on an airport bench.

But like Dante, I have made it through both heaven and hell and am home in Prague, already thinking mostly of my heavenly experience in Florence. 

 

 

 

 

Mental Picture Perfect: Too Little Time in Ireland

I have found one thing to be true in my travels thus far: no city is exactly what you expect it to be.  It is inevitably a great experience in its own way, but when you step off the plane/train/bus, you realize that the city isn’t exactly what you pictured in your head.

 

Ireland—both Dublin and the Irish countryside at my friend’s grandma’s house—broke this truism for me. 

 

I have actually studied a bit of Irish history and literature, so I realized when I got there I actually knew a thing or two about Ireland—at least more so than a lot of the Central European countries I have gotten used to visiting.  My grandpa is also Irish, and very proud of our heritage, so I have heard a bit about the Irish from him growing up.  And of course, being a 22-year-old girl, I enjoyed the movie P.S. I Love You more than I usually like to admit. 

 

All of my high expectations based on these pre-perceptions of Ireland turned about to be true.  My grandpa loves to tell me that the Irish are good storytellers (“that’s why you write blogs…storytelling is in your blood”) and generally friendly people, and it’s true.  We were shocked by how many people were willing to give us directions—without us even asking—because that never happens in Prague.  Czechs are polite, but they are not particularly known for their friendliness.  The man who drove us up to my friend’s grandma’s house—a quintessential friendly Irishman—talked to us the whole half hour drive.  When I heard him say “So there’s this story about a Chinese girl who wanted to learn Gaelic…” I almost started laughing because that’s exactly how my grandpa starts his many, many stories.    

I was also surprised at how much the history of Ireland came alive in Dublin—especially the literary history. I got to see the Book of Kells—the oldest book in the world—and “nerded out” (as my friend Raine called it) over finding the house James Joyce’s “The Dead” was based off of. I have heard that you can never understand Joyce unless you fully understand Ireland and its history, and I can see how it’s true. Although I don’t understand Joyce’s book Dubliners any better after visiting Dublin, I appreciate how difficult it must have been to capture as many details and nuances of the city as he did.

Finally, the Irish countryside was all that P.S. I Love You promised me and every other girl in America it. Think green, lochs, mountains, winding little roads down to a filled with castle ruins and warm, crowded pubs. I got to stay in little house perched up on the hillside with a view of it all. My friend’s grandma cooked us more Irish food than we could ever eat, and we all wish we could have stayed much, much longer.

So as much as I usually love coming home to Prague, this time all I wanted to do was head back to Ireland with its live music in the pubs, beautiful countryside, and friendly people. I have to get back there, and to so many other places in the world. As the Irishman who talked to me the entire plane ride back to Prague told me,“Once you get the wanderlust, there’ll be no working for ya.” If only I could skip the working someday and just travel.

 

Trinity College

 

"Nerding Out"

 

Goooood morning Ireland!

 

 

“Ich bin ein Berliner”…

I knew I would love Rome, it would be impossible not to adore the streets of Prague, Budapest was my heritage, and Oktoberfest was its own experience, but I had no idea how much I would enjoy Berlin.  I did not know what to expect in Berlin, besides WWII history, and I am still trying to figure out what about Berlin appealed to me so much.  These are a few factors I have come up with:

 

1.      Museum Mania.  We spent all day Saturday going from museum to museum: one about the history of Germany under communist rule, one that spanned the entire history of Germany, and a contemporary art museum, which was my favorite.  There was so much history to learn about, and Berlin is also a huge hub of contemporary art.  I think I could live there for a while and only scratch the surface of the museums that city had to offer.

2.      Oktober.  The morning of our last day a few of us set out to find a flea market…we spent two hours walking around a park, but never found it.  None of us regretted it though because the leaves were beautiful and the park was full of sculptures, monuments, and even one of the largest instruments in the world—a giant tower full of bells.  Whenever we got frustrated with the fact that we couldn’t find the market, we just kept reminding ourselves “But we are in a park…in the fall…in Berlin.”  We had no complaints after thinking about that. 

3.      Yesterday and Tomorrowland.  Germany was unlike most cities I’ve been to because it has several extremely modern, futuristic-looking buildings juxtaposed with old and historical buildings.  We walked past the Reichstag one afternoon and experienced an eerie feeling of being in some sort of post-apocalyptic world.  We saw the Reichstag, the empty lawn which used to be full of crowds at Hitler’s rallies, and then all sorts of oddly shaped glass and concrete buildings that seemed straight out of Tomorrowland in Disney World—not to mention it was freezing, cloudy, and windy.  The total imagined effect was not far from the reality: something terrible had happened here, something that radically influenced the future and our knowledge of what horrors humanity is capable of.

4.      Love the ones you’re with.  Finally, I think I loved Berlin because of the group I was with.  It is one of our program trips, so the majority of the people in my program were there.  After almost two months we have really gottent o know and like each other.  A visiting friend of mine commented on how surprised she was that all of us seemed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company, despite the fact that we are a diverse group, and I think it is mostly true.  All of us wanted to make the most of what Berlin had to offer, and we had a good time doing it together—having serious conversations about the history of the city, cracking jokes, and jointly appreciating how it feels to be young and travelling.

I would love to go back to Berlin some day to see more of what it has to offer, but right now I have a full travel schedule ahead of me: Ireland, Florence, Terezin (a concentration camp), Paris, and Vienna!  It’s going to be a busy November!

 

In front of the Reichstag with Stefani, Andy, and Dylan.

 

One of the largest instruments in the world

 

Sculptures in a park

 

Contemporary Art Museum at night

 

 Berlin Wall at night

 

Murals on the Wall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lennon Lessons

 

Samantha, my former Rockhurst roommate, hates surprises.  She and our other former roommate, Kara, came to visit me in Prague this past weekend, which was wonderful because I have been missing my friends from Rockhurst.  All day Saturday Sam kept trying to get me to tell her what we were going to be doing that night, or at least say what was in my bag of “supplies.”  But I was absolutely not about to ruin one of my favorite Prague sites for her (and I think she would agree that it was worth the wait): the Lennon Wall.

 

The Lennon Wall is a long wall near the river that is covered in graffiti—but not just random vandalism; it has a history behind it.  During the communist regime in Prague, students would stand at that wall and sing songs about love and peace by the Beatles, but they were driven away by the communist authorities.  Students would also paint grievances against the regime on the wall, along with poems, flowers, and messages of love and peace, only to find the wall painted white again the next day.   

The site has definitely become a major tourist attraction, and visitors come armed with brushes or spray paint to graffiti their own messages of love and peace on the symbolic wall.  I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity, and I figured my friends would enjoy it, so I found some paint and brushes and took them to the wall at night when I knew it wouldn’t be crowded.

Judging by the fact that we went through two tubes of paint and then some, I think the venture was a success.  All of us wanted to cover all of our bases with sources of love in our lives, so we had a Rockhurst symbol, an Alpha Sigma Alpha symbol, names of our family members, a quote from a book, a prayer from my high school, and more. 

I love Prague’s unique history.  Love is a universal theme about which you could write any number of quotes on any number of walls, but there is something distinct about this particular wall.  You are more than just a vandal or a tourist with a paintbrush at this wall—you are honoring a tradition of students (who were my age!) who believed in peace and freedom with a passion that someone like me who has been raised in a country has hardly known anything but fr cannot fully understand. 

My next related project: get to the embassy and vote—a great way to honor students in all different places and times who have fought (sometimes with paint) for democracy. 



 

"Sacred heart of Jesus...I place my trust in you" - the best lesson I know about love.  More pics to follow once I can get them from Kara's camera...

How to Properly Go to Munich for Oktoberfest

 

I want to travel everywhere twice: once with a camera and a lot of mistakes, and the second time with no camera—just experiencing everything—and without the mistakes from the first time around.  Oktoberfest in Munich was a really cool experience, but the whole time my roommate and I joked that we could now write a detailed guidebook for how to do Oktoberfest properly.  Here are the Sparknotes:

 

1.      Get a drindle (or lederhosen).  This is the traditional German attire for Oktoberfest, and we have been kicking ourselves since then for not getting our own drindles.  You’d think you would be in the minority putting on a ridiculous dress or some crazy pants and suspenders, but actually everyone wears them—even the little German kids with their families.  So go with the drindle and get some braids going while you’re at it.

2.      See every tent.  The coolest thing about Oktoberfest isn’t necessarily what you do, but what you see, provided you take a good look around.  All of the tents are decorated like nothing I’ve seen in festivals in America—think a giant inflatable chicken turning on a spit on the top of a building.  Definitely worth wandering around for a while to see.

3.      Speaking of chicken…Try it.  An Oktoberfest specialty is half of a roasted chicken, and it is absolutely delicious.  Another favorite is the giant pretzels.  We also saw a lot of people wandering around with decorated heart-shaped cookies wrapped in plastic around their necks, but we couldn’t figure out what they meant, so we never got one.  However, I took the liberty of looking them up…so here is a little background information on this little tradition, and even a recipe! http://www.squidoo.com/lebkuchen-heart

4.      Happy camping.  My roommate Brinda and I decided that we were outdoorsy enough to stay in tents for 4 nights…I spent a week in the woods of the Upper Peninsula, took bucket showers on a farm in West Virginia, and was a dedicated Girl Scout through 8^th grade.  But I wanted the heck out of that tent by night 4.  Cold and crowded, so brace yourself if you think you’re up for it. 

5.      Walk around Munich!  So many people only go to Munich for the festival, but the city itself is beautiful.  We decided to spend our last day exploring the city, and we all agreed that we wished we had more time for that.  We came out of the subway and saw this huge stone building completely covered in statues that we hadn’t seen before—a breathtaking first glimpse of Munich.  Check out all of the old churches, clock towers, and rows of gingerbread-esque houses. 

 

As I study abroad I am working my way through my heritage: first to Hungary, then to Germany…and I am officially booked for Ireland first weekend in November!  No more travelling for October, which is actually fine by me.  I never thought I would call someplace other than Rockhurst or St. Louis home, but “headed home to Prague” rolls off the tongue pretty easily these days.  I had a lot of cities to choose from and have visited quite a few, and have yet to regret picking Prague.  But maybe I’m biased. 

 

 

Out in Munich

 

 

At the Festival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"World Historical" Scars

There are things I will never fully be able to understand about Prague.  In my Kafka class we have been talking about “world historical people,” which are cultures that make a mark on history.  I didn’t know much about the Czech Republic, didn’t know if it had made a mark on world history, but I am learning that world history left marks on the Czech Republic.  Here are some random lessons I have picked up about the Czech Republic, most specifically Prague:

Our Czech film history professor was going over some important dates in the history of Prague on our first day of class.  She asked us what happened in the world in 1938 that involved Czechoslovakia.  None of us could remember, so she asked us if we had ever heard of the Munich Agreement, of the type of politics it represented.  At that moment I think a lot of us flashed back to a 7^th grade history lesson: appeasement.  Oh, it was YOU the rest of the world just gave to Hitler…  It is strange to be living in what was just a footnote of a country to us at the time. 

We watched a movie for film history called The Higher Principle.  It was about a group of students who were arrested for doodling on a newspaper picture of the German Protectorate of Bohemia, who had just been assassinated.  The whole movie we waited for them to be rescued or somehow let go.  They were shot.  Three students killed for an idle joke.  About to graduate—my age.

As punishment for the assassination alluded to in The Higher Principle, the Nazis destroyed an entire Czech town: Lidice.  They killed all of the men, sent the women and children to concentration camps, and burned the town until there was absolutely nothing left of it.

We took a tour of a famous brewery called U Fleku, which has been brewing beer since the 1400s.  Our tour guide told us that there was only one day that the brewery ran out of beer: the day the communist regime changed the value of money—5000 crowns would now be worth only 1 crown.  They Czechs had one day to make their savings count before this change went into effect, and that was the day U Fleku ran out of beer. 

I have noticed a pattern in the speeches of tour guides: if a building is ugly, you can bet the communists built it.  They are so easy to pick out—concrete slabs or an awful tower that looks like a needle, trying hard to ruin a skyline perfectly dotted with red roofs and spires.    

Our Kafka teacher reminds us sometimes that unfortunately the atrocities went both ways.  Mass graves of Germans living in the Czech Republic have been recently found.  Revenge enacted when the Czechs received their independence from the Nazis. 

Jews in the Czech Republic often did not fare well either.  Our Kafka professor told us today that Jews who survived the Holocaust and came back to Prague were labeled as Germans by the Czechs.  These gaunt, recovering people who no longer had to wear yellow stars now had to wear the letter “N” (the Czech word for German is Nemec). 

The history here is incredibly rich, albeit tragic. 

In other daily news, I just got back from a weekend at Oktoberfest (expect a “How To Correctly Do Oktoberfest” guide soon) and I am headed to Rome this weekend to see my former Rockhurst roommates, Sam and Kara!

Can you spot what doesn't belong?

History, Happenstance, and Hipsters

If I had to pick three words to sum up my weekend in Budapest, these would be it.  Here is a little bit about how I experienced each:

History:

I think the most interesting parts of the city were some of the memorials.  The first one we encountered was outside of the Parliament building and was dedicated to rebels who had been killed by a Soviet firing squad.  A plaque near the memorial declared the following:

“The system of communism has failed in every sense.  However, it will be very hard to get rid of communists, for there is nobody as dangerous as the usurper of a failed system, who abandons the system, but guards his loot and power position.”

We walked quietly for a while pondering that thought.  Another memorial that struck us was a row of bronze shoes along the Danube River commemorating Jews who were lined up and shot into the river by the Nazis.  Some of the shoes had little tea lights in them, and I can only imagine how haunting they would be lit up at night. 

In addition to these memorials, we got to enjoy Castle Hill, Heroes Square, Andrassy Avenue, the Parliament Building, St. Matthias Church, Fisherman’s Bastion, and more.

 

 

Hipsters:

Someone told me just before I left for Budapest that the city has a very big underground scene.  I would never have guessed that, but they were right.  Probably the biggest example of this underground “hipster” scene is the network of ruins bars scattered around the Pest side of the city.  The bars are nestled in the ruins of communist buildings, with lights winding up railings, writing all over the walls, and all sorts of mismatched furniture and odds and ends.  Very different, very hipster.

 

 

 

 

Happenstance:

One of the challenges I am discovering about travel is trying to make plans.  So little time, so many opinions, so much to see.  While we got to go to most of the major sights I was hoping to see, some of my favorite things we did were the ones that were very random or by accident.  The first of these was a Sunday bazaar we stumbled upon right across from our hostel.  There were booths everywhere with spices, art, jewelry, and random antiques.  Very different from the Grand Market Hall, which was an impressive building, but a tourist trap of knick-knacks and souvenirs. 

Another random thing we did was a river cruise.  This was not completely random, because my family, who had been to Budapest before, recommended it, but it felt a little odd when we realized we were definitely the youngest people on the boat.  But we got an absolutely beautiful view of some of the landmarks lit up at night, and it turns out that even though we went with the cheapest “one drink, no dinner” option, they really don’t seem to notice if you swipe some strudel or grab an extra glass of champagne…

All in all, the weekend was a success.  We covered the sightseeing, the nightlife, and learned a little bit about flexibility and travel.  We also called Prague “home” for the first time, and I am happy to be back.  I spent the day exploring the Kafka Museum and enjoying some cool fall weather, just appreciating what a cool city I currently live in.  Next adventure on the list: a day trip to Czech Switzerland to see where Narnia was filmed!

 

Here are some more pictures from Budapest:

 

At the Baths

 

St. Stephen's Basilica

 

Lights at night

 

In front of Parliament