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Prague overview

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After waking up about a dozen times throughout the night to check my clock, I decided to just drag myself out of bed and head to the airport around 5:30 a.m. this morning. I arrived without any problems and was pleasantly surprised to find that there is free wifi here, unlike in a majority of the other European airports I have been to.

Gotta love the Czech Republic! Anyway, without further adieu…

Prague Tips

1.) Wear good shoes! Prague is another one of those vast cities where your feet are going to be aching if you don’t take the proper measures. Even with a metro pass (which I highly recommend buying), anybody who visits the sights here should be prepared to do a lot of walking and going up and down a lot of stairs.

2.) Dish out the dough to eat the local cuisine! Czech food is so heavy that one meal will probably fill most people up for the entire day. I could not eat it every day, but I did enjoy two traditional meals. If eating out isn’t your thing, Billa is a cheap grocery store located around the city where you can get anything you need.

3.) Like in most other large cities in Europe, you should not drink water out of the tap. It’s very cheap to buy at the store, but if carbonated water isn’t your thing [yuck], look for still water, or in Czech,  neperliva voda.

4.) Watch your belongings! I didn’t have any problems while in Prague, but it is infamous for having a large number of pickpockets waiting to prey on tourists, especially in the stairwells of the metro stations. Just be aware of your surroundings and make sure that all valuables are either locked in a suitcase or somewhere that is not easily accessible for someone with shifty hands.

I depart Prague for London around 10:00 a.m. and will arrive in London two hours later. I will have a long layover there, and will then depart for Edinburgh at 3:45 p.m.

Oh geeze. What was I thinking?

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When I stepped onto the train and saw that all of the emergency instructions were written in Russian and heard the brakes grinding as we began to head towards Kutna Hora, I should have known that I was going to have an interesting day.

Lucky for me, I figured out that perhaps leaving Prague wasn’t the greatest idea after wandering around lost in the town, unable to find anyone with the ability to speak English or German, a mere half hour after arriving. Needless to say, I wasn’t in the best mood as I continued to walk in all directions looking for the ‘bone church.’

Eventually I just gave up on finding the ossuary, and decided that it was smarter for me to make one of the train connections back to Prague so that I wouldn’t have to wait another two hours for the other.

The only problem was that I didn’t know where the main train station was, and ended up walking in the completely wrong direction, unable to read signs or the cheap map that the information center had given to me.

Thankfully I was able to bat my eyelashes a bit, and two young Czech boys helped me to find a smaller train station that would carry me to the main station where I could transfer to the town of Kolin, and then back to Prague.

Once the train that was going to take me back to the main station rolled up, I was a little shocked. It was definitely straight out of the Cold War. Why I was surprised I’m not sure, and although I wasn’t too confident in its ability to carry me more than a few feet before breaking down, it got me to where I needed to be.

I was able to get back to Prague in about 90 minutes, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to get back from a day trip. This isn’t to say that the entire experience was bad, but visiting the site was not as clear and simple as the brochures and hostel made it out to be. After overhearing multiple conversations among other people at the hostel, it seems like we all encountered common issues.

The day was not a complete loss, though. I loved seeing the Czech countryside, the sunflower fields and vineyards from the train. I also got back to the city early enough that I was able to travel to Vysehrad, the remains of an ancient fortress situated high above the Vltava river.

I did not have the energy to travel through the entire complex, but I did enjoy walking through the parks to the cathedral and national cemetery where famous the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s grave is located. I also took advantage of some garden plots to be a photography-dork and capture some nice photos of bees and butterflies.

Tomorrow is my last full day here in Prague. The time has flown by, and I feel like I have seen so much that it’s a bit difficult to sort out in my head. I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with my remaining time, but chances are I will end up finding myself in another restaurant chowing down on local cuisine and sitting along the river as the sun begins to set.

Prague

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In my seventh grade social studies class, each of the students was assigned a country to research and do a short presentation about. I knew nothing about the Czech Republic before I started, but after awhile I found myself longing to see first-hand the fairytale city of Prague.

Now some eight years later, I’m finally here. It seemed pretty surreal to me as I walked up and down the cobblestone streets for the first time yesterday, and even after exploring all day today it still hasn’t completely sunk in.

Over the years that I have learned more about the history of Prague, I’ve created what I anticipated to be an overly-romanticized picture of the city. Much to my surprise, this premonition has turned out to not to be the case.

Prague really is as beautiful as its pictures on postcards and in books. I’ve definitely caught the ‘bug,’ and I think I’m going to find it difficult to leave in a few days. If my family and friends were here, this would definitely be a place that I could see myself calling home.

It’s difficult to describe the feelings that I have about this place, except to say that the city has such a lovely spirit that just seems to take you over. Even with a gray rainy sky, you can’t help but to be cheerful, and when standing at the top of the large hill upon which the castle is situated, I can’t imagine how it would be possible for anyone to not have their breath taken away.

My past few days have been spent enjoying the small moments like watching the people walking along Charles Bridge and taking photographs everywhere I go. The experience has been relaxing, exciting and extremely fattening. The Czech culture is so rich; the people, the music, the food…everything has exceeded expectations.

Although I know that I won’t be able to experience all that Prague has to offer over the next few days, I’m going to continue trying my best.

Thus far I’ve enjoyed couple of traditional meals including fried cheese and goulash with potato and bacon dumplings, visited the historical sites like the Jewish Quarter, gone to the National Museum and learned more about the “darker” side of the city’s history with a ghost tour.

I still have a lot to see and do though, and the next few days will be controlled chaos. Weather depending I may let my inner-child run free at the Prague zoo for most of the day and then grow up a bit and visit a Chateau nearby. I’m also going to look into attending my first Opera at the famous Estates Theatre where Mozart’s Don Giovanni premiered. I might be too poor, but it’s worth looking into!

Love Parade insanity

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With only a couple days left in Germany, I’ve been planning on going out in style.  Duisburg, a small city only fifty minutes from Dortmund was selected to be the home of this year’s Love Parade festival, and it seemed like it would be the best activity to go to for my last ‘hoorah.’

Sadly, it turned out that I should have stayed far away. I should have known there would be trouble when our train (which was one of the 700 extra transports of the day) was so packed that people were forced to cram into every aisle and stand in the doorways.

It was extremely naive, but I continued to reassure myself that getting to the city would be the most difficult part of the day. However, as soon as we walked off the platform and found ourselves caught in a wave of people heading out to the streets, I started to figure out that maybe that wouldn’t be the case.

Regardless, my friends and I continued to march ourselves along with the flow of people. At times it was quite fun watching the costumed people dancing around, but at other points during the day we were very uneasy.

With over 1 million people crowding the main street trying to get to the actual Love Parade grounds, at times you could not move in any direction for minutes at a time. You were simply stuck. You could not choose to turn around and leave, the only option was to move forward with the rest of the group.

It’s no wonder that such a tragedy unfolded around 5:00 p.m. in the tunnels behind the entrance gate.

Yes, gate. There was only one way into the festival and it also served as the only way out.

I have no idea who thought this would be a good idea, but when police tried to stop people from entering the already overcrowded event, they were overpowered and chaos ensued. People rushed forward and caused a stampede in the narrow tunnels that led to the party grounds.

Official numbers say that 21 people died and hundreds more were injured in the incident. Thankfully my friends and I had stuck together and were already up watching the parade at the time.

We had no idea that anything was wrong until we saw the breaking news pop up on someone’s phone and decided to get out of the situation and leave the festival before more problems arose.

We thought we were leaving early, but getting home proved to be even more of a challenge than getting to the event. Lines to get to the train platform were thousands of people deep, all taxis were full, buses were crammed to capacity and many people were simply walking around in a daze.

The founder of the original Love Parade in 1989 has now said that the festival will not be held again.

Even through all the chaos, my friends and I were able to stick together and squeezed into a tram going to Mulheim, a nearby town. There we were able (after several tries) to hop onto a smaller, slow local train called the S1 that would take us back to Dortmund. What is normally a 50 minute trip ended up taking us 5.5 hours on the way back, but I’ve never been so happy to be home in my life.

It’s almost time to take a bow…

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…and say goodbye to Germany.

It seems insane to me that I only have ten days left in the country. School is coming to a close and slowly all of the friends I have made here are sneaking away back to their hometowns. It’s crazy: this experience took 1.5 years to plan, and it seems like it only took a blink of the eyes to pass by.

Well most of the time, anyway.

Of course there were the weeks that seemed to be endless as I struggled to adjust to living in a new culture, and adjusting to new ways of life. Obviously being without my friends and family has taken a toll on me at times, but overall the pros far outweigh the cons.

This experience hasn’t just been a way for me to break out of the “daily grind” as I had first thought it would be. It’s been so much more. My eyes have been opened to a world that I had only seen in photographs, and I’ve learned so much about not only the lives of people I’ve met during my travels, but myself too.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would have the guts to do the things I have done over the past five months as I have logged over 15,000 miles in the air and by train and stepped foot in nine different countries.

I’ve felt the cool breeze of the North Sea, walked the Baltic’s longest pier and swam in the crystal clear Adriatic. I’ve stood in the shadows of the Alps and Carpathian mountains, been to huge cities, small towns and everything in between. It’s never failed to amaze me how diverse this continent and its people are.

Although I am a bit sad that my study abroad experience has to come to a close, I am so excited to get back to Iowa. Dortmund has served as a wonderful home over the past months, but in my heart I now know that Iowa is where I belong.

My adventure has been great, but I’m ready to enjoy being back in Cedar Rapids with the people I care about. I still have two trips left before I head home, though. Don’t forget to stop back for updates from Prague, Czech Republic and Edinburgh, Scotland!

Gdansk overview

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Today was one of those times where the go-go-go pace will probably come back to bite me in the butt. I attempted to see as much as I possibly could in the short amount of time I have here, and now my feet and legs are definitely paying the price: I don’t think I could walk up and down a long flight of stairs if my life depended on it.

Oh well, though. I shall survive.

Gdansk is such a beautiful place that it’s worth the soreness and fatigue to be able to see as much as I have. There’s so much to see and do here, and although I’ve spent the past couple of days combing the streets for hours, I don’t think I’ve really made a significant dent in the list of things to do.

This morning I started off the day by continuing to browse through the various amber stands in the city looking for a good deal. After some searching I was able to find a few great pieces. Eventually I put my mild bargain-shopping addiction aside  and headed to the train station to go to Sopot, a resort town about 15 minutes from Gdansk.

I had a very difficult time finding ticket machines, and once I had my ticket in hand, finding which platform to stand on was impossible without asking for help. Luckily I was able to speak a mix of German and English to figure out where I had to go and what I needed to do in order to use the rail system.

Although the entire ordeal was a bit frustrating, I’m really glad that I was able to make the trip to Sopot. The town has a lot of shops and restaurants nestled along the seaside and also the longest pier in the Baltic region. I planned on spending most of the day there, but with the sun beating down and the temperatures rising, I returned to Gdansk after about 1.5 hours of wandering around aimlessly.

Returning to Gdansk proved to be another adventure, but with a little time I was able to find the appropriate tickets and not miss the train. After arriving back in the city I took the time to sit down and enjoy another traditional meal and take some final photographs for my scrapbook back at home.

Overall my trip to Gdansk has been amazing.  At times it was difficult to find my way around, but with patience and some searching for people that speak the same language, everything worked out. The people here were wonderful hosts, and due to their gratuity and the beauty of this city, I would love to come back again for a longer visit.

Gdansk tips:

1.) When shopping for amber, be sure to check all of the stands before you make a purchase and ask to see the certificate of authenticity by the provider. If the seller is unable to produce the document, don’t buy it. This region is known for high quality pieces and it would be a shame to be tricked.

2.) Eat the local cuisine! There are so many delicious Polish foods and with the affordable menu prices, you can try a bit of everything. I’m proud to say this is my first trip that I never felt the temptation to head to McDonalds.

3.) Research and learn more about the history before you come. There were so many historical places that I passed and had no idea what they were until after I had visited the Solidarity Museum. I wished I would have better educated myself about what to expect and also to know how important Gdansk was to the Polish (and later Eastern European) rise against communism.



Gdansk

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Deemed the one of the world’s “amber capitols,” Gdansk is a beautiful city situated in northern Poland very near the sea.  The largest seaport in the country, Gdansk has been an important trade route throughout history and is now a huge tourist destination that has a little bit of everything for visitors to see.

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect when traveling here. There seems to be a bit of stereotyping that Eastern European countries are “behind the times” or completely downtrodden, but I have not found this to be the case here.

Gdansk is a beautiful place that has seemed to find a wonderful way to mix the old ways with the new. The city survives on the tourist industry and accommodates guests very nicely and has seemed to find a way to embrace its past while continuing to move forward.

Controlled by Germany during WWII and later the Soviet Union, Gdansk is the city where the solidarity movement against Communism began to rise. Communism eventually fell in Poland after a series of protests, demonstration and sadly, death.

However, after Poland regained its independence, many of the other countries in Europe that were still under Soviet rule began to fight back against communism as well. The entire movement ended with the most famous event of the Berlin Wall being brought down in 1989.

Aside from emerging myself in Polish history, today has been spent exploring the reconstructed old town of the city and enjoying traditional cuisine at unbelievably affordable prices. At first I was a bit intimidated by the Polish menu and huge array of items available, but I ended up choosing pierogi, a type of boiled dumpling stuffed with pork.

Talk about delicious! They just melted in my mouth and left me feeling so full after only three of them on my plate of seven. I couldn’t leave the table without trying desert, though. I chose a pancake stuffed with cream cheese and fruit, smothered in cream. Needless to say, I wasn’t able to finish it all, but I sure tried.

My day tomorrow will be spent visiting the Amber museum and then traveling to the nearby city of Sopot, which is located right on the sea and is known for its pier and boutiques. It should be a great, and although this is going to make me seem like a total pig, I’m really looking forward to trying some more food!

Summertime in Germany is heating up

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Literally.

It’s a cheesy thing to say, but it’s around 95 degrees with completely still air and no air conditioning in sight, so I’ll let it slide. When I came to Germany I was told that the seasons would be mild. Wrong-o! When I first arrived I couldn’t escape the snow, and now I can’t escape the heat.

Oh well, though. Life will go on. Now I realize how spoiled I am with central air conditioning at home and will definitely appreciate that luxury even more. One more month to go before I can lie in bed and freeze again at night. I can’t wait!

Besides sweating half to death and praying for rain (never thought I’d say that), everything here is going well. I have only two more weeks of regular classes followed by a week of finals at the University of Dortmund. It’s crazy how quickly the time is going by, but at the same time I’m starting to embrace that fact a bit.

One could say that I’m having a case of ‘late term’ homesickness. With the fourth of July this weekend (Happy 4th to all my readers!), I’ve been thinking a lot about my friends and family and how much I wish I could be there to BBQ and watch the fireworks. It seems like such a minuscule and unimportant thing each year when it comes to this time of year, but since this is first year I won’t be a part of that tradition, it feels a little strange.

I’m trying not to focus on it too much, though. Tomorrow will still be a good time that I’m sure to remember: all of the American exchange students are getting together to throw a big BBQ bash in the park. We’re going to do our best to make it as ‘American’ as possible, grilling out hamburgers, hot dogs, eating  a copious amount of potato chips and making s’mores if we can find the ingredients.

Wish us luck with that one, cooking in Europe has proved to be a challenge. Mostly you actually have to cook, and I’m not exactly a chef. I’m the only person I know that can mess up scrambled eggs.

There are not so many things that are pre-prepared here, so one has to be prepared to pull out a cookbook and experiment with what ingredients are available. Much to my dismay, Betty Crocker is a big no-no here. Tomorrow I’m going to half-cheat, making the confetti cupcake mix my boyfriend brought over, but still making frosting from scratch. Thus far  in my previous attempts I’ve failed miserably, but I’m determined to succeed this time.

BBQ aside, I’ve been trying really hard to keep myself busy and out of the house  so I can’t sit around and pout. Yesterday I traveled to Bonn, Germany for the day to see Beethoven’s birth house and the old architecture.

On Monday I’m considering traveling to another city in the region to take some pictures and explore and next weekend I am flying to Gdansk, Poland to spend a few days. Towards the end of the month I will be off to my final two destinations: Prague, Czech Republic and Edinburgh, Scotland. Be sure to check back for updates!

UPDATE: Frosting was a complete fail! It turned into a huge block of butter and sugar in the refrigerator overnight. Boo!

My week in the very beautiful Croatia

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There seems to be a trend that I simply can’t catch a break when it comes to my travels going 100 percent smoothly. Factors beyond my control always come rearing their ugly head and I’m left to stress about whether or not things are going to fix themselves or if the trip is even going to happen.

My trip this week followed the same-old pattern. Thankfully luck was on my side yet again, and my boyfriend and I were able to make it to my favorite (note the complete sarcasm) remote airport on the German/Dutch border after quite a few headaches.

With flights taking off early in the morning before trains from Dortmund and other cities can reach in time, many people choose to sleep in the ungodly-freezing airport, and usually it’s nothing more than an annoying night without sleep. On Sunday night there was a little more going on than slight discomfort and being a little cranky, however.

Usually trains end running to remote locations around 11:30 p.m. On all of my other trips to Weeze I have been able to take a 9:00 p.m. train from Dortmund and then catch a transfer bus from the nearby town of Kevelear at 11:45 p.m. without a problem.  By doing this I only leave myself around six hours to sit around in the airport and freeze half-to-death.

On Sunday evening, both of the trains that are needed to reach Weeze were extremely delayed, which isn’t exactly normal.  Usually delays aren’t anything more than simply frustrating. However, if you’re traveling to a remote location like Weeze at night, this obviously presents a problem: there aren’t many people around.

After arriving in town over two hours later than expected, there were no buses or taxis in sight. It seemed as though my boyfriend and I were going to have two options:  1.) Walking four miles to the airport in the dark, or 2.) Sleep on the train platform and wait for the 4:45 a.m. transfer service. Neither sounded appealing to me, so I was extremely relieved when we found some locals at a bar that could call us a taxi.

Upon my arrival in Zadar and traveling to the guest house located in the old town (locally called Polotok) to get some sleep, all of the drama from the night before was essentially forgotten. Surrounded by beautiful old buildings and churches from centuries ago, I was able to walk to the seaside in five minutes and really couldn’t find it within me to complain.

I’d never realized how stunning the view of the sea could be until walking along the Adriatic’s shoreline in Croatia. I had already been to the Adriatic while in Venice, but the experience here was so different. In Croatia the water is completely clear and a deep-blue green that seems almost too beautiful to be natural.

Croatia is a popular vacation spot for Europeans, and although I probably never would have considered going to Zadar in the past, I’m very happy that I was able to have the experience. I saw so many gorgeous sites, and while it’s difficult to say which place was the most beautiful, the one place that stood out the most to me was Krka National Park.

Located about an hour to the south of Zadar, Krka is one of Croatia’s most famous National Parks. Nestled in a valley, the park is home to dozens of waterfalls with the cleanest water I have ever laid eyes upon. Although it took a little bit of guessing and quite a bit of time to travel the remote location using public transportation, the excursion was well worth the effort and costs involved (around $40 USD).

All-in-all, I don’t think that my trip to Croatia could have gone any better. With perfect weather all four days and the sea nearby, it was easy to sit back, relax and enjoy some gelato. I would definitely recommend a trip to Croatia for anyone who is looking for a seaside vacation in lieu of paying the expenses of staying in Italy or Spain. There’s truly something for everyone and I’d definitely love to go back someday.

Tips:

1.)    Barter, barter, barter. Taxi drivers in Croatia are in competition with one another for passengers. If you take the time to look around, you can get a really great price for transportation, especially if you can gather up a few other people looking to go to the same area. We were able to get a transfer service to the city from the airport for less than it cost to ride the public bus.

2.)    Be prepared. Not everyone in Croatia is fluent in English as in many of the other countries I have visited while in Europe. Take advantage of the tourist info points and carry a pen/paper with you to write down the cities you want to visit so the locals can direct you to where you need to go.

3.)    Stop counting calories ahead of time. With pizza/pasta stands on every corner and with prices for a quick meal ranging from only $2-4 be prepared to snack!  Also, with the warm weather gelato was a favorite standby of mine. I think I ingested more ice cream in four days than I had in the past two months, total.