Ciao Firenze!

Jumping back in time a little bit… The weekend before my wonderful expedition to Poland I got to go to my dream city-Florence, Italy. Cailin and I had bought really cheap tickets on a whim and headed to Florence for 4 nights. Best decision ever! Instead of wearing green and drinking beer on St. Patrick’s Day, we flew to Tuscany to enjoy a weekend of wine, pasta, and art!

We caught a flight from Weeze to Bologna where we had to get a train to Sanata Maria Novella station in Florence. The train was the swankiest I have been in yet though the ride was only about 45 minutes. Because it was dark by the time we flew in and caught the train, we didn’t get to see a glimpse of Italy just yet. It took a little while to find our hostel after getting off the train because anyone who has been to Italy knows that the streets don’t make any sense! After asking 3 different people, requiring my rusty Italian skills to be tried out, we found ourselves at our hostel, about a 5 minute walk from the station. The hostel didn’t look too promising as we walked up the walkway through the “patio garden” aka plastic chairs around an outdoor table on fake tile in an alleyway. The guy at the desk was really nice and we asked about any late night food we could grab, he handed us a takeout menu for a pizza place and a phone so we could get it delivered while we unpacked. Our hostel friend showed us to our room which was supposed to be a 4 person one but only had three beds. This was fine though because Cailin and I were the only ones in the room so it ended up being a private room with our own bathroom! The room was quaint like that of a typical pensione but it was perfect. Our pizza was brought up to us by our hostel friend and we devoured our first taste of Florentine pizza and went to bed early so we could get a full day in the next day.

The next morning we decided the first place we wanted to head was the Duomo- the main cathedral of Florence. With the weather in our favor (65 and sunny), we headed out to explore my beloved city. At first we were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find the Duomo but that fear was quickly extinguished. From just about anywhere in Florence the top of Brunelleschi’s Duomo is visible in all of its splendor. When we reached the piazza that the Duomo dominates, we stopped dead in our tracks. The Duomo, along with the campinelle (a bell tower) and the baptistery, surrounded us with white, pink, and green marble. Seeing this iconic landmark and the symbol of Florence made me tear up. I couldn’t believe that I was actually in Firenze, the city that had always been number one on my bucketlist. Cailin and I were in awe and speechless as we entered the Duomo and stood underneath the dome, staring above our heads at the frescoed ceilings that seemed to reach up to the heavens. Tears kept coming to my eyes as I took in everything around me, soaking in the feeling of being in Florence.

We had an incredible lunch right by the Barghello-the national sculpture museum. I had delicious ravioli and Cailin had pesto gnocchi. Our idea for this weekend was to take pictures of us eating every meal because we both have a passion for food. We split a carafe of house red wine and ended up slightly tipsy as we headed over to the Barghello to look at some art. It was really cool because we got to see a few pieces and works that we had seen in class which was really great because I could really appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of the art. I also got to see FOUR Michelangelo statues. Yes, that’s right, FOUR OF THEM! I held my breath looking at them because they are so incredibly beautiful in person. The way he could breathe life into marble is moving. Each figure, each part of nature in the statues looked as if it was real. After I dragged myself away from the Michelangelo statues, we wandered our way over to the Arno river to soak in the sunshine. On our way we saw the Or San Michele, a church we studied in class. There are niches on every side of the building in which famous sculptors such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and Donatello carved statues. After getting slightly lost, or as we put it “wandering,” for a while, we headed back to our hostel. Because we had a huge lunch, we decided to make dinner for ourselves in the hostel, consisting of a caprese salad with sundried tomatoes and fresh bread from a local supermarket. And what Italian meal would be complete without a bottle of red wine? The rest of the night was spent relaxing in the hotel room and talking, which was really wonderful. Cailin is wonderful to travel with and really made the trip amazing.

The next few days are too much of a blur to do chronologically, but I do remember some highlights. Cailin and I went to the Uffizi Museum-a place on my bucketlist that I had to visit! There we saw masterpieces by Donatello, Reubens, Raphael, Titian, Verocchio, Massacio, Ghiberti, and other artists we studied in class. There were amazing views of Florence from the windows and roof of the museum. We also visited La Casa di Buonarrotti- Michelangelo’s house. You would think this would be the highlight of my trip right? Wrong! It was basically just filled with stuff his descendents thought were cool. There were only two of Michelangelo’s works there, which were incredible. They were his first two works, made when he was only 15. To see the genius he had at such a young age is truly remarkable. We also went to Santa Croce- a gorgeous cathedral where Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli are buried. Though parts of it were under major renovation, it was still beautiful.

We spent a lot of time at the San Lorenzo Market-the most famous market in Florence. There were streets upon streets of vendors selling all kinds of goods. I ended up getting a purple leather wallet which I love! Another market we stumbled on was an eclectic antique one hidden away in a small piazza.

Because Cailin and I are foodies, a lot of our weekend was devoted to food. We had a delicious dinner one night that consisted of an appetizer of pate on toast and tortellini in wild boar sauce. So good! One day for lunch we had pizza in a small pizzeria by Santa Croce. I have never had fresher pizza! We literally watched the guy make our pizza and put it in the oven and were handed it freshly off the tray. The day we saw the Michelangelo house we went to lunch at a restaurant next door. The waiter spoke impossibly fast in a mixture of Italian and English that I could barely understand, though I had to translate for Cailin. We ended up getting farfalle salmon and a veal stew with roasted turnips. Again, so delicious. Every day we had gelato which was fantastic! I had kindersopresse which is a mix of milk and white chocolate. Cailin had a sesame honey one that was delicious! The best gelato I have ever had, though, was in Bologna. Cailin and I sat on the street and literally ate in silence, it was that good. I had a mint and chocolate one that was incredible.

We ended our trip by spending Sunday wandering around Bologna. We got there without a map or any clue what was in Bologna so we set out to see what we could in six hours. A lot of time was spent just moseying our way through the streets and window shopping. We also stumbled on a food market where we got free samples of sausages and cheeses.

My Italian vacation was so, so unbelievably incredible. A lot of it had to do with the company I had. Cailin and I travel really well together because we both look to get the same things out of traveling. Plus, we both really enjoy and appreciate food which made meals a wonderful experience. We did a lot of talking and bonding which was really, really nice. I don’t think the trip would have been even half as good if she hadn’t been there.

So now all I have left to catch up on is Vienna and Berlin, which can be done semi-easily (hopefully!). My family and the Cardones come to Well tomorrow which I can’t wait for!!!!!

Krazy for Krakow!

[At the Wawel Castle]


So I’ve been a little lax in my posting, sorry! It has been crazy around here lately and my trips seem to have been going back to back. I’m going to start with my most recent one and work my way back to catch up. I just returned from Krakow, Poland aka the most wonderful place on earth. We had insanely beautiful weather and heavenly food!

Cailin, Amanda, and I caught an early flight from Weeze, Germany to Krakow on Thursday morning. Once we arrived in the airport we took out some Polish money called “Zloty”-we called them “sheckles” throughout the weekend because we couldn’t figure out how to pronounce it. The exchange rate was in our favor so we were really excited to not have to worry too much about money and budgeting for once. We took a train into the city center and decided to grab lunch before heading to our hostel. Cailin had looked up the name of a traditional restaurant known for its perogies. The restaurant ended up being full which turned out to be the best thing because we ended up at another one that was straight out of a dream. I have never eaten in a place like it before! We walked into “Cyrano de Buregeac” expecting a regular restaurant but we were led down stairs, through caverns, up a tiny staircase to a loft inside of an underground cavern. It was one of the most beautiful restaurants I have ever seen! We had meat perogies with crispy pieces of bacon, onion soup, and flan for lunch. I also had my first taste of Polish beer-Zywiec. So good!


[First taste of Perogies!]


[Cailin in the cavern restaurant-the picture doesn't do it justice]

A note about polish food: SO INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL!! I think it is now at the top of my list of favorite kinds of food. Everything is just so hearty and wonderful.

After lunch we walked around for a little and moseyed our way to our hostel. Our hostel was, um, interesting. It was called “Goodbye Lenin” and was situated in an ally in the Old Jewish Quarter. The entire hostel was communist theme with pictures of Lenin, propaganda sayings, and memorabilia plastered everywhere. We were a little worried but it ended up being actually pretty nice. We stayed in a ten person room that had cool wooden bunkbeds. The one bad thing about the room was that the other seven people were obnoxious Spaniards who talked about us in Spanish at 4am after they came in yelling and laughing. Note to self: never share a room with people from Spain again!

We took a nap for an hour before heading out to dinner that night. The Spaniards told us about this traditional polish place by our hostel so we thought we would give it a try (this was before we hated them). At the moment, we loved them because the place ended up being so good! It was a tiny little store front restaurant decorated with fresh vegetables. All of the workers wore funny hats and they served real polish food. Amanda and I had Zurek- Polish sour soup. It is creamy with pieces of bacon and hard boiled eggs, so good! Cailin had borsct (beet soup) which was really good too. We then got some more perogies; I had meat ones, Cailin and Amanda had ricotta and potato filled ones. The perogies were coverd in fried pieces of lard. Literally just fried pieces of lard. The scary thing is-they were delicious! Everything was washed down with the polish beer Lech.


[Polish Sour Soup-also filled with lard, also delicious]


[The remnants of our friday night dinner]

After dinner we went back to our hostel to cash in our free drink voucher at the pub in the hostel basement. We had a beer and listened while the bartender explained the different types of polish vodkas to us. There were caramel, mint, and bison ones (more on those later!). We tried to get to sleep early but were woken up by our obnoxious roommates.

Friday morning we woke up early to go on a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter. We had a wonderful old Polish man named Andje who kept telling us stories and made the tour really interesting. The section of Krakow called Kasimerz was a huge ghetto after the Nazi invasion of Poland. Before the war there were over 30,000 Jews in Krakow. Right now, there are only around 200. The difference between Krakow and the other places I have been in central/eastern Europe is that the people don’t focus on the bad parts of history like how many people died in the ghetto. Instead, they focus on the accomplishments and achievements and lives of the people who lived there. They celebrate life instead of mourn death. Our tour took about 2 hours and we saw all of the important historical sights in Kasimerz. We went into two synagogues, one that survived the war and the only active one left in the city. We also saw the Jewish cemetery that the Nazis didn’t destroy. After our tour we went to an antique store in the basement of the Jewish Community Center where we dug around and found some really cool things. We grabbed lunch at a small place and had delicious kelbasa! From there we walked around an antique flea market outside in a small square and picked up a few cool finds.


[A moorish synagogue in Kasizmer]

After having our fill of all the Jewishness we could find, we wandered over to the Wawel Castle on top of a hill that overlooks the river and the city. The views were so gorgeous! We got to go into the cathedral which was incredible. Afterwards we walked down to the main market square and headed over to a museum where there are a few Da Vinci pieces. The museum is apparently closed until further notice for renovation so we decided to wander around and window shop. I ended up getting a pair of earrings with Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” on them and a Thai good luck decoration for my room next year.


[Main Market Square in Old Town- "Stare Miasto"]


[View from the Castle]

We wandered our way back to our hostel and asked for a recommendation for a nice restaurant in Kasimerz. After getting free drink coupons (gotta love being a student), we headed out to try and find the restaurant the hostel told us about. It was on our way that we discovered how wonderful Polish people are! Cailin and I were holding out a map tyring to figure out where we were while Amanda was trying to findn street signs. As this was going on, two old Polish women come up to us and try to help us find our way without speaking any English. We kept trying to tell them that we would figure it out but they insisted on helping us. When they couldn’t figure it out completely, they called over a family that was walking by to help us out too. Everyone was so nice, it was wonderful. We eventually ended up at the restaurant at sat down for what was one of the most enjoyable meals I have ever had. It took forever to get through the menu because everything sounded so amazing that no one could decide. I ended up getting a chicken cutlet with mushrooms and baked potatoes that were out of this world. The breading on the chicken was indescribably delicious. Cailin got cabbage stuffed with rice and meat in a thick orange sauce that was good. Amanda got a beefsteak in a “diane” sauce which was made with cream, brandy, and mushrooms-so good! The chef sent us a free appetizer of light, creamy feta cheese mixed with diced tomatoes and scallions to spread over homemade, Polish bread. The appetizer we ordered was a fried pork rind, onion, and lard spread over bread with pickles. It sounds gross but let me tell you, it was so good! I have never eaten so many lard products in my life but I am quite happy with it. For dessert Amanda and I split a fried banana with icecream and a lemon, orange, and chocolate sauce over it. I died a little….

[Pork rinds, lard, and pickles]


[Chicken and mushrooms=DELICIOUS!]
During dinner we all realized that we never wanted to leave Poland, that it was truly the magic country. Everything about Krakow was wonderful and the food was to die for. I never thought I would say this but I would love to go back to Poland. Krakow is now tied for favorite city with Florence which is surprising. The pictures really don’t do it justice because there was an intangible atmosphere and vibe to the city that was unlike any other one.

We went back to the hostel pub to do some Polish vodka tasting. We each ended up having a total of six different kinds to try. The caramel, mint, and honey ones were so delicious. There was no burn, it tasted as if you were drinking a liqueur. The bison vodka was a little rough to get down as just a shot. It is a special Polish vodka that is made with grass from the mountains that bison supposedly pee on. Disgusting sounding but actually pretty good! Amanda, Cailin, and I ended up sitting in the pub for a long time just talking a lot and bonding which was really, really nice. We all traveled really well together and I don’t think the trip would have been the same if I wasn’t with them.


[Me, Cailin, and Amanda with our plethora of vodka]

Saturday morning we woke up early to catch our plane back to Weeze and head back to the castle. I really think I am having Poland withdrawals and am seriously considering buying a Polish flag and learning to cook polish food. It’s been one of the few places that I’ve been sad to leave. I definitely would love to come back and explore the city and country side some more.

In other news: I am officially an apartment renter! Amy, Cailin, Katie, and I are officially leasing an apartment in Cambridge this summer/next year. It is adorable! We’re about 3 minutes from Central Square. The apartment had four bedrooms (all with connecting doors) and one bathroom. From the pictures Cailin and I have seen, it looks great! Now we have to start worrying about how to furnish it!

Spring Break Soviet Style-Prague

So I just got back from an amazing, tiring spring break that was wonderful! Because there is so much to tell I’m breaking it up into three parts starting with Prague. I’ll try to include as many pictures as I can!

[Central Square of Prague]

Day One
We woke up at an ungodly hour to get breakfast and make our lunch packets before boarding the buses to Cologne Airport in Germany. My seatmate on the 1.5 hour flight was Rob my art professor which was awesome, he was making me laugh the whole time. He’s decided he wants to be queen of our upcoming castle prom. We landed in Prague and were bused to our hostel in the center of the city. While we were driving into the city I got my first taste of what the Czech Republic and eastern Europe would be like. Strangely, it was just what I thought it would be. Everything was pretty, don’t get me wrong, but there was a kind of depressed look to everything. I definitely got the feeling that I was in a former Soviet territory. When we pulled up to the hostel we were greeted by Amy (my roommate)!!! I can’t even explain how incredible it was to see her! After we threw our stuff in the hostel (where we had a gorgeous 4 room apartment with a full kitchen), we grabbed some bratwurst and mulled wine for lunch. The castle group was split up into different walking tours and I ended up with my history professor Ralph. The tour was wonderful because we got to see a lot of the city and Ralph is really interesting so he made the tour great. Ralph took us to the “John Lennon Wall” which is on the outside of a monastery. It started as a memorial to John Lennon after he died but then morphed into a form of protest against the soviets. It has this beautiful graffiti all over it with song lyrics and quotes. Aunt Marylyn you would have loved it!

[Hippie at heart!]
[John Lennon Wall]
["The Stones Rule!!!"-Aunt Marylyn, were you here??]

After the tour we went back to the apartments and split up for dinner. Amy, Joe, Roisin, and I grabbed a quick dinner because then we went to what is one of the craziest, unbelievable, and strangest experiences I have ever had: Cats in Prague. Cats in Prague is not just any normal type of show, no sir, it is a BLACKLIGHT show. Yes, that’s right, black light. And there weren’t actors, nope, HAND PUPPETS. HAND PUPPET CATS. We sat through the entire show with our mouths hanging open because we couldn’t believe it was actually happen. There was an entire song called “Cats like making love in Prague,” which is exactly how it sounds. We got to see where cat babies come from, witness a cat burlesque show, a cat bank robbery, and cat strip tease. ALL WITH NEON HANDPUPPETS. The two real people in the show were lip-syncing badly to an English recording of the songs. One of the puppets lost its head during the show and it went ignored. I should explain.. these puppets were literally just a hand in a white glove with a stuffed cat head above it. Great first night of spring break, WOOOOO

After we composed ourselves from the shock and awe of Cats in Prague, Amy, Joe, and I set off to find the train station to check about making reservations and buying tickets for our train to Vienna. We maneuvered across a six lane highway to find ourselves in a sketchy abandoned part of the train station. We eventually found ticket counter but not after scaring the crap out of ourselves. We met up with Cailin and took an epic walk around the city to find Amy’s hostel. She ended up cancelling it because a few of the apartments had extra beds for her to use. After a failed attempt to find the perfect bar, we came back to the apartments and hung out and talked for the rest of the night.

Day 2
I woke up semi-early and grabbed breakfast at a restaurant down the street with the rest of the castle. We were given metro tickets and caught the subway to the base of the hill that leads to Prague Castle. It had been snowing pretty hard so the roads and sidewalks were blanketed. Prague looked so gorgeous and picturesque covered in snow with huge, fluffy flakes falling lightly everywhere. The hill to get to the castle was more like a mountain that was slippery and took forever to get up. Once we got to the top we were split into groups and I went with my Art History class. After a failed attempt at getting into a museum, our class split up into two and I went with Dulcia into the cathedral that is part of the castle. Because it was freezing cold, we kept tap-dancing and doing the hokey-pokey to keep warm. The cathedral was baroque in style and was so gorgeous! The stained glass windows were done in a mosaic style that was unlike anything I had seen before. While we walked around the cathedral, Dulcia lectured us. Afterwards she took us to a café for hot drinks a little ways down the mountain. I had the most delicious hot chocolate. Also, Dulcia warmed up my hands for me, no big deal or anything. Oh, and she likes jungle print too. Yeah, basically I want to grow up to be her. Today in class we found out that she got to hold the Mona Lisa in her hands. SERIOUSLY?! She keeps getting more awesome each day!
[View from Prague Castle of snow covered Prague]
[Baroque Cathedral]
[Gorgeous silver altar piece of St. Nepomo]

After the café, Cailin and I met up with Amy for lunch because we had been split up. We grabbed a quick pizza-note to self, never eat the peanuts they leave on the table, you will get overcharged for them! We got a little lost on our way back to meet the group but thanks to Amy we found the meeting spot just in time to leave again. This time our art class went to an old convent that has been transformed into a museum. On our way there Dulcia and Rob made us all skip across the huge square that makes up the city center. The museum was really fascinating and made me realize that I really want to work in a museum or another place surrounded by art. Fun fact for you Dad because I know you love them: St. Sebastian is often considered the saint of homosexuals because he is depicted as very attractive (according to Dulcia and Rob). After the museum, Rob took us to a bar because he owed us drinks from class. Cailin, Jake, and I ordered Grog-a Northern European drink that came recommended by Dulcia. It is a hot drink made of pressed oranges (or a different fruit), boiling water, and rum. So delicious!

Cailin and I made our way back to the apartment to collect Amy and Jake. The four of us went to the grocery store around the corner to buy food to make for dinner. We made a delicious pasta with red peppers and tomatoes and garlic bread. We also had really cheap white wine- “You can taste the money we saved.” We cooked the dinner in Jake’s apartment and while we ate, Nick came in and joined us. It was great just sitting around and talking. After a while a ton of people started to filtered in and we found ourselves in the center of a party complete with cheap, yet delicious, peach vodka and gingerale. There were tons of sing-a-longs, with a rousing rendition of American Pie by Jake and yours truly.

[Amy, Cailin, Jake, and I with our delicious dinner]

A note about the money in Prague: The currency in Prague is the Kroner which has a ridiculous exchange rate, 1 US Dollar= 18 Kroners. All of the prices were in the hundreds and it was a little shocking to have a dinner bill come to 400 Kroners. It took a little while to get used to the adjustment in prices and currency. Everything seems expensive but it was actually really cheap.

Day Three-
The day started off with breakfast down the street again. Afterwards the group was split up and Chester Lee and Robbert took us over to the old Jewish Quarter where we had a walking tour. The tour guide was so quiet and could barely speak English. Her voice kept lulling us all to sleep! From what I could gather, we saw the oldest synagogue in Prague, the Sephardic Synagogue (which was beautiful), and the Pinkus Synagogue which acts as a memorial to the 80,000 people from Prague that were sent to concentration camps. It was a beautiful sight to see because the names of all 80,000 people were written meticulously on the walls of the synagogue. The tour consisted of a lot of standing around which was tiring so Robbert snuck me some chocolate while we were at the back of the group to keep me awake. The Prague excursion has been great because I really feel like I’m connecting with the staff, like Robbert, more and I’m getting to see my professors as “real people” who are fascinating. We also got to see the oldest Jewish cemetery in Prague where over 10,000 people are buried.

After an odd vegetarian lunch with Holly and Jake, our art class met back up to try to go to a museum on top of the huge hill again. We only had a half hour before the museum closed so we ran in to look at a few paintings. After feverishly taking notes on paintings from different styles, we went back to the same coffee shop from yesterday to discuss as class. Dulcia convinced me to order some grog which was lemony and stronger than the day before. She downed her drink in no time and began lecturing the class semi-drunkenly. Seriously, every castle experience just keeps getting stranger and stranger. After the “lecture” we trekked down the mountain to get to the hostel. Amy, Jake, Cailin, and I wanted to go out for a traditional Czech dinner and stumbled upon the perfect restaurant. It was in the middle of a narrow alleyway lined with cobblestones and seemed perfect. The waiter was the stereotype of an eastern European man and we were serenaded by an accordion during dinner. I had roast duck with red cabbage and dumplings (which were straight gluten I’m pretty sure). So delicious! Everything was washed down by a local Czech beer. We stayed for two hours just talking and relaxing which was so nice. We went back to the hostel and stayed up talking for a while with Wynn.

[View from Prague Castle in the sunshine]
Day Four-
Monday in Prague was a tiring day both physically and emotionally. We woke up really early to board the buses for an hour and a half ride to Terezin, a town on the outskirts of Prague. It was the model Jewish ghetto and the home of a prison were many Jews were sent on their way to Auschwitz. On the way, Amy and I got to catch up and talk which was much needed and really great. Once we arrived at the fortress/prison we were split into groups and this time I was with my history class led by Ralph and accompanied by Dulcia. We were taken on a tour through the SS barracks and some cells. We saw the cell where Princip was kept-the man who assassinated the archduke Franz Ferdinand and effectively started world war one. The entire time it was lightly snowing, adding to the eeriness of the entire experience. We saw a room where Jews slept with the bunks still in them. They looked exactly like they do in all of the holocaust movies and it was unnerving to be standing there. I cannot articulate the feeling you get from standing in a place where such atrocities happened and where hate ran rampant. I still cannot wrap my mind fully around the experience. It was just a heavy feeling in every part of my body. Ralph took our class down to the cemetery where tombs were erected in memory of the people who died in Terezin. There were no names, only numbers on the tombs. In the Jewish tradition, a stone is placed on a grave in place of flowers to honor the dead. He had a girl from my class place a stone for our class on the tomb and had a moment of silence to honor those who were killed. Everyone was crying and emotional. It was such a raw experience. Ralph broke the silence by saying that we can never let something like this happen again, that we can never let hate and prejudice transform a society like this again. It was especially effecting because Ralph is from Germany so he talked about his feeling of responsibility and how he became a teacher so he can educate others to not be like this again. The professors were really great with all of us and kept coming up to those of us that were upset and hugged and comforted us.

After the fortress we took a bus to a museum to see a Nazi propaganda film. After the film we went to the crematorium. Again, words cannot describe the horrible feeling that comes when entering a place like that. The smell of diesel is still strong in the building. It was emotional and incredibly heart-breaking. I walked into the autopsy room and had to leave because it was just too much. We boarded the buses back to Prague. On our way I realized just how much the ghetto still looked depressed. Amy and I kept saying how we couldn’t believe people still live in the town because of the downtrodden feeling of the whole place.

Once we were back at the apartment we grabbed our bags and officially ended our academic excursion. Cailin, Amy, Joe, Lousia, Amanda, Zara, and Martika and I walked around to a flea market where I bought a painting and walked over the Charles Bridge back to the John Lennon Wall where we took pictures. We went to the train station and because our train was an hour late we decided to make the best of it by laughing and hanging out. The train was about five hours long and was really cool because we were in Harry Potter-style compartments. Once we got to Vienna, Cailin, Amy, Joe, Louisa, Z, and I wandered around for thirty minutes before we were able to find our hostel (which ended up being literally 1 block from the metro stop). Of course, our hostel was located next to a “Live, Exotic Peep Show.” Woo.

[View from the Charles Bridge]

So, that was Prague in a nutshell. This week I’ll write more about Vienna and Berlin!

Barcelona-Tapas, Sangria, and Gaudi!

My short school week was a little exciting this time around because Dulcia started teaching our art history class. I got to talk to her after class on Wednesday for a little while and it was great, she’s so interesting and has done so many things. We talked about Italy and talked in Italian a little (no big deal or anything…). She told Holly, Jake, and I that she almost went to school to become an opera singer and then started singing for the three of us (again, no big deal or anything, Dulcia just gave us a private concert…).

Thursday morning it was off to Barcelona with Joe, Rachel, Anna, Karen, and Amanda. We flew from Weeze, Germany (about a 15 minute drive away) into Girona. We took RyanAir, a cheapo airline that is no frills at all. No food, no entertainment, no reclining seats. Nothing. But hey, for 20 euros it doesn’t really matter! After about a 2 hour flight we landed and waited for a coach bus that would take us the 2 hours into Barcelona. From the bus station we took the subway to our hostel. While we were waiting for our subway a fight broke out on the platform. These girls started attacking each other while we were waiting! Such a great way to start off the trip…

We got to the hostel and checked into our tiny room on the fifth floor. We decided to walk around for a little before we grabbed dinner because in Spain they don’t eat until around 8. We walked to the water and got to see some palm trees! Such a nice change from the bland Dutch landscape! We made our way back to the hostel and asked the receptionist if she could recommend a tapas restaurant for us. Tapas are small dishes, usually appetizer portions, of all different kinds of food that you order a bunch of and share. The receptionist gave us a recommendation for a place that she goes but she couldn’t remember the name or exact location, she just circled an intersection on the map and said, “It’s kinda sketchy but when it comes to tapas, the sketchier the better.” Grabbing maps, we headed out the door to explore the city and find the restaurant. We made it there with only a few wrong turns and went inside a tiny restaurant that was, in fact, sketchy but adorable. The people working ushered us up this ladder to the loft where we sat on wooden benches overlooking the rest of the restaurant. The food was INCREDIBLE! We had spicy potatoes which had a type of mayo and dry spice on top, roasted rabbit’s leg, tomato bread, manchego cheese, chorizo (Spanish sausage), Moorish kebabs, potato and egg casserole, and spinach pies. Ah! Everything was delicious!! We washed it all down with homemade sangria which was just as delicious!

[Our hostel]

[Tapas restaurant]
After we ate we decided to walk around for a little bit, making our way to La Rambla-the main shopping street in Barcelona. On our way it started to downpour so we decided to stop for dessert in a big square we stumbled upon. Our dessert was an experience and a half as we sat under a leaky tent watching a fight go down between a guy and girl in the area next to us and a police raid on the bar/club across the square. “Fights all around” was definitely the motto of our first day! After making our way back to the hostel we went to sleep early so we could get some rest for a full day.

Friday morning brought sunshine and a walk down to the water. As we walked to the water we found out that the Palace Guell, a building that Antonio Gaudi designed, was two doors down from our hotel so we went in quickly because it was under renovation. We took in the sights along the marina and decided to wander around while the weather was still nice. Later we stumbled upon part of a Roman wall and building that is still standing which was really cool! As we continued walking we saw a crowd of people heading down a street so we decided to follow. The crowd was congregated around the Gaudi Museum which was too expensive to venture into. It was fate that we ended up on that street though because next door was this incredibly beautiful cathedral that housed the tomb of the patron saint of Barcelona- Eulalia. The inside of the cathedral was so incredibly beautiful with an impossibly tall, ribbed gothic ceiling. There were gorgeous stained glass windows above the dozen or so chapels dedicated to saints along the walls of the church.

[View of the water by the marina]

[Inside of the cathedral]

[Inside the Cathedral]

After the church we grabbed lunch at a café. I had delicious fried calamari because Barcelona is known for its seafood. Afterwards, we headed to the Picasso museum which was in a gorgeous old mansion. It was really interesting to see works from all stages of his career, not just his cubist pieces. It really gave me a new respect for him as an artist. Joe, Amanda, and I wandered around the bottom floor of the museum because it was open air and had these beautiful archways all over. We then walked to a random park and found a gorgeous Gaudi fountain! We also saw the Arc di Triomf.

[Oh hey there random woolly mammoth in the park]

[Us in front of the fountain]

[Rachel, Anna, Me, Amanda, Joe, and Karen in front of the Arc di Triomf]
We walked back to the hostel for a siesta after the museum and the park because we were planning on going out to a club that night and Barcelona nightlife goes until very early in the morning! After our nap we headed out for dinner. After walking in and out of 4 restaurants in search of cheap food, we ended up back at the tapas restaurant from the night before. This time we each ordered our own spicy potatoes and split a few pitchers of sangria and calimocho (red wine and coca-cola… weird combo, I know. But trust me, so delicious). I also got an order of mussels in some kind of broth that was so delicious! This time, we made friends with the waiter and the other people that worked there. They ended up passing our pitchers and food to me up over the overhang and kept toasting us. As we were leaving they gave us each a free shot of a Spanish coffee-liqueur that was interesting.

Our walk back to the hostel was rain soaked, leaving us looking like we just took showers. We came back to a leaky roof in our room which was oh so incredible. We dried off and left for the club around 1 am (I know Grandpa and Aunt Fran, I’m crazy for going out that late) when it stopped raining. We went to Razzmatazz, a famous Barcelona club that has five floors of music and craziness. 1 am was actually early to get there because there was no one there yet! The club quickly filled up and the six of us stuck together as we danced to the crazy techno music that was blaring from everywhere. I’ve never seen that many people dancing in one space, it was nuts! We left the club to walk home at around 5 am (again, I know, crazy) and crashed in our hostel after an arduous walk back.

Saturday morning (or should I say mid-day) brought a trip to Park Guell. Park Guell is a park that Antonio Gaudi designed in Barcelona and it is easily one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. If you like the outdoors you would fall in love with this park. There were trails all over and gorgeous stone work everywhere that created vaulted walkways and seating areas all over. There were musicians and artists all over and I ended up buying a small painting of La Sangrada Familia (the Gaudi church) from an artist who painted it on glass. We worked our way up a mountain (or what seemed like a mountain) to reach the beautiful mosaic seating area. The sun was shining, it was warm, there was happy reggae music in the background, and I was sitting on a handcrafted mosaic bench looking out at the blue ocean. I couldn’t have been happier! We then made our way further up the mountain to a spot where you can see all of Barcelona. Again, so incredibly beautiful! I just want everyone to be able to see this place in person!

[In Park Guell]

[View from the top of the mountain]

[Where we climbed to]

[The underside of the mosaic section]
We left the park in search of the other Gaudi buildings, stopping at a café for lunch where Rachel and I split a pint of delicious gelato! We went to the roof of La Pedrera of Caixa Catalunya-an apartment building Gaudi designed. It was so beautiful because we were there as the sun was starting to set and there weren’t that many people. We spent a lot of time sitting up on the roof just soaking everything in. We then toured an apartment that was beautiful (Mom, you would have loved it!). We kept walking around and found the other Gaudi building which was more mosaic and had colored glass and turquoise lights.

[Outside of the Gaudi apartment building]

[Fun sized roof niche]

[Crazy roof architecture]
Our hostel gave us vouchers for a free dinner at a bar so we had an interesting spicy rotini pasta with some kind of beef for dinner. It left us hungry so we went to the famous market to try to buy bread and chocolates from the vendors. The market ended up being closed so we left in pursuit of a cheap snack to eat before we went to a flamenco show at one of Barcelona's oldest flamenco clubs. The flamenco show was incredible! There was a guitar player, saxophonist, drummer, and singer who were all extremely talented and mesmerizing to watch. The show started with a female dancer who was amazing. She was so graceful yet so passionate and had incredible energy. You could feel the emotions from the music and the dancing. A male dancer came after her that was just as incredible. The whole show was just so passionate and intense. We all left emotionally drained and in awe of what we just saw. It was only a half hour show but I could have sat there for another hour. I loved every second of it!

[Market!]
We then walked back to the hostel for a quiet night of sleep. The next morning we traveled back to the castle without any problems. We stopped at the snack shop for dinner on the way back where I had something new yet again-fried bratwurst (so good!). Sunday night was a night of homework and relaxing.

To end all of the rambling-GO TO BARCELONA! It is an incredible city with breathtaking sights, incredible food, and amazing culture!

Part Two: Carnival in Kolin and Well

Carnival in Europe is something that everyone needs to experience once in their lives. There is no way to accurately describe the feeling and atmosphere that surrounds the holiday. It is pure joy mixed with silliness, craziness, and pride. The only American equivalent we have is to combine New Years Eve, Mardi Gras, Halloween, and the Fourth of July.

So Kolin, Germany is one of the most incredible places in the world. Especially during carnival! Cailin, Meena, Roisin, and I grabbed an early train into the city where we met up with Anna and Karen. Ryan and Erika decided to tag along with us too which was fun. As we got off the train we were greeted by masses of people all dressed in crazy, ridiculous costumes! We stepped outside of the station and stood in awe of the Dom, a gorgeous gothic cathedral that has a huge square outside of it. We wandered our way to the Latin Quarter to find the Cuba Bar, a place that was recommended to us by friends. On our way we saw a lot of people gathered in a square around a bandstand. Every single person, young and old, man and woman, was decked out in colorful costumes, wigs, and makeup. Everyone also was drinking beer out of these nifty yarn beer holders, making us all the more determined to get to this bar. Well, after walking for a while, we reached the bar and of course-it was closed. Dejected, we made our way back to the square but on the way we stopped for lunch. Oh dear lord, German food is DELICIOUS! I had amazing schnitzel and beer for lunch. I was so happy, I was in a food coma! Schnitzel is a chicken/pork/veal cutlet buttered and fried and covered in a Jager-sauce. SO WONDERFUL. AH!

[Schnitzel!] [Yes, that is a baby carriage full of beer]




[Beer holder that says Kolin] [The group with our German beers]

After lunch we bought ourselves beer holders and subsequently filled them with Becks to fit in with the rest of the Germans. We made our way back to the square and to our delight, a band began to play. Not just any band, mind you, but a really famous German band that was number one in the country for a while. The band’s name was Honer and they are originally from Kolin. We stood in a crowd of people and danced and sang along (well, tried to) all of the happy German music that was being played. Everyone around us was so nice! A woman linked arms with Cailin during one song, starting a whole line of people. She later told us that she had lived in Vermont for a while and was recommending places for us to go. I can’t even begin to describe the craziness that was around us. Everywhere you look there were bright colors, loud music, and just overall happiness. It was infectious! When we went to the mall to warm up (because it was FREEZING), a random band of clowns stormed in and played music for about 20 minutes. GERMANY IS AWESOME! The rest of our time was spent wandering around Kolin, just taking in everything that was going on around us. We ran into a mini-parade mismatched clowns that were marching down the street playing music, so of course we had to join in! We marched with them for a while, making friends with a very friendly blue clown, one guy even had Cailin hold his tuba. We broke off from the parade and wandered some more, running into another impromptu dance party in a small square. We joined in with these young Germans and linked arms with them, singing at the top of our lungs. For dinner I had a bratwurst with spicy mustard that was INCREDIBLE! To wash down our dinner we were semi-sketchy and bought a bottle of German vodka, “Wodka,” and some Fanta to drink out of dinky little plastic cups out of our beer holders. Classy, classy, classy. Because we were already close to the train station, we didn’t want to venture far off. We decided to stay in the square outside of the cathedral and take pictures with people who had funny costumes. Well that turned into “photobombing” pictures (jumping into the background of random people’s pictures while making funny faces) and that kept us occupied for quite a while. The train ride home was uneventful and after talking to Lane for a while, I crashed and went to sleep so I could be fully rested for Carnival in Well the next day!

[Chickens ride the tram too] [Cailin and I made friends with a hun]



[Random clown parade-blue was our friend!] [Bratwurst is wonderful!]

Carnival prep for the parade in Well started around 11:00 am with face painting courtesy of Rob, my art professor. He painted my face as some kind of peacock-clown? I don’t know what it was meant to be but it turned out great! Rob himself was dressed like an alcoholic medieval monk because our castle theme for carnival was “Medieval Madness.” I ended up wearing a flamenco skirt and feather boa in the parade. The group of students who were marching in the parade, led by Rob, went down to Old Well to get in our parade spot. As we were standing there taking pictures and complaining about the cold, Rob asks, “Ok, who’s ready for shots?” and pulls a bottle of monastic liqueur and five shot glasses out from his monk basket. Of course I was not going to turn this down! Taking a shot with my art professor while he’s dressed as a monk and I’m covered in face paint that he did and wearing a flamenco skirt in the Netherlands? Check! The rest of the groups in the parade varied between costumed groups and crazy homemade floats that put a lot of American ones to shame!

[Me, Rob, and Cailin before the parade] [Dulcia in a wig serving hot dogs]

The parade made its way through Well as people lined the streets to watch and cheer us on. Again everyone was in costume! As we passed the Linden, our bartender friend came running out with trays of warm wine shots for us which were good. The whole town was decorated with flags and balloons galore, it was so pretty! The parade paused for a little at the castle to reset. While we were waiting, Dulcia and the dining hall staff had set up a booth to pass out hotdogs to the parade participants. Dulcia, Nellie, Stephen, and Doyjna were all dressed in red, white, and blue costumes and had signs that advertised the American hotdogs! The parade continued throughout the other section of Well and ended at Café Vink. While in the last stretch, just as everyone was getting freezing cold, a group of clowns with a cart full of wine and liqueurs comes up to us and starts passing out bottles and glasses along with marshmallows and candy.! Rob was with us the whole time and it was fun getting to joke around and laugh with him. After the parade we were exhausted so we stripped out of our costumes and napped until dinner. The rest of the night consisted of talking and swapping stories from the weekend, a very relaxing night. The festivities of the day were also a very welcome distraction from the fact that it was Valentine's Day..
.
[Emersonians during the Carnival parade]

Today’s carnival celebration included a light parade through Well and fireworks. Again, the floats were incredible! I’ve never seen stuff like this in a small town parade. It puts any Monroe parade to shame! People come from all over the area to watch the light show and it was beautiful!

This week is going to be filled with lots of work so I can relax on my upcoming trip this weekend to BARCELONA! AH so excited!!!

The video is of Honer while we were in Kolin:

Part One: Arcen and Maastricht

[Hells Gates-entrance to the city of Maastricht]

So far this week has been relatively good! My classes have been great, with the exception of travel writing. My professor is crazy and disrespectful during workshops. It’s gotten to the point that we all spend workshops just looking at each other trying to figure out who deemed this woman competent enough to teach at a college. It made us even angrier after reading her poetry online. WOW. You’ll have to see for yourself... This is our particular favorite (it’s best when read outloud): http://www.poeticencounters.net/Poems/S.Poems/Bones&Stones.htm

Last night was a carnivale themed American Night at the Linden and it was so much
fun! The jungle shirt made its first Dutch appearance! The night was filled with a lot of dancing to great music and just an awesome time overall. Everyone was dressed up in crazy costumes and the pictures are hilarious! After a successful night, we went to sleep idealistic about our 7 am wake up time to go to Cologne, Germany for more carnivale festivities. Well, fun nights don’t make for fun mornings so we decided to forgo Germany for the mineral thermal baths in Arcen which allowed us to have a later start. The thermal baths were… great? The pools were both indoor and outdoor and weren’t really hot, rather just like a warm bath. There were massage jets all over to work different muscles which was much needed! Cailin, Louisa, and I swam around in the bath for about an hour and a half before heading to the sauna to try out an eucalyptus sauna. One word can sum up our experience: NAKED. Ah so many naked Dutch people everywhere! Old, skinny, fat, wrinkly, super fat. We saw way too many Dutch butts and other body parts for our liking. We sat awkwardly as the only clothed people in the entire vicinity. All I’m going to say is Uncle Joe, you were totally right. We grabbed lunch back in Well at the snack shop where I had an interesting spicy meat (not sure what kind…) and onion fried deal and frites. On our way back we developed a plan for a “Budget Benelux Beer Tour” and hit the supermarket for supplies. We decided that since we don’t know that much about different kinds of beers we would try one of every kind that we could find and make a chart of which kinds were which and what we thought. We got ones from all over Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany (and all for under a euro each!). I think I’ve decided my favorite was a Palm Amber Ale…

Saturday we boarded the buses around 9 to go to Maastricht with my professor Rob. When we got to the city he took us for coffee and pastries at his favorite coffee shop before we crossed the river Maas to go to the historic center. On the way to the first church we were visiting, we saw the spot where one of the three Musketeers was killed in battle and the famed “Hells Gate” that is part of the city’s medieval wall (which is still standing). Maastricht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, dating back to the Roman Empire. Rob led us to the Church of Our Lady, a Romanesque church on the outskirts of the center of town. It was gorgeous with frescoed vaults and stained glass windows. There was also a statue called the Miraculous Mary that people come to venerate. After we left the church we walked to the town center (an old Roman cemetery) and broke for lunch. Cailin, Roisin, Meena, and I grabbed a quick Chinese take-out lunch and walked around an outdoor flea market for a little while. The whole town is completely decked out for carnivale. Everything was colored in yellow, green and red and everyone was dressed in crazy costumes! After the flea market we went to a tiny, extremely cluttered antique store where I bought a vintage blue and white Dutch plate that was made in an old tile factory in Maastricht that was destroyed. It’s gorgeous! We also went to another store where I bought these two vintage copper rings for really cheap. After about two hours we met up with Rob and the rest of the group (about thirty of us) and went to the church where he is the treasury director-the Basilica of St. Servatius. St. Servatius is a second cousin of Jesus and was the bishop of Maastricht. He was also given a key to the gate of Heaven by St. Peter (which we got to see). The basilica was so gorgeous and had a lot of stained glass windows that were so beautiful. Because we were there with Rob we got to see a lot of things that aren’t open to the public such as the actual tomb of the saint and the imperial gallery and vault. We also saw the tombs (and bodies) of Saints In the treasury we saw the relics of St. Andrew, St. Barbara, St. Thomas (it was his arm bone!), Mary Magdalene (a piece of her skull), St. Servatius (his entire skull in one holder and the rest of his body in another!), and relics of the cross of Christ. It was really interesting to hear the stories behind everything and to get to see everything up close. Rob told us stories about all of the saints and how relics work. It was really interesting to hear all of this information first hand from someone who truly has a passion for this.

[Church of Our Lady]

After we left the basilica, which was absolutely freezing as we climbed higher into the gallery, Rob took us to a bar in the square for a drink in celebration of carnivale. He bought us each a glass of wine or a beer in this bar that was decorated with really creepy clowns and was playing really loud Dutch techno-pop-dance-folk music. It was really nice to get to spend time with Rob outside of class because he is a really interesting guy and very funny too! Roisin, Cailin, Holly, Meena, and I grabbed Vietnamese cart food and frites for dinner. I had a barmiol (?) which was a fired dough stuffed with noodles, vegetables and chicken and served with sweet and sour sauce. So delicious!! We then grabbed the train to Venlo and bus back to Well. We had to defrost for a while because Maastricht was absolutely freezing! It also lightly snowed all day too which made everything look so pretty. The town was actually beautiful because it is really old and has narrow, cobblestone streets and gorgeous buildings. The whole town actually had a really cool vibe, definitely way less touristy than Amsterdam.

[Basilica of Saint Servatius]


[View of the River Maas]

A food update (because I know my loyal reader Aunt Fran loves to hear about this): I’ve realized that I haven’t eaten meat that I can recognize since I’ve been here. The exception has been an occasional piece of chicken. I think that the Dutch love sausage-tasting kinds of meat. What its comprised of is still a mystery.


[Below: Key to the Gate of Heaven] More pictures will come when people upload them to Facebook because my camera died after this picture!