Prague, Czech Republic

I went to Prague not expecting anything, because I didn't know what to expect. As long as I had my share of sausage and pretzels, I would be happy. We went with the same travel company, Euroadventures, by bus to Czech. We left Thursday night traveling through Northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany all the way to Prague. Unfortunately it was night and I couldn't see the views. It was a 12 hour bus ride- not the most comfortable I've been but it was worth the inexpensive transportation. Once we arrived in Prague, we literally sat on the bus for 2 hours because the bus drivers couldn't find their way around. Finally we found our hotel, unloaded and headed up to our very spacious rooms to clean up and head out to see what Prague was all about!

Prague is divided into 8 (I think) districts. It's a pretty big town so we took the metro everyday to the center. Czech currency is the crown. $1.00 is about 17 crowns (or Korunas). It was really different because when we went to the ATM's we would pull out about $75.00 dollars worth and receive a 1,000 and 500 bill. That was something we finally got used to the last day of the trip. Anyways, a two way metro ticket cost like $2.00, so travel was very inexpensive. We took the metro into the main square area everyday. This is near the Charles Bridge, John Lenon Wall, Astronomical Clock, Natural History Museum and the Communism Museum. A tourist can see all of this in one day. Most people that go, go to experience the culture which is extremely different. I felt more comfortable there because the people were nicer and friendlier than some Italian people I had encountered. It's funny because my friend Myles' mother's boyfriend, Billy lives in Ennis, Texas where alot (and I mean alot) of his family live. They're basically a huge friendly Czech family that prides themselves in celebrating big when they celebrate. They dont know a stranger basically.  The morning of arrival in Czech I woke up on the bus looking out at green rolling meadows with blue skies and white fluffy clouds. It reminded me instantly of Ennis, Texas. Later as I had actually arrived in the town and had encountered the people, the town even more reminded me of Ennis. 

Prague had little open air food kiosks where people were proudly cooking and baking their famous food. There were sausage dogs, pretzels, roasted almonds, roasted pig, sausage links, fried cheese sandwiches and of course very cheap beer anywhere you looked. They also had these sweet dessert buns layered in sugar. I didn't catch the name but they were made with dough, covered in cinnamon and sugar then wraped around iron poles to bake. Once the ladies took them off the rods there was an option to slather the insides with nutella. They were absolutely delicious. It's probably a good thing I don't live there.

That day we explored some of the historical key points, Charles Bridge, John Lennon wall and the Astronomical clock (which happened to be broken the weekend we were there).  That day after grabbed some lunch we headed back to the hotel for a nap because of our lack of sleep on the bus. For dinner we went to a little cosy restaurant in a basement and had some spicy beef goulash and Pilsner beer. Very hearty food for very hungry girls.

The next day we went to the Communism Museum, Prague Castle, John Lenon wall again and attempted to go see the Jewish quarters (which were closed on the Sabbath). The Communism Museum was very interesting, basically it was a musem with alot of stuff and a timeline full of essay's about that period in Prague history. It was very interesting to see it from their perspective. Prague Castle was beautiful of course. It was huge and was part of a Cathedral. This cathedral had the most beautiful stained glass windows that I have seen so far, and I have seen a whole lot of stained glass windows haha. That night we went to a restaurant with beer taps at the table. Unfortunately it turned into a bar/club at night and stopped serving food. Since we were unaware of that we stopped and had a drink and then left around 11 pm to find food. I have to be in honest in reporting the girls wanted to stop at KFC, since it was close and we knew where it was. But if it counts I had my friend cheese sandwich after wards to say I had Czech food that night.

The next day we headed out. The drive was beyond beautiful. I know I say this alot, but I am a sucker for rolling hills and mountains. We drove back through Germany, Austria, Switzerland then Italy. Austria and Germany were my favorite. The Alps were gorgeous.  Huge mountains, with rolling green meadows at the bottom. Everynow and then we would spot an enormous waterfall gushing out of the mountains flowing into the curving rivers that surrounded the villages. Austria is now on my list to see in the future. I can't believe I couldn't make a trip there this semester. Hope y'all enjoy the pictures. Look forward to Croatia pictures next time!

First beer in Prague! I drank this with my sausage dog in a bun.

Charles Bridge

Cool pink C.R. car!

John Lennon wall!

Lunch on Friday. We are big spenders ;)

Astronomical Clock, the world's largest. I think a puppet pops out at every hour. Too bad it wasn't working when we were there.

Appartently there is an art to drinking Absinthe. You set this here spoon on a glass with a sugar cube and pour the absinthe on top. Pretty interesting.

Instead of the typical Texan chips and salsa at the table, Czech had pretzels!

Breakfast everyday: Hotdog, bread, eggs(!), turkey, ham, cheese, coffee, cereal and yogurt. I'm always looking forward to breakfast.

Me and Sam's room. It was huge!

Roasted Sugary Almonds.

Jewish cemetary in the Jewish quarters. This was taken through an itty bitty hole in the wall. Graves were piled ontop of graves.

One of the stained glass windows.

Prague Cathedral. Pretty Intimidating huh?

Roommates in front of Prague Castle/Cathedral.

Yummmm, the yummy sweet bread they would put Nutella in.

Sam and I at John Lennon wall.

My photography talent. I'm pretty brave to lay on the ground in white pants to get a certain shot. haha

Icy cold Pilsner.

Spicy Beef goulash and potato cakes.

Hot Raspberries and Icecream. Yumm.

The National History Museum all lite up at night.

Beer tap at our table the last night. It charges by how much the customer takes out. 

Beautiful isn't it?

Sam, me and Morgan- our picture to say we were in Austria.

Austria

Yep. Those were our delicious sausage dogs with slaw and mustard. (This is Sam my lovely roommate once again.)

Roma is Amor backwards

Roma is the Italian name for Rome. Our TCU program took us to Rome this past weekend. Honestly I hadn't ever had high hopes for Rome because I always assumed it was all hyped up and touristy. I had thought too much about the mass crowds of tourism I forgot about the fact that tourists went to Rome because it has so much to offer. When it comes to crowds of people I guess I get distracted. We departed by train Friday morning and arrived in Rome about an hour and a half later. Rome was packed as I had anticipated so I wasn't overwhelmed. Luckily it wasn't like Walmart. Walmart is always packed and I always go in with a bad mood because people don't know how to get in and get out. The same with Whole Foods and other overly populated grocery stores. I'm a girl who knows what she wants and when people get in the way walking as slow as they can my mood changes drastically.

Anyways enough talk of my grocery experiences, again. Back to Rome.

We arrived by train and took a private bus to Hotel Navona. My roommates were Sam (of course) and Veronica. It was a nice little roomy hotel. Nothing more, nothing less. Once we unloaded we went to a little to Pizzeria Teal and Sarah had been to a few weeks before. They had all kinds of pizza options. They even had pizzas with fried eggs in the middle. Teal and Monica seemed to enjoy them! Sam and I shared a pizza with rocket (lettuce), fungi (mushrooms), tomatoes and cured ham. Pretty good. After that we went to a little gelateria nearby that offered the typical gelato with chocolate or whipped cream topping with no charge! That's how the Italians eat their gelato. After filling our appetites we walked over to Campo di Fiore which was a square nearby that has a market open till 2 everyday except Sundays. It offered dried fruits, flowers, clothing, souvenirs and other foods. Once our little break was over our Tour guide, Freya, took us around to some of her favorite palazzos and piazza's. Freya is the a young tour guide from Australia. She came to Florence to study Art history and never left. Now she is married to an Italian and gives tours in Italy. She knew her stuff! It makes me happy to see people follow their dreams even if it means leaving all they know behind. She showed us around and we ended at the famous Trevi fountain. It was packed of course so we weren't there for long. I made two wishes, one with a penny and one with a 1 cent euro piece, and threw them into the fountain.

After our tour we came back to the hotel and rested for about an hour and a half then headed to Hard Rock Cafe! We knew we were going to have Italian the next night so might as well get our fill of American food when we had the chance. I have never gobbled down chicken wings and nachos so fast in my life! It was so good. Y'all may think I'm crazy but I miss American food really bad. Pizza, Pasta and Paninis is what I eat the majority of the time. It's cheap and convenient. After eating at Hard Rock we took a 30 minute hike back to our Hotel. I thought I was going to be sick from all the food I had. But it was SO worth it. I had ranch with my wings. No regrets.

Saturday we woke up early, had the typical Italian breakfast at the hotel, very similar to our breakfasts in Sorrento. Croissants, bread with meat and cheese and coffee. Carbs, carbs and oh wait, more carbs. It was all delicious. We left from the Hotel and headed to the Vatican. Once we arrived we went through the many lines of security. Freya described many important works of Art when we stopped in front of them. This trip to the Vatican was far above my expectations. I saw so many pieces of artwork I had studied, but didn't realize was there. One room I came into I turned around and saw Raphael's School of Athens. This is one of my favorites! It's a paintings of Aristotle and Plato giving their theory's on life. Aristotle I believe supported heavenly wants (thus pointing towards the heavens) while Plato support worldly wants (thus pointing towards earth). This painting is awesome because it portrays lots of historically important philosophers and their beliefs; worldly or heavenly. Raphael also puts his portrait in the crowd. He is the one person who looks out towards the viewer. Prettty coool! Sorry I think I just wrote an art history paper.

Anyways, the Vatican was so much more than I expected it to be. Of course the Sistine chapel was nothing less than amazing. Props to Michelangelo. I'm sure his neck was never the same after painting it. Once we were finished with the Vatican we were free for the day. Sam, Veronica, Ian and I decided to go get some pizza and sit on the Spanish steps. Once again, these steps were full of sweaty tourists. After finishing our pizza we of course got gelato and began walking towards another cathedral. This cathedral was known for it's crypt full of Franciscan monk bones. I can't even describe it. It was morbidly fascinating and at the same time a holy place. Each room was covered in Monk bones and decorated with bone chandeliers. Skulls were stacked on top of skulls. There were some bodies still intact in Monk attire. You could tell they were still- fresh? (They still had skin). It was mandatory that these bodies were not to leave the church grounds, so they just started adding them to these rooms. At the end of this hallway, there was a plaque that said, "What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you will be." Pretty creepy.

After seeing that, we went to yet another cathedral with a sculpture we had learned about in art history. This sculpture consisted of an angel stabbing St. Teresa. It shows St. Teresa's passion for Christ. After this cathedral we headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner. For dinner we made reservations at a popular Italian restaurant called Maccaroni. I ordered Tonnarelli alla Cabanara. This is pasta with eggs, bacon and a white cream sauce. It was so delicious. I'm so bad at taking pictures of food. I always dig in before I can capture the presentation. Haha whoops.

Laocoon, my favorite sculpture of all time. Vatican.

Hannah's Pizza at lunch. Sausage, onions and mushrooms. Yummy!

Commercialized Italian Gelato, Blue Ice.

Beautiful flowers at the market in Campo di Fiore.

Pantheon.

Pantheon.

The roommie Sam and I.

Making a wish with an American penny and a one cent euro piece.

Sam and I, being us.

Beautiful scuplture along the Tiber river.

Our guide Freya analyzing the Sistine Chapel for us.

Showing the texture of the ancient marble.

One of my favorites, School of Athens by Raphael. Vatican.

Angel stabbing St. Teresa.

Roman Ruins.

Amphitheater.

Coliseum.

Roommates in front of the coliseum. Minus Claire.

Inside the Coliseum.

TCU group. Go frogs!

Up close and personal column.

Symbol for Rome.

Crema Gelato. The usual :)

Tune in next time for Prague. I'm going to go get some rest before the ballett tonight. They are performing Swan Lake!

~Ciao~