The group decided we loved this place so much we wanted to make dinner there since we had a big kitchen. So we went to a local grocery market and picked up about 15 frozen pizzas, milk, and cereal. This would provide breakfast and dinner for both days. And that was the biggest $$ saver for the whole trip. The previous weekends most of our money was spent on dinner's out at restaurants. Now I know what you're thinking, what about experiencing the native food/culture? We had it covered. The hostel owners every friday and saturday night provided traditional food and drink from Czech for free! Friday night we ate homemade beef goulash and bread with local Czech brew. The owner at with us, as well a few other students that were staying there. He talked about the food and especially the types of beer that were made there and the history behind those. He was a really cool guy and you could tell he loved hanging out with students. The next night he provided Czech liquor and traditional desert wafers too! And yes, all of this was free (with our hostel booking).
That night we decided we would take a go at the famous Czech pub crawls. We found a brochure in the hostel for one, and signed up right there. It ended up being around 20 USD for unlimited drinks and cover at 5 bars/ clubs. Good deal yeah? Prague was a very inexpensive place, which I realized at the end of the weekend when I had only pulled out about 70 USD and hadn't spent 50. This was a big deal because the previous weekends had shown about a 150USD spent. But anyway, we met the pub group, which consisted of about 40 people, mostly Americans, at a bar near the edge of old town, pretty close to our hostel. We hung out and drank for about an hour before the group set off, led by a tall lanky guy with really cool hair. We all marched our way though downtown to each bar. Most of the group spent most of their time dancing at each place. However, from the beginning of the night, the Czech alcohol was not sitting with me well, so I laid low for most of the night and only had a beer here and there. I spent most of my time talking with (or trying to decipher) there Irish fellows who had just graduated their version of high school and were traveling around. They're accents were thick as pea soup. Funny guys though. The city was alive outside as we walked from place to place. Most of the cities we've seen so far shut down almost completely (except for bars) after ten. Not Prague. Shops were open til at least midnight, and
The last place we stopped at was a famous 5-story dance building. Each floor a had a music theme to it that was shone on the wall as you went up the stairs. It was insane. There were probably a 1000 people in this building. There were lasers, lit up floors, smoke machines, lots of bars, and tonnnnns of dance floors. It was a mad house. Definitely a place you could get lost in or easily overwhelmed if you were too out of it. Fortunately nobody had a problem. We got back to the hostel around 1:30am. I sat down in the kitchen with Tara and Adam and filled up a bit with water and just enjoyed where we were.
Saturday was a sleep in day for everyone. Yes, I know we were in Prague and needed to see the city, but don't worry, we were out the door by noon. We ate our cereal (Nick ate frozen pizza for breakfast) and were out the door with a plan for the day: market, castle, pool. First we spent about and hour and a half in the central pedestrian market part of old town. We all bought a few things and then made our way toward the river toward the castle on the other side. On the way we ran into a Stag party (British bachelor party) doing funny things in the streets to make money for their good time that night. They were all dressed in spandex, pink things, and huge fro wigs. We paid about 10 USD all together to wax the Groom's legs with wax strips. Just another cultural cool story! We found a tram that would take us to the base of the castle on the other side of the river, and then made our way up to the "largest castle in europe". But I didn't buy that because 1) it didn't even look like a castle and 2) I have definitely seen castle's that look bigger than that one. Regardless it was a cool place to walk around. We had a great view of the city from the top and spent an hour or so up there. Its funny to get those views of these large European cities and realize they don't have any skyscrapers and are very small in size compared to US cities, mostly because Europe never really bought into the whole suburb thing. After that we walked down and across the river across the 14th century St. Charles Bridge. There were painters, craftsman, and musicians scatters all over the large pedestrian bridge. It was really cool. One group of high school looking guys were playing a string version of "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. VERY COOL. Our plan at that point was to go to this big public pool we had heard about. We found a tram that went the direction we wanted and made to this extremely large pool complex. There were two large outdoor pools and one large indoor one. There was even a 4-story water slide! We spent the hot afternoon there until it turned into a not so hot afternoon. We then got back to the hostel around 6pm. At which point we enjoyed the food our hostel owner provided.
Saturday night we ate more frozen pizza (mind you all this food only cost each person about $1.50 for the whole weekend). And of course we had to go watch the US play their opening game in the world cup against England. So we made it out to the big square at the center of the city where about 1000 people stood watching an enormous big screen set up against the 13th century gothic church. It was incredible. There were loads of Americans and British people in the crowd. It was kind of fun to be surrounded by English speaking people for once. We tied the game and then everyone met up by the famous astrological clock on the church. Some of us wanted to spent the rest of our chex mix on stuff at shops, others wanted to drink more, and others wanted to go dance. So we all went our separate directions (in groups of course) and eventually all made it back to the hostel. I went to go spend some more at the shops and actually bought Denise's Prague Starbucks cup at this time. I walked back to the hostel with Tara, Adam, Erin, Nick, and a few others. We ran into a few other on the way and discovered our friend Brendan had bought a pair of red plaid boxers that matched his shirt perfectly. We realized this because he stripped in the middle of the street in front of the huge crowds haha. I got a great picture. Back at the hostel I did the same thing as the night before. I sat out in the kitchen next to the balcony and just talked with friends. Great night.
Sunday was a pure travel day for most everyone. Adam, Erin, and I got up early though to go out to breakfast. We ate at this luxury hotel lobby restaurant. Very good traditional Czech breakfast food. And cheap. We made to the train and I spent almost all 7 hours in and out of sleep and reading a book for history class.
And that was Prague.
Now it was time for the last full week in Salzburg! Classes were normal for this week. Monday night's movie this week was The Lives of Others. It was about the Stasi secret police of the Soviets and how they watched people. It was a very good movie. Very scary actually. I have just loved history and its so amazing to learn about this war that only ended months before I was born. Tuesday was a normal day, rainy, just like the rest of this week. Wednesday was our field trip day. We went to the Siltronic wafer plant in Germany. This one of the world's largest producers of silicon wafers for all sorts of uses. We were given multiple presentations about the company and the process behind making the wafers and being environmental about it. Europe I have noticed is WAY ahead of the US in ecological development. They have this sustainability thing down pat. They do so many small things that save resources its crazy. We can learn from this and really should implement some of the same laws and practices they have here. But anyway we then were given a tour of the clean up portion of the plant, or the "green" part of it. Very cool. You could just tell the scientists there were genius'. On the way back from the plant we stopped at the "Longest Castle in Europe" but I didn't buy that one either because it was more of a fortress than a castle. But either way it was cool to walk through. Of course it was on top of a hill with great views and defensive positioning. Got a few pictures, including my signature pose of the heel click. We got back to the center at 4 and proceeded to do hw. That night however, a group of us went to this place call Hangar-7. I had no idea what it was until I got there but it was the owner of red bull's private hangar of toys. And when I say toys I mean jets, old planes, helicopters, fast cars, other devices, and just cool stuff. The building was incredibly made out of plexy glass and steel bars. The exhibit of his stuff was free and after walking around we hung out at the bar that was suspended from the roof of the hangar with glass floors looking down on all the museum. It was very cool.
We got home before 11 and I was pretty tired so I passed out. Thursday was our last 3 hour class of stats!! I was so excited about that. Thursday night Nick and I, because we both were taking a nap when everyone left to go to a bar to watch the game, played ping pong for about 2 hours, watched the movie taken, and then had a very philosophical talk about death, love, relationships, religion, and anything else you can think of. I really missed Whitney this night. Nick mentioned that it was really cool to watch our relationship grow over time. He knew me before I dated her, and has been there to watch as we have fallen for one another. It was really cool to hear him say that we work really well together. But it also made me miss her alot. We talked about our families and how much Lauren and Maria would have so much fun as friends because they are both smart asses.
Yesterday afternoon was another cool discovery. We learned of a climbing gym in Salzburg!!! So of course I had to go. We found it north of town along the river, in a large warehouse, it actually looked just like edgeworks from the outside....but no on the inside. It was enormous!!! And usually there are a few beginners at a gym, not this place, everyone was a pro. Another strange thing, at all the US gyms I have been to, all of the top ropes are already set up, and if you want to lead climb, you can ask for a rope. Here, you have to rent a rope and set your top rope yourself!! The walls were riddled with quick draws, and we had to lead climb at set our own top ropes! The walls at this place were easily 70+ feet. It was extremely tall, taller than I've ever seen. Adam and I were the only one's who had any experience with climbing. Tara and Rosemary went with us and were beginners. So he and I led each route and set up the top ropes for the girls. That was actually really cool. We spent about 3 and a half hours there just climbing and having a great time. The atmosphere was exactly the same as it was at home. Climbers world wide seem to be chilled out and relaxed about just living life.
Yesterday through the end of this weekend we have kind of a weird schedule. Yesterday we had history, today nothing, tomorrow history, and monday just engineering. Tuesday is our last field trip to a technology museum in Germany. Then wednesday is FINALS. Thursday is clean up morning and then Nick, Erin, Adam, and I are headed out to Venice on a night train leaving at 1:30am on friday morning.
Today I will be doing HW and plan on going down town for a bit to look around for a few trinkets I still want to pick up.
I will probably post one more time before leaving Austria. Hard to believe its already been 6 weeks!
No comments:
Post a Comment