Prague...or Česky Krumlov, Rather

So we were pretty burned out after traveling for almost two months. By Prague, we couldn't push it anymore. It was freezing outside and rainy to boot and our hostel played movies 24/7 in the lobby, so we used a day or two to recuperate and watch movies. We still went out, saw the Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock Tower, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, all of those good things, but we made our trips short to rest up.

To our dismay, it started getting really cold. We spent our last day in the Czech Republic going to Česky Krumlov, one of the most visited places in all of the Czech Republic besides Prague! Alexis has a friend there who did an exchange program with her school back home.

We headed out nice and early in the morning to catch our 9am bus. It was freezing and hailing a little bit, but we made it there on time. Waiting for us at the station was Thomas. He couldn't have been a better tour guide. He knew everything about everything in that town. He showed us the bridge that had significance during the Nazi and communist rule, a really cool monastery and the only part of the town that hasn't been rebuilt after the fall of communism. It was kind of a bummer that it was raining and freezing while we were there because it did put a damper on all of the walking.

We headed to the bed and breakfast run by his parents to pick up umbrellas. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. It was called the Castle View, aptly named because half the rooms have a great view of the castle. We got to see some of the rooms including the "penthouse" castle view attic room. It was huge, with its own little kitchen and this really cool canopy bed that was built into the side of the roof. If we ever come back to Česky Krumlov and money is not an option, we will be staying in that room.

After our personal tour, we headed to lunch at this really cool Bohemian medieval restaurant. It was truly like taking a step back in time. The room was upstairs and really small and cozy with big oak tables. The food was styled in the Bohemian way which got lost in Prague when now simple goulashes became more prevalent. Of course being as indecisive as I am, I could not choose just one dish so I ordered the Bohemian feast. Alexis ordered the same thing but with pheasant and I got mine with puffed barley. I've got to say, wrong choice. My initial desire of potato dumplings with poppy seeds would have been better. It was all wonderfully made, but all very intensely spiced. The Bohemian way is to heavily spice everything. There was tarragon, saffron, thyme, in the back of the menu they listed all of the spices they used. There is at least 5-10 in every dish. This leads for the food to be a mix between heavy, hearty and earthy. The flavors were a bit too overwhelming for me, but at least we tried it.

By the time we had finished our meal, it was snowing! We had our first snowfall of the year and it wasn't even November yet! Walking in the snow was much more beautiful than in the rain, but it was also a lot colder. I was silly and didn't wear my waterproof shoes so my feet were soaked all the way through. We would walk around and then rest inside for a little bit to get postcards, or simply warm up. We walked up the hill in the opposite side of the river as the castle so we got a spectacular view of it in the snow.

One of our last stops of the day was the castle itself. One thing that's really interesting about not only the castle but all of the buildings in the town is that their decorative elements were painted on. The columns, sculptures and cavings, even the bricks were all painted on. It was so strange and almost looked garish to me for some reason, I'm not sure if I've ever seen anything like it.

We didn't actually go into the castle because it cost a load of money and we didn't have a ton of time before our bus would come to take us home. We walked to the gardens of the castle. All of the hedges and trees were covered in a fine layer of snow and it was still falling. It was too cold to stay in one place for too long so were kept moving. We dropped off our umbrellas at the Castle View and then headed toward the bus station. On the way we stopped at a vendor to get some hot spiced wine. It tasted like Christmas in a cup and we drank it along the river.

Our time in Česky Krumlov passed amazingly quickly despite the cold and it was such a lovely little town, we were sad to leave. Our bus home was treacherous. The snow had fallen a lot deeper out in the smaller roads and the traffic was at a complete standstill. Cars were spinning off the road left and right. At one point a car driving in the opposite direction spun out in front of the bus! I was afraid it was going to hit us! We managed to make it home safely but we were very delayed. No matter we had nowhere to be, we enjoyed our ride watching Friends on the coach television and planning the next leg of our journey.

Cheers,
Liz

Oh Vienna!

Vienna is one of those places that I've been to before but my memory of it consists of snapshots and images, so I was really excited to return.

Upon arriving to Vienna, our host was kind enough to take us on a nighttime tour...of the entirety of Vienna. The city is oriented circularly like a snail. The roads wind out in a spiral. You can walk and walk and you will end up at the same few main squares without fail. Andreas (our host) was extremely knowledgable about Vienna and was able to pair a story to almost every monument and building we encountered. He took us to a classic Viennese coffeehouse that served chicken noodle soup. It was the perfect thing to warm us up after walking for over an hour. We saw parliament, the imperial palace, the museum quarter,the Russian monument, almost anything you can think of, we saw it. The city park is even safe enough to venture to at night. Yes, homeless people line the benches sleeping under tarps and sleeping bags, but not once did we feel uncomfortable and it was by far the safest city we've visited. (Not to imply the others aren't safe, but like most cities they have their safe and unsafe districts. You just didn't get that feeling in Vienna). All things considering, Alexis and I held up pretty well. But by the time it hit 11:30 and we were still strolling around after a day of traveling, we were both beat. It must have been obvious because Andreas shepherded us home.

We had the unfortunate experience of having to wake up at 7:30am to be out of the house by 8:30. It was quite hellish in fact and we really struggled with it. Both mornings when we trudged out into the cold, we had to park it in a cafe until 10 or 11 before we were even able to function. Our first morning in Vienna was foggy and cold. We had wanted to visit the grounds of Schonbrunn palace, considered one of the most important cultural monuments in the country, but we wanted to go when it was warm and sunny so we could stroll the grounds. Instead we decided to visit Belvedere, the city palace, which had been said to have quarters worth paying to get into. Little did we know that the "quarters" were just art galleries. Not that we don't love art, but spending $10+ in every city we go to, to see paintings by the same artists just isn't going to agree with our budget so we have to pick and choose. We chose not to, but it was nice to see from the outside nonetheless.

By this time, the sun had come out and it was warm enough to lose our jackets. Hopeful that the weather would continue, we headed to Schonbrunn. The grounds at this place were incredible. Every tree is perfectly manicured to form rows of arches all down the sides of the walkways. Pair that with the mixed array of colors from the changing leaves and what you had was truly breathtaking. The precision of the gardening! Each tree in itself is not so impressive, but together it was quite formidable. Dotted along the paths were various statues and monuments. We only saw a small portion of the grounds and it still took us a few hours! And then there was the palace. It is surprisingly simple from the outside, but the sun on the yellow paint made it quite radiant. We wandered back to the arched pathways to have a sort of picnic lunch. To see the trees alternating from green to yellow to orange was so picturesque and for the first time I realized that it really was fall. We were so beat from our early day that when we met up with Andreas at 5pm it was all we could do to cook dinner and have a quiet night in. I must admit I was asleep by 9.

The next day started cold and dreary again. Only this time it just got progressively colder. We started the day at the Succession, a museum housing an unique Klimpt that is painted on one of the walls. Upon investigation, I decided to pass on the exhibit and decided to wander the streets while Alexis enjoyed it. Boy was I glad I did. I walked to the Opera house hoping to get a look inside. It was locked but there were people dressed in capes selling tickets for a Mozart/Strauss concert. We had talked to one of them yesterday so when one approached me I said "I know the concert tickets, and I want to go so badly but even the student tickets I can't afford." Well my desperateness must have been written all over my face because he said he'd see what he could do. He was able to offer my 2 tickets for the price of 1. This cut down the price to €20 each. I wanted to go so badly that I accepted his offer and nearly skipped back down the street to tell Alexis. Luckily she shared my enthusiasm so rushed with the high of the upcoming concert and the just-seen exhibit, we headed off to find bubble tea.

The search led us to the middle of the park where thee was no tea in sight. We wandered around in circles about the park before realizing that the store was located in the metro station. It didn't even look good so we went back to one we'd passed along the way. Bubble tea is awesome and they had the traditional milk tea that I drank in a lime and fuchsia colored room.

From there we headed to the Sacher for tea. I stayed at the Sacher seven years ago when I came to Vienna and it is one of the only things I remember. The view outside of the opera house, the red walled cafe, the blue bar, the lobby, most of my memories from that trip we there so it was exhilarating to go back. We felt pretty haggard going into such a fancy establishments where the waitresses are dressed as French maids, but we needed to try the original Sacher torte and this was the place to get it. Really. The only place that can legally say it serves the "original" Sacher torte is here. It was a delicious torte. The frosting was dark chocolate and melted in your mouth and the thin apricot layer cut the bitterness of the dark chocolate without being overwhelmingly sweet. The most interesting thing however, was how many stages of tastes you experienced when you took one bite. The flavor as it hit your tongue and the flavor as you swallowed we're completely different! I don't know how they did it but it was lovely. We went home for a quick dinner before heading out for the concert.

The hall that we attended was the hall where Mozart and his sister played concerts and was behind the imperial palace. It wasn't a necessarily gaudy place and we sat in ordinary chairs but the music was a fantastic and like I said, Mozart played there. Pieces from The Marriage of Figaro, the Magic Flute, the Turkish March and the Blue Danube along with many other fabulous pieces were played. There were four violinists, a flutist, a pianist, an opera singer and two ballet dancers. We had such a good time and what a better place to listen to Mozart and Strauss than in their home country!

Cheers,
Liz

More Budapest, mates!

We recently departed from our first destination in Eastern Europe, the one and only Budapest! This Hungarian capitol, often called the "Paris of the East," is a favorite of younger crowds for its nightlife, affordability, and gritty charm. We experienced all of the above during our couchsurf with Cameron, an Australian who moved to the city a few months ago.

In my opinion, the attraction that best reflects Budapest's true character is its ruin pubs. Ruin pubs are the city's answer to the question, "what to do with these massive, abandoned, buildings?" I deeply regret not bringing my camera to these places to document, because I've never seen anything quite like them. The mother of all ruin pubs, Szimpla, was packed full on Friday night. (The streets, in fact, were packed full. You can drink on the street there, so no need to stay at home and pregame!) I'll try to describe. You enter a building that looks normal and cement-y from the outside. On the inside, above the crowds, the building opens up to the sky. You might have been able to see the stars were it not for the massive netting and plants and old bikes and god knows what else that has been impossibly suspended as a makeshift roof to the courtyard. There are bars in various corners of the gigantic room. Up in one corner, there's a television that has been gutted and replaced with a miniature garden. You can't decide if this place looks like a spectacular junkyard or a junky art studio. Probably both. Upstairs, there's more bars, rooms that glow pink, a projector that shows you a picture of yourself walking around, a collection of nice photographs on an entirely scribbled-upon wall. The bathroom walls, stalls, everything are overrun with handwritten quotes, sharpie'd names, impromptu toilet-time artwork. And no one cares, such is a ruin pub.

We visited a few other ones, too, like Instant and Fogas Haz. I'm tired of futile efforts to explain these places, so i'll borrow words. "I've just downed a cherry palinka, Hungary's potent answer to schnapps, and I can see a giant owl with human breasts and horse's legs. In my defense, the hybrid mutant owl is not some fruit-spirit-fueled hallucination; it's actually a sculpture on the wall of Instant..." (Gergo Sas). You just gotta go. And take a nap that day (cough, LIZ, cough) because no one goes out in Budapest until at least 11:30pm.

But of course there's more to Budapest than the nightlife...although the day is suspiciously more quiet. I think everyone must save up their energy to fuel the monday-saturday party scene.

Day 1: bathhouses, Hero's Square, Hungarian buffet. Went to A38 that night, a Ukrainian ship-turned-club. Took the bus in the wrong direction, scary.

Day 2: Liz bought new shoes (Timberlands, if you care to know. I'm jealous), we wandered to the Buda side of Budapest (the city is split over the Danube), Parliament, St. Steven's Basilica, thrift stores.

Day 3: Went to the market, snuck into a wedding (and that is how you see St. Stephen's basilica for free), spent the rest of the afternoon on Margaret Island, a park situated in the middle of the Danube river. We ate kremes (a fluffy square pudding) and Hungarian strudel in the grass while watching the fountain.

Cameron took us to a flat party that night, which are quite common since Budapest has a large student population. In the elevator we met two guys from a town near Liz's in New Hampshire, small world. They also happened to be the first Romney supporters we've encountered in nearly 2 months of traveling...

Of course our last night in Budapest ended at another ruin pub.

Cheers,
Alexis

Szchenyi Bath House

When in Hungary, go to the bath houses. That's exactly what we did. We figured our poor battered bodies deserved a nice rest, so instead of doing an intensive day of site seeing and walking, we decided to devote the day to the baths.

We made a silly mistake and we forgot towels! Most of the baths were inside however so we ended up being ok without them. Architecturally, the Szchenyi bath house was insanely impressive. The building was really old and had high vaulted ceiling, giving it a feeling of grandeur. There were so many rooms we didn't even end up exploring them all! Each one had an ultra relaxed feel with a large bath or multiple small baths taking up the whole room.

When you first enter the baths, there is a locker room where you change and drop your stuff. You cannot actually be nude inside so everyone must wear a bathing suit. The first room is probably the most impressive of the indoor rooms. Huge old columns separate the room into three parts with three baths. The middle takes up most of the room, making it the largest indoor bath we saw. We soaked here for a while however it consisted mostly of elderly people that seemed to have parked it there for the day, so after a while we decided to explore on. The baths in this room especially were strangely pressurized so you could literally submerge your hand in water and have it suspended there without using any effort. I know that's sort of what water does anyway but it was unlike anything we've ever experienced. You could even feel it in your chest, like someone was pressing in from all sides.

While the baths were crazy cool, they were all also relatively the same. They varied in temperature, shape and size, but it was the rooms that made you want to hop from one to the next. Each room gave the bath a totally different feel. There was one room that was more industrially lit and more made for actual swimming. One had high vaulted white ceilings. With the sun shining through, it almost had a Greek god-like feel. I imagined it would be the place that the gods would have hung out in Greek myths on Mt. Olympus.

We did venture outside even though it was a bit nippy. Compared to everywhere else we've been recently, it's really been quite nice. The sun actually makes it warm! There were many more families in the outdoor baths. Lots of young children were splashing around and playing water games. Along the edges you still had the bothers that were just there to soak and the water was really warm. The building surrounds the pool 360 degrees. The yellow walls with white columns in the sun gives it a vibrant full-of-life feel. Unfortunately we didn't being our cameras into the baths for fear of destroying them in the water but here's a pretty good picture of the outside, which is actually the point of view where we sat!

https://www.google.hu/search?q=szechenyi+baths&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=2U-CUJ_9LsfgtQaIw4HoDQ&biw=768&bih=928&sei=3E-CUOWbIIzFtAbJ2YHQBw#biv=i|0;d|eebNiWszD8bRmM:

Another lovely treat was the fact that there were multiple saunas. I believe each one was meant to target some health condition or another as the entrance to the saunas had a sign describing each of the different ones (they were distinguishable by the color of the light inside). The only one we could recognize for sure was the aroma therapy one but all of the others were in Hungarian so we couldn't read them. We tried them all anyway!

We spent the day hopping from one bath to the other, punctuated by 10 minute sauna trips. For the weary traveler it was the perfect day to rejuvenate and heal the aching joints.

We tried to do the steam bath as well but if you've never experienced one,its the closest thing to being baked in an oven that I can imagine. It literally feels like your lungs and inner nostrils and being cooked when you try to breath in. I found it very unpleasant and we lasted for about 2 minutes.

But everything else about the day was lovely and we left feeling like jello. And definitely more relaxed than we've been in the past month and a half! We apologize for having no pictures but like I said we didn't have water proof cameras. There will be more pictures of Budapest to come though so have no worries!

Cheers,
Liz

Amsterdam Pictures

Alice in Amsterdam

We fell through the rabbit hole and landed ourselves in Amsterdam. More specifically, Bob's Youth Hostel in Amsterdam, a place just as sketchy as it sounds.

It actually wasn't bad, though the sight (and smell) of the common room would send most parents on the next plane to snatch up their children from the lenient grasp of the Netherlands.

(There was a strict no-smoking policy. It read, "NO SMOKING. CANNABIS ONLY." And there was no smoking at breakfast time.)

Due to the weekend-long downpour, we spent a fair portion of our time in the common room. Even after venturing out into the city, we found that Bob's was a popular hub, always crowded and always interesting. We became familiar with some of the regular characters. There was the artist: black peacoat, stringy black hair, spliff perpetually stuck in his fingers. He was painting one of the hallways of the hostel and kept us updated on his progess, always after asking if we had rolling papers. There was the manager: short older man that refused to acknowledge anyone's presence until they stood at the counter for at least a minute. There were plenty of fellow Americans: Washington, California, Oregon (trend?), etc. etc. The lights were dim, the tables were dirty, and the music was always too bohemian and too loud to be conducive to conversation, but hey. Every seat was full and it was it a good time.

Don't worry, we saw the city too. On the first rainy day, we walked past the permanent market that sells huge varieties of tulips, admiring the canals along the way.  On the second rainy day, we explored the neighborhood Jordaan, known for its narrow streets and quaint feel. We watched Alice and Wonderland while drying off and eating lunch. That night, we went into the oldest part of the city, and heeded the advice of an Amsterdam native, "Take a walk through the huge red light district at night. Feel uncomfortable with the women standing behind glass selling themselves, and feel uncomfortable as you see men leave, after their visit. It's a little weird, but you should go see it. It's part of Amsterdam."

The following day, we went to the central library, a fairly recent masterpiece. It was mod to the max, replete with study pods and odd chairs. The whitewashed, organized, and clean aesthetic of the library was, in retrospect, an exaggerated but accurate reflection of Amsterdam's less appreciated side. Many of the boutiques, government buildings, and even grocers favor this simple interior look, in contrast to the decorated northern architecture they are housed in.  From the library, we took a ferry to an abandoned shipyard and warehouse complex that has been repurposed by an artist colony. Stacks of massive shipping containers were refurnished into apartment building, each container is now a home. The top floor of the shipyard is a skatepark, apparently Tony Hawk's #2 favorite. The main floor is a sprawling market, with studios visible in the back of the building. The isolated, super-grafittied village was surreal. And then we got back onto the ferry and sailed away to the real world. Well, almost, since later that night, I discovered vla, a dutch pudding-like dessert that is sold in a milk cartoon. Clearly an otherworldly delight. I'm really going to miss Albert Heijn, the Netherlands' national grocery store (which we frequented every day).

With more travel ahead, we will surely miss the lazy, rainy days and nights spent in the common room of Bob's Hostel. Stay cool, Amsterdam. More backpackers want to breathe you in.

Love,
Alexis



*Pictures are on the way, we have no wifi right now*

Belgium

On Tuesday, we arrived in Belgium! It was a bit of a trek from the train station to our hosts' house but we made it. It turned out to be a classy town house with 5 floors and an elevator. Needless to say, we felt a bit ragged knocking on their door but Gaelle and her family were very welcoming. After much-needed showers and naps, Philippine, the daughter (19), took us out to drinks and dinner. We had our first famed Belgian beer, peach beer, the favorite drink of the people we were with, followed by sushi in the historic old town of Brussels. Our first real glimpse of the city was at night, and seeing the architectural highlights like Grand Place, the Bourse, and Saint-Catherine glowing in the dark was quite a treat. The night was finished up in a busy alley of pubs, one of which (Delirium) is known for serving over 2000 types of beer.

We slept in the next day and visited La Cinquantaire, an arch carved out of two buildings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Belgian independence. It offered a far-reaching view of the city, including the giant metal atom that Philippine said was like Belgium's Eiffel Tower. After returning home for a bit, Liz and I went back into the city center to see the sights in the daytime. We went inside Saint-Catherine, returned to Grand Place, ate Belgian waffles, and wandered through the Royal Park. Upon our return, we shared family dinner with Antoine, Gaelle, Alexia, and Philippine. The conversation theme that night was college in America versus Belgium, since Alexia wants to go to school in America but her parents aren't so keen. In Belgium, college is essentially free, is close to home, and students continue to live with their parents. Before bed, Liz and I watched the movie Troy in French in hopes of brushing up on the language.

Thursday morning we decided to take a day-trip to Bruges, a cherished Medieval town that Belgium is known for. We found cheap train tickets and were there by early afternoon. In Church Of Our Lady, we saw one of the only Michelangelo sculptures that was taken out of Italy, and we walked through picturesque parks to reach the town square. It was surprisingly grand, with ornate, gold gilded detailing on the distinctly European buildings. In the surrounding alleys of restaurants and pubs, we chose a place to eat pasta and try a new flavor of belgian beer. After a last stroll along the boutiques, lace and Christmas themed storefronts, and chocolate shops, we took the train home. We enjoyed another dinner and conversation with the family, and watched Pretty Woman before bed. We left Belgium early today, more updates to come!

Love
A