We took a night train from Prague to Krakow. The hostel we had in Krakow was amazing! A huge room, and actually a really nice bathroom. Probably the nicest bathroom any hostel has had. They were also really nice to us, and even set out breakfast an hour early because we had to leave before they usually serve it.
The public transportation to leave the actual city of Krakow into the suburbs was pretty funny, it was basically just a 15-passenger van. We took one of those to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz was incredibly moving and hard to describe on a blog. There were exhibits of hair and glasses and shoes, and everything the Nazis took from the people coming into the concentration camps. There was an intact gas chamber and crematorium. it was crazy.
we toured around there, and then to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This is the one that most pictures show. There are the train tracks coming through the middle, and the 'gate of death.' The men's barracks were old horse barns that they had shipped from germany because they ran out of wood. it was a very moving thing. the guide also showed us where the 'hospital' was.. and that is where Dr. Mengele did some of this experiments. They didn't have anything about him though.. that would have been interesting.
It is hard to really say much else.. it was really moving.
After that, we took a different van to a suburb of Krakow where there is the famous salt mine. This was really amazing. The last english tour had left, so we had to take one in Polish. It was only Cara and I and the guide, who knew about 5 words in English.. so that was a funny experience. The salt mine was really cool though.. there were insane carvings in there.
There was an army of gnomes carved out of the salt that was one of my favorites. Also, there was a huge chapel complete with a salt carving of the last supper, and several sacred heart salt sculptures. It was really awesome.
We only had one day in Krakow, which really wasn't enough.. it would have been good to have one more day to see the center of the city, which we never actually got to. oh well, next is Berlin!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Praha
This was my first experience on a night train. We got on the train in Zurich. I didn't like the night train, it was not very comfortable. I got what is called a "couchette", which basically means sleeping on a couch, but a couch where the cushions are made out of wood with a little bit of soft on the top.. not comfortable at all.
After we got to our hostel to drop off our bags and had lunch, we walked into the city.
They had a museum devoted to communism in the Czech Republic. It was pretty cool, and I liked the location: on top of a McDonalds, and right next to a casino. yeah, sure communism works....
Anywho, the museum was pretty cool, it had lots of old propaganda posters which made me laugh. They had a big statue of Stalin, and it was actually a pretty informative museum, I learned a lot about communism in the Czech.
We walked to Good King Applesauce, I mean... Wenceslas's square (so, it turns out he isn't a king at all... just a duke. very disappointing). It was a big shopping district, but it was also the place where some student lit himself on fire as a protest to being alive and not on fire... haha, okay that isn't really what he was protesting. We met up with Daniel, who was a foreign exchange student at Ballard my senior year, and he studies in Prague. Cara and I had lunch and chatted with him, but he had to go back to work. We then met up with Cara's friend Betka who had studied abroad at Miami and was Cara's suitemate. We walked with her to Charles Bridge (I think I have seen just about every world-famous bridge by now) and walked up to the castle. It was pretty cool, there was a sweet cathedral where Wenceslas is buried. There was a monastery close to the castle, and the monks there brew beer.. it was delicious!
We went to the Jewish quarter of Prague, where there were some boring museums, (but they do have cool pointer thingys to point at the torah, and they are just a long stick with a hand and pointing finger.) There were two really amazing things in the Jewish quarter.
One was a church where they had handwritten the names of all the Prague (or maybe all the Czech, i'm not sure) Jews who were killed in WWII. They actually had to rewrite them (the current one is the third time) due to damage from floods.
There was also a cemetery that was completely jam packed, because it was the only place you could bury Jews for around 200 years.
One of the most interesting things was a church that we went to, where just to the right and above the door there is a hanging arm. Legend has it that someone tried to steal the statue of Mary (a pretty famous one) that is on the altar, and his hand froze to it. The monk had to cut the arm off to get the statue back, and the monk hung the arm in the church to let thieves know.
There was also a famous astronomical clock there.. it was okay, some cool action things like a skeleton drinking when it chimed.
Thats it for Prague, Krakow is next!
After we got to our hostel to drop off our bags and had lunch, we walked into the city.
They had a museum devoted to communism in the Czech Republic. It was pretty cool, and I liked the location: on top of a McDonalds, and right next to a casino. yeah, sure communism works....
Anywho, the museum was pretty cool, it had lots of old propaganda posters which made me laugh. They had a big statue of Stalin, and it was actually a pretty informative museum, I learned a lot about communism in the Czech.
We walked to Good King Applesauce, I mean... Wenceslas's square (so, it turns out he isn't a king at all... just a duke. very disappointing). It was a big shopping district, but it was also the place where some student lit himself on fire as a protest to being alive and not on fire... haha, okay that isn't really what he was protesting. We met up with Daniel, who was a foreign exchange student at Ballard my senior year, and he studies in Prague. Cara and I had lunch and chatted with him, but he had to go back to work. We then met up with Cara's friend Betka who had studied abroad at Miami and was Cara's suitemate. We walked with her to Charles Bridge (I think I have seen just about every world-famous bridge by now) and walked up to the castle. It was pretty cool, there was a sweet cathedral where Wenceslas is buried. There was a monastery close to the castle, and the monks there brew beer.. it was delicious!
We went to the Jewish quarter of Prague, where there were some boring museums, (but they do have cool pointer thingys to point at the torah, and they are just a long stick with a hand and pointing finger.) There were two really amazing things in the Jewish quarter.
One was a church where they had handwritten the names of all the Prague (or maybe all the Czech, i'm not sure) Jews who were killed in WWII. They actually had to rewrite them (the current one is the third time) due to damage from floods.
There was also a cemetery that was completely jam packed, because it was the only place you could bury Jews for around 200 years.
One of the most interesting things was a church that we went to, where just to the right and above the door there is a hanging arm. Legend has it that someone tried to steal the statue of Mary (a pretty famous one) that is on the altar, and his hand froze to it. The monk had to cut the arm off to get the statue back, and the monk hung the arm in the church to let thieves know.
There was also a famous astronomical clock there.. it was okay, some cool action things like a skeleton drinking when it chimed.
Thats it for Prague, Krakow is next!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Interlaken
We went to this little town in Switzerland, and Cara went skydiving by the Alps. The scenery here was pretty beautiful. The hostel was in a basically residential area.
It was a pretty cool hostel, they had some fun things including a giant chess set (the pieces were 2-feet tall.) It was pretty fun to walk around Interlaken, but it was just a sleepy little town, and on Sunday it was basically dead. We got to eat some delicious Swiss chocolate, and for some reason they really like pickles on their sandwiches... wierd I know...
That was about it, there was a wood-carving museum, but we didn't go there. We ran into some people from Kansas while we were walking around, and they updated us on the happenings in the NCAA basketball tournament.. so that was pretty nice for me!
Thats about it, on to Prague next!
It was a pretty cool hostel, they had some fun things including a giant chess set (the pieces were 2-feet tall.) It was pretty fun to walk around Interlaken, but it was just a sleepy little town, and on Sunday it was basically dead. We got to eat some delicious Swiss chocolate, and for some reason they really like pickles on their sandwiches... wierd I know...
That was about it, there was a wood-carving museum, but we didn't go there. We ran into some people from Kansas while we were walking around, and they updated us on the happenings in the NCAA basketball tournament.. so that was pretty nice for me!
Thats about it, on to Prague next!
Venice and waste of a day in Milan
Venice was fantastic. Since it had less "touristy" things to do, we got to spend lots of time wandering around the streets. This was really fabulous, they had tiny little streets with lots of shops, and just walking around the canals was lots of fun. I really liked all the water taxis that there were.. I think that would be a pretty fun job.
Saint Mark's square was the big tourist spot. There were soo many pigeons in the square, it was crazy! They were all over! The Doge's Palace, and the Museo Correr and a big cathedral (Saint Mark's) with lots of amazing mosaics were all on that square, and it was neat to go look through there. The prison was especially cool.
One really crazy thing happened. One afternoon while Cara and I were wandering the streets, we ran into two people who also are studying abroad at Leicester! It was crazy, we had no idea they were there, and we just saw them on the street! It was really funny. So, we hung out with them for awhile.
One really cool church was the Frari church. There was a famous sculpture by Donatello, and also a really cool tomb. The tomb was shaped like one side of a pyramid (so, I guess I could have just said a triangle...) and it had lots of cool statues and carvings in it. It is the tomb of Antonio Canova, but apparently only his heart is buried there.
The Rialto bridge was pretty cool, with neat shops all along it. The only bad thing was there was a big advertisement on one side of it, so that was a little disappointing.
We stayed at another "campsite" outside of Venice (much like in Rome) only this one was funnier, because the bathroom sink was in the shower. So, we had a shink for our time. haha. Also they had a "kitchen" where you could cook, but it was just an oven under a little awning outside.
Well, next we went to Milan.. but we didn't realize that you need to book tickets at least a few weeks in advance to see the Last Supper, which was the only reason we went to Milan. So, the day before we tried to book tickets.. we got to Milan, found out we couldn't see it.. and then we just walked around Milan and had a relaxing day. On to Interlaken, and the last two weeks of our holiday!
Saint Mark's square was the big tourist spot. There were soo many pigeons in the square, it was crazy! They were all over! The Doge's Palace, and the Museo Correr and a big cathedral (Saint Mark's) with lots of amazing mosaics were all on that square, and it was neat to go look through there. The prison was especially cool.
One really crazy thing happened. One afternoon while Cara and I were wandering the streets, we ran into two people who also are studying abroad at Leicester! It was crazy, we had no idea they were there, and we just saw them on the street! It was really funny. So, we hung out with them for awhile.
One really cool church was the Frari church. There was a famous sculpture by Donatello, and also a really cool tomb. The tomb was shaped like one side of a pyramid (so, I guess I could have just said a triangle...) and it had lots of cool statues and carvings in it. It is the tomb of Antonio Canova, but apparently only his heart is buried there.
The Rialto bridge was pretty cool, with neat shops all along it. The only bad thing was there was a big advertisement on one side of it, so that was a little disappointing.
We stayed at another "campsite" outside of Venice (much like in Rome) only this one was funnier, because the bathroom sink was in the shower. So, we had a shink for our time. haha. Also they had a "kitchen" where you could cook, but it was just an oven under a little awning outside.
Well, next we went to Milan.. but we didn't realize that you need to book tickets at least a few weeks in advance to see the Last Supper, which was the only reason we went to Milan. So, the day before we tried to book tickets.. we got to Milan, found out we couldn't see it.. and then we just walked around Milan and had a relaxing day. On to Interlaken, and the last two weeks of our holiday!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Naples/Pompeii
Well, Naples was horrible. But Pompeii was amazing!
Naples public transport was awful. The same route bus no matter which end point it is going to is labeled with one name. So we got on a bus labeled where we wanted to go, the right route number.. and it took us in the opposite direction! How frustrating! It ended up taking us way to long to get back to our hostel. And there was a garbage strike going on, so the city stunk, and there were stray dogs everywhere.. what a bummer.
but... Pompeii! wow. It was really cool. There were mosaics and art work still intact! After all these years!
I learned things too, I found out that a major earthquake had hit in 62 A.D. (just 17 years before the volcano.) So, Pompeii was actually still in the process of rebuilding when the volcano hit.
There is not much else you can say, it was amazing to walk around and see all the ruins. I also saw the plaster casts of the bodies they found. pretty crazy.
welp, off to Venice!
Naples public transport was awful. The same route bus no matter which end point it is going to is labeled with one name. So we got on a bus labeled where we wanted to go, the right route number.. and it took us in the opposite direction! How frustrating! It ended up taking us way to long to get back to our hostel. And there was a garbage strike going on, so the city stunk, and there were stray dogs everywhere.. what a bummer.
but... Pompeii! wow. It was really cool. There were mosaics and art work still intact! After all these years!
I learned things too, I found out that a major earthquake had hit in 62 A.D. (just 17 years before the volcano.) So, Pompeii was actually still in the process of rebuilding when the volcano hit.
There is not much else you can say, it was amazing to walk around and see all the ruins. I also saw the plaster casts of the bodies they found. pretty crazy.
welp, off to Venice!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Rome
Wow, what an amazing place.
First off, we stayed in a "campsite." This basically meant that we had half a caravan (aka mobile home) with a bathroom. It was actually not that bad, there was a little space heater in there, so it wasn't too cold.
The campsite had a bus that ran to the suburban metro line, so it only took about 40 minutes to get from our campsite to anywhere in Rome.
It is really hard to sum up Rome, it was amazing. We saw the colosseum on the first day. That was really amazing. The Roman Forum (foro Romano) was one of the best parts of Rome. This basically used to be the headquarters of the Roman empire. There were all sorts of ruins from famous, powerful old buildings, the oldest of which was Saturn's Temple, where 8 columns still stand (they were from about 500-600 B.C. We even saw the place where Julius Caesar was cremated. There is a big mound of dirt, and it is still covered in flowers that people bring.
Right by the forum, there is also the Mamertine Prison we went into, and Saints Peter and Paul were both said to have been imprisoned there.. pretty cool!
We went into the Capital Hill Museum, where the coolest thing there was a foot, and hand, and other remnants of the HUGE statue of Constantine that used to be somewhere...
Oh yeah, I might have forgotten to mention that somehow we were lucky enough to be in Florence and Rome during "Italian Culture Week," which for me meant Free Museum Week!! I saved at least 50 euros because almost all museums were free for that week! I love Italian Culture!
The Pantheon was pretty neat, we saw Raphael's Tomb, which makes it 2 now out of the 4 Ninja Turtles tombs I've seen on the trip.
Vatican City was pretty sweet. The longest wait we have had so far on the trip was for the Vatican museum (1.5 hours, which okay.. its not so bad.)
My favorite part of the Vatican museum was their Egyptian collection, it was pretty cool. The Raphael rooms were also pretty immense. And of course, there is the Sistine chapel, which.. as famous as it is, there were just too many people packed into there, that I couldn't just have a peaceful look up at it for too long.
St. Peter's Basilica did turn out to be my favorite of the chapel's I visited. (I know, there were sooo many!) There were too many amazing things there, but Michaelangelo's Pieta (of course behind bulletproof glass) did not disappoint me.
The pope's crypt under the basilica was pretty cool as well.
The Trevi fountain was one really neat thing, it is basically a huge fountain that is part of a building. It is hard to describe in words, so look for the pictures or wikipedia it.
By far the weirdest thing was the Capucin Crypt. Apparently in Rome it is okay and legal and perfectly kosher to dig up the bones of 4000 monks and make artwork with them. weird I know, but oh well..... as they say.. when in Rome.
Anyway, it was cool.. the artwork of the monk's bones.. I will post pictures of that soon, it was cool... and weird.
That is about it.. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later.... on to Naples!
First off, we stayed in a "campsite." This basically meant that we had half a caravan (aka mobile home) with a bathroom. It was actually not that bad, there was a little space heater in there, so it wasn't too cold.
The campsite had a bus that ran to the suburban metro line, so it only took about 40 minutes to get from our campsite to anywhere in Rome.
It is really hard to sum up Rome, it was amazing. We saw the colosseum on the first day. That was really amazing. The Roman Forum (foro Romano) was one of the best parts of Rome. This basically used to be the headquarters of the Roman empire. There were all sorts of ruins from famous, powerful old buildings, the oldest of which was Saturn's Temple, where 8 columns still stand (they were from about 500-600 B.C. We even saw the place where Julius Caesar was cremated. There is a big mound of dirt, and it is still covered in flowers that people bring.
Right by the forum, there is also the Mamertine Prison we went into, and Saints Peter and Paul were both said to have been imprisoned there.. pretty cool!
We went into the Capital Hill Museum, where the coolest thing there was a foot, and hand, and other remnants of the HUGE statue of Constantine that used to be somewhere...
Oh yeah, I might have forgotten to mention that somehow we were lucky enough to be in Florence and Rome during "Italian Culture Week," which for me meant Free Museum Week!! I saved at least 50 euros because almost all museums were free for that week! I love Italian Culture!
The Pantheon was pretty neat, we saw Raphael's Tomb, which makes it 2 now out of the 4 Ninja Turtles tombs I've seen on the trip.
Vatican City was pretty sweet. The longest wait we have had so far on the trip was for the Vatican museum (1.5 hours, which okay.. its not so bad.)
My favorite part of the Vatican museum was their Egyptian collection, it was pretty cool. The Raphael rooms were also pretty immense. And of course, there is the Sistine chapel, which.. as famous as it is, there were just too many people packed into there, that I couldn't just have a peaceful look up at it for too long.
St. Peter's Basilica did turn out to be my favorite of the chapel's I visited. (I know, there were sooo many!) There were too many amazing things there, but Michaelangelo's Pieta (of course behind bulletproof glass) did not disappoint me.
The pope's crypt under the basilica was pretty cool as well.
The Trevi fountain was one really neat thing, it is basically a huge fountain that is part of a building. It is hard to describe in words, so look for the pictures or wikipedia it.
By far the weirdest thing was the Capucin Crypt. Apparently in Rome it is okay and legal and perfectly kosher to dig up the bones of 4000 monks and make artwork with them. weird I know, but oh well..... as they say.. when in Rome.
Anyway, it was cool.. the artwork of the monk's bones.. I will post pictures of that soon, it was cool... and weird.
That is about it.. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later.... on to Naples!
Florence
After Bologna, we went to Florence. The hostel was very close to the train station, so that was really nice. Also, Florence was a great city because you could walk anywhere. We did not take a single bus or any form of transportation besides walking the whole time in Florence! Somehow we avoided all the lines everywhere in Florence, and I am still not quite sure how it happened. We walked by the Academia at about 10:15 in the morning just to see how the line was, and it didn't look to bad.. so Cara and I decided just to wait for 15 minutes and see how far we made it in the line. After 20 minutes we were already inside! It was kind of weird but they put David towards the beginning of the museum (you would think they would put it last, oh well.)
Obviously, this statue was great.
There were a few other famous ones there as well, the unifinished prisoner statues.. they were pretty cool.
We got lucky again somehow by walking to the Uffizi and going to make a reservation for the next day (our last day in Florence) and we got the last reservation available!
So the next day, we just got to walk right in the Uffizi, maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait in line, incredible! The Uffizi was alrite, the famous "birth of Venus" painting was there, it was okay... but she was at such an awkward angle, it looked like she should have fallen over.
The Duomo chapel wasn't that exciting.
However, the church Sante Croce was excellent. The tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo were in there.. that was pretty cool. Apparentely it took quite a while to get Galileo's body to be moved into the church. I guess that is what you get by telling the church that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
That was it for Florence, the hostel was pretty cool, the owner cooked us breakfast in the morning.
On the way to Rome, we stopped in Pisa to look at the tower, eat Pizza, and of course, take the required holding up the tower photo.
Obviously, this statue was great.
There were a few other famous ones there as well, the unifinished prisoner statues.. they were pretty cool.
We got lucky again somehow by walking to the Uffizi and going to make a reservation for the next day (our last day in Florence) and we got the last reservation available!
So the next day, we just got to walk right in the Uffizi, maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait in line, incredible! The Uffizi was alrite, the famous "birth of Venus" painting was there, it was okay... but she was at such an awkward angle, it looked like she should have fallen over.
The Duomo chapel wasn't that exciting.
However, the church Sante Croce was excellent. The tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo were in there.. that was pretty cool. Apparentely it took quite a while to get Galileo's body to be moved into the church. I guess that is what you get by telling the church that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
That was it for Florence, the hostel was pretty cool, the owner cooked us breakfast in the morning.
On the way to Rome, we stopped in Pisa to look at the tower, eat Pizza, and of course, take the required holding up the tower photo.
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