Vienna and My Roman Holiday

So it has been a while, again. Sorry for my lack of blogging. In the past weeks I have been to Vienna and Rome!

I was supposed to meet a friend in Vienna, but he was unable to make it so I went solo. I had such a good time and am so glad I did it! I say the Hapsburg Palace a bunch of gardens, museums and churches. I found a really amazing museum there that had a huge collection of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian art from antiquity. I spent hours wandering through there and I could because there was no one with me to speed me up. I loved it. I also went to the palace museum and treasury. My favorite part about museums in Europe is that for the most part, as long as you turn your flash off you can take pictures of anything! I uploaded Vienna pictures to http://picasaweb.google.com/mollz1407 so Czech them out. It was really interesting because they had a huge collection of old dinnerware and because at on point the Czech lands were under the rule of the Austria Hungarian Empire, there were a bunch of pieces from Prague and the Czech Republic! In the Treasury they had royal robes with the two tailed Czech lion too. My favorite thing I found while wondering one night. I came across a church with evergreen window boxes and the advent countdown in the windows. It had a park in front where they were setting up a Christmas market and a giant decorated tree. I could see it from quite a distance and just gravitated towards its gorgeousness.

Last weekend I went to Rome! My friend, Emily, from Susquehanna is studying there and showed me around. I am so glad she was there and I got to go! I had a long weekend so I went from Thursday to Monday. We saw so much! Thursday night we went to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps at night. They were way less crowded then during the day and so beautiful all lit up!

Friday we went to some open air markets and saw the Pantheon and the basilica at the Vatican. That was very interesting, especially the stairs that are guarded so only the Pope can use them and the crypts where the popes are buried. While wondering around we got caught up in a protest. Apparently in Rome the government decided to cut school funding drastically, and that is what the protest was about. What baffles me is that the police are dressed in uniforms designed by Versace and the busses are Mercedes-Bens, but I didn’t get involved in the protest because Emily said that the last one involved pepper spray and tear gas. That night we bought a bottle of a special seasonal Italian wine and went to the Pyramid and the Coliseum! It was too late to go inside, but it was lit all gold and was just so magnificent!

Saturday, Emily and I took a train to Pisa! We climbed the tower and took the silly picture holding it up and did some of the museums. It was a fun day!

Sunday we went to an open air flea market. It was huge and I bought some Christmas presents! In the afternoon we back to the Coliseum and got to check out the inside! It was giant and magnificent! Emily was telling me that when they built it they put in metal reinforcement rods, but during one of the wars there was a shortage of materials to build weapons so they drilled into the stone and took the rods. That is why there are holes in it and that is why part of it crumbled with the earthquake. We crossed the street and went to Palatine Hill which is where the Emperors built their houses. It is just a bunch of ruins now, but you can just imagine how magnificent it was then all covered in marble. After that we went to the Triton Fountain and a gallery.

Monday I headed back to Prague, but before that we went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel! I have read and seen pictures about these places, but to actually be there and see them in real life is phenomenal! And as always over the course of the trip I had some delicious food. We made gnocchi with pesto and sausage, spinach lasagna with the tastiest sausage! We also eat pizza, paninis, Italian cookies and gelato! I loved Rome!

This weekend I am laying low in Prague, preparing for mom and Annmarie’s arrival! The Christmas market went up at my metro/tram stop and it is beautiful! It is so lovely to come home after a long day of classes and see the tree lit up and all the little vendors. I will put up a picture next time, but I want mom and Annmarie to see it in person first!

From evenings in Venice to Sunrise on the Charles Bridge

Ahoj!

So yet again I have neglected my blogging responsibilities! But at least now I have a lot to fill you in about. Since my last post my good friend Emily, who is studying in Rome, came to Prague. She only stayed for about twenty four hours, but it was really nice to see her! I made potato pancakes for her and my friends and we all had a good time.

Thursday October 23 my friends, Lucy and Sarah, got up early, took our Czech Midterm and then headed to Italy! Our Flight landed in Trieste at 11:40 and we immediately scavenged for food. Trieste was only recently became Italian territory. It was formally part of Austria and has a lot of Austrian influences such as there “buffets.” We found an amazing one that served all kinds of pig meat. We asked the waiter what he would recommend and we got delicious pork sandwiches with fresh horseradish and mustard in a great atmosphere! We only stayed in Trieste for a couple hours before we took the train to Venice. Venice was amazing! We bought a rolling Venice pass that let us ride the water buses and gave us discounts on museums. The first night we stayed in an inexpensive hotel and then in a fabulous hostel! The hostel was huge and gorgeous! Dinner and breakfast were included and it was amazing! The owners were young and a lot of fun and took anyone who wanted out. Venice was fabulous! We went to Murano, which is known for its production of glass. We went to the glass museum. It had pieces from the first century! It was fascinating! We also saw the St Marcos Church. I loved Venice because everywhere you looked that was fascinating works of architecture! I think that is what I like most about Europe. It has so much history and you can see it in everything around you.

Anyways our flight was scheduled to leave Trieste at 10:40am on Sunday. Unfortunately we were still in Venice on Sunday morning and had to wake up at 4:45 so we could take one water bus, a train, and two buses to make it to the airport just in time for us to get there and be told that there was fog in Prague and our flight had been canceled. Luckily Sky Europe had a bus ready to take us to a different airport to catch a different flight. So we hop on the bus and ride an hour and a half, to finally make it to… the Venice airport! Haha. By the time we got home we had spent twelve hours in transit. But all in all Italy was amazing and I cannot wait to go visit Emily in Rome!

Monday we did not have classes and after recovering from Italy we went out to the Beer Factory. The Beer Factory is a magical place with a tap at each table that keeps track of how much alcohol your table consumes. It then shows the consumption of you and every other table on a screen and it becomes a race to see who can drink the most. But on our way there we ran into three British boys looking for something fun to do, so they joined us, making is a force to be reckoned with. They were a lot of fun and very sweet. We ended the night with some dancing and paid for nothing.

We again did not have class Tuesday October 29th because it was the 90th anniversary of Czechoslovakia! They celebrated with a giant military parade. IT was a big deal because the last one occurred during the communist era and it looked as if all of Prague was there! Petr invited me to go with him and it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. They had representatives from the air force, the police, fire fighters, ground troops, you name it they were there. After they did their procession came the equipment. They had everything! Not just the standard fire trucks, but the tanks, armories, and my personal favorite the rescue boats pulled by cars with the men dressed in their scuba gear! It was extremely bizarre, but I am so glad I went!

Wednesday I had two classes and three finals. Blahhh.

Friday was Halloween and I helped the girls down the street (Winnie, Mairead, and Quinn) host a Halloween party! Quinn’s parents came and brought a ton of Halloween decorations and candy! It was amazing! Because they don’t celebrate here everyone had to come up with creative costumes from scratch. We found a second hand shop and I ended up going to the party wearing a fitted sheet full of balloons haha. But our party was a complete success! I didn’t know we even knew as many people as showed up! Then we all went to Radost FX for that Halloween party for many more hours of fun!

The SusQuehanna University London program was in Prague and I got to hang out with a bunch of SU friends during the day. Then that night a friend made dinner for our flat. He made a traditional Czech dish of cabbage and dumplings and then a bunch of us went out. At some point in the night everyone decided to stay out until daybreak and watch Sunrise on the Charles Bridge. It was quiet the adventure and then when we finally made it there, it was very foggy and so one minute it was night and the next it was light. But it was fun. We got to sleep for a couple hours and then one of the Czech buddies made us a traditional Czech lunch! The rest of the day was not very productive.

Monday it was back to class, but before Quinn’s parents left, they took us to dinner. Ten of us in all went to a cute little restaurant and had an amazing dinner! They were so generous and it was such a good time.

Now you are all up to date. If you don’t hear from me this is a brief summery of what will be ahead for me;
Vienna- November 7-9
Rome- November 13-17
Ann Marie and Mom- November 23-29
Berlin- December 5-7

Love you all! Keep in touch!

Mollywog <3