Just when I thought these towns could get no smaller

On Friday I left Vienna for Bratislava, and as shocking as Vienna was after Cesky Krumlov, that's how Bratislava was after Vienna. Most people I've met while traveling have said "you're spending three days in Bratislava? Why?" But I have been really glad to kind of take it slow and enjoy the city after running everywhere in Vienna.

I got to Bratislava around noon, and trecked the two miles to the hostel from the train station. I'm staying just a few blocks from the castle, so I decided to check that out first. The view from the courtyard on the hill was fantastic:

The castle unfortunately burned down in the 19th century (after withstanding numerous invasions since it was built in the year 907, some Italian chefs were cooking for a feast and everyone got too drunk to realize the castle was burning down), so it is still undergoing some renovations, but mostly it is rebuilt. It now houses a museum, which includes a small gallery of portraits of Austro-Hungarian royalty (little did I know Bratislava used to be the royal capital of the empire!) as well as an exhibit on the history of time keeping. We're talking everything from sundials to atomic clocks to different kinds of calendars. It was a little random, but I'll take it. I did go to a museum of suns in Riga.

I had decided to join a walking tour that met in one of the major squares in the Old Town, so I headed there after leaving the castle. When I arrived at the square, I found a beer festival:

Bratislava competes with Oktoberfest. I don't think they're winning, but good luck to them. Also half liters of beer cost a euro here, so they're at least ahead of Munich on that front.

The walking tour was great! Since I knew almost nothing about Slovakian history, it was good to have someone show me around and talk through some of the important points. It was also interesting to hear about things like the Velvet Revolution here, after reading about them in Prague. A very different perspective, and that was cool. We also saw this statue:

They had to put that sign up because cars kept hitting him and knocking off his head. I think cars should mostly stay off the sidewalk, but I've noticed that Slovaks are exceptionally terrible drivers.

We also saw the Blue Church, one of the few sights that isn't in Bratislava's teeny Old Town (it used to be bigger, but the Soviets did some renovations). It's basically a powder blue church that looks like a marshmallow. Even the pews inside are blue:

For dinner I went with some people I met on the tour to a restaurant our guide suggested. It was enormous, and decorated kind of medivally:

I also took the guide's suggestion for Slovak food: potato dumplings with bacon and sheep cheese:

It was actually very good! And cost less than 5 euros.

The next day (yesterday) I went back into the Old Town to explore more, and go inside some of the things we had just seen the outside of on the tour. St. Martin's cathedral in particular was very cool- it's where the Kings and Queens were crowned for centuries. Unfortunately a service was either just starting or just ending so I didn't get to see too much, but I did peek around for a minute. Then I went to the city museum in the Town Hall, which was interesting, except for the random exhibit on Slovak sports from 1993 to the present. That was a little... much. I now know every Slovak athlete who has ever been banned for drug use. Then I went into the Primatial Palace, where there was supposedly an art gallery, but unless I missed something (and I don't think I did), there were, like, ten paintings. The state rooms were beautiful, though, and admission was free, so it was worth it. Then I was sitting in the Town Square, reading, when some young girls came up to me and started speaking Slovakian. I said I didn't understand, and one said "help us". Turns out they needed a bunch of people to hold hands and make a ring around the statue in the center of the square. We didn't have nearly enough people, so we made a pretty sad line. Oh well.

Today I decided to use a day of my rail pass and just see some of the mountains in the north and east. There were a couple stops I wanted to make, but I thought I'd just get on a train and figure it out. Of course I planned it completely as soon as I sat down, so it wasn't the spontaneous trip I had imagined, but it was fun all the same. I started in Trnava, a town about an hour north of Bratislava. It was filled with beautiful churche, narrow streets, and zero people (possibly because it is Sunday, but also it's just a pretty small town. I enjoyed walking around seeing the churches though- it was a very pretty town. And, since I felt weird pulling out my camera when I was probably the only tourist in the city, lots of phone pictures to put up here!

Here's the main square:

Some small streets:

The altar at St. John the Baptist's Cathedral:

St. Helen's Cathedral:

And a restaurant that I thought was silly:

From Trnava, I got back on the train and continued on to Zilina. I didn't know anything about Zilina... For some reason the name stayed in my mind, so I just got out there, with absolutely nothing in mind to do. I just headed to the center, and luckily it was so tiny that it didn't take long to figure out where to go. There were actually a lot of people milling around, even though the town is smaller and less famous than Trnava. I saw a handful of churches, but mostly enjoyed the buildings and the town itself, before hopping on the train again for one more stop. I was headed to Liptovsky Mikulas, which is really Central Slovakia, about four hours northwest of Bratislava, in the Tatra Mountains. I unfortunately didn't have very much time in the town, because the train was delayed and the last train of the night back to Bratislava was leaving pretty soon, but I did walk around a bit. The town was beautiful, just set among mountains and lakes, and the view out the window of the train on the way there was incredible:

 (Ignore the iPhone and Emily reflection)

Then I got on the train back to Bratislava. It was so crowded; when I got on the aisles were packed with people standing. I guess that's why people pay the few euros for a seat reservation: I only got one just now, about two hours into the trip... The next two should be much more comfortable. I'll be back in Bratislava around 10:30, and then it's straight to bed for me... I've been taking a little too much advantage of this knockoff Oktoberfest and I need to be well rested for Hungary tomorrow!!

A brief trip to the other side of the curtain

On Tuesday I left small town Bohemia for something completely different: Vienna. I finally pulled into the train station after a 5 hour trip (not including the mountain I had to walk up to get to the train station in Cesky Krumlov) and was thrilled to hear German. How nice, after so many weeks, to understand what was going on around me! Unfortunately, when I tried to speak to people, Swahili words like "sawa" and "nipe" kept sneaking into conversation, leaving the lovely Viennese population to scratch their heads and/or judge me severely. I found the hostel very close to the train station (but pretty far from the center, as I would find out walking the 2+ miles down there several times a day) and settled in. Then I met up with the Viennese friend of a good friend from high school, who had spent a few weeks in Vienna this summer. Ella had kindly agreed to show me around while I was there, so she and I walked around the city for a while. We went up to a bar on the roof of a hotel, so that was cool (but very expensive, coming from the Czech Republic!!) and then walked into and around the Museums Quarter. We came across the world's smallest game of American football:

The field was probably ten yards, and it was incredibly bizarre (more so than regular American football). Then the players bowed, and the people watching applauded and broke into song and started marching through the city. So I'm not quite sure what we stumbled into.

After spending the evening wandering around, we grabbed dinner from a street vendor in the form of a kasekrainer, essentially a Viennese sausage made with cheese inside, served with dark bread and ketchup and mustard. Then we walked along the canal for a bit, and headed back home.

The next day, I visited the Hofburg palaces. I went into the Albertina museum, where there was an enormous Matisse exhibit, which was cool, and one on violence against innocents, depicted mostly through children and cartoon characters, which was just terrifying and disturbing. The Albertina also has some great imperial apartments, though, so I walked through those for a bit. Then I essentially circled the complex, saw all the nice buildings from the outside, and went into the Augustinerkirche, which was very pretty:

but also has this inexplicable mural of a skeleton:

I walked through the courtyard, back toward the gardens in the palace, where I turned a lovely and becoming shade of red, and then walked back up through the city to meet Ella, spotting important buildings on my way, like the Town Hall and the University. Ella and I had planned to meet near St. Stephan's cathedral, and I got there a bit early (I guess Vienna isn't quite as big as I thought?) so I went in to see the cathedral. It is huge!

But unfortunately it was almost completely damaged during World War II, so has been mostly rebuilt since the 1950s. There is still a little bit of construction going on. Ella and I went to the Naschmarkt, a huge market with spices and cheese and all kinds of hard to resist things. There we had falafel (ok not really viennese food, but we got them from the market, and besides, I ate the sausage). Then we walked to Belvedere palace, passing the Karlskirche on the way, in the south of the city, and walked around in the sun for a while there too. We headed back to Stephansplatz for coffee, and then headed home.

The next day (my last in Vienna) I started at the Wien Museum, a museum about Vienna's history. The first exhibit I saw was really cool: about how street vendors and unofficially employed people in Vienna during the 17th and 18th century were portrayed, especially by the foreign media, as being kind of the heart and soul of Vienna, and they were idealized a bit. This was compared with the actual struggle of their lives. Then I moved on to the permanent exhibit: essentially Vienna from ancient times up to the modern day. It was very interesting: I don't know much about it. I also found this shop sign on display:

In the afternoon, Ella and I went to the Shoenbrunn, or the Sisi Palace, and we walked around there for a while.

All of Vienna was visible from the top of the hill, which was cool. Then we headed back toward the city center, and then home. 

Three sunny day and three beautiful towns

Time has started flying! Can't believe I'll be home in just 4 weeks!

The last three days I've been extremely busy enjoying beautiful weather and beautiful scenery in Bohemia. I've been to three different Czech towns outside of Prague, and it's been great to see a little more of the country!

On Saturday I took the train for Prague to Kutna Hora, a town about an hour away. It seems a pretty popular day trip for Prague dwellers and tourists alike, so I figured I'd check it out. The main train station is about 2 and a half mile outside the city center, but pretty close to one of the town's most famous sights, so I decided to start there.

This is the Ossuary, or Bone Church as it is more commonly known. I guess the story goes that a monk went crazy and decided to decorate the monastery with hundreds of human skeletons. That picture is of one of the pyramids of skulls he built, but he also hung some from the walls, and made a chandelier out of them too. It was a pretty creepy place, but weirdly cool, once you got away from the human skeletons as decoration thing, and just took it at face value. Not my idea of good interior design though...

After leaving the Bone Church, I headed toward the city center. It was completely dead: I hardly passed a single person on my way there (I guess the tourists usually take the bus too and from the Bone Church, but as usual I was happy to save  2 dollars and walk). Even in the town square, there were only a few people milling about: quite a shock after Prague! But I found myself near a wall overlooking a beautiful valley, with some small towns nestled in there, which I guess all those bus takers missed! Then I stumbled across the silver mine, which had been on my list of things to see. I went in and was told that the next tour left in 30 minutes, so I signed myself up and wandered a bit more, never straying too far for fear of getting lost and not making it back in time. When it got to be time to make my way back over I did, and found that there was only a Czech guide, but an English text for me to read along. It was hard to follow the text, since I couldn't tell where we were in the tour, or what we were looking at. Also, weirdly, there were only 3 other non-Czech speakers on the tour of 30 people, so I guess not too many foreign tourists do this. Strange, because it's one of the town's main sights. When we went down into the mine, though, there was an English guide who came with us and translated (so I don't know why he wasn't just there the whole time).

The mines were... Mines. Nothing too exciting to report there, but something fun to do for a while.

The last major thing on my list was St. Barbara's Cathedral, an enormous cathedral set up on a hill. It was beautiful, and the view from the top of the hill over the town was even more beautiful. I decided to head back toward the train station to catch the train back to Prague, but in no rush; I thought I would just meander through the narrow roads for a while and see the smaller churches and sights that I hadn't yet. It started to drizzle a little, but not too hard and not for too long, and I still count it as a sunny day after all the rain in Poland and Prague. Unfortunately, I arrived back at the train station 7 minutes after the train left, and there wasn't another one for two hours. So I decided to walk up a hill into the neighborhoods of the town. As it turns out, the extra time to stroll was worth the two hour wait.

I guess I've been in cities for so long that all this green scenery thrills me!

I eventually made it back to Prague around 8:30, packed up, and got ready to leave the next day.

I had been planning to spend two days in Cesky Krumlov, a town in the south of the Czech Republic, but when I looked at the train schedule I saw that I had to connect in Cesky Budejovice, another town that I've heard a lot of good things about, so I decided to get off and spend the day there before continuing on to arrive in the evening. When I got on the train, the conductor said something in Czech, and I just nodded along. Luckily the guy sitting across from me realized that I hadn't gotten any of it, and translated that we would need to change to a bus for a couple stops because of repairs on the train rails. So just like being in DC, except I didn't have to drive around in beltway traffic for hours and actually arrived right when we were supposed to. The town was small, but pretty, and the south of the country is so beautiful (I've heard that on a really clear day you can see the Alps, but I didn't see quite that far. Did get some good hill and lesser mountain views though!). It sits on a river, so I spent the better part of the day winding my way back and forth across it and soaking up the sunshine! Here are some mermaids:

The town also has an enormous town square. I've heard that it's one of Europe's biggest, and surrounded by picturesque houses and a tower:

There was some activity, but not too much, possibly because it was Sunday. Not wanting to arrive at the hostel in Cesky Krumlov too late (and knowing that the train station is situated somewhat far from the center) I took the train down there at 4:00. It was local train that stopped in all the tiniest villages (sometimes horses and cows and sheep were wandering right next to the train tracks), up and down valleys and hills.

When I got to Cesky Krumlov, my only real directions to get from the station to the hostel were "walk downhill". So down a hill I walked:

Those two towers there are the town center. The walk back up to the station was much worse! I found the hostel with only a little local help, and found that I was the only one staying there, which was very weird, especially after Prague where there were a ton of people staying there (mostly young drunk high schoolers en route to Oktoberfest). At least it was a pretty attic room.

Bored and lonely, I decided to go out and find dinner and something to do. I stumbled (literally... I fell and twisted my ankle terribly. Good news is that I can walk on it and the swelling seems to be going down, and it's now more of a light blue than a dark purple) into a small restaurant where I ordered goulash because Katie Radin told me to:

(This entire meal cost 5 dollars, beer and tip included).

There was a guy sitting at a table near me and as he was getting up he asked if I was a tourist. I said yes and invited him to sit. He's from Japan, also traveling alone so we talked while I finished eating and then headed out to do some exploring of the small town. We walked the length of the town twice, and then decided to look for a bar. We only found one that was open and had people inside. So really the opposite of Prague.

The next day I tried to sleep in but woke up at 7:30, so spent a sunny morning wandering through the cobblestone streets (hard on my ankle which at that point didn't fit into my sneaker!). 

I went up to the regional museum where I learned anything and everything about Southern Bohemia, including that there is an area that, after World War II, to avoid being incorporated into Czechoslovakia under an oppressive government, wrote to the United States asking to become a 51st state. I guess that didn't work out. I also went over to the castle. A lot of it was closed because it was Monday, but I did get to wander through huge palace gardens, and then cross the bridge over to the main palace building, and walk through the courtyards, whose outer walls were all painted with fake stones and statues, and a lot of colors! I did get to go into the museum, housed in just a few of the 300 rooms of the castle, and climb the tower. That turned out to be not really worth it... The view of the town is much prettier from the bridge and on the walk down from the train station. Leaving the castle, I wandered through the district called Latran, where a lot of shops are, and then I headed back. I ended up back at the same bar as the night before, because it was the only one that looked like it had any activity. Plus, I liked this poster:

Who let this German in here?

I arrived in Prague after a pretty uneventful night train (no chatty underdressed Russian men). I got in around 7 and started toward the hostel. Prague is the most confusing city I've seen since Moscow. None of the streets are straight and they are constantly running into buildings and towers, which makes it really hard to follow a map. Essentially I got terribly lost and only by an act of God did I manage to end up at the front door of the hostel. Found it, in any case and went upstairs. It was too early to check in, but the receptionist told me I could have some tea or coffee. I took that to mean I could have the free breakfast (I was starving and hadn't gotten to get any Czech Koruna yet). When I didn't think I could possibly lurk around anymore (but I would have loved to just curl up in the corner and go to sleep) I went outside, just as the rain started. My umbrella, unfortunately, was locked up in the storage room, so I braved the rain without it. The city is so beautiful! Even in the rain. Still, I wanted to find someplace dry, so I decided to go to the national museum. It was pretty small, because the main building is closed for renovation (is it just me, or have I run into a LOT of renovation problems on this trip? Does that happen to other people?). The main building is gorgeous, look:

(Can you tell it's pouring?)

Despite the museum being only two rooms, I learned more about the Hapsburgs than I ever cared to know. When I had looked at everything, I set back out into the rain.

I love these streets and squares with such colorful buildings!

Finally, it was late enough to check in. I got back to the hostel a completely different and unexpected way (I think the streets of Prague are like the Hogwarts staircases: they lead somewhere different every time I go anywhere) but got back nonetheless. I checked in and collapsed into bed, where I took an hour nap. I was woken up by a German pirate. Seriously, this old German guy walked in and told me that he is directing a movie for a film festival. I was still in bed so I rolled over to groggily tell him that was great, and saw that he was wearing one of those pirate hats and a floor length cape, and carrying a cane. I wanted to ask if he was in the movie, but I thought that might be rude, so I let it go.

Unable to sleep after that for fear of terrible nightmares, I got up and went toward the Jewish Quarter, umbrella in hand (so I apologize for any crooked pictures, I was taking them while holding an umbrella). I saw a whole slew of beautiful synagogues:

The Jerusalem Synagogue, which houses a museum of Jews in Czechoslovakia after the Second World War.

Pinkas Synagogue, with a memorial to those who died in the Terezin concentration camp. There were a few rooms whose walls were absolutely covered with names and dates - I couldn't believe how many. Upstairs there was an exhibit of artwork done by children in the camp... They were very sad to see, especially as most of them had names and dates on them, along with the date that the child (in most cases no older than 10) died. Another interesting exhibit: artwork by children today who have been asked to express how they felt after learning about Terezin and the Holocaust.

Altar in Klausen Synagogue where there was a museum of Jewish holidays and culture. I didn't get to spend much time here, because I arrived just before they closed.

Then I just walked around the city for a while, feeling much happier under the umbrella. The rain let up in the evening, too, so I went to a bar with two Scottish guests and another American who I happened to meet in the hostel, where we drank beer that was literally cheaper than water, and delicious.

The next day I explored Old Town in the morning. It was pretty sunny for a while, so I decided to go up the clock tower. Lack of planning didn't fail me, and I got there just as it was about to chime, so I decided to stay and watch. A skeleton pulled the chain which, apparently, rang the bell. The face of the clock is cool too: it has a couple faces and hands that may mean something to astronomers but not to me.

(The skeleton is the figure on the right side)

The view from the tower was amazing! Unfortunately all those photos are on my camera, so you'll just have to wait. The roofs of Prague just spread so far, and they are dotted with towers and cathedrals and synagogues.

Then I decided to cross Charles Bridge and go over to see the Prague Castle. Unfortunately, the rain started halfway across.

See all the umbrellas? At least it made most people go home so it wasn't as crowded as I've head it can get. And still a pretty view across the river. Once on the other side, I wandered for a while. I found the graffiti-ed memorial to John Lennon:

It's a somewhat long wall, on which there is not an inch not covered in many layers of graffiti, all about peace and John Lennon.

I wandered into this church to get out of the rain for a minute, but a nun scowled at me, so I got out of there quick.

The walk up to the castle was intense! It stopped raining almost as soon as I started up the steep hill and the sun came out just in time to make me terribly hot in my rain jacket and sweatshirt. Still, the view from the top was definitely worth it, and the road itself was lovely; just shops and restaurants along a narrow cobblestone street.

Finally arriving at the castle, I saw almost everything, and there is a lot to see! I went first into the royal palace, where there was just a giant hall, and a few chambers on display. Then I went to an exhibit on the history of the castle. It was very interesting, but it was extremely long and I felt in dire need of coffee after that. Coolest was the walk along the old houses. One of them was lived in for a whole by Franz Kafka, which explains this terrifying Kafka statue in the city center:

Along this row of houses was an exhibit on armor and shields as well as torture instruments. Here is one of my favorite shields:

I continued on to see St. Vitus' cathedral, which was massive and beautiful. The sunlight coming through the stained glass made for really cool light on the columns inside:

I had only the picture gallery left to see, but I wasn't really sure how long it would take, and it was getting near closing, and my ticket was good the next day too, so I decided to save that one and come back. As I was on my way back across the river, the sun even came out!

Crazy German guy woke everyone up at three in the morning coming in and announcing to the room that he needed to turn on the light. Then again at five packing and unpacking a bunch of boxes. Then again at seven talking to himself in German and saying nothing in particular. Possibly he was practicing his lines.

Back at the castle, I saw the changing of the guard, and then went into the picture gallery. It wasn't as big as I thought it might be, and only took about 45 minutes, so I had most of the afternoon afterwards (a lot of the morning had gone into finding a laundromat, and into an internal conflict about whether to buy a pair of gloves). I did some more exploring on both sides of the river, ate a delicious cylinder of fried bread coated in sugar, and picked up my laundry. On the way back, I came across a sculpture garden that is to raise money for victims of a flood (I guess there was a flood in June). I found what is probably the most frightening piece of art ever created (including that Kafka statue):

And someone please tell me how this is an acceptable restaurant advertisement:

Then I went to the museum of communism. It's advertised as being "above the McDonald's and next to the casino" so I really don't know how the communists would have felt about that. Still, it was very, very well done: the exhibits were all interesting and informative, and the flow of the museum was easy to follow (I hate when I don't know which way I am supposed to turn!). Plus, there was this:

Anyway, I learned a lot about Czechoslovakia and Czech independence, which I knew literally nothing about, so it was worth my time! I spent the night sampling Czech beers at a beer factory and chatting with some New Yorkers I met. Then I wandered back to the hostel (and found it almost without getting lost!).

The German has put a collection of hats on top of the row of lockers. There is also a fake skull up there, which I can only assume is his.

Overall, Prague has been pretty, and I've had a lot of fun here. I'm not quite ready to move on, but I'm excited to spend the next few days exploring other parts of Czech Republic, and see what else the country has going on!

And not exactly my story, but still worth sharing so no one has any doubts about this German, apparently the day before I got here he came into the common room and offered to share his porn. When no one took him up on that, he put it on, just for him. And everyone else who is part of this film festival is staying at the hotel where it is actually taking place. He refused to pay for a room there, and that's how he ended up with us. Good night.