Venezia

Somehow I managed to haul my two 20 kg suitcases, laptop, and backpack full of food onto a train, a bus, and another train, before successfully making it to the hotel room in Quarto d’Altino, a town close to Venice.  Two hours later, in walked my dad, who just completed a 14-hour flight from Vancouver to Zurich, and then to Venice.  I haven’t seen my dad since August, so we had a lot to talk about.

This was my first hotel in a loooong time, and definitely wasn’t used to having such luxurious surroundings.  We stayed a wonderful, quiet villa called Hotel Villa Otino, in the countryside – and with a huge breakfast buffet, which always scores bonus points!    

Venezia.  Canals galore.  I didn’t realize just how different this city is from others.  The central method of public transportation is by water taxis, and while we were there we found no buses.  Canals intertwine throughout the entire city centre, and when there are no canals, it’s pedestrian streets, narrow, and very crowded!  Unfortunately, the water is really dirty as a result of the boats.  Also, it’s really difficult to find your way around the city.  Everywhere you looked, you could see at least one person holding a map and looking confused or lost.  We spent the first hour getting lost and somehow ending up in the outskirts of the city.

The main piazza, Piazza San Marco, is huge, and is surrounded by St. Mark’s basilica and Doge’s Palace.  From the top of the nearby bell tower, you have really nice views of the entire city.

It was hot and humid in Venice, but what’s a better cure for this than gelato? Gelato and pizzeria restaurants dominate the streets, and you can see just about one of every three people on the streets holding a gelato cone.  And it’s so delicious!  While I was in Venice, I also tried a local specialty: cuttlefish and squid ink spaghetti.  Slightly salty and tasting of fish (obviously), it was very different from my usual pasta with tomato sauce dinners. 

Overall, Venice was a nice and short visit, but it was too crowded for my liking.  I needed more breathing room, and thankfully, Florence and a tour of Tuscany gave me just that.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

If you have been keeping track of where I was spending my days last week, you will be able to understand why I’ve been constantly humming “Edelweiss” in my head.  Wilkommen to Salzburg, where you are constantly reminded of Fraulein Maria while exploring this beautiful city located within the Alps region of Austria.

Salzburg is a relatively small yet pretty town.  It was easy to walk throughout the city to see the main sites, and because I gave myself four days here, I was able to take my time and go at a slower pace, and take it all in. 

On the first couple of days, I spent a good portion of my time in the Old Town, across the river; it’s fun to wander the streets and also discover “hidden” passages and alleys.  The first thing I noticed about Old Town is a very popular chocolate that’s sold absolutely everything.  Literally, every second store sells this.  It’s the Mozartkugel, a chocolate ball with a marzipan filling. I’ve been lucky enough to have my fair share of Mozartkugel back in Sweden, and even eat Mozartkugel knodel dumpling filled with the chocolate ball), thanks to Martina.  I also discovered that Salzburg has its own Japadog: the Bosna.  It’s two pork sausages, grilled in a variety of spices, placed into a bun, and topped with raw onions.  It is a local street food specialty, but it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. 

I also took my time to see as many of the filming locations as possible from The Sound of Music.  First, I went to Mirabell Gardens, which is where “Do-Re-Mi” was filmed.  You may recognize the fountain that Maria and the kids walked around while singing in their matching curtain clothes.  The gardens are really nice, with a backdrop of the fortress that looms over the city.  The fortress gives good views of the entire city, and is also close to the abbey, where Maria lived at the beginning of the film. Residenz in Old Town, a large square.  Maria walked through here, splashing the water from the giant horse fountain while singing “I have confidence.” 

I took a day trip to Hallstatt, a lake village located in Salzerkammut.  This is a lake district a few hours from Salzburg, and is surrounded by the Austrian Alps.  The water was so clear and clean, and with the fabulous mountains looking over, It felt a bit like the Lofoten Islands in Norway (except there were a lot more Asian tourists!).  The village houses are really cool – wooden and rustic, and decorated with ornamental flowers.  Hallstatt is also the site of possible the world’s first salt mine.  I had a chance to relax with The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo (which is highly addictive, by the way, and my plans to save the reading for my train ride to Venice failed) by the water, visit the village, sample goulash wit knodel, and then a hike up the Alps!  I later found out that China has plans to make an exact replica of Hallstatt – kind of weird.

On my last day in Salzburg, I realized I missed one key The Sound of Music location: Hellbrunn Palace.  The gazebo where Liesl sang and danced “I am Sixteen” is located there (a replica for tourists, though).  I ended up walking to the palace that’s about 7 km away, and am so glad that I did, because I went through a nice walking/biking road, away from tourists, called Hellbrunner Allee.  I also passed by Frohnburg Palace, which was also a backdrop in the movie.  Hellbrunn Palace has a huge garden, fountains, and green grass; I had a nice siesta before heading back.  Once I was back in Old Town, I did some shopping for my train ride the following day, and bought some yummy pretzels.

Salzburg was really nice; it’s not as big as Prague or Munich, but it has a lot of charm and the people are friendly.  I managed to have a two-hour conversation with a very sweet lady on the train, while she only spoke German and I only English – somehow we managed to communicate!  Plus, how can you not love a place where the hills are always alive? 

Hop and Off

My Germany trip was short but memorable.  I decided to stick to the Bavaria region, in the south of Germany.  I stayed in Munich, and from there, went on a few day trips.  

I didn't realize Munich was such a tourist destination! When I arrived, I was pretty shocked at the number of people at the train station (Hauptbahnhof).  I'm pretty sure I heard more English than German, actually.  I felt a bit more relaxed walking around the city, compared to Prague, because though I'm nowhere close to being fluent in German, I think I can read some of the words more easily, thanks to my time in Sweden (the languages are similar). 

The day I arrived, I was pretty exhausted from the train ride, but I did take a short walk to the city centre, to Marienplatz.  "Platz" means a square (I think), and this is a large one with a famous glockenspiel.  It's also a big shopping street.

I was really hungry and was sick of eating crispbread and nutella, so found a currywurst stand.  Disappointing! It's not bad-tasting, but it's just a bratwurst doused in ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder.  However, the huge, sweet and salty pretzels here are amazing! 

The next day, I joined a tour group to Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany, and only one to last for the entire Nazi ruling.  I was both looking forward to and nervous about this tour.  It's difficult to summarize everything that I learned and saw during the tour, but so much of what was talked about and shown to us was incredible disturbing and horrifying. 

Dachau was opened in the old ammunitions factory (for WWI) in 1933, and was originally built for the purpose of "re-educating" political opposition prisoners.  Later on, it became the concentration camp that Dachau became famous for.  The reason why it so feared was because it was also the location for the training grounds of the SS guards, making them just a stone's throw away from the prisoners.  It's one thing to learn about this in books and watch movies about the Holocaust, but to walk in the footsteps of those victims, to stand in the barracks where hundreds were cramped, and to step into the gas chambers that killed so many of these people, it leaves a lasting impression.  

At the end of the day, a few of us from the tour (two Americans and an Aussie) were a bit worn down from the tour, but headed back to the city for some more sightseeing.  In the end, we ate dinner at the famous Hofbräuhaus beerhall.  I managed to down the infamous 1 litre mug that accompanied my pork knuckle and dumplings (though I have to admit it was a Radler).  We ended the night at a beer garden in the English Gardens.  

Yesterday, my last day in Germany, I took a 2-hour train to Füssen, where I met with Sonja and Marisa, who drove down from Stuttgart.  I haven't seen them since they left Sweden in January, so we had lots to catch up on and talk about.  We also took a tour of the popular Neuschwanstein Castle.  It served as a model for Disney castles. Like a fairytale!  Even better, this region of Germany is surrounded by the Alps, and is absolutely beautiful.

After a walk around the nearby lake, we finished our day with fika :)  Delicious kirschstrudel (cherry strudel) with vanilla sauce and ice cream.

After this very short tour in Bavaria, I arrived in Salzburg today.  I'm currently watching The Sound of Music in my hostel, and have already visited the location of the scene for "Do-Re-Mi."  A few days here, and then off to meet my dad in Italia!   

City of a hundred spires

The second half of my adventure in Prague was great.  On Monday, Sarka brought me back to the city centre for some more sights: Wencelas Square, which is more of a long street than a square.  It spans a long distance, is where lots of tourists and expensive shops are located.  The famous St. Wenceslas statue, with the patron on his horse, is found here (also found on the Czech coins).

We went to Letna Park, a favourite among locals for once again great views of the city.  It's nice to find some peace and quiet, away from the bustling city centre.  The rest of the day was spent in the Old New Synagogue (Jewish Quarters).  We learned about the history and culture of Jews, and probably the aspect that hit us the hardest was when we found ourselves in a section dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust.  In this building, the walls were covered with the names, birth and death dates, and place of birth of every Czech victim.  It's one thing to hear that 80,000 people were killed, but to read the names and details of every single person was horrifying.

The next day, I visited Český Krumlov, a lovely town about 3 hrs south of Prague.  It's medieval and has a cool castle that towers over the rest of the town.  There's a river where people row boats and rafts, a bit like Valborg, actually!  It's a nice place to spend the day and walk around, enjoy the surroundings and visit cute shops.  

Yesterday, Ivan took a turn to bring me around.  This time we went to a quiet garden that belongs to the Czech Senate, and along with water fountains, Japanese coy fish, random peacocks running around, there was a creepy dripstone wall, that if you look at it from a distance, resembles grotesque people and animals.   I also saw the Lennon Wall (not Lenin, but Lennon!), a graffiti wall dedicated to John Lennon and freedom (from communism).  Cool to see layers and layers of paint and art on this historical wall.  

The tv tower, otherwise known as the crawling baby tower, is pretty awesome.  There are giant, naked babies on all sides of the tower. Random!  Ivan also showed me a vineyard a little bit outside of the city centre - yet another beautiful view of this city of spires and orange rooftops!

I also tried a different dish, potato dumplings with pieces of pork back inside, with sauerkraut on the side.  It reminded me of Swedish pitepalt, though I'm sure the Swedes would have lingonberry sauce instead of sauerkraut.

My week here was perfect.  Though I found myself no longer in the safety net that Sweden pampered me with for 10 months, and in a world with not very friendly drivers, rugged and dirtier streets, and a language I couldn't even pretend to understand or speak, I couldn't have asked for a better start to my Eurotrip than this.  Everyone here has been so generous to me.  A wonderful time spent with friends, locals, and of course, good food :)

First days in Prague

Ahoj from Prague!  Two hours by plane, and here I am, in Central Europe, in the capital city of the Czech Republic.  

I arrived in the late evening last Thursday. Unfortunately, this was the day where there was a large protest happening throughout the city, shutting down all public transportation.  Luckily for me, Sarka and her mom picked me straight up from the airport and brought me to their home, where I'm staying for this leg of the trip.  

On my first day in Prague, with the sun shining brightly, Sarka, brought me to the Prague Castle and cathedral, located close to the city centre.  The cathedral is beautiful, with some pretty mosaics inside.  We stumbled upon the changing of the guards (dressed in baby blue suits) and then worked our way up Petrin Hill to the Lookout Tower (the Eiffel Tower of Prague).  Upon climbing 299 stairs to the top of the tower, we had great views of the whole city, and wow, Prague is beautiful!  You can see everything - all the houses with orange roofs, the castle and cathedral, Sarka's place, even the Swedish embassy!  After this, we made our way to the city centre, amidst the  hoards of crowds of tourists (though she assured me that these crowds are nothing compared to what it's like in July and August) to meet up with Ivan.  

With two experts on hand, I saw more of the Old Town (including the famous astronomical clock), walked across Charles Bridge (so many tourists!!), and then Ivan brought us to some of his "secret" places nearby, away from the crowds of foreigners.  We went to Střelecký ostrov, a little island with a teeny tiny beach, as well as Vyšehrad,  a castle and park on a hill, overlooking the Vltava River.  It is also home to a cemetery, for the most famous Czech people in history.  In the park, we read through a series of signs and billboards honouring a British man named Nicholas Winton, a non-famous hero for the country.  He was like Schindler, and was responsible for saving hundreds of Jewish children in Czech during the Holocaust, sending them on trains to the U.K.  

On my second day, we went on a day trip to Karlštejn Castle, one of the most famous castles in the country.  The best part was reuniting with Nadia and another friend from Uppsala, Anushka.  It's a nice way to ease myself into the transition from exchange abroad to normal life, by meeting with so many SLU friends in one city!  A large group of us ended up going through the castle tour.  The castle is pretty cool and was built in the 14th century by King Charles the 4th.  It houses the crown jewels as well, so it's a pretty important castle.  

After the tour, we were starving (and it started to rain) so we had lunch at a nearby pub. Though Sarka and Nadia have already fed me some delicious goulash and dumplings in Sweden, it was my first taste of Czech food in the actual country.  Of course I had to have a Pilsner, the most famous beer in the country, and for lunch everyone told me to have the most traditional dish, Svíčková na smetaně: tender beef sirloin, covered in a healthy amount of gravy, with fluffy bread dumplings and cranberry sauce with cream and lemon.  The best part of all was the price.  Coming from Norway and Sweden, to Czech, you really notice a difference in prices.  Beer is even cheaper than water over here!  

Embarrassing event of the day: I thought that I was saying "thank you" when in fact I was actually saying "how are you?" in Czech.  It wasn't until lunch when the group started laughing and Sarka said, "You don't need to say that so often" that we all realized my misunderstanding..oops.

After this, they wanted to bring me to "America." I was initially very confused because I didn't understand how I could visit the States while in Central Europe, but ok...it turns out that there's a walk in this region that leads to three mini Grand Canyons, hence the name.  There's "Little America," "Mexico," and "America."  Mexico was interesting because it's a huge mine quarry where political prisoners were originally sent between 1949 and 1953.  Also, there were tons of poppy fields throughout our walk!

But the best part was our walk back to Karlštejn.  It was raining all day, and we were covered from head to toe in mud.  We didn't want to go back the same way so we ended up walking 6 km back to the village.  It was fun though, because along the way the roads were lined with cherry trees.  Nadia told me that the king ordered that the trees be planted along the roads so that soldiers returning home would have something to eat along the way (and so did we!).  Because of our mini trek, I had a chance to pass through some villages in the countryside.  

Today I think we were all a little pooped so we hung around the house for most of the day. I took a short walk and wandered into the supermarket to see what I could find.  I've found that one of my favourite things to do in different countries is to visit the supermarkets, because that's where you can see the cool differences between cultures.  One things that I found was an interesting meatloaf that has pork, beef, chicken, egg, and spices.  

So far, so good. I've got another few days here before I head to Bavaria!  It's definitely a nice change to traveling, when I can visit with friends and take my time seeing the city.