8:20 pm
Hey everyone! Took me a while on the Innsbruck update - no internet at our hostel there. What a week we've had so far! We left on Sunday for Innsbruck, but little did we know... it would take us 12 hours to get there. 4 trains, 1 bus, and 2 cabs. Yikes. Turns out there was a strike within one of the German or Czech train companies - we never did quite figure that one out. We were barely able to figure out there was a strike at all. When we got to the Prague train station and reached our platform, the sign did not say Munich. Not good. When we asked the nearest worker, all he could say was "Munich, no! Munich no!" Helpful. We found another lady who kindly showed us to our coach, but failed to mention that the train was not going to go all the way to Munich. Again, helpful. Naturally, there are no announcements or mention of the fact that our train would not go to Munich. Luckily, we sat next to this really nice Czech woman and her son, who now live in the US. She told us about the strike, and that they were planning to take us to the border of the Czech Republic where we were to get on a bus to another train station. A few hours on that train and 2 hours on the bus later, we are at a tiny train station in the German countryside. Oh wait, there's still a strike and no train to Munich. We had to get on another train for 30 minutes, get off that train and on another, and finally reach Munich. Except we still had a problem. We were trying to get to Innsbruck. We had missed our connecting train by 2 hours, so we hopped on another one that was luckily leaving soon after we got to the train station. 12 hours later, hello Innsbruck. After one long day and weeks of travels, Innsbruck was the perfect place for us to be! A littler smaller and slower paced, we were able to explore the city at our leisure. Getting to see the beautiful Alps, the ice blue river full of glacier water, and the quaint architecture of the city, we definitely loved being there! We also got to see a bunch of people from both USC and UGA that are studying in Innsbruck! It was so nice to be around some familiar faces for a change! Our time in Innsbruck was a much needed break from the big cities we had been used to. Now, we are back in the city, and glad to be here! We've been on a bike tour around the city and to see the concentration camp Dachau - what an amazing experience! We're headed to Hofbrau House soon, and tomorrow to Neuschwenstein, the famous castle outside the city! Will upload pictures when I have a sec! See all of you in 5 short days! Love ya'll!
Corinne
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Prague!
6:00 pm
So... it's safe to say that I'm never leaving Prague. Ever. Sorry, Mom and Dad. It is, I think, the most beautiful city I've ever been to! We have had such a great time! When we got to the airport, we saw what the Czech language looked like - absolutely nothing like any language we've ever seen. Encouraging, right? Luckily, we found a nice cab driver who got us to our hostel - which is quite possibly the nicest hostel in Europe. After we got settled in, we decided to just walk around the city and get a feel for our surroundings. We quickly realized that Czech people are much friendlier than other Europeans, especially the French. How refreshing - Abby and I have been complaing this entire time that no one in Europe has any manners - guess they weren't raised in Macon, Georgia, though. We have been too afraid to try the native food - when we asked the front desk guys at our hostel what it was, they said dumplings and goulash. That was enough for us - like we did in France, we decided to stick with American-ish and Italian restaurants. Can't go wrong with pizza. On Friday we had quite the eventful day. We successfully navigated ourselves through the Metro and over to Prague Castle. We went inside the Lobkowicz Museum first, which was really cool. Our tickets came with free audio tours, so we actually knew what we were looking at. It was really cool to learn about Czech history, since it's usually not included in our history classes at home. After that, we went farther into the castle grounds. As as we were standing outside St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, and a few other buildings. we hear a lot of commotion behind us. We turn around only to see Michelle Obama walking out to a car!!! Naturally, we sprint over to her, and naturally, my camera wouldn't turn on. But we saw her. We literally stood there for a solid 5 minutes saying, "I can't believe we just saw Michelle. I can't believe it." It was so so cool! After recovering from our celebrity sighting, we went into the beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace where we got the most insanely gorgeous view of the city and took a million pictures, inside the Basillica of St. George, and read about the Story of Prague Castle. After that, we stopped at a little cafe that was placed on the side of the hill where the castle sits and got to look out onto the beautiful view of the city while we relaxed for a little while! It was awesome! We walked over to Charles Bridge, which gave another beautiful view of the city from the river. This place is unreal. The bridge was packed with street performers, artists, and people like us. Charles Bridge is very close to the Jewish Cemetery, so we decided to visit that, as well. They had a Holocaust Museum, several synagogues, and the cemetery. It was really cool! On Saturday, we had a more relaxed day and went to the Old Town Square, which is a historical part of the city. We got to walk around there all day and have lunch. Behind that area is where all the nice shopping is, so we stopped over there for a bit too! We are so sad to be leaving tomorrow - Prague is such a cool city with so much character! We are excited to see Innsbruck and celebrate the 4th quietly with ourselves! I will post pictures soon! Happy July to everyone - see you soon! Love ya'll!
Corinne
So... it's safe to say that I'm never leaving Prague. Ever. Sorry, Mom and Dad. It is, I think, the most beautiful city I've ever been to! We have had such a great time! When we got to the airport, we saw what the Czech language looked like - absolutely nothing like any language we've ever seen. Encouraging, right? Luckily, we found a nice cab driver who got us to our hostel - which is quite possibly the nicest hostel in Europe. After we got settled in, we decided to just walk around the city and get a feel for our surroundings. We quickly realized that Czech people are much friendlier than other Europeans, especially the French. How refreshing - Abby and I have been complaing this entire time that no one in Europe has any manners - guess they weren't raised in Macon, Georgia, though. We have been too afraid to try the native food - when we asked the front desk guys at our hostel what it was, they said dumplings and goulash. That was enough for us - like we did in France, we decided to stick with American-ish and Italian restaurants. Can't go wrong with pizza. On Friday we had quite the eventful day. We successfully navigated ourselves through the Metro and over to Prague Castle. We went inside the Lobkowicz Museum first, which was really cool. Our tickets came with free audio tours, so we actually knew what we were looking at. It was really cool to learn about Czech history, since it's usually not included in our history classes at home. After that, we went farther into the castle grounds. As as we were standing outside St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, and a few other buildings. we hear a lot of commotion behind us. We turn around only to see Michelle Obama walking out to a car!!! Naturally, we sprint over to her, and naturally, my camera wouldn't turn on. But we saw her. We literally stood there for a solid 5 minutes saying, "I can't believe we just saw Michelle. I can't believe it." It was so so cool! After recovering from our celebrity sighting, we went into the beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace where we got the most insanely gorgeous view of the city and took a million pictures, inside the Basillica of St. George, and read about the Story of Prague Castle. After that, we stopped at a little cafe that was placed on the side of the hill where the castle sits and got to look out onto the beautiful view of the city while we relaxed for a little while! It was awesome! We walked over to Charles Bridge, which gave another beautiful view of the city from the river. This place is unreal. The bridge was packed with street performers, artists, and people like us. Charles Bridge is very close to the Jewish Cemetery, so we decided to visit that, as well. They had a Holocaust Museum, several synagogues, and the cemetery. It was really cool! On Saturday, we had a more relaxed day and went to the Old Town Square, which is a historical part of the city. We got to walk around there all day and have lunch. Behind that area is where all the nice shopping is, so we stopped over there for a bit too! We are so sad to be leaving tomorrow - Prague is such a cool city with so much character! We are excited to see Innsbruck and celebrate the 4th quietly with ourselves! I will post pictures soon! Happy July to everyone - see you soon! Love ya'll!
Corinne
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)