Arriving in big city Prague after five nights in a quaint little city was a bit of a shock (in a good way though). By this time in my trip, I felt pretty comfortable dealing with the first day challenges of getting to know a new city. The weather was great and I had a map and a good guidebook, so I felt set. My hostel was in New Town and was so nice and modern. With 24 hour reception, laundry service, full restaurant and bar downstairs, internet cafe, comfortable beds with fluffy white duvets it felt just like a nice hotel.

Prague is a great city with a lot to see. Walking down the street in Old Town, it seems that everywhere you look, you see a beautiful building. In terms of the layout of the city, it reminded me of Budapest in that the city is divided by a river and several bridges run across connecting the two sides. The far side is quite hilly and is the castle district which when you are up there, you get a great view of Old and New Town.

During the peak summer months, there are an incredible amount of tourists visiting Prague. It is believed that the ratio of tourists to locals is close to 9 to 1. Wow! The good thing though is that the big tourist groups really just stuck to the main streets and the main attractions, and so by veering off even just a little bit took you to much calmer streets where you actually could walk on the sidewalk and hear yourself think.

I really enjoyed riding the tram in this city. One of the trams right outside the hostel would go right across town, over a bridge and up to the castle district (which was about a 30 minute ride). So I started off the first few days by hopping on and hopping off whenever I saw something along the way that I wanted to see. Kind of like my own tour bus. It was perfect. The metro was really efficient too, I just found that above ground transportation was more fun because it allowed you to see the city, and it was not like I was in any rush to get from place to place, so it worked out well.

The Czech language has a really sweet intonation. Again, Russian came in really handy for me. I was able to read signs and understand bits of people’s conversations (which is always fun). There were a lot of Russian tourists as well and I managed to help a group of older women buy metro tickets at the station. I think they were a little confused when an Indian girl in Czech Republic spoke Russian to them…!

I found that when you go to a cafe in Prague (and similarly in Vienna) it is totally normal to order a coffee and drink it but still be able to hang out for a long time after reading or simply just enjoying the atmosphere. You are not made to feel uncomfortable or obliged to keep on ordering anything. I went to a great cafe that made fresh desserts in house and had a list of dozens of fresh teas and gourmet coffees. It was such a nice place to hang out that I probably spent 3 hours there not even realising the time was passing.

There is a good amount of international cuisine as well. I tried a Mexican restaurant which was recommended by a friend and it was so delicious! I also went to a vegetarian restaurant that I had read about that serves fresh juices and organic meals. In a country that has such a heavy emphasis on meat, it is impressive that a vegetarian restaurant has been established and is committed to fresh organic foods. Hats off to them.

One day I took the tram to the base of the castle district and walked up the stairs that wind their way up to the top. There are a lot of stairs, but it is so worth it because at every landing interval, you can stop to appreciate the view develop. Prague is so picturesque! At one part near the top there is an open area where a lot of young guys come to skateboard. How cool is it that they get to hang out in the castle district with their friends practicing skateboarding tricks with a million dollar view of a beautiful city…

In every city that I visited, the first thing I did was get a map. When you unfold the map on day one, you start from scratch trying to get your bearings, and familiarizing yourself with the street names that are often hard to pronounce. More than likely you get lost on day one. Prague was especially confusing because all the streets curve and veer off. Trying to take a short cut usually meant taking a long cut or landed you full circle back where you started. Day two is usually more fun, although you still have to use your map a lot. Day three I find is the best where you feel a lot more comfortable getting around. By day four your map is most definitely ripping which is ok because you don’t really need it anymore, as you can walk around with a pretty good understanding of the city. I tried to spend at least four nights in every city because of this. I wanted to be able to feel like I actually got to know the city before I packed up and moved on to the next.

Next stop – London, and then onwards home!

LINK TO PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146105&l=99ff7&id=748975520

Cesky Krumlov was claimed in 1992 as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the city has since been completely restored. It is known for its castle and historic old town. For me, the unique part of this place was that it is built around the banks of the Vltava River which meanders through the town. Lots of little restaurants and cafes are right on the river bank and you can even rent inner tubes and float down the river… The cobblestone streets lead you to intimate cafes, and mysterious taverns that serve good hearty food. Most restaurants had big meaty dishes, but there was one vegetarian restaurant that kind of had an Indian flair to its dishes. I managed to find delicious dahl and masala chai there!

In the summer months Krumlov is totally overrun with tourists (lots of Japanese ones too) and it seemed like every single building that was not a restaurant was a hotel, apartment or hostel for rent. For the 5 nights that I was there, the whole city was completly booked up. The hostel that I stayed at was recommended by my cousin Emily, as she is good friends with the owner – and what a great recommendation!! The hostel only houses 26 people, and so it was really intimate and felt just like home. They had a full kitchen where people were always cooking meals, as well as a piano, guitars, book exchange, and a collection of good Czech films (with English subtitles).

I met a woman there from New York who had come specifically to Krumlov to do some research on Egon Schiele, a Viennese painter (1890-1918), who lived briefly in Krumlov in 1911. She is planning to write a play on his life, and Krumlov has a gallery with some of his artwork. A lot of Schiele’s artwork is at the Leopold museum in Vienna, that I unfortunately did not get a chance to see.

I am really glad that I had 5 nights there. For the first few the weather was really rainy and cold, which made it harder to be out and about to explore the town, but easier to duck into cafes and restaurants and share adventure stories with fellow travellers. A lot of people I met were doing similar if not longer trips than my two month trip. It turned out that we all had very similar itineraries. I did not manage to get to Poland, but I heard that Krakow is a wonderful city to visit.

For the last two days that I was there, the weather went back to being sunny and gorgeous. I did some great little hikes which was really refreshing. I am now in Prague, the capital city of this country and am enjoying the bustle of the big city all over again…

Can’t believe that in less than a week I will be back home in Vancouver!!  

LINK TO PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=144418&l=07646&id=748975520

Budapest actually reminded in some ways of St. Petersburg, Russia in terms of the city vibe and the way it functions especially the metro with the super long and fast escalators. You see a lot of older people here too.

People were quite friendly – everytime we took out a map, someone or the other would stop to see if we needed any help. A lot of people speak English. I was not able to make sense of much Hungarian. A funny thing was that saying hello sounds something like saying SEE YA!

We ate some good food here in neat restaurants on side streets. Chicken paprika, Hungarian dumplings, beef stew, and lots of cool cucumber salads… There is a lot of International cuisine available too. We had a delicious Middle Eastern meal one night. One of the main streets called Andrassy is modeled after the Champs Elysees in Paris and has a lot of the high-end designer shops. Walking all the way down this street takes you to the Heroes Square and the City Park.

We spent the day on Saturday at the Szechenyi thermal baths. What a great experience! The baths are located in the middle of the City Park and are said to be one of the largest in Europe. The underground thermal springs serve over a dozen pools, some outdoors and some indoors. The water is thought to be medicinal as it contains calcium, magnesium, sodium sulphate, and fluoride. It has a slight sulphuric smell too. It was a rainy and windy day here in Budapest, so sitting outdoors in 38 degree water felt amazing. They had lots of saunas and steam baths as well.

Khang left today back to Vancouver, and now I have 16 days ahead of me before I too return home. I was hoping to go to Krakow, Poland, but after waiting in line for over an hour at the train station this morning, they said the train is fully booked. So I am heading back to Vienna as my next scheduled stop is Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic. I have three nights to figure out where to go and what to do….!

LINK TO SOME PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141355&l=1f38e&id=748975520

Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is a pretty small city with a population of about 425,000. Most of the sights are concentrated in Old Town, which is where our hostel was. There are a lot of restaurants and cafes in the centre where it is pedestrian only, so it is nice to walk around. Novy Most is the new bridge that crosses the Danube and has a UFO like restaurant at the top of a viewing tower.

We took the bus over the bridge to venture into new town which had many Soviet building blocks, and ended up at this big mall complex called Au Park which had just about everything including movie theatre, gym, shopping, outdoor park, rock climbing…

Two nights in Bratislava seemed more than enough. It is more of a stopping place between cities. Good for couples to enjoy evenings of dining and strolls through the streets. It some ways it reminded us of being in the village in Whistler at home in BC…

LINK TO SOME PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140332&l=b06a6&id=748975520

Khang arrived on Friday night for a 9 day visit. It feels almost surreal to have a friend from home here after having been on my own for the past month. We have had a full last few days, trying to make the most everything. We of course found a local Vietnamese restaurant and had Pho! Over the weekend, we went to watch Die Fledermaus (an opera) which was really entertaining. We also made it to a concert with an ensemble of Strauss, Mozart, and Beethoven. Hearing classic tunes live, really made me  appreciate the talent behind the music. I love hearing the violin carry the melody in an orchestra.

Yesterday we were invited to a lake house for a swim. It was a great way to spend Sunday as in the city it was really hot, and as well, most stores/restaurants/museums are closed. The lake used to be an open-pit coal mine in the early 1900s. The water was cool and was a great change from the salty sea water. We went for a long swim, and then a paddle sitting on a surf board. Had lunch together and chatted…

 Off to Bratislava, Slovakia in the next few days!

Yesterday, was able to get myself to Paris Orly airport and checked in without any troubles. The flight was an hour delayed though which meant I was to arrive in Vienna at 11:30pm and cutting it pretty close to the last City Airport Train (CAT) leaving for the city. To have to take a taxi in would have been really expensive. Although it was quite an adventure, I actually got from door to door relatively painlessly.  I definitely had luck on my side:

- After landing at the airport, my luggage came out right away!
- I barely made the last CAT train at 12:05am. Being in Berlin made me feel comfortable with the system of buying tickets and such which really helped save time.
- While on the CAT, a French man who lives in Vienna now then helped me figure out the next step of which direction to go on the UBahn (metro) using a map I found and together we ran down several escalators and down long hallways to get to the U3 line and caught the last train for the night
- In my Eastern Europe guidebook, they happen to include Vienna, calling it a gateway city to the East, and included a map. The place where I am staying is on a street that is apparently a main one and so was on the map.
- As soon as I got out of the metro station, I literally had to walk a few metres to find the right street
- I rang the buzzer of the building to wake up John who I am staying with… but no answer
- Even though it is near 1:00am now, the street is still lively with people talking and drinking. I ask to use the phone at a wine bar across John’s apartment and a woman offers her “handy” (cell/mobile phone).
- I wake up John and he buzzes me up and tells me which stairs to climb and which hallway to go down
- I get a bit mixed up as I can´t see anything – am afraid to turn the lights on as they are located close to the doorbell of people´s apartments and it is not obvious which is which. Don’t want to rudely awaken anyone at this hour
- I end up in the garbage room… But then finally find a light, and see the elevator I am looking for
- And voila… I am home in Vienna.

John lives in the 7th district near the Museum Quartier. On the main street near his house there are all the ammenities I would need: bank, grocery, pharmacy, bookstore, bakery…. and three H&M stores. I am not a big H&M fan anymore as on this trip, I have seen three people wearing the same dress I have and a couple with the same shirt. Doesn’t feel quite right somehow…

It is extremely hot here. I am off to find something to eat. Rumbling tummy!

When walking around today, I saw a postal carrier with his buggy of mail about to cross the street at a pedestrian crossing. An oncoming car started honking as if to say me first. But the postal carried insisted that he was going to cross. And the car insisted she was going to go for it. So inevitably, the car hit the postal carrier’s buggy and Bam! This was followed by the postal carrier marching up to the car, opening the door, yelling “C’est quoi ca??” And the shouting went on and on…

There are a LOT of tourists here. I walked passed two guys from New York that looked totally lost and were holding “the Idiots guide to backpacking in Europe” trying to figure out where they were. There really must be a more discreet way to travel. I have tried to blend in as much as possible and avoided carrying my knapsack as that is usually a giveaway.

When sitting down for a coffee or something to eat, I have been pretty picky about where to go because there are a lot of cafes that are totally taken over by tourists, and the ambience is just not the same when there are more foreign languages being spoken than French. So even if it takes me longer and I have to go further, I have been trying to pick out interesting eating places. There are many crepe kiosks that whip out the favourite Nutella crepe, but I managed to find a great little Creperie that makes them with buckwheat (which is more traditional) and served with lemon and a bit of sugar. They are sooooo good. The smell alone is worth it. The servers in most restaurants are men in their 40s. So where do all the young people work?

I made it to the Auguste Rodin museum with Kathy and her sister who is visiting from the US. It was a great museum with lots of beautiful marble and copper sculptures. The museum also paid tribute to the work of Camille Claudel and recognized the impact she had on Rodin. The museum also has this perfectly manicured garden with evergreen shrubs trimmed to a sharp point. We enjoyed the fresh outdoor space.

On my own I also visited the Picasso museum and realised that Pablo Picasso and I share the same birthdate: October 25th (except he was born in 1881). Although born in Spain, Picasso spent most of his life in France and so upon his death, France inherited many pieces of his artwork.

So here is my question: where are the Rodins, Picassos, Van Goghs etc… of today? What blows me away the most when walking through museums is to think about the time one individual spent must have spent to create each piece.

On Sunday, the Tour de France finished their 22 day race which started in Brest and finished in Paris on the Champs Elysees. This year was the 95th race. Everyone was lined up along the street waiting in anticipation for the cyclists to zoom by. People brought step-stools, kids were sitting on the shoulders of their parents and some even climbed up trees to get a better view. Around 5:15pm, the winner – Carlos Sastre from Spain – crossed the finish line. It was great to be a part of the hype as the race is a big deal here in France.

A lot of shops close for the summer here in Paris. Many have little hand written signs posted on their store-fronts noting the closure and the date that they re-open. There are a lot of little Pharmacies that sell regular drugs as well as a lot of homeopathic remedies. And these homeopathic products are often a lot cheaper than at home in Canada. Now there’s a first!

It has been so nice to have a view of the Eiffel Tower from Kathy’s apartment. Because if you go to see it on the street, there are just swarms of tourists, and you don’t really get to relax and spend your time. Here, I can be reading on the couch and all I have to do it look out the window, and there it is. Until the end of December, the Eiffel Tower is light up in blue lights at night to symbolise France’s presidency of the European Union (it changes every 6 months). They also do a 15 minute sparkly light display which is really pretty.

There are very few internet cafes in this city. But they do have a great bike rental system called Velib. You sign up for an account and provide a deposit of 150 euro or so, and then there are many stations (usually near Metro stops) where you can punch in your info at a little kiosk and unlock a bike to travel to your desitination. If your travel time is less than half an hour, you travel for free. It seems like a very efficient system. It has become quite popular that they have added more stations and more bikes and improved the repair system for damaged bikes. You often see business men in suits riding the Velib.

So now I am repacking my backpack and going to take the bus out to Paris Olry airport for my 2.5 hour flight to Vienna.

Salut!

MORE PHOTOS:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136612&l=b0f20&id=748975520

I already feel the difference from Berlin. Paris is much busier. In comparison, Berlin seemed so organized and had an easy flow. Here I feel like I am part of a big mass of flowing people that I almost have to push my way through. Things are also double as expensive. I have been able to comfortably use my French. I feel lucky to not only fluently speak the universal language of English but also French which allows me to have the ability to get by in lots of places. It was greqt that even my Russian has come in handy this trip. It even helped a bit in Berlin. German is quite a different language though. I feel much more at ease here as I can understand signs, menus, people… And so far no one has switched to speaking English after I start speaking French even though they know I am not a native speaker. I am glad about that. The letters on French keyboards are even more mixed up than the German ones I finally got used to. This is what it looks like if I type this same exact sentence. This is zhqt it looks like if I type this exqct sq,e sentence: And you have to press SHIFT in order to type numbers as otherwise you get all the accents ù锑(-è_çà

I bought some bread, yogurt, cheese, eggs for breakfast tomorrow and hope to do some cooking as it has been a while since I had/made a home cooked meal. Kathy’s apartment is really lovely. Bright and airy, on the 5th floor with a view of the Eiffel Tower. At night I will watch as it lights up…

I think I am ready for a crèpe now!

Since my decision to come here was last minute, I had a hard time finding accommodation as it turns out that it is Fashion Week in Berlin and so a very busy time of year to visit. When I arrived, the apartment I had booked ended up not being free, so the owner of the rental apartment (he manages a few properties) offered that given the misunderstanding, I could just rent the guest room in his place.

I am so glad the mix up happened, because his place is gorgeous! Really spacious, modern, and cool. It is in a good area and close to transit. And half the price as the apartment I was going to rent. Perfect.

Today being Sunday, it seems like EVERYTHING is closed. Well not everything, but most things. Some restaurants and most tourist shops are open. It is cool and a bit rainy here, and I did not bring anything long sleeved and only have open toe shoes. I need to get a jacket or something warm. I was in the middle of town walking by Zara, H&M, Mango, Esprit… but it was all closed. So I was forced to buy a cheap, uggly hoody from a souvenir shop. Too bad…

There are lots of bike-riders, and the streets are really bike friendly with extra wide paths. The pedestrian walk and stop signs are quite funny looking men with hats. Public transportation is yellow. Yellow buses, trains, and a lot of the underground stations are tiled in yellow. Cabs are all cream coloured Mercedes. It is quite a green city too. Perhaps it was just because it was Sunday, but the city seems quite open and not so crowded.

I had dinner at a great chic Vietnamese restaurant called Monsieur Vuong. I was just happy I found something open! The asian flavour was really nice after mostly eating Italian food in Croatia. When I went to pay, the server said that unfortunately my credit card did not go through. I was concerned, but then realised I had given her my drivers licence!

Berlin is aparently considered to be an un-German city of sorts as it seems like anything goes. It is not rigid, people seem really diverse (1 in 7.5 are immigrants according to Lonely Planet). It has a lively gay and lesbian population. Out of the 3.4 million residents, 500,000 are gay (again according to Lonely Planet). There are a lot of interesting buildings. And also  lots of graffiti everywhere. I hope to do a more organized walk to see some significant buildings tomorrow. I did manage to see the remains of the Berlin wall. It was a lot shorter than I was expecting (3.6m tall).

I am heading to the Sony centre now as it looks cool at night supposedly.

- tschus