Spring Break 2

Sunday, 28 March 2010 Day 3: Prague

Woke up a little late today. Missed breakfast at the hotel, L but luckily just made checkout. Thank God our phones switched times with daylight savings! Went to an old Soviet radio tower near our hotel known as the baby tower. Prague held a contest to see who could decorate the tower to make it look the better. Famous Czech artist, David Černy won with his design to put giant creepy babies crawling up and down the tower. Even the Czechs make fun of it! We ate our breakfast of an apple and some granola bars then we went up in the tower. We got a great view of the whole city, and some good pictures too!

Afterwards we walked towards the center of the city and stopped for lunch along the way. Goulash again for me! And Nic tried a different dish that was a little sweeter but similar to goulash with the dumplings and sauce/gravy called svíčková na smetaně. Lunch in total for both Nic and me was 195 Czech Crowns (slightly more than $10). After lunch we met Gretchen down town at the New-Old Synagogue and decided that was too expensive so we visited the Spanish Synagogue, which was really pretty (I wonder why…. ;-)) Then we went back to the town square to get some trdelník (jokingly pronounced “turtleneck” by young Americans, who have no idea how to pronounce it). Trdelník is a type of pastry that is made by taking a strip of sweet cinnamon-sugar dough, wrapping it around a wooden spit 3 or 4 times, and then cooked by spinning if over a fire (Delicious!)

Hilary and Diana arrived and they decided to go shopping with Gretchen and Nic and I did some more sightseeing/eating around the downtown area. We got bramborák (giant potato pancake/hash browns) by the opera house followed by a walk along the river towards Charles Bridge filled with lots of little stops to take the in the view and rest. We walked to an island a little south of the center of the city and relaxed. Needing to warm up we stopped by the Easter fair again and drank some mulled wine and listened to some Czech folk music. The wine and the walk seemed to whet our appetite and we ate a sausage on a baguette with plenty of ketchup and mustard.

The sun had set by then and we needed a place to warm up and spend our last few Crowns! We walked towards the area where the bar was last night and decided upon an Irish pub. We ordered two Budweiser Budvars (Thankfully nothing like the US’s Budweiser at all! Budweiser means a beer from that region). I also needed something more in my stomach so I ordered some Heinz Baked Beans. We left the pub around 10pm and headed to the train station for our overnight train to Vienna that departed at 11:11 No major problems getting on, just a few minor ones about uncertainties of how the train worked and which car was ours. Things were all figured out, and we are now in our three-bunk sleeper car and I have about 6 hours to sleep until we arrive in Vienna. Need to get some rest now! Bratislava tomorrow!

Monday, 29 March 2010 Day 4: Bratislava and Some Rest

Our train arrived half an hour late into Vienna but still arrived before 7:00 am! We then took the metro to the hotel, dropped off our bags, and then walked to the train station for our 8:52 am train to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It’s a small city that is easily seen in a day (or half day like we did because the castle was closed for renovation :-/). We saw the main square, the castle, some cool churches, and a big bridge over the Danube. We ate lunch at the Slovak Pub—a restaurant and bar dedicated to selling authentic Slovak dishes and especially cheap for students. Beer for half the price and cheaper food options. You can get a free soup for getting an A on an exam! Nic and I both ordered a creamy garlic soup in a bread bowl and a tradition Slovak empanada-type dish of beef and/or pork with a sour cream sauce toped with bacon. After lunch we made our way back to Vienna so that we could relax and get some rest after a not-so-restful night on the train.

When we came back to Vienna we checked-in to our very nice and affordable hotel, showered (finally!), napped for a few hours, and got some dinner late at McDonalds (the only place open at the time). It’s supposed to be a very warm and sunny day tomorrow. That means lots of walking a picture-taking!