Ski Trip

I was a little surprised to find myself going on the CIEE sponsored ski trip to Italy. I missed the payment deadline and, while a little bummed, wasn't too beat up about it and was busy considering other travel options. But, about a week prior I was sitting in the the library of the CIEE study center when I heard Jana and Francis talking about getting on the trip. I decided I might as well ask if I could sneak on and got the go-ahead. 

I paid my money and went with Francis to get a rental snowboard. The place that CIEE recommended was more of a ski shop and the boards we got were terrible quality. The boots were all worn out and had to be tied incredibly tight to get any sort of stability. The board was so-so and the bindings were shifting all over the place. Regardless, they entire rental was pretty cheap and there wasn't any other option so I went with it.

We left for Italy that Thursday at around 10. The plan was to sleep on the bus, arrive early in the morning, ski all day and then check into the hotel. However, skiing is an exerting activity and a nights sleep on a bus isn't exactly good rest. Luckily my sister brought all sorts of sleep inducing drugs from the States and two nyquil's and one benadryl later, I was passed out for the duration. We woke up in the morning in the beautiful Alps. There was a quick pit stop at a gas station to get cleaned up. Walking to and from the bus I took in the scenery. Now, I don't know where Hannibal crossed the Alps, or if he did it in the Summer of Winter, but if he did it anywhere near where I was, that is an incredible feat. The entire landscape was snowy crags with the highway carving its way through the low points of the mountains. In contrast to the Rockies, the Alps are much older mountains and therefore have been weathered to a greater extent. The result is jagged, sharp mountains that are distinctly different from younger mountain ranges.

I've also mentioned that we were in Italy for most of the ski trip. This is true but was not apparent for a good portion of the trip. Upon arrival there were signs in Italian and German while the population spoke German almost exclusively. It was pretty confusing especially when we asked a waiter where we were. The dialogue went like this.

Us: Excuse me, what country are we in?

Waiter: Italy.

Us: Then why does everyone speak German?

Waiter: Because... it's German.

Eventually the mystery was solved when our tour guide explained that we were in Tyrol. Tyrol, apparently, was originally part of the Ausro-Hungarian Empire so they made everyone speak German. After World War I it became part of Italy but it's still in a state of flux. The population speaks mostly German and there is even a small portion that speaks a modern incarnation of Latin. There is also an independence movement based in Tyrol but it doesn't seem too militant. Overall, the area is tourist destination for skiiers in the Winter and hikers/climbers in the Summer months.

Over the weekend we went to three different ski resorts. The first resort had very few trails and almost felt family. The mountaintop restaurant was just a small cabin with a few drinks on sale and what felt seemed home cooked food. The place was also strangely religious with an unusually large amount of crucifixes around.

That night we checked into our pension a few towns away and it was very nice. It had a homey feel and was also a vineyard. The food there was very good and my only complaint was that the shower in our room was broken. After the day of skiing I went to bed at around 9:30 because we had to be up at 7:00 the next morning.

The second resort was called Kronplatz and blew the first place (Jochtal) out of the water. Kronplatz must have been 10 times larger with longer runs and more difficult slopes. On the front face there were several long (20 minute run) black (difficult) slopes. They didn't have any moguls and were just steep, winding runs. I spent the better part of the morning just flying down the steep drops and winding turns. As the day went on it started to get very hot and ice started to develop which, in conjunction with my crappy board, made it a lot harder to stay on my feet. The lift tickets were also electronically monitored so you could check the internet to see how far you travelled that day. I went 50km!

After the day's skiing we had a seat at the bottom of the mountain where we basked in the sun and drank beer. It was really warm, the sun was out and they had a type of beer called Weissbier which is basically wheat beer but it was delicious. It was all I drank during the ski trip. 

The next stop was an "aquatic center" with state of the art magnetic strip technology. When you paid to get in you got a magnetic wristband. Then, in the locker room, you just touched your wristband to an open locker after you put your things in and it would lock. When you came back to get your things you just put your wristband on the locker and it would open! Very high-tech stuff. The center had various pools like a hot bath outside in the cold. They also had a water slide called the Cronsplash that told you how fast you went on the way down. I think I made it to about 16km/hr.

The final day we got up at 6:00 to drive into Austria and ski at the Stubaier Glacier. This was the highest place we were going to ski and apparently they have year round skiing. When we got there we had to take a Gondola up to the glacier and then go up other lifts for the runs.

This place was incredible. It was basically a gigantic crater, completely surrounded by mountains. You would take a lift up to one of the mountains and ski back down toward the center. It was relatively calm and sunny in the center of the crater but on the other sides of the mountains it was a damn tempest. Earlier in the day I bought a pair of children's goggles because it was snowing a little and they were crucial! Looking over the edge of the mountainside you couldn't see a meter into the distance because it was whited out by the wind and snow. There was also no semblance of ski patrol and large portion of the glacier was unmarked bowls with 3 feet of powder. I've never skiied like that before in my life. For the better part of the day we would just go off the marked trails and glide through 3 feet of powder. The feel was more like surfing than snowboarding and many times you would find yourself completely alone, dwarfed by the massive white mountains, cruising in the sun on a glacier. 

One bowl in particular had a large (about 4 or 5 foot) drop over a lip. Every time we would jump off of it and I had some pretty nasty falls. But, because there was about 5 feet of powder at the bottom of the jump I was completely fine every time. It was great. 

After the entire day of skiing (I also ate a really good pretzel), we had some more weissbier and then took the bus ride back to Prague. Once again, the drugs gave me a delightful sleep and I woke up rested in Prague.

Being from Maryland, I don't get to ski in good conditions very often and recently I haven't made ventures to any nearby slopes. I had a shitty trip to roundtop earlier over winter break and that's pretty much been it. I guess my motivation to snowboard is pretty low because I wasn't even too motivated to go on the ski trip. But, after going, I had a great time. I forgot how much I miss snowboarding and the conditions were some of the best I've ever had.

Barcelona

So last weekend I went to Barcelona and it was great. At the beginning of the semester I tried to find time to go visit my friend Sarah who was studying there and only weekend was feasible; the weekend of March 12-15. This was the weekend before midterms and I knew that if I went to Barcelona I wouldn't do any studying that weekend but I figured I would go anyway. I booked a flight with my friend David who was visiting a friend there as well. After getting out of class on Thursday I ran around Prague and got everything in order for the flight. 

The flight itself went smoothly with a small layover in Frankfurt and then on to Barcelona. I landed in Barcelona at 10:50 and looked cab to Sarah's apartment. The weather that week in Prague ranged from the mid-40's to mid-30's so when I stepped outside in a balmy 65 that night it felt great. Barcelona is different from other parts of Spain in that they speak Catalan, a mix of French and ordinary Spanish. This meant that my four years of Spanish (most of which I have forgotten) would be much less useful. Immediately this became apparent when the cabbie mistook the number "ocho" for "dos". Either way, I made it to Sarah's apartment around 11:30 and we got ready to go out. 

Heading out, I looked at the buildings along the street and they felt distinctly Spanish. I can't say what exactly gave them such a feel but it was there. We headed out down La Rambla, a largely populated street littered with small shops and men who try to sell you beers for 1 Euro. We made it to a bar that apparently sells the best sangria in Spain and I have to say it was delicious as I drank the entire glass in about a minute. The next stop was a bar that specialized in shots where we had 3 shots of tequila. Tequila in Spain is usually served with sugar or cinnamon and a slice of orange and it's pretty tasty. Either way, 3 tequila shots in is not a good way to go to a club.

We took a cab to the club, called Opium, right on the beach. Dancing was going on but I wasn't quite in the mood so we all sat outside and talked in the beautiful weather. At the bar I noticed a major difference between Barcelona and Prague: the presence of Americans. Don't get me wrong, Prague has its fair share of Americans, tourists and students. But, at Opium club and around the city in general, you can go almost anywhere, hear English being spoken and see Americans. Apparently, Sarah's study abroad program has over 500 students while my program in Prague had no more than 150.

The club was fine but I spent most of the time wandering around and hanging out by the Mediterranean. We went home around 4:30 which is pretty early by Barcelona standard and got ready for a big day on Friday. 

Waking up late, around 1, we headed out for a lunch a one of Sarah's favorite tapas places. I haven't eaten much seafood in Prague and I was very anxious to get some good seafood. My first trip outside in the daylight was amazing. I wore a polo shirt, the sun was shining and the weather was borderline hot. It was incredible. We ate tapas right under a gothic cathedral in the shade of a backstreet and I ordered some steamed mussels that were huge and delicious. I also sampled Spanish croquettes which are much different from their Czech counterparts. They are fried cylinders with ham and a sort of potato mush usually stuffed inside. We ordered another Barcelon(an)? staple: bread with tomatoes spread on top which was also quite good. 

After lunch, we headed to the Parc de la Cituadella, a park in the center of the city that was highly recommended by the guidebook. We exited the metro at the Arc de Triomf. I've never seen the Arc in Paris, but this one was thoroughly impressing and beautiful. Built with red brick, it once again felt distinctly Spanish. The park was landscaped beautifully, and we had a nice afternoon looking at fountains and laying on the grass having a beer.

That night we met up with my friend David and his friend studying in Spain named Piera. Every night in Barcelona they have this large fountain that has synchronized water jets with music. This thing was great. They have a couple different shows. There's a classical/opera show, a rock show and a soul/R&B show. Good stuff all around.

That night we ate dinner at a traditional Catalan cuisine restaurant where David and I got ripped off. The menu said our fish was 12 Euros but it turned out it was 20. Fabulous.

We headed to a shot bar that was filled with blacklights so everything white was glowing. We ordered a couple of weird shots like the "Harry Potter" and "Boy Scout". One was really cool that had you light the shot on fire, drink it, and then inhale the alcohol vapor or some such nonsense. Finally, we ended up at a club called Razzmatzz which was humongous. With a bunch of different, huge dancefloors we danced until 6:00am when the club closed. At this point, we took the metro home and went to bed with the sun up. I was so proud of this fact that I took pictures of the city that morning after the sun was up.

The next day we woke up and went to grab some lunch. It was hard to believe but it was even hotter than on Friday. We went to a place called La Champagneria which is a gross little eatery that sells hamburgers, sausages and 4 Euro bottles of champagne. The line was massive but we eventually got in and had a bottle or so. The hamburgers at this place were also surprisingly good. After lunch we walked through the coastal area and sat down on the beach. The sun was out and some people were even sleeping in the cold Mediterranean. Sitting there, I was struck by the fact that I was actually sitting in Barcelona, on the coast of the Mediterranean, hanging out with my friends. It was the first time I had ever seen the Mediterranean and I spent some time pondering all the history that took place on it.

Some of the most famous sights in Barcelona are buildings designed by Gaudi, a famous modernista architect. So, we went to his master work, the Sagrada Familia. Started by Gaudi over 100 years ago, it is still under construction but still looks fabulous. After visiting the cathedral, we headed out to eat some authentic paella. While it was expensive, the Paella was incredibly good with all sorts of seafood mixed in. That night, we headed out to Kennedy's and Irish pub that was actually filled with Irish people. I talked to a few and even got a free St. Patrick's Day hat that I plan on wearing this Tuesday. We stayed at the bar for a while because they had live music (they played 90 U2 covers) and then went home around 5:00. 

I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep before waking up to go the airport. I arrived alright and made it home safely to Prague with David. Overall, I absolutely loved Barcelona. Maybe it was because of the warm weather, but it has the distinct feel of a sleepy Mediterranean town. Even so, there are very modern clubs and places to go as well. The people are generally nice and the city is beautiful.

Krakow II- Krakow

It's taken me awhile to finally get this post up but I think I still remember most of my trip.

After Auschwitz we took a one hour bus ride into Krakow to the hotel. At this point it was around one in the afternoon and I was exhausted so I slept for the entire bus ride. When we finally arrived at the hotel I went to my room with my roommate Patrick and took a nap while others went and explored the city. I woke up around 6 and went to my friend Emily's room to go out for dinner. Emily, Mary-Cait, Peter and Jacob decided to go to a traditional Polish restaurant. This place was great. The restaurant was super nice and the food was dirt cheap. I had a three course meal and a beer for about 50 Zloty (17 Dollars). For an appetizer the waiter brought some sort of spice and lard spread with bread. This stuff was amazing. Hands down the best lard spread I've ever had. This made sense because I read the guidebook later and it said that this restaurant had the best lard spread in Krakow. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel and got ready to go out. We eventually met up with Patrick and his group at a bar and started putting back 21 Zloty pitchers of Heineken. Apparently, there are fewer domestic beers in Poland and most places sell Heineken or Carlsberg. After this place we headed over to a club that sucked so we got a kebab and went home. 

We woke up early in the morning for a tour of Krakow. Our tour guide, Andrew, was a nice guy but the tour was pretty hurried. We walked around the Jewish quarter but just saw the outsides of synagogues (It was Saturday) and sites from Schindler's List (I haven't seen it). After a while we headed to Wawel Castle. The Castle was the original seat of the Polish government before Warsaw became the capital and it was absolutely beautiful. The view of the city and the river from the top was great and the church and courtyard from inside were amazing. 

Walking down for the castle we visited two churches. Apparently, in Krakow, they LOVE John Paul II (PJP from now on). PJP was originally from Poland and since Poland is incredibly catholic they have pictures and statues of him everywhere. On the way to the second church we entered Krakow's main square which was absolutely huge. The church was called the Basillica of St. Mary's and it was the best church I have been to so far. It has a massive golden altar that depicts Mary and the apostles. The entire church is covered in paintings and statues of angels going into heaven and the ceiling is a deep blue night sky with bright gold stars. Behind the altar there are three stained glass windows that are the original ones from the 14th century. There were super pretty.

After the tour ended we explored the city for a bit and the headed back for another nap. That night we went out to an Irish pub to buy cocktails and burn some money. A few mojito's and gin fizzes later we went to a club that was wild. They had two rooms. One had all sorts of poles and played Katy Perry and the other one played crazy techno and Katy Perry techno remixes. Katy Perry is everywhere. We danced to the techno and then finally went home.

The next morning we went to the salt mine. The salt mine is probably the hokiest attraction in all of Poland. It started as a salt mine in the 13th century and operated until 1996. The place is literally an entire complex of passages and salt. Every wall that isn't wood, is salt. You can literally lick the walls, and I did. Because the salt preserves everything, there are original crucifixes from the 14th century in perfect condition. The Poles also filled the mine with churches and there are all sorts of salt statues of saints. The tour was just room after room of salt statues and salt churches. The place was in limbo. It was kind of serious because you can actually get married and pray in the salt church  but at the same time they had all these damn statues of salt things. They needed to make it totally serious or just make all sorts of random stuff out of salt. They did have a salt statue of PJP which was great.

After the tour was over we took the 6 hour bus ride back to Krakow and I wanted to kill myself. It was the most boring bus ride ever. And that was Krakow.

Krakow Part I, Auschwitz-Birkenau

My recent trip to Krakow was organized by CIEE (my program) and outsourced to a local student travel organization. Included in the price of the trip was admission to all of the different sights, a 2 night stay in a hotel and breakfast every morning at the hotel. Most of my other friends from the dorm were heading to Rome that weekend so I was more or less going it alone. Still, I was looking forward to hanging out with a different group of people and seeing Krakow.

The trip was scheduled to depart from the Prague bus station at midnight, which meant that I had to sit in my room and kill 5 hours after dinner while the entire dorm was empty. I considered doing school work but I was in that situation where you're too bored and apathetic to even get up and do something. Finally getting on the bus I settled in for the 6 hour bus ride to Poland. The trip wasn't too large and most people had a side to themselves but I ended up with my friend Emily from the dorms. I brought some medicine to help me sleep but all it did was put me in a sort of daze throughout the trip. I "woke up" in Krakow feeling tired with my neck hurting.

The first stop on the trip was Auschwitz. Our tour guide, Eva, was in charge of basic logistics of the trip, but at historical sites we had a local Polish guide take us through the various Krakow sights. I had seen a bunch of shows on the history channel about Auschwitz and the holocaust so I had some background information going in. It had been snowing continuously since we arrived in Poland the entire camp was covered in snow which gave the place a quiet, eerie feeling. 

My experience at Auschwitz was very interesting. As a big fan of World War II history I found it hard to believe that I was actually standing in one of the most notorious death camps of the holocaust. Still, being there, it was hard to fathom the atrocities that took place. Standing in the snow more than 70 years later I felt somehow detached, almost with disbelief. The exhibits were powerful and included massive collections of human hair, piles of shoes and walls of photos of victims. We continued the tour and then headed off to Birkenau. 

Apparently, the camp complex at Auschwitz was divided into three camps. The first, Auschwitz proper, was originally a labour camp and did not have the capacity to meet the needs of the Final Solution. While many Jews were murdered there, a much larger camp, Birkenau, was built to increase capacity. Compared to Birkenau, Auschwitz proper was fairly small and even unimpressive. The reason why tours are given at Auschwitz is because most of Birkenau was destroyed by the Nazi's before the war's end. 

The camp at Birkenau was mainly destroyed with only a few remaining buildings standing. The gas chambers had been destroyed and were just snow covered ruins of brick and rebar. Still, the fences and guard towers were still in place. I was immediately struck by immenseness of the camp. The walk from one end to the other took a total of 15 minutes at a decent pace and the outlying woods were obscured by the falling snow. Seeing the train tracks through the middle of the camp I once again found it hard to believe that I was standing at the point where the trains were unloaded and SS doctors decided who lived and died. 

The sheer amount of murder that took place at Birkenau was staggering, I thought it was better that most of the camp had been destroyed. While Auschwitz had fully standing buildings it felt like a model or reenactment. The desolation and ruin at Birkenau felt appropriate for the acts that took place there and, for me, made the experience all the more real.

Retrospective: My Trip to Prague

When I first arrived I didn't know if I wanted to start a travel blog or not so I didn't write about my trip here. I feel like it's a pretty important of my time so here so I decided to write about it.

Leading up to my departure I really didn't feel any sort of nervousness or even anticipation. I had absolutely no preconceived notion of what Prague would be like. And, even if I did, it would have been completely wrong. Accordingly, in the week prior to my departure I only felt a feeling of uncertainty, knowing that my life would be completely different soon, but having no idea what life would entail. 

Perhaps the strangest part of the trip was going to airport. I drove the car up because I wanted to get a drive in before I left. There was no big speech from my parents, no real heartfelt talk. I think everything that had been said had been said already. The procedure was very businesslike. My parents helped me with my bags, we walked into the airport, I checked my luggage and then we arrived at the security checkpoint. From here we said goodbye and I walked through the security screening. After getting through I found my gate, sat down and started listening to music. I was overwhelmed by a feeling not of loneliness but of independence. With that independence came a fear as well. I was struck by the fact that I was on my own for the entirety of the next 4 months.

I looked around me and saw that most of the people waiting for my flight were college kids. I guess every year in January, flights to Europe and filled with college students heading for their respective study abroad destinations. I talked to one kid was studying abroad independently in Amsterdam and then we boarded the plane. I looked out the window and saw snow coming down pretty hard. We began to move and I was relieved to find that the 2 seats next to me were empty. This was going to be a good flight. The pilot then came on the PA and told us that the plane had to undergo deicing. Apparently the process takes about 20 minutes for each plane but the assholes at the Philadelphia airport had yet to set up the machine. I guess they were watching the Eagles get beaten by the Cardinals. I pulled out my itinerary and did some quick math. I had an hour to get to my connecting flight in London and there was supposed to be a strong tailwind that would shave a half hour off the flight. That meant that at most we could lose an hour in the deicing procedure. An hour and minutes later we were in the air and I kissed my connecting flight goodbye. Annoyed that things were not going to plan already I accepted the fact that I couldn't do anything about it and tried to enjoy the flight. 

The flight attendant came by for dinner and asked me if I wanted some wine. I wasn't sure what British Airways' policy for alcohol is but I figured I needed to get in the European spirit. She asked me if a 2007 Merlot was OK. Yes, British Airways flight attendant. That will be just fine. 

She came back a little later to tell me that I could lay down on the other seats and that she wouldn't bother me. I spent the rest of the flight sleeping.

Landing at Heathrow, I was told that I had been given another flight to Prague. I went to the British Airways kiosk and was told that my flight would be leaving at 2:45. It was about 8:00. They gave me a 10 Pound voucher and I took off to hang out at Heathrow airport. The international terminal isn't like airports in the United States. It has sports stores, cell phone stores, designer boutiques; things I didn't expect to find in an airport. I read some of my book and then sat in a tiny corner and watched planes land and take off. As I sat there I started thinking about my situation. I was all by myself, my things packed and on a plane somewhere, across the Atlantic ocean from home. It was weird to think that I was in London by myself on a random day in January.

During my wait I grabbed lunch with my voucher. I grabbed a Guinness and had a greek salad. I decided that I was going to like studying abroad. I tried to keep busy but ended up miserably bored. At one point I just walked back and forth the length of the terminal for fun. Of course, I had nowhere to put my bags so I had to lug them with me. I suddenly got really tired but couldn't go to sleep. They don't tell you what gate you are using until 30 min before your flight at Heathrow. And, being terrified I'd sleep through my flight and miss another one I managed to stay awake until safely aboard. I don't even remember the takeoff I was asleep so fast.

Landing in Prague I began talking to some of the kids on the plane and found that some of them were with CIEE. We got our bags and cleared customs easily. Still, we were going to call a cab because all of the CIEE people were supposed to be long gone. However, there was still one Czech person there to greet us who helped us with a cab.

Getting to the Holiday Inn was a bit of a journey. At this point it was dark and I couldn't see out of the cab too well. As we traveled through Prague I tried to take in the sights but I was confused and tired. We finally ended up at the Holiday Inn where we dropped off our things and went to dinner. My group of stragglers from the airport and two Czech "buddies" as they're called took us to a Czech restaurant where we had "smazeny syr" which is fried cheese. Very tasty. After that, we went out, had a few drinks and talked to the Czech buddies. 

Returning to my hotel room I was very relieved. The day had worked out well and the feelings of anticipation and fear were gone. I had made it to Prague and was free to make own assessment of it as the trip went on. With everything in order I went to bed in anticipation for moving to the dorm.

In this post I also want to related a little anecdote about an incident I had on the tram last night:

Two guys got on the tram, heard us speaking English and asked us where we were from. I answered, "the United States,"

"Oh, really? We're from Norway."

"Norway huh, that's a very nice country, I'd like to go there some day."

"Yes, United States is nice too."

"Thank you, it is."

"Watch out, I have bomb." (He then sticks out his hand, opens his coat with one hand to show the imaginary bomb, presses the imaginary detonator and goes, "BOOM!")

"I will kill all you Americans with bomb."

"No, I'm just kidding America is very nice. I like Barack Obama very much. Good change, good change."

"Thank you, this is my stop."

 

In Bratislava...

The highways here are a lot different than the ones at home. There are no streetlights so, at night, the countryside goes by in blackness. The roadside is littered with lone warehouses, power plants, gas stations. The buildings sit brightly lit, completely alone and miles apart from each other. I have no idea why they don't cluster the buildings together. I found myself thinking about this fact sitting on a bus, unable to sleep, one hour away from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. 

The plan to go was hatched earlier in the week. Some guys on my floor suggested that we should go there for our first trip. It's only a 5 hour bus trip, so we could make it there and back in a short weekend. I figured that it was time to make my first trip and Bratislava seemed as a good of a destination as any. It was close, foreign and it would be a good trial run for further traveling. The final group consisted of myself and 5 other people and the plan was to leave Friday night, arrive around midnight, find the hostel and go out. On Saturday, we would see some sights, buy a return ticket and go out again. Sunday was reserved for coming home.

The bus left the station in Prague at 6:30 and was set for an 11:30 arrival. Earlier that day we had all woken up at 8:00 to take our intensive Czech final and had been in class all day. I figured I would need to get some sleep on the bus to prepare for the night ahead, but after a 25 minute nap I couldn't go back to sleep. Of course, it didn't help that the bus was playing some George Clooney movie dubbed in Czech. The movie was ridiculously loud. I had my iPod blasting and I could still hear it playing. Then the bus driver decided to crank up the volume even more. I had my iPod playing full volume and I could still hear the damn gunshots and explosions. When the movie ended the bus quieted down. This is the point when I began to think about the highways in central Europe.

I've seen a few fictionalized representations of Bratislava, none of them positive (Hostel, Eurotrip) and I did very little research on the city. Other than the picture of the city on Wikipedia I had no idea what the city would be like. So, arriving at the Bratislava bus station at midnight my impression of the city was a blank slate. 

Stepping of the bus I was immediately questioned my decision to go there blindly. The place was abandoned, dark and quiet. We had very little idea of how to get to our hostel and it was not within walking distance. As we began to wander I started to get a feel for the area. The city is not too different from Prague or, I think, most other European cities. However, in comparison to Prague at midnight it was eerily quiet and decrepit. I couldn't tell if things were under a perpetual state of construction or decay and there was absolutely no one around. The best way to describe the city, day or night, is that it has a "Balkan" vibe. It's vaguely reminiscent of war-torn Bosnia.

We finally found a tram and then got off on the wrong stop. This led to an hour long search for our hostel. Arriving at a little after one o'clock, we immediately headed back out and went to a bar. The area we stayed in was fairly modern with paved streets, a Tesco a across the street and a tasty "Kebap" stand around the corner. The ensuing night was filled with random adventures. Perhaps the best was an incident where some guys came up to us on the street who we thought wanted to fight. Turns out, they just wanted to play rock paper scissors. At one point we passed a family photo studio except all the demo pictures were just slutty pictures of women.

The next day we went to Bratislava castle and old town. This was a refreshing change from the area where our hostel was located. Old town Bratislava is very similar to old town Prague but much quieter and with a smaller tourist presence. Most people still speak English and things are relatively cheap but, as Ben in my group would say, it's "Prague Lite". Bratislava castle was under construction but had some good views of the city and the Danube River.

That night we had big plans. We wanted to go to a club in an abandoned nuclear fallout shelter, go to a club on a boat and go to a club with a slide in it. Before hitting the clubs we decided to go to a bar and get dinner. We had a nice waiter but for some reason he put us in our own private room and then blocked it off. Some people came in and sat down but our waiter actually came in and kicked them out. I don't know what the deal was. Before we left the waiter also recommended some clubs, but he said that the boat club was just filled with 40 year old Austrians. 

The first stop was the fallout shelter club. They were having a techno show there that night and we went to find it. After a 45 minute odyssey we found this place literally on the side of a highway. You enter the building into a small tunnel lit bright red. Then, you pass through 2 large metal doors. As I walked deeper and deeper into the club I realized that there was only one way in and one way out. When you come out of the tunnel you are in a cavernous area with a large bar and dance floor. The atmosphere was wild. The lighting is only strobe lights and lasers with wild techno playing. People were dancing in ways I've never seen people dancing and the clientele in general was just very interesting. After some wild techno raving we headed out to the boat club. 

Once again getting lost trying to find the boat club, we ran into some guy who was also trying to get there. We joined forces and kept looking and all of the sudden it hit me. The guy with us was old, probably middle aged and had a German accent. Shit! This guy was a forty year old Austrian! I guess the waiter was right. It turned out that the boat club had set sail or something because it was not on the river where it was supposed to be.  

Finally, we made it to a pretty nice dance club right across from our Hostel where we spent the night dancing to such international superstars as Katy Perry and Tupac Shakur. Waking up on Sunday, it was raining so we went and grabbed some lunch. At this point in the trip I figured most of the ridiculousness had ended. I was wrong. 

Most places were closed so we were forced to go to an art gallery/restaurant. We had a nice waitress but either she didn't understand English or was playing a cruel joke on us because she gave us nothing that we ordered. Any time you spoke to this woman you were rolling the dice in terms of what you would actually receive. Kyle ordered an omelet, got fried cheese with ham and then when the waitress walked by she said, "Omelet!" and started laughing. Meanwhile, the worst light jazz I've ever heard was blaring from some damn stereo. After lunch, we killed some time at the Hostel and then headed to the bus stop for the ride back.

Bratislava is an interesting place, completely different from anywhere I've ever been; including Prague. I'm glad I went with a blank slate because the time I had was unique and nothing could really have prepared me for it. I had a completely original and fun experience. I can't really recommend it yet because I have no other basis for comparison. Hopefully my subsequent travels will be as interesting.

Bone Church, etc.

Edit: I spend like 45 minutes editing this damn blog so the pictures would look nice and they look terrible. I'll better next time but this one is a wash. Sorry about the formatting and I hope it's not too awful to read.

It's Monday night after a pretty good weekend and since we had a brief trip on Saturday it seems like a good time to update. The week rounded out nicely and I've managed to explore Prague a bit more. Everything is more comfortable. I'm able to shop, get about, and speak Czech a little better. Some semblance of a routine is developing too which is nice. Still, regular classes still haven't started yet I imagine that will be a big change.

Saturday the whole of CIEE had to wake up and get to a bus across town for a day trip to Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora is a fairly large city about 40km outside of Prague. I figured the trip would just be a brief look at a cathedral, some lunch, a bone church and a trip home. It was that, but much more boring. We learned about the city itself for the better portion of the day. The history is this: The town came to prominence in the 1300s when silver was discovered. It was the second richest town in Bohemia (Czech lands) next to Prague. Its silver helped build major cathedral in Kutna Hora itself and Prague. Then, when the Hapsburgs took over the continued to mine silver but also began minting their own coins from the silver until the 1700s when the silver dried up and no one cared anymore. Now, it survives as a tourist destination. 

St. Barbara Cathedral

The first stop was the cathedral of St. Barbara, patron saint of miners (go figure). The cathedral had an interesting roof and some nice gothic architecture. The inside was nice but I have to say St. Vitus at Prague Castle is better. 

Jesuit Seminary?

Adjacent to the cathedral is either a Jesuit seminary or monastery, I can't remember which. The Jesuit building was built in the Baroque style and if I can figure out how I'll put up some pictures of it. After a tour of the Church we walked to the smaller church in the town, the cathedral of St. James (also a patron saint of miners). 

The Italian Court

The next stop was the so called "Italian Court" where the mintmasters and craftsmen took the silver and minted it. We watched some mintmaster make some coins and then walked through a pretty famous meeting room. Next was lunch.

St. James Cathedral

Lunch was was very tasty and I wanted to get some grog but apparently the restaurant didn't have it. Grog, according to my Czech teacher, is rum, tea sugar and lemon served hot. It's quite the drink especially when its cold or when you want to get drunk. The food was good but lunch was long. 

A short bus ride brought us to the Bone Church. Now, my perception of the bone church, like any logical person, was a church literally made of bones. Wrong. The Bone Church is this tiny, unassuming chapel that had bones decorating the basement. In the 1870s a mass grave of plague victims was found in the area and it was decided that the bones should be used to decorate a church basement instead of being burned. Ergo, Bone Church. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous, but at the same time it was still cool. I can't say that I've ever seen one real human skeleton let alone over40,000. The Bone Church was supposed to be the crowning  point of the day but we sort of milled around for 20 minutes, had no guide and then left for Prague. 

         Bad to the Bone Church

That evening consisted of going to a club, refusing to pay the 200K cover and then heading to another bar. The high point of the night was the snow. It started falling that afternoon and by night there was maybe a half inch of ground cover all over the city. It was very picturesque. Sunday consisted of watching Liverpool beat Chelsea at an American sports bar. The sports bar is in Wenceslas Square amidst lots of strip clubs. The people outside of these clubs are hilarious. They see a group of guys and start to harass you about their cheap prices and beautiful women. If you decline they get more aggressive and start to question your manhood. It's funny at first but just gets annoying. The same goes for the Arab and African drug dealers on the square who offer their "skunk weed" and coke to you even inside bars. 

In other news, I'm missing the first opera night this week because I'm going to Bratislava. Should be fun and there will pictures and tales when I get back. It's supposed to be better than how it looked in Eurotrip.