The last time we spoke I told you I was headed on a trip of a lifetime across Eastern Europe. I went on the trip and it was...magical. :) These are just a few pictures of the trip. While I am not new to blogging I am to this particular type and it is really hard to upload pictures onto the site. I am certain that there is some simple way to do it that I just have not figured out yet.
Before I explain all the pictures I will remind you..wait you never knew...that three days before we left on this trip Jane (New York by way of the Philippines), Sarah (North Carolina), and Alice (Australia) pressured me into riding a velo (bicycle). Not 15 minutes into the ride I made the most beautiful face plant onto a side walk. I wish there had been a camera because I probably actually flew over the velo. So in many of the pictures you can see the progression of my face from super swollen and red to scabby and gross and eventually just an odd scar on the side of my face.
Here we are setting out on our adventure. This is Jane, Alice, and I. This picture is taken in Geneva right after we left the train station. We left for the trip at 6am so I am not really sure how we are all still awake.
Here is a view from the top of the tower at the Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. You can see in the distance the Geneva Lake and a geyser type thing spouting from it. We did not make it all the way over to find out exactly why it does that or if it is natural. I will definitely have to find this out on another trip.
A very important lesson in travelling to other countries is to know what days of the week things are closed. We did not do this before we left. While we were in Budapest on a Monday most things were closed. We were however able to see bits and pieces of Hungarian Culture. This is a balcony that we walked past. It stood out from the literally thousands of plain balconies.
Here are Jane, Sarah and I in front of the only exhibit that we were able to get into while in Budapest. It was an amazing exhibit that looked at the life and art of Van Gogh.
It is possible that Vienna is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Not that I have seen many places. The first place that we went after checking into the Hostel was the gigantic cemetery. Alice (Australia) is a giant music fan and was super excited when we found the graves of many of histories most popular composers. This picture is actually of Mozart's grave.
Here is the Castle in Vienna. Inside of it we were able to see some interesting exhibits on the royal silver...yes that means silverware and plates. While that may not have been my favorite we were able to learn about Empress/Queen Elizabeth better known as Sisi. I think that she may be a drastically overlooked monarch in the USA. She is fascinating and has a movie that is considered one of the most famous things to come out of Vienna called Sisi. I have not seen it nor have I been able to find it so if anyone of you have seen it or know where it is please let me know.
Prague was by far my most favorite city on the trip. I left the group when we got there and went on a tour given by an Ex-Pat from the UK named Paul. Turned out I was the only person who signed up for the tour that day so I got a private tour of Prague. This building above is in Old Town. And was the City Hall. You can see on the right how the building just stops. At the end of WWII when the Nazi's were pulling out they set fire to the building but it only burned to that point. Instead of rebuilding it they chose to close it off there as a reminder. On the left side is a fascinating clock. It depicts a story of the plague and every hour the skeleton tells the bad people that they are going to die, yet they never do. If there is one place so far that I recommend going Prague is most definitely it.
Again in Prague this time on the (I believe) King Charles bridge. There are 30odd statues along this crooked bridge. This particular one is of a religious person who had angered the king and was thrown off the bridge. (According to Paul the tour guide, Prague was very consistent in dealing with people they didn't agree. They threw them out a window or off a bridge). Legend has it that the area below it became very lucky and people there were not affected by the Plague. Now people come to this statue and make a wish for luck. A funny little known fact about it is that some time ago people came along and rubbed out the little dog and now people often wish on that rather than the actually "lucky" figure.
Alice has a theory that one of the 8 people we were with must have wished on the dog because not only was I badly hurt in Prague but we ran into some immigration problems getting into Germany. But that is all for later in the entry.
Prague actually has the largest castle in the World. You can see it off in the distance behind me. The Cathedral there is actually built inside of the castle grounds. It was so beautiful. The Current President has a flat inside the palace that he sometimes stays at.
While I was not able to get a good photo of it. There is a bridge that connects the Palace to the Cathedral where the King could travel without mingling with the commoners. Legend has it that when the Cathedral was being built one of the builders looked down and saw his wife with another man. He then threw a brick down and killed one or both of them . He was later executed but the other builders thought that he was such a good worker, they secretly built a statue of him holding a brick he is about to throw. It was hidden so that no one could see it unless they were looking for it.
This road is called the Golden Row and it is actually inside of the palace grounds. This is where the knights, kings men, and goldsmiths lived. Hence the name the Golden Row, It almost looks like a miniature village.
Here is me inside one of the doorways in the Golden Row. If you know me then you know how short I am.
As we were heading to the bus terminal on our way out of Prague I tripped. Yes I was just walking. Well I managed to tear the ligaments and possibly the tendon in my ankle. It has been nearly a month and they are still uncertain if i broke it. On 26 March I have an MRI to try and figure out why it is not healing at all. This is the reason I have not really updated...wait I am getting ahead of myself.
While we were on the bus we were pulled of by the German Authorities because we apparently had the wrong Visas. So after 14 hours of being detained they ended up letting us pass to Berlin anyway. Unfortunately even though they sent me to the hospital my leg was in pretty bad shape.
The only part of Berlin that we saw was through a bus tour because I could not walk. We did take the time to go to a flea market though and it was great fun. I am not including any pictures because I really hope to return someday and include proper photos of an amazingly historical city.
I have been back from this trip for several weeks but unfortunately have not seen much more than the inside of my apartment and the physical therapists office. I have been unable to go to school or really do much of anything. I have been able to get out a few times but not for anything particularly noteworthy. Because of my leg I will be unable to do any travelling during the upcoming break in Avril. I plan to use this time to get some reading done and get caught up on papers for school both here and back at Texas Tech.
I would not say that I have necessarily been homesick but I miss many of the people back home and well am a bit surprised at how few people I have heard from. Oh well.
I hope that you are all well and I will try very hard to be better about updating.
