Some more about traveling

I just got back from an amazing trip over the break! I saw a lot of amazing things, met amazing people, and made many memories. Classes also start this week, but that is not what I am going to write about in this entry. This is due to the fact I did not have class today! My first class is tomorrow, but every following Monday I will have an 8 am German language course. Not a bad way to start my weeks, I think. But back on topic, I will discuss my trip because it was truly life changing.

Firstly, we went to Prague. Prague is a fun place to visit, but it is also full of tourists. The castle is amazing, the old city is great, and there are lots of young people. But before going there, one must be aware the city is also famous for its nightclubs and its red light district. We went there to see the historical aspects of the city, but many others go for the parties. This takes away a bit from the city in my opinion. There are also a lot of tourist traps, like an alchemist “museum” we went to. This turned out to be more of a glorified Halloween exposition, and frankly a waste of money. So if one goes to Prague, you have to keep aware of what is going on or be swept up in the tide of tourist shops and street “artists.” What really made this experience exception was that my Canadian friend, Patrick, had a friend who lives in Prague. He is a Check born Candida citizen, but recently moved back to his home town of Prague. So he was able to take us to some out of the way places and key us in on some local traditions. We also went to a museum about the communist era, back when it was Czechoslovakia. It was fascinating to see their take on this history. They seem to regard it more as a Soviet occupation than anything else. So moral of this story is, is you want to party go to Prague. If you want to see historical stuff, go to Prague but be prepared for what is to come and trying to find a local connection.

Next we went to Poland. We took a train part of the way and a bus the second part of the trip. We started off in the city of Krakow, which was the capital of Poland for about 500 years in the medieval period. It has a fascinating castle and old city, because it was not bombed during the war. We also did a bit off-the-beaten-track exploring to look at an old defensive battery, which was a lot of fun. I highly recommend going off the beaten path if you really want to experience a city. The next day we went to Auschwitz, which is worth visiting whatever lengths you have to take. It is truly a surreal experience. There is simply no way to process the place. I read a sign that states that quite literally hundreds of thousands of people were murdered in this spot, and their ashes are buried in that field over their, and my mind went blank with shocked and horror at the same time. It is truly transformation. So overall, Poland is a great place to visit, especially if you like history. Also for students on a tight budget, because food and lodging is very cheap. Also out hostel was Pink Panther themed, so that's something as well.

Next we went to Budapest, which was a great city to visit. We had recommendations from a Hungarian friend in Konstanz, so once again the local knowledge makes a massive difference. Castles, cathedrals, old city, all great. If one visits this city, you have to go to one of the MANY thermal baths that are scattered around. They are an important part of the traditional way of life in that city, even though they are less popular with the younger generations. So called ruined bars are also worth the visit. The innovative people of Budapest have found a use for the dilapidated old Soviet building and re purposed them into the heart of the cities nightlife. The one that we went to hard a large outdoor, semi-covered space as its central space with a variety of rooms around it. Each one was decorated differently and in a different state of disrepair of repair. It was like being in a street fair that also had bars connected to it, with each room almost feeling like a separate establishment yet not all at once. Their were hundreds of people in the place at once, yet it did not feel overly crowded. Truly unique and fun.

The last stop on our trip was in Florence Italy. This is a place that I have always wanted to visit. The main spots in the city can be done in a day, but it is best to leave at least 2 days. We went to a lot of places, but really the two highlights were the Uffizi gallery and the Cathedral. The Uffizi houses many of the world’s most famous works of art. It takes several hours, minimum, to go through it . And that is me saying this, a person who is very much not into staring at paintings. It is truly something else, even if I was kind of done with it by the end. Weirdly, I found the painted roofs from the renaissance in the main hallways to be one of the most fascinating features. The Duomo in Florence is out of this world beautiful. It is not as architecturally as interesting as Gothic cathedrals, but it has a ornate marble facade which is breathtaking. We also went up the dome and got to look over the whole city, truly a thing everyone who goes to Florence should do.

A final note about language. Though I traveled with two Americans, a Canadian and a Swede, all of whom speak fluent English, we spoke a great deal of German. It is nice to have a language that is not English to speak in foreign countries, as many people all over Europe speak English. It is truly the lingua franca of the European Union. But speaking in German was like having a private language among ourselves. Of course there were German tourists around as well, but largely we had it to ourselves. Though this did lead to us misusing some German phrases, simply because they are fun words to say. Examples include veil spaße and enttäuscht. As far as communicating with others while traveling, you will be able to do just fine with English. Their is almost always someone around who speaks it, no matter where in the EU you go. But still use your German for practice!

One of many castles in Budapest

Looking over the city of Budapest

An escape romm in Prague (the caption on the bottom left is our team name, which is one of our German catch phrases)