June 25, 2009
In three days I will embark on an adventure. My blue neck pillow, Us Weekly magazine and I will board an American Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany where I'll begin my two and a half week trek through Eastern Europe. This will be, undisputedly, the longest vacation I've ever taken. I've been on long trips, but they always included an element of work or school. Sure study abroad doesn't usually include much "studying," but at the end of the day I still had to prove to that smelly chain smoking American-hating French lady I could correctly compute the Weighted Average Cost of Capital. This vacation will have none of that - it's simply four cities, three countries, in 16 days. To that I say, bring it.
My itinerary is loosely structured in some areas, and planned to the minute in other areas. The whole basis for this trip is that the sanctuary choir at my church (of which I am a member) and a choir from another church in Dallas are performing Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass at the International Haydn Festival in Vienna. For about a week of my trip I will be stationed in Vienna with the other choir members, following an hour by hour itinerary that includes rehearsals, concerts, castle visits, city tours, and hopefully, wienerschnitzel. However I decided to take advantage of the fact that I will be in a part of the world I have never visited before and tack on some travel time before and after. So other than the week long minute by minute schedule I will adhere to while in Vienna, I don’t have much planned other than a plane ticket (thank you 60,000 AA miles) and a hotel reservation or two. Here’s my schedule:
June 29: arrive in Frankfurt, train to Salzburg, Austria
June 29 – July 1: explore Salzburg (the main purpose for this visit is to go on The Sound of Music Tour)
July 1 – July 7: Vienna, Austria
July 8 – July 10: Budapest, Hungary
July 11 – July 13: Prague, Czech Republic
July 14: train to Frankfurt, return to US
This particular trip has been years in the making. The planning started almost two years ago, and given the fact that I was using miles for my plane ticket and was concerned about availability of seats, my flight was booked in August of 2008. But the real preparation for the trip only recently began. My renewed passport arrived a couple of months ago. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been busy researching hotels, making lists of stuff to bring, shopping, and looking for my darn travel converter bag with all the different outlet adapters for all the different countries (where the heck is that thing!?!?!?) A key part of my preparation has been research – I’ve thumbed through the eight guidebooks I have, I am re-viewing The Sound of Music and will be doing the same with the movie Amadeus before I depart, and I spend time every evening Wikipedia-ing the cities I will be visiting to learn about their history and culture. But don’t ask me how to speak the language or how the currency works – for that I’ll just wing it.
Some of you balked at the revelation that, with the exception of the Vienna portion, I will be traveling alone. I will remind you that I invited you to join me, and your responses ranged from “In This Economy?” to “Budapest? WTF?” to “Let me think about it” and I guess you are still thinking. It’s not too late to join me! But even if you can’t, I will remind you that some of my most interesting and vivid memories from trips I’ve taken were experienced when I was traveling alone. There was the time in Munich when I joined a beer tour and became fast friends with some Australians and a family from Russia while eating this:
There was the time I was in Beijing (where I discovered the culinary excellence of a green bean flavored popsicle – that’s sarcasm) when it took me a couple of days to figure out why people were always staring at me. Turns out it was because I have blonde hair. Some people even wanted to take a picture with me.
Then there was the time in Taiwan when I serenaded the karaoke bar with my rendition of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” All GREAT memories – in all cases there was not another American I knew in sight.
So who knows what this trip will hold? I’m going to try to blog about my experiences on kproc.com, and I’ll post pictures on Facebook as often as I can. So stay tuned…
June 28, 2009
Location: Dallas
2:30PM Texas time
9:30PM Germany time
I just boarded my direct flight from DFW to Frankfurt, Germany. I’m seated in the window seat of my choice, next to Moses, who I recently discovered is a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, but is originally from Africa. I want to ask him what he’s going to Europe for but I figure it’s a nine and half hour flight, so I’m sure we’ll get to it eventually. I took some cough syrup my doctor prescribed last week when I started to feel sick, so it’s only a matter of time before I zonk out. Feeling sleepy already.
P.S. The guy in seat 33A just stuffed a giant pimp hat (the furry, feathery, purple one like you see in New Orleans) in the overhead bin.
June 29, 2009
Location: Frankfurt en route to Munich en route to Salzburg
2:05AM Texas time
9:05AM local time
I exited the plane, took one deep breath, and was sure my plane landed where it was intended. The unmistakable smell of Europe was in the air – overwhelming body odor plus cigarettes (even though it’s a non-smoking airport according to signage. I like that word – signage. I’m going to try to work it in more often). I headed towards customs and made a pit stop at the ladies room where I was entertained by three Japanese women struggling to figure out how to get the water to turn on. Then I went through customs (trying not to cough or sniffle – they tend to not let you in if they think you have Swine Flu), claimed my bag, and followed the signage (hee hee) to long distance trains. I bought a ticket to Salzburg (changing trains in Munich), a journey which would take about five and a half hours. Before boarding the train I stopped to grab a luke-warm coca lite (aka diet coke) from a juice stand. I handed over my 2 Euro, and the attendant working exclaimed enthusiastically “Welcome to Germany!” I didn’t tell him I wasn’t staying.
So now I’m on the train, having flashbacks to my time in college when my group would take over one entire car then send someone to the snack car to grab a bunch of Toblerone’s. Who can I send to get my Toblerone today? I’m sure one of the four Japanese guys sitting in front of me would be eager to do such a thing.
P.S. Moses was just connecting through Frankfurt. He’s heading to Johannesburg to visit his family before returning to Dallas in the fall to continue school. I told you we’d get to it.
June 29, 2009
Location: Salzburg, Austria
10:30AM Texas time
5:30PM local time
I’m making myself stay up until at least 8:30PM tonight to try to combat jet lag. So when I arrived at my hotel in Salzburg, I showered to wake up. It’s amazing how good actually being clean feels – I may try to make a habit of it. My hotel is very modest, but clean with a bed, private toilet and shower, and helpful staff. What more could a girl traveling on a budget ask for? The man at the front desk sold me a Salzburg card (covers entrance into all major tourist sites and use of public transportation for 48 hours) and signed me up for the Sound of Music Tour tomorrow. Then I hopped on a bus and headed to Old Town in hopes of finding Mozart, or at least his birthplace. I found it, and I went through the tour of the house, getting in trouble only once for taking pictures.
I then strolled around Old Town looking for a place to eat (my last meal was a croissant and yogurt on the plane at 6AM). Currently I’m sitting at an outdoor café and Mozartplatz (outdoor plaza) drinking a beer and eating….what else? Sausage. Although I would describe this as hot dogs. The mustard on the plate kind of looks like doodie, and the wieners are pale, but it came with a nice pretzel. All in all, I find it tasty, in an Austrian hot dog sort of way…
Three more things:
I have been taking a lot of pictures of stuff that I have no idea what it is. But it looks important (and old), so I figure I’ll look it up and learn about it later.
I went into a souvenir shop named after Mozart, selling nothing but Mozart paraphernalia, and guess what they were playing as the background music? The Four Tops. Go figure.
I see lots of women dressed very traditionally – you know the long patterned busty dresses (and LOTs of shops seem to specialize in this style). All they’re missing is a few beer mugs, some braided pigtails, and a breast enhancement. I’m not sure if these women are performers in some show or if this is their normal dress? Regardless, I’m really trying to work up the nerve to ask one of them to take a picture with me.
P.S. I went in an H&M for the first time ever today. It was everything I thought it would be and more. I bought two shirts (despite my lack of packing excess) and almost bought a romper. Yes a romper Leslie. Cute romper, good price, but at the end of the day I just didn’t think I could pull it off.
June 30, 2009
Location: Mondsee, Austria
12:30PM local time
No longer care what time it is Texas time
Mondsee is a small town about 30 minutes outside Austria. I am here because it is a stop along The Sound of Music Tour; The wedding scene was filmed inside a chapel here. We made our way up here on a bus with about 40 people drinking Austrian beer and singing along to The Sound of Music soundtrack. I can’t help but think that this is how Rodgers and Hammerstein intended for us to enjoy The Sound of Music. I met a nice couple from California – Emily sings along to every word of every song while Eric drinks a lot of beer. I get the feeling this is kind of how the relationship goes. I have a nice arrangement with them – I take pictures of them that will probably end up on a Christmas card and they take pictures of me acting out Do Re Mi hand signs. We are stopped for lunch now, but I can’t wait to get back on the bus because I think the Do Re Mi song is next in the singalong.
P.S. Our tour guide is one of those typical funny guy tour guides. He asked how I enjoyed the tour so far, I said I loved it, and he said “If you marry an Austrian you can stay.” I think he was trying to hook me up with the bus driver, who seems nice, but is lacking one too many teeth for my taste.
June 30, 2009
Location: Salzburg, Austria
11PM local time
After The Sound of Music Tour, I went to visit Mozart’s Residence (where he lived for seven years in a larger house than his birthplace – his family gave concerts here). One of the cool things about both Mozart houses is that they had live entertainment – people playing Mozart on the instruments in the rooms of the houses. I then did some souvenir shopping and grabbed a latte at Café Bazar (a place our tour guide said would help us to stay up for three days straight).
After the caffeine jolt, I headed over to the world famous Salzburg Marionette Theater for a performance of what I would describe puppets on crack. The show was none other than The Sound of Music (I just couldn’t get enough today). Choreographed marionettes singing and dancing their way through a shortened version of the musical – I couldn’t help but wonder how uncomfortable this would make Reagan (more or less uncomfortable than ordinary musicals? I just don’t know).
P.S. My favorite part of the puppet show was when a dancing platter with legs tap danced onto the stage and the top popped off to reveal an also dancing schnitzel with noodles. Genius, pure genius.
July 4, 2009
Location: Vienna, Austria
11:15PM local time
It’s been a few days since I’ve updated but that’s because I’ve been really busy! This Vienna portion is a group tour with the church choir. The good thing about a group tour is that things are generally planned out for you. The bad thing about a group tour is that you have to wait for an English as a second (or third or fourth) language tour guide to herd 35 slow Americans around a giant city where people in cars don’t really honor American rules like “Pedestrians have the right of way.” So I have found it necessary in some instances to break off from the group and take advantage of my own free time. Much of this free time was spent on a guided bicycle tour through Vienna. It was about three hours, and very informative, but one thing I can definitively say is that Vienna has more horse poop than any city I’ve ever seen. I spent much of the three hours on the bike trying to avoid the horse droppings that seemed to be equally spread horizontally across the entire street. Horses are kind of a big deal here (lots of significance with royalty and such) so there are lots of people dressed in period clothes waiting for some tourists to pay many Euros to jump in their buggy and go for a ride. Thus the horse crap all over the street.
One thing I learned (especially on the bike tour) is that Vienna is definitely a museum city. I’m not huge on museums (one large painting of a former Emperor looks just like another large painting of a former Emperor), so I am content learning the significance and history by staring at the front of the building a few minutes then peddling on to the next tourist attraction. So in Vienna in between rehearsals and concerts I have been catching a few sites here and there, and wandering the streets the rest of the time. Case in point: one of the coolest things I’ve seen anywhere is in front of Town Hall. During the summer there is a huge video screen (probably four stories tall) in front of which they set up chairs/bleacher seating for a couple thousand people and show different operas every night. (It’s like the outdoor movies they show in Dallas times 10 or 15, but with opera). In the park there are also food and drink vendors, each featuring cuisine from a different country. I got some stuff from the Greek stand and some Iranian beef, grabbed a beer, and sat down and enjoyed a bit of opera on the big screen. It was totally cool. Except that I got scolded in German for trying to take food and drink onto the bleachers. I’m always getting in trouble for something over here.
One night I checked my guidebook and found a place recommended for its good Mexican food and margaritas. I had to check that out, so I dragged Sara along and we went in search for Austrian margaritas. We had already eaten, which was a good thing because by the time we got to the place it had turned into a full fledged bar blaring Prince on the speakers with 20-somethings spilling out into the street. We went in and ordered a couple of margaritas (which were surprisingly okay) and socialized with a few locals.
There are several other things I have seen/done while I’ve been here: Belvedere Palace, Royal apartments, Hundterwasser, tour of the opera house, toilet of modern art, opera toilet, and of course, Weinerschnitzle. (See pictures on Facebook). Oh yeah, we did a little singing too. We performed tonight as the final performance of the International Hayden Festival in Vienna’s Konzerthaus. That was pretty cool too.
Backing up a few days – I took a train from Salzburg to Vienna last Wednesday. On the train I sat in the same car as a group of 12 and 13 year olds from Vienna returning from a class field trip. I ended up having a three hour conversation with several of the kids, who had about a million questions for me: “What kind of animals do they have in Texas?” “Do you have brothers and sisters?” “What kind of job do you have?” “Are you on holiday?” “Do you speak any other languages?” “Do you like American football?” “Do you like Rihanna?” “Have you read Twilight?” and so on and so forth for three hours. I’m not sure whether they really cared about the answers to the questions or just wanted to hear me talk in my funny accent. They were awfully giggly about my responses. When I got off the train I, the freak show from Texas, got to meet their moms, dads, brothers, and sisters. It was a fun way to pass three hours, and I was feeling a little charitable since I got to help them somewhat with their English (which was quite good for 12 year olds).
More sightseeing in Vienna tomorrow and Monday, then it’s off to Budapest. Stay tuned – again.
P.S. Leslie – I went to another H&M and found the aforementioned romper, but the smallest size would have swallowed you. Sorry! Maybe in Budapest or Prague…
July 6, 2009
Location: Vienna, Austria
10:15PM local time
On our second to last night in Vienna, the tour company had planned a traditional Viennese dinner for all the festival participants (who all happened to be American). We went to a cute little restaurant and winery and stuffed ourselves. There was also musical entertainment, a guy with a violin and another with an accordion roaming from table to table. This atmosphere, probably with encouragement from the wine, led the Americans into a sing-off. A quartet from Highland Park started with some barbershop stuff, then were answered by the University of Michigan Women’s Glee Club who sang some of their school songs. Of course we had to get in on the action, so someone started The Eyes of Texas. Even the Aggies joined in!!!! It was amazing!
Today was our last day in Vienna and we went away from the city a bit and hit up Eisensctadt (where Haydn lived) then headed to a little town called Rust where we had a Hungarian lunch and walked around the little town, which was winery after winery after winery. Unfortunately they were all closed in the middle of the day (kind of like Spain!) Then we rode a few miles over to the Hungary/Austria border and took some pictures with our passports and the border patrol police before heading back to Vienna.
P.S. Tonight, on our last night in Vienna, Sara and I ate at a Chinese restaurant.
July 7, 2009
Location: Budapest, Hungary
1:50PM local time
The whole train thing from Vienna to Budapest was a mess! I ran into the train station trying to catch a 9:50AM train with only 5 minutes to buy a ticket and board. There was a long line for tickets, so I just assumed I would have to wait two hours for the next train – a pain when you are carrying 6 tons of luggage (2 tons more than when I left Texas – thanks to H&M!) The guy I bought my ticket from 10 minutes later said that the train was delayed and leaving in two minutes, and if I ran I could catch it. So I ran – and I caught it. Except I took the first seat I found when I boarded, only to be kicked out of it by the person who reserved it.
Three hours later I was in Budapest, and since I was already at the train station I decided to go ahead and buy my ticket to Prague. Since I would be taking a night train, I thought I should go ahead and reserve a spot in a sleeper car. So I went to the ticket counter and was told to take a number and wait. I got number 436. Guess what number they were on? 652!!!! I didn’t see 784 people waiting for the agents, so I thought that maybe they do the numbers different or don’t circle all the way through 999 or something. So I waited. And I waited. And about an hour and a half later I got my ticket and reservation. I’m thinking I’m starting to get too old for this whole “backpack across Europe” thing. I don’t remember it being this hard when I was 20.
P.S. I just re-read this and it was boring. Sorry.
July 7, 2009
Location: Budapest, Hungary
6:15PM local time
I’M EATING CHIPS AND SALSA RIGHT NOW!!!!
The last time I ate was about 9AM when I grabbed half a pastry from the hotel as I was running out the door to catch the train. My guidebook recommended an American/Tex-Mex place so I came here, ordered a coke light, chips & salsa (you have to pay for them but they’re cheap!) and fajitas. I must say it’s not bad – the setup is very similar to the US. Fajitas come on sizzling skillet, with flour tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, pico, rice, & beans. The only thing is that the meat isn’t really spicy, even though I ordered the spicy beef. It’s almost teriyaki-ish but I spiced it up with a little salsa. It is definitely an honorable attempt. I think it’s closer to real tex-mex than that crap I got in Michigan the summer I lived there. Bravo, Budapest. Bravo.
I told my waiter I was from Texas and missed tex-mex food. His response was, “You’re from Texas? So is THE MAN!” I must have looked confused (which I was) because he said, “The ONLY man in Texas…Lance Armstrong.” He then reiterated over and over again what a huge fan he was, and I thought he was going to ask me for my autograph when I told him I saw Lance at a Sheryl Crow concert.
All in all, this restaurant is pretty cool. Sure, there’s no Mexican music or strolling mariachi band, but I’m okay eating my teriyaki fajitas to Frank Sinatra and Abba.
Later tonight I’m going to a Hungarian folk concert – traditional Hungarian dance and music. Should be fun!
P.S. My hotel room is super nice (thank Barb!) with a park view. I’m taking full advantage of the marble tub by washing nine days worth of dirty clothes in it.
July 7, 2009
Location: Budapest, Hungary
11:30PM local time
After the Hungarian folk show (which was pretty cool, by the way) I decided to further my Hungarian culture immersion by stopping in a Belgian bar on the river to grab a beer. I ended up with a beer called Belgian Peches, which had a picture of Manneken Pis on the front of the bottle (the famous statue in Brussels of a little boy peeing). It tasted like peach beer. Very refreshing.
P.S. The menu listed all the Belgian beers with an English description. My favorite description was for a beer called Cuvee Des Trolls. The description was half a page long, and ended with the following:
“It is definitely good to be a troll where troll-beer is so delicious. If we take a look in the mirror the following day after drinking it in an excessive way, we can see an interesting creature. A gigantic, or quite the contrary, dwarfish sylvan with a wrinkled face and projecting ears.”
Mmmm….I’ll have that.
July 8, 2009
Location: Budapest, Hungary
10:45PM local time
It has been a LONG day! I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to walk tomorrow. I woke up this morning and walked down to market hall which is kind of like a farmers market with fresh produce and meat. I ate raspberries and bananas for breakfast while browsing the souvenir stalls. Then I headed to meet my bike tour. I was the only one, so I got a private tour (complete with yellow safety vest). I soon found out why bike tours aren’t so popular in Budapest – one part of the ride was straight uphill! It was like three hours of spin class and I thought I was going to die! I did get to see some cool stuff and work off all the Wienerschnitzel from Austria.
Afterwards I could’ve collapsed, but I didn’t want to waste the day so I walked to this cool island park called St. Margaret’s Park, walked around a while, then took a nap in the grass (don’t worry – I’m not the only one that did this!) The people who weren’t napping in the grass were making out. Making out seems to be a very popular Hungarian pastime.
Now I’m at this jazz café eating Goulash (which is really just vegetable beef stew) and listening to some jazz. It’s a good way to end the night!
P.S. I’m having trouble getting the clothes dry that I washed in the tub. I’m making good use of the hairdryer.
July 9, 2009
Location: Somewhere between Budapest and Prague
8:30PM local time
As suspected, I could barely move this morning. I was aching all over from the bike adventure yesterday. So I started the day by getting on a bus. A bus that took me to a really weird place, described as a communist theme park. Basically after communism ended in Hungary in 1990, they took all the statues that had anything to do with communism and moved them out of the city then starting bussing tourists and charging admission to see them. So I rode the bus and paid my 4000 forint (that’s about $20) for the trip. It was strange.
I came back to the city and walked over the Gellert Hotel. Budapest is apparently known for their thermal baths and Gellert Hotel has some very fancy ones. I did not bring my bathing suit on this trip, and I was not about to rent one (which is an option), but I did want to see what they looked like. So I went to the hotel and bought a visitors pass, which basically enabled me to walk up and down the hallway and take a picture through the glass of one pool. Not very exciting at all. But on the way back I found this church built into a cave, so I went in and checked it out, so it wasn’t a completely useless trip.
Probably the highlight of my day was the 30 minute foot massage I got from some Thai Massage place. It was AMAZING and just what my tired feet needed! If they’d taken credit cards, I would have spent more time there. But I was leaving Budapest in a couple of hours and had planned my cash to where I had just enough, so 30 minutes was going to have to be all the pampering I could afford.
It is worth noting that there were two H&Ms within about three blocks of each other near my hotel, but I did not purchase anything at either. I am out of room in my suitcase, and am stuffing small souvenirs I keep buying into any crevice I can find.
Now I am on the train to Prague. They normally shove 6 people into the sleeper cabins, but I am the only one in mine!!!!! Yay!!!!! I thought I was going to be with a bunch of crazy American college students taking advantage of their Eurail pass – you know, me 10 years ago.
P.S. Hungarian souvenir shops had a lot of nesting dolls (hand painted wooden dolls that fit one within another). My favorites were the ones painted like real people – I saw Barack Obama, George Bush, John Kerry (I almost bought that one for my grandma – if only there was room in the suitcase), Madonna, and of course, Michael Jackson.
July 11, 2009
Location: Prague
11:30PM local time
I’ve spent the last two days here trying to figure out what this city is about. I spent much of the day yesterday wandering around to whatever statue or square my guidebook led me to. I did some people watching along the way, I was entertained by street performers (one in particular was a Dixieland Band that would put any New Orleans street band to shame), and found my way into an organ concert in an old church.
Today I spent much of the day in the Prague Castle area. Late in the afternoon I joined a bike tour that went (uphill of course) to some parks and other areas that offered a great view of the city. The company that did the bike your also runs the “Official Pub Crawl of Prague.” Seeing as how drinking is pretty much what you do in Prague, I had every intention of tagging along after the bike tour. I never planned to get sloshed, but I certainly wanted to at least see what happens on the Official Pub Crawl of Prague.
But as I rolled my bike back into the shed I saw a long line of people waiting to pay their 390 Kcs and get their wristband (and free t-shirt!) and I started to have doubts. One girl (who was already half naked) was taking pictures of her cleavage. Another guy with a Mohawk and what appeared to be a Sharpie mustache was telling someone else he had been on the pub crawl the night before and it was “totally rad.” I asked the bike tour guide how many people they usually have and he said that tonight they were expecting about 200. WHAT!?!?!? Ten years ago I could have done this and I would have had a blast. But tonight, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
So I took a 30 minute stroll back to a cute little area we passed on the bike tour, found a Greek café with live music, and ordered an excellent meal with a beer! Around the corner I stopped in a bar/club recommended by my guidebook as an expat scene and had a drink there. I don’t know if there were expats there or not, but the crowd was a little more relatable. Regardless, I was tired, so I had one drink then caught a cab back to the Botel (that’s where I’m staying – it’s a hotel on a boat – thus a Botel). So turns out I did do my version of pubbing and clubbing, I just didn’t have to pay someone to lead me on a crawl.
P.S. One of the many street performers I saw today was singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” No joke – video to follow.
July 12, 2009
Location: Prague
7:45PM local time
Today I wandered around a while and came across this thing called The Brick Project. For about $5 or so you can buy a brick and paint it then they add it to their wall of bricks. The project benefits people with mental disabilities. I can now report that kproc.com (along with the Texas Longhorns) is proudly represented on one of the busiest streets in Prague. Now if only I could get some Czech person to sign my guestbook!
Then I made my way to Vyshyrad – an area that used to be a fortress. I ate some Czech goulash (which I thought was rather tasty) and just kind of Czeched things out (get it? Not checked by Czeched? I can’t really take credit – it’s all over t-shirts here that say “Czech me out!” Hehe). I then headed to New Town where I found an English language bookstore filled with Americans. I got a 500 page book since I have an 8 hour train ride tomorrow, and a 9+ hour flight on Tuesday (supplemented with a 2.5 hour layover in Chicago), so a 500 page book might come in handy. Then I ordered a Coke lite in the coffee shop in the bookstore and listened to some women from California talk about the houses they left behind and how they were really nice houses on a nice piece of land, not like in a place like Dallas where they are built too close together (they really said that – having no clue the person two feet away from them was from Dallas!) I just sipped my diet coke and pretended to read an OK! Magazine while eavesdropping on their convo (yes I just said convo).
Afterwards I went to an English language church service at Prague Christian Fellowship, chatted with a Mexican, an Australian, a couple of Czechs, and a couple of Americans then set out for dinner.
(Pause: The girl sitting next to me just took off her shoes, took a picture of her feet, then laughed – not sure what’s going on there.)
I was planning on heading back to the main square in Old Town and getting a table facing the square so I could do some people watching. When I got here there were all kinds of food and drink tents and a giant stage set up – sooooo apparently there is a jazz festival going on. So I got a grilled sausage on a bun, a beer, and found a curb where I’ve perched myself, listening to some Swedish chick named Josefine Lindstrom perform, while trying not to notice the girl next to me taking pictures of her feet and giggling. Interesting way to end my last day here.
P.S. I just sneezed and giggly photo feet girl said “bless you.” I think she’s American.
July 12, 2009
Location: Prague
10:15PM local time
Moments after writing the last entry, giggly photo feet girl struck up a conversation with me. We ended up talking about two hours on the curb while the jazz played on. It was a very interesting discussion. I thought I was independent and adventuresome but she puts me to shame. She is definitely what you would call a free spirit. Her name is Nicole and she’s a 29 year old bartender from San Francisco. She got to Europe in April by taking a train across the US (which takes 5 days), then a boat across the ocean (11 day trip). Since April she has been jumping from town to town on a Eurail pass, never knowing where she’s going next or how long she will stay. She’s trying to make her budget last until August, but isn’t quite sure how or when she’ll return to the US. She’s done some crazy things while she’s been here – she told a story of how she randomly ended up getting invited to and attending a Moroccan wedding in Antwerp. This girl is like a movie waiting to be made.
P.S. When discussing the different options for traveling across Europe, she said she preferred to travel by train because she smokes pot and it’s much less of a security hassle to go by train. I guess I’ve never really considered the optimal way to transport pot across Europe. I politely declined her offer to get high tonight – then headed back to my botel.
July 13. 2009
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
To be clear, I am not visiting Frankfurt. I merely took a train here today from Prague, and I’m staying at a little hotel near the airport, all for the purpose of catching a plane back home tomorrow. But now that my trip has come to a close, time to reflect.
Two and a half weeks is a long time. I have enjoyed my trip, but am definitely ready to come home. I have decided that this will probably be my last “backpack across Europe” trip. No I did not literally backpack – I took a rolling duffle bag – but I think I’m too old to hop trains from city to city and stay at cheap hotels and try to change cities every three or four days. I managed it this time, but I think next time I’ll stay put in just one (or two places) and splurge a little on the hotel. My hotels in Vienna and Budapest were really nice, and it definitely made a difference. It’s not that the Salzburg and Prague hotels were bad, it’s just that you never really know what you are going to get when you book $50/night rooms. And I personally like to be able to shave my legs in the shower, a task that is difficult when the shower is so small you can’t move without knocking over the shampoo (which sits on the tile floor, by the way, because there is no shelf). I’m okay with my backpacking days coming to an end, because I’ve seen most of the cities I want to see in Europe and no longer feel the need to string three or four or more together when I visit.
So, I know you will all be asking “What city did you like best? Least?” Etc. So here’s my city by city recap.
Salzburg: This was a great place to start off my trip. I really liked the smaller town feel of this place. There were lots of tourists, but it was up in the hills, away from a giant European city, and the culture was fun. I did enjoy the Sound of Music Tour and all the Mozart stuff. I do, however, think that Salzburg (and to some extent Vienna) is made to be visited over Christmas. They make a big deal about Christmas (there were even quite a few Christmas stores open in June) and have great Christmas markets and stuff like that. With the music and the culture, I can see Salzburg being a really great place for that time of year. Sure, it will be cold, but I think it will be worth it. Maybe you can even go skiing!
Vienna: This part of the trip was seven days with a tour group. You’d think there would be some more cultural presence (with all the music history and composers and such) but I saw Vienna as more of a giant European city. I was expecting the charm to be some old town stuck in the 1800s still living off the glory of the old composers, but actually Vienna was more cosmopolitan than I thought it would be. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Uptown in Dallas. The way things were set up and people were lounging around, it was like one giant scene. I did have a great experience though with the choir, singing at the Koncerthaus and participating in some of the group stuff they had planned for the festival participants (traditional dinners, concerts, etc.) But I only got to experience those things because of the festival which was the whole reason we were there. So I think if I had just gone to visit Vienna on vacation I would have been disappointed.
Budapest: I LOVED Budapest! I think this was definitely my favorite place (with Salzburg a close second!) It just seemed different than all the giant European cities I’ve visited. I think because it’s further east in Europe than I’ve ever been, so I could definitely see some Turkish and Russian influence here. The culture was just totally different than the rest of Europe. The people were friendlier (they actually waved you across the street if you were waiting in the crosswalk instead of running you over!), and the atmosphere was lively (interesting street performers and good people watching) but laid back. I just really enjoyed Budapest and am SO GLAD I added it to my itinerary! I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone and I will definitely go back!
Prague: I’ve decided that Prague is the New Orleans of Europe. It’s funny because I bought a guide book, but there’s not a ton of stuff to “See” here (with the exception of the castle area). My guidebook would lead me somewhere, then say “Now look at the statue. A lot of people find the tail of the horse to be a good meeting point.” But there is a lovely town square with lots of cafes and street performers and stuff that was very enjoyable. There was a band playing that New Orleans jazz music and they were probably better than any band like that I’ve seen in New Orleans. Throw in the horse drawn carriages, the souvenir shops, and the drinking and being in Prague is just like being in one giant Bourbon street city. I really should have gone there 10 years ago though. I fear my pub crawling days are behind me, and I think I really would have had a lot of fun if I’d visited Prague when I had the stamina to stay out all night!
All in all, it was a great trip with no real catastrophes. Though I’m not sure how long it will take me to recover! Jet lag, aching feet and legs and back – I’m an old lady! I can’t wait to get back home now to the things I’ve missed the most: good tex-mex, country music, weekends at the lake or by the pool, So You Think You Can Dance, and friends and family!
P.S. I was listening to my Itunes on the train, and when Willie Nelson came on, I got a little tear in my eye!
