Friday, July 31, 2009
Vienna Part I: Wed, July 22nd
We left super early for Vienna and discovered that the seats on the trains pull out... 3 seats facing 3 seats all pull out and makes a giant bed! The first train from Berlin to Prague, we reserved seats, this time we learned that it's not necessary to reserve seats, in fact the trains are never completely full. If you don't reserve seats, you can almost always find an empty cabin all to yourself, and save the reservation money.
After getting off the train, we made our way to the city center... which was a long, horribly hot and tiring walk. Once we got to the city center and got a map of hostels and hotels, we realized that there weren't many cheap ones that close to the center... so we walked back out. We got off the train at 10 am and didn't find a hotel until 5 pm. We walked through most of the important sites, but both Fay and I were way too hot and tired to notice.
Vienna is a very neat city, nicely shaped foliage and gardens with white grand architecture from the baroque period... very different from the dark gothic architecture that dominated Prague.
There were some very interesting statues and carvings... some of them looked pretty contemporary to me. This one in particular I stood and looked at for a good 10 minutes. It's hard to see in this picture, but each one of the character's faces is full of a different emotion and the entire statue portrays a very vivid story.
There is a famous pastry shop in one of the plazas with a lady made off pastry in the window, it was cute. Sorry for the lack of description of buildings and sites, I just don't really remember them...
Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the massive mosquito attack we endured going out at night leaving all of us with 8-12 bites within 3 minutes, I didn't enjoy Vienna very much. It is also a very expensive city, we got a 70 euro hotel room with only 2 beds (that was the cheapest we can find walking) with a shower but no bathroom in the room. The room seemed like a giant bathroom to me with a shower in the corner and no AC even though it was humid and hot. We were afraid to open the windows at night due to the mosquitos.
Even though today we pretty much walked the entire city, I don't feel very aquanted yet. There were museums and churches and governmental buildings.. but I don't think I can point any of them out by name.
Also, there are advertisments everywhere for classical musical concerts with all the members of the chamber orchestra dressed in "mozart attire" with wigs and all. Mozart-ism is definitely used for tourist attractions in this city.
There are many horse carriages available for tourists as well. At night, a big cleaning vehicle sprays the streets down to clean horse crap, not the best smelling city.
To me, all this wig-wearing, mozart-dressing performances and horse carriage atmosphere makes me feel like I'm not in a real city by a performance... maybe it's the heat that got to me, but the dress up for tourists deal really didn't appeal to me.
Tomorrow is day trip to Salzburg.
After getting off the train, we made our way to the city center... which was a long, horribly hot and tiring walk. Once we got to the city center and got a map of hostels and hotels, we realized that there weren't many cheap ones that close to the center... so we walked back out. We got off the train at 10 am and didn't find a hotel until 5 pm. We walked through most of the important sites, but both Fay and I were way too hot and tired to notice.
Vienna is a very neat city, nicely shaped foliage and gardens with white grand architecture from the baroque period... very different from the dark gothic architecture that dominated Prague.
There were some very interesting statues and carvings... some of them looked pretty contemporary to me. This one in particular I stood and looked at for a good 10 minutes. It's hard to see in this picture, but each one of the character's faces is full of a different emotion and the entire statue portrays a very vivid story.
There is a famous pastry shop in one of the plazas with a lady made off pastry in the window, it was cute. Sorry for the lack of description of buildings and sites, I just don't really remember them...
Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the massive mosquito attack we endured going out at night leaving all of us with 8-12 bites within 3 minutes, I didn't enjoy Vienna very much. It is also a very expensive city, we got a 70 euro hotel room with only 2 beds (that was the cheapest we can find walking) with a shower but no bathroom in the room. The room seemed like a giant bathroom to me with a shower in the corner and no AC even though it was humid and hot. We were afraid to open the windows at night due to the mosquitos.
Even though today we pretty much walked the entire city, I don't feel very aquanted yet. There were museums and churches and governmental buildings.. but I don't think I can point any of them out by name.
Also, there are advertisments everywhere for classical musical concerts with all the members of the chamber orchestra dressed in "mozart attire" with wigs and all. Mozart-ism is definitely used for tourist attractions in this city.
There are many horse carriages available for tourists as well. At night, a big cleaning vehicle sprays the streets down to clean horse crap, not the best smelling city.
To me, all this wig-wearing, mozart-dressing performances and horse carriage atmosphere makes me feel like I'm not in a real city by a performance... maybe it's the heat that got to me, but the dress up for tourists deal really didn't appeal to me.
Tomorrow is day trip to Salzburg.
Praha II: Tesday, July 21st
We got up bright and early and made our way up to the Prague Castle... where we pretty much spent the entire day listing to audio descriptions through the castle. The view from the top of the hill was amazing, I think Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I've visited.
Old town square
Cathedral in Prague Castle
Sausage stand
Ad for communism museum. There were also plagues everywhere and memorials dedicated to "victims of communist party"
Crazy baby statues along the river
View of Prague from Prague Castle
View of Prague from Prague Castle
Praha I: Monday evening, July 20th
We arrived Monday evening in Prague, and walked from the train station about 45 minutes to the old town (we got lost a lot and was kind of disoriented). The first thing on the list was to find a hotel, and after a few tries, we found a cheaper one with three beds for around 60 Euros. After dropping off our belongings, we went out searching for food.
The old town square dates back to the 12th century and is surrounded by beautiful gothic architecture like the Tyn Cathetral and Clock tower and baroque architecture like St. Nicholas Church. In the center is the Jan Hus memorial statue, I believe Jan Hus was burned at the state in the 14th century because of his beliefs... Like other squares in Europe, old town square is surrounded by restaurants and out door dinning and bustling with people at night.
The Prague Castle on the hill over the Valtava River with its glittering lights in the evening looks like the Walt Disney Castle.
Berlin I: Sunday evening, Monday morning, July 19th-20th
Sunday July 19th:
With very little sleep, since we spent an entire Seattle night in Amsterdam, we arrived in Berlin –Tegel, Germany at 4:45 PM, and met my dad who was coming on a flight from Istanbul.
After checking into CityStay Hostel, we went on a walk around the city to look at night scenes and buy train tickets, we followed the river west to Hauptbahnhof. The hostel is conveniently located below the TV tower, and is a very busy place with young people coming and going. There is always people hanging out in the lobby, which has a small bar and courtyard. Very lively atmosphere.
My dad loves taking pictures, so there will be many pictures in these posts that are taken by him.
Monday July 20th:
In the morning, we checked out of the hostel and walked around Mitte before taking the train to Prague in the afternoon.
This is us walking tiredly to the train station...
With very little sleep, since we spent an entire Seattle night in Amsterdam, we arrived in Berlin –Tegel, Germany at 4:45 PM, and met my dad who was coming on a flight from Istanbul.
After checking into CityStay Hostel, we went on a walk around the city to look at night scenes and buy train tickets, we followed the river west to Hauptbahnhof. The hostel is conveniently located below the TV tower, and is a very busy place with young people coming and going. There is always people hanging out in the lobby, which has a small bar and courtyard. Very lively atmosphere.My dad loves taking pictures, so there will be many pictures in these posts that are taken by him.
Monday July 20th:
In the morning, we checked out of the hostel and walked around Mitte before taking the train to Prague in the afternoon.
This is us walking tiredly to the train station...
Amsterdam: Sunday, July 19th
Arrive in Amsterdam – 7:40 AM
For our 7 hour layover, Fay and I took a quick look at the city of Amsterdam. Followed a walking tour suggested by my dad from National Geographic.
The city was definitely not awake yet when we first got there around 8:30, maybe a combination of it being Sunday and early in the morning? The city and its canals were absolutely beautiful, but kind of eerie with only a few cars and a few bikes passing in the streets and nothing open. I really enjoyed the arched bridges over the many canals, the willow trees shading the cobblestone paths alongside the canals, and the old bikes chained up all along the roads. It kind of reminded me of a very large college campus with old grand buildings.
Photography by Fay Lee
I especially liked the bikes, they were all pretty old and beat up looking, rusty with seats tearing off. Some were spray painted fluorescent colors with plastic flours wrapped around the bike baskets. One even had a ripped apart teddy bear dangling from its handle bars… that was kind of creepy. These bikes, where everyone sits straight up on them, reminds me of the bikes in China, where people purposely made their bikes look old and deteriorated to avoid it being stolen.
In general, the early morning city of Amsterdam was very calming… everything appeared simple and sweet.
Photography by Fay Lee
We passed by the Anne Frank house, but the line wrapped around the entire block, so we did not go in. Eventually we made our way to the Van Gogh Museum and spent the afternoon in there.
It’s interesting to see some of Van Gogh’s earlier works of art that’s generally not exhibited. He pretty much decided over night to be an artist, and started painting. His early works were very dark, nothing like the vibrant colorful works most know him for. It took him a good long time before he found “his style,” and this was after studying other artistic styles in various places. Paris seemed to have the greatest effect on his style, his colors gradually lightened, and his strokes of course were greatly influenced by the impressionists. His subject turned from portraying lives of peasants to landscape and flowers. There was also a time where he was very interested in Japanese art, and began to imitate that style. Anyhow, I’ve never studied much of Van Gogh and this museum was very interesting to me, to see his art change from wall to wall each time he discovered a new inspiration or style. Throughout his life, his brother and his brother’s wife supported Van Gogh through many hard times, and Van Gogh himself suffered from mental illnesses that hindered his work. At the end, it was his sister in law that collected his work throughout his life and after his death.
There was also an Avant-Garde 20’s and 60’s exhibition at the museum.
Most of the 20’s art showed artists trying to capture utopia, some were politically charged, and many appeared to be mocking society/government. I enjoyed these. 60’s avant-garde art went over my head. I guess the theme by the 60’s was “absence of meaning,” capturing simple things, playing with space (many were 3-D) and one point that was made very clear by some of the pieces is that art does NOT have to be aesthetically pleasing in any sense. One piece in particular made my sister and I kind of sick… it was labeled “Fat in the corner of a box” or something like that. It was an greasy old gross looking plastic box hung up on the wall with the flaps open twards you… and something that I guess was suppose to look like “fat” or really gross lard in one corner… Many of the other pieces also bewildered me.
After the museum, we grabbed a quick bite to eat (hotdog stand) and took a tram back to the airport for our flight to Berlin.
For our 7 hour layover, Fay and I took a quick look at the city of Amsterdam. Followed a walking tour suggested by my dad from National Geographic.
The city was definitely not awake yet when we first got there around 8:30, maybe a combination of it being Sunday and early in the morning? The city and its canals were absolutely beautiful, but kind of eerie with only a few cars and a few bikes passing in the streets and nothing open. I really enjoyed the arched bridges over the many canals, the willow trees shading the cobblestone paths alongside the canals, and the old bikes chained up all along the roads. It kind of reminded me of a very large college campus with old grand buildings.Photography by Fay Lee
I especially liked the bikes, they were all pretty old and beat up looking, rusty with seats tearing off. Some were spray painted fluorescent colors with plastic flours wrapped around the bike baskets. One even had a ripped apart teddy bear dangling from its handle bars… that was kind of creepy. These bikes, where everyone sits straight up on them, reminds me of the bikes in China, where people purposely made their bikes look old and deteriorated to avoid it being stolen.In general, the early morning city of Amsterdam was very calming… everything appeared simple and sweet.
Photography by Fay Lee
We passed by the Anne Frank house, but the line wrapped around the entire block, so we did not go in. Eventually we made our way to the Van Gogh Museum and spent the afternoon in there.
It’s interesting to see some of Van Gogh’s earlier works of art that’s generally not exhibited. He pretty much decided over night to be an artist, and started painting. His early works were very dark, nothing like the vibrant colorful works most know him for. It took him a good long time before he found “his style,” and this was after studying other artistic styles in various places. Paris seemed to have the greatest effect on his style, his colors gradually lightened, and his strokes of course were greatly influenced by the impressionists. His subject turned from portraying lives of peasants to landscape and flowers. There was also a time where he was very interested in Japanese art, and began to imitate that style. Anyhow, I’ve never studied much of Van Gogh and this museum was very interesting to me, to see his art change from wall to wall each time he discovered a new inspiration or style. Throughout his life, his brother and his brother’s wife supported Van Gogh through many hard times, and Van Gogh himself suffered from mental illnesses that hindered his work. At the end, it was his sister in law that collected his work throughout his life and after his death.
There was also an Avant-Garde 20’s and 60’s exhibition at the museum.
Most of the 20’s art showed artists trying to capture utopia, some were politically charged, and many appeared to be mocking society/government. I enjoyed these. 60’s avant-garde art went over my head. I guess the theme by the 60’s was “absence of meaning,” capturing simple things, playing with space (many were 3-D) and one point that was made very clear by some of the pieces is that art does NOT have to be aesthetically pleasing in any sense. One piece in particular made my sister and I kind of sick… it was labeled “Fat in the corner of a box” or something like that. It was an greasy old gross looking plastic box hung up on the wall with the flaps open twards you… and something that I guess was suppose to look like “fat” or really gross lard in one corner… Many of the other pieces also bewildered me.
After the museum, we grabbed a quick bite to eat (hotdog stand) and took a tram back to the airport for our flight to Berlin.
Saturday, July 18th - flight
Board plane to Europe 12:50 pm, flight duration 9 hours and 45 minutes.
Friday July 17th - Day before leaving for Europe
MCAT 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM – BLAH
Then packed all night for 6 weeks in Europe and 2 weeks in the middle east. The plan is to fly to Berlin with Fay to meet my dad (who will be flying over from his two day Istanbul vacation). We bought a eurorail pass for 4 countries: Czech Republic, Austria, Hungry, Poland, which is good for 5 days of train travel through those countries. After meeting in Berlin and dropping some of my luggage off to store at CityStay hostel, we will be off to our first destination: Prague.
Besides the hostel in Berlin, we have not reserved any hotels. Because we’re going with my dad, this trip will consist mostly of walking. I have not done any research on these countries due to MCAT studying… so we’ll probably end up winging it. Hopefully my little sister has done some reading… but I won’t count on that.
Here’s the itinerary so far:
July 18th-31st
Amsterdam
Berlin
Prague
Vienna
Salzburg
Budapest
Krakow
Warsaw
Back to Berlin
August 1st-3st
Berlin Program
Istanbul excursion…
September 1st-17th (Tentative)
Russ (the bf) will hopefully come join me for a middle east trip! If not, I’ll be traveling alone…
Israel – meet up with Daria and hopefully take her with me…
Syria
Jordan
Lebanon
Egypt
Maybe Greece??? 17 days is not a long time… so we’ll see
Will definitely be working on this itinerary, probably will fly to Israel first, then take off from there.
Then packed all night for 6 weeks in Europe and 2 weeks in the middle east. The plan is to fly to Berlin with Fay to meet my dad (who will be flying over from his two day Istanbul vacation). We bought a eurorail pass for 4 countries: Czech Republic, Austria, Hungry, Poland, which is good for 5 days of train travel through those countries. After meeting in Berlin and dropping some of my luggage off to store at CityStay hostel, we will be off to our first destination: Prague.
Besides the hostel in Berlin, we have not reserved any hotels. Because we’re going with my dad, this trip will consist mostly of walking. I have not done any research on these countries due to MCAT studying… so we’ll probably end up winging it. Hopefully my little sister has done some reading… but I won’t count on that.
Here’s the itinerary so far:
July 18th-31st
Amsterdam
Berlin
Prague
Vienna
Salzburg
Budapest
Krakow
Warsaw
Back to Berlin
August 1st-3st
Berlin Program
Istanbul excursion…
September 1st-17th (Tentative)
Russ (the bf) will hopefully come join me for a middle east trip! If not, I’ll be traveling alone…
Israel – meet up with Daria and hopefully take her with me…
Syria
Jordan
Lebanon
Egypt
Maybe Greece??? 17 days is not a long time… so we’ll see
Will definitely be working on this itinerary, probably will fly to Israel first, then take off from there.
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