CHURCH DIFFERENCES:
Vienna, Austria: Mix of colorful and stone work inside, high ceilings, but main focus is mid-level. Roman influence. Outside was like Prague-ornate and inside had paintings in frames on walls. A mix of influence.
Bratislava, Slovakia: A lot of gold, sculptures and paintings were set in the walls, ornate both inside and out. Many places to pray and worship, bright metals, lots of ceramics-basically large museums.
Budapest, Hungary: A lot of gold, paintings in and on the walls, extremely ornate both inside and out. Bright metals and ceramics, very Italian influence, basically a museum.
Krakow, Poland: Actual paintings inside, not painted on the walls. More colorful, stained glass windows, brighter paint. More stone, marble, metal. Very active churches, not just for show. Had coffins with their most famous, important Christians in the churches.
Prague, Czech: Very medieval. Super high ceilings, long narrow center aisles, couldn't see much without tickets. Outside is super ornate.
Rome, Italy: Massive churches, lots of beautifully sculpted sculptures, churches on every corner. Feels like "the church" which sets precedence for other churches.
CITY SIMILARITY: Had to pay for bathroom everywhere!
CITY DIFFERENCES:
Vienna, Austria: Sketchy by our airbnb, large city-very much like an U.S. city. Roman influence, hard to navigate, monstrous buildings, but had gardens inside the city which were beautiful. By the airbnb, no one seemed to be going to work or in an sort of rush/schedule. When we were inside the city there were more people rushing to subways, lots of tourist.
Bratislava, Slovakia: very small city, felt very Italian. Had open squares, hard to navigate, but cool city walls/inner city walls.
Budapest, Hungary: This was Alex's favorite place. A lot more people than Bratislava, more of a city feel, but couldn't tell if people were going to work or not. Bigger buildings and cities, very busy main streets. Way more sightseeing. Moderate to navigate and it seemed more dirty in the city. Lots of homeless people at the entrance to the subways.
Krakow, Poland: More Eastern European feel than the others, more fair skinned. Large city feel-lots of lights, big signs with store names, safest feel of all the cities, most friendly too. This was Danielle's favorite city!
Prague, Czech: People actually went to work and we could tell here. Looked like they were in a hurry getting somewhere. Very metropolitan-lots of trains/trams/buses/ people getting somewhere. Most English we heard, and most city feel.
Rome, Italy: Such massive, beautiful monuments and ruins everywhere. We had such amazement and curiosity about how it all was made because it so monstrous. Very much crowed, very strict guards/serious restaurant management, lots and lots of make-up and made up women--nicely dressed people all around.
FOOD DIFFERENCES: what we ate
Vienna, Austria: Chicken Schnitzel and interesting salads (cucumbers and carrots sliced and diced in small pieces with 1 leaf of lettuce and cold potatoes in a yellow juice). We also had Burger King and it was much much less greasy. I actually like my chicken sandwich--it was made fresh and didn't taste like grease!
Bratislava, Slovakia: Egg brunch-Alex had a fried egg, chorizo, potatoes and hash browns. Danielle had a spinach omelette with toast and hashbrowns. We also had Subway from Slovakia which tasted the same--subway offered different local subs which we don't have here but besides that it tasted normal.
Budapest, Hungary: Famous sandwich from Bors (stuffed inside what looks like a breadstick, Alex got pork and Danielle chicken). We also had donuts and fig danishes which were delicious. Additionally we bought sandwiches to take on the train with us and we had turkey, breaded spicy chicken, and chicken nugget sandwiches.
Krakow, Poland: The best food!!! We had pierogies, nutella crepe, kielbasa, vegan burger, the crazy meat bread which Alex loved, paczkis, cupcakes....all so goooooood!!!
Prague, Czech: Had two trdelniks (cone shape pretzel/donut thing which was out of this world), one with just almonds and the second with nutella and ice cream. We also had a chicken caeser sandwich from Bageterie Blvd for lunch. For dinner, we had dumplings, stuffed chicken with mushrooms, potato stack, corn on the cob, chicken soup with veggies and string noodles (like the polish restaurant Saga's Old Warsaw in Broadview). We also had a chicken caeser sandwich from Bageterie Blvd.
Rome, Italy: We of course has pizza for lunch-Alex sausage and cheese and Danielle mushroom and cheese. We also had some gelato--vanilla, with cookie pieces, nutalla, and almond flavored gelato. And we couldn't help ourselves so we had pizza for dinner and pasta- this time we had a margherita pizza and traditional fettuccine with a tomato sauce.
HOUSE/APT DIFFERENCES:
Vienna, Austria: Small common areas, large bedrooms, have separate toilet and shower rooms.
Bratislava, Slovakia: Didn't stay overnight so don't know.
Budapest, Hungary: Stayed in hostel, really small/crammed/weird/scary/creepy staircases which had to walk to get to the hostel-it was like a utility staircase.
Krakow, Poland: All rooms are the same size (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom), same creepy staircases leading to apartment room, lots of cement everywhere. Had to have 4 keys to open 5 doors so lots of protection even though we felt pretty safe.
Prague, Czech: Stayed with rich woman so huge everything- living room/kitchen/bedroom. Had 2 floors kind off, the living area was on the first and then within the room we stayed there was a staircase (only accessible by our room though) to the bed--only mattress and TV up there though.
Rome, Italy: Large room, kitchen, hallway, small small bathroom and shower. It was in Trastevere which was off the beaten path for sure-had to take a tram to another bus to get anywhere.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Weather/ Currency exchange rate
Weather while we traveled: Highs Lows
Vienna, Austria: 75 55
Slovakia, Bratislava: 75 55
Budapest, Hungary: 70 50
Krakow, Poland: 68 55
Praque, Czech: 74 60
Rome, Italy: 77 65
London, UK: 60 43
Currency Exchange in each country compared to the $
Austria: $1= .89 Euros
Slovakia: $1= .89 Euros
Hungary: $1= 274.31 Forint
Poland: $1= 3.82 Polish Zloty
Czech Republic: $1= 24.08 Czech Koruna
Italy: $1= .89 Euros
London: $1= .77 Pound
Vienna, Austria: 75 55
Slovakia, Bratislava: 75 55
Budapest, Hungary: 70 50
Krakow, Poland: 68 55
Praque, Czech: 74 60
Rome, Italy: 77 65
London, UK: 60 43
Currency Exchange in each country compared to the $
Austria: $1= .89 Euros
Slovakia: $1= .89 Euros
Hungary: $1= 274.31 Forint
Poland: $1= 3.82 Polish Zloty
Czech Republic: $1= 24.08 Czech Koruna
Italy: $1= .89 Euros
London: $1= .77 Pound
Monday, October 3, 2016
We got up at 7AM and got ready to head out. The wife made us breakfast which was so sweet. There was a ton of food too! She brought us cereal and milk, strawberries, rolls, yogurt, coffee and water, a piece of toast with cheese cooked to the bottom and an over-hard egg cooked inside the middle of the toast with cinnamon in top (Alex says this is a very traditional Asian breakfast dish-his Pop made it for him when he was little).
After this breakfast feast, we called another uber to head to the airport. We said goodbye to the family (dad was leaving for work as we were leaving) as we left. It took about 15 minutes to get to the airport, security was fairly fast (they checked my bag because my liquids were in my cosmetic bag and not out of it). Once we got through, we shopped a bit because we had 7.02 British pounds left over to spend. We went to what looked like a Walgreens/CVS and got some protein bars and nuts which equaled exactly 7.02 Pounds (took me awhile to get so exact and had to ask a random guy who got change at the cash register for 2 Pence so we could buy all of our things which was 7.04 Pounds). Then it was off to the gate.
The plane right took about 8 hours. I watched, "Money Monsters" and they served us dinner. It was pasta with a mushroom sauce, salad, pretzel roll, cheese and crackers, and a cherry crumble crisp.The meal was not as good as the ones on the way there but it was fulfilling. I then watched a second movie, "Miracles from Heaven" and Alex watched "Captain America."
As a snack we were served vanilla ice cream. Then Alex and I played some games and listened to some music.
We had about 2 minutes of really bad turbulence- I started to get really nauseous and very hot so I took off my layers and laid on Alex for a bit--that always makes me feel better!
They served us one more snack before we landed. It was a weird hot grilled cheese sandwich and blueberry danish. Very odd together and they both didn't taste very good, but they did their job to make us a little fuller before we landed. You can tell these were American stewardess because they were more rude the non-american ones and didn't seem to smile very often.
We actually arrived early into CLT. We ate one of our packed snacks as we waited to board for HH. We were so happy to see and hear English!! Since our plane had a delay we decided we would eat dinner at Einstein bagel. We wouldn't being get home for an additional half hour from the delay so eating now was a better choice.
Nan and Pop picked us up from the airport and dropped us at home-we were so happy to see our bed!!
We went to bed early.
What a wonderful honeymoon we had! And guess what? Tomorrow is our 1 month anniversary already! It is amazing to have been able to marry my best friend!
Thank you to all who made it possible to have such a great honeymoon!! Back to the real world tomorrow-at least its a short week getting back into work.
And we didn't know that a hurricane was brewing until going to work the next day and both of our bosses asking what our evacuation plan was. We were totally thrown a curve-ball. I went to work Tues and then was free for the rest of the week. Alex had to work until 1PM on Wednesday and then he was off. There was a mandatory evacuation starting Wednesday at 3 PM. We stayed until Thurs afternoon (we wanted to see how badly it would hit us before we left, in case we could stay) and then, since the hurricane was picking up and not slowing down, we left for Atlanta to stay with Ryan and Xinru.
We ended going to the Georgia State fair, working out by sneaking into their Emory College gym with their id's, going to Stone Mountain and trail walking/hiking, relaxing and watching the news of what was happening to our island. We even grabbed Mello with Krista who just moved there.
I guess we got a little extended honeymoon, who can complain??
We left Atlanta on the following Wednesday morning and heading back to the island (no one was allowed to enter until Tuesday at 3 anyway). Once we got to the island it looked pretty bad. So many trees down, and lots of leaners. So sad for an island so beautiful. We got to our place and it looked fine, we were told water didn't reach us, people were out of power for 4-5 days in our neighborhood, but we had power/water/sewage. We were told to boil water to use it in case pipes were busted and bad water was visible. The minute I turned on the water, milky water came out for about 5 minutes, so we boiled all water for 3 days.
Day by day the island is getting cleaned up, probably will be another 3 months of cleanup for it to get back to somewhat normal looking. The bike paths, going out Thursday for work were impassable, unridable. But after about 1.5 weeks they were back up and usable. What a blessing it was to have no damage (we got a new water heater out of it because I smelled burning plastic one night but that was it for us). And we got an extra week to be together all the time and I wouldn't trade that for anything!!
After this breakfast feast, we called another uber to head to the airport. We said goodbye to the family (dad was leaving for work as we were leaving) as we left. It took about 15 minutes to get to the airport, security was fairly fast (they checked my bag because my liquids were in my cosmetic bag and not out of it). Once we got through, we shopped a bit because we had 7.02 British pounds left over to spend. We went to what looked like a Walgreens/CVS and got some protein bars and nuts which equaled exactly 7.02 Pounds (took me awhile to get so exact and had to ask a random guy who got change at the cash register for 2 Pence so we could buy all of our things which was 7.04 Pounds). Then it was off to the gate.
The plane right took about 8 hours. I watched, "Money Monsters" and they served us dinner. It was pasta with a mushroom sauce, salad, pretzel roll, cheese and crackers, and a cherry crumble crisp.The meal was not as good as the ones on the way there but it was fulfilling. I then watched a second movie, "Miracles from Heaven" and Alex watched "Captain America."
As a snack we were served vanilla ice cream. Then Alex and I played some games and listened to some music.
We had about 2 minutes of really bad turbulence- I started to get really nauseous and very hot so I took off my layers and laid on Alex for a bit--that always makes me feel better!
They served us one more snack before we landed. It was a weird hot grilled cheese sandwich and blueberry danish. Very odd together and they both didn't taste very good, but they did their job to make us a little fuller before we landed. You can tell these were American stewardess because they were more rude the non-american ones and didn't seem to smile very often.
We actually arrived early into CLT. We ate one of our packed snacks as we waited to board for HH. We were so happy to see and hear English!! Since our plane had a delay we decided we would eat dinner at Einstein bagel. We wouldn't being get home for an additional half hour from the delay so eating now was a better choice.
Nan and Pop picked us up from the airport and dropped us at home-we were so happy to see our bed!!
We went to bed early.
What a wonderful honeymoon we had! And guess what? Tomorrow is our 1 month anniversary already! It is amazing to have been able to marry my best friend!
Thank you to all who made it possible to have such a great honeymoon!! Back to the real world tomorrow-at least its a short week getting back into work.
And we didn't know that a hurricane was brewing until going to work the next day and both of our bosses asking what our evacuation plan was. We were totally thrown a curve-ball. I went to work Tues and then was free for the rest of the week. Alex had to work until 1PM on Wednesday and then he was off. There was a mandatory evacuation starting Wednesday at 3 PM. We stayed until Thurs afternoon (we wanted to see how badly it would hit us before we left, in case we could stay) and then, since the hurricane was picking up and not slowing down, we left for Atlanta to stay with Ryan and Xinru.
We ended going to the Georgia State fair, working out by sneaking into their Emory College gym with their id's, going to Stone Mountain and trail walking/hiking, relaxing and watching the news of what was happening to our island. We even grabbed Mello with Krista who just moved there.
I guess we got a little extended honeymoon, who can complain??
We left Atlanta on the following Wednesday morning and heading back to the island (no one was allowed to enter until Tuesday at 3 anyway). Once we got to the island it looked pretty bad. So many trees down, and lots of leaners. So sad for an island so beautiful. We got to our place and it looked fine, we were told water didn't reach us, people were out of power for 4-5 days in our neighborhood, but we had power/water/sewage. We were told to boil water to use it in case pipes were busted and bad water was visible. The minute I turned on the water, milky water came out for about 5 minutes, so we boiled all water for 3 days.
Day by day the island is getting cleaned up, probably will be another 3 months of cleanup for it to get back to somewhat normal looking. The bike paths, going out Thursday for work were impassable, unridable. But after about 1.5 weeks they were back up and usable. What a blessing it was to have no damage (we got a new water heater out of it because I smelled burning plastic one night but that was it for us). And we got an extra week to be together all the time and I wouldn't trade that for anything!!
Sunday, October 2, 2016
We got up and had breakfast--they had waffles (like the small pre-made ones in the bakery aisle) and a huge container of nutella, yogurt, and coffee. We met another girl who was staying in one of the other rentable rooms in this apartment. She was trying to find a flat because she was moving to Rome from Northern Italy. She spoke pretty good English and shared it was difficult to find a good flat because a lot of them look good on the outside but are old on the inside. She told us we could take the airport train which was only 3 stops away by tram to the airport instead of the one we had tickets for.
The tickets to the airport were universal she said and cost the same price, so it didn't matter where we got on the train just had to be going to the airport. This was a relief because it was going to take us an extra hour to get to the specific station on our ticket. Now it would take us only about 15 minutes. We ended up heading to train station after talking to her just because we didn't know if this was true or not, but there was no assistance to ask a question to. We eventually found a work standing at the train we were going to take and she verified we could get on and it would take us to the airport. We got on the next one which was about a 20 min wait. It started to drizzle a bit which was a nuisance but then the train showed up. It was already packed and we had to shove ourselves on with our backpacks. It was very uncomfortable for the first 3-4 stops, no one really getting off and no where to move, all packed in like cattle. The second to last stop (airport being the last stop), more than half the train got off. This was a huge stadium and there was what looked like a comic convention-lots of people dressed as comic characters. One girl painted her skin blue and apparently pulled off a really good Mystique.
Our stop came two stops later and it lead us right into the airport. We were early so we went through security (2 min), customs (5 min) (I think this was the fastest entrance into an airport I have every experienced) and then we walked around the restaurants and shops for a bit. Our flight got moved gates so we had to find the new gate but once we got there we boarded in less than 5 minutes.
The plane ride was only 2 hrs and 5 min to London. We got a drink and our choice of nuts/cookie/or chips. We both chose cookies and they were delicious lemon drop cookies. It was a very smooth flight and the flight attendants (all men with British accents) were funny.
London's airport was huge, we had to take a shuttle to the next terminal which was 15 minutes away.
Once we got to the next terminal we called for an uber to bring us to a restaurant that was closest to the place we were staying. Apparently though, on Sundays because soccer is going on and they are super into soccer, they stop serving food at like 4 or something which was a bummer. We walked next door to the grocery store but it was more like a gas station stop so we didn't really find anything. We spotted a couple hole in the wall grab-n-go restaurants across the street so we figured we would try them. One serving pizza and chicken looked disgusting so we passed that one right up. The next option was Chinese and seemed to be the only other option because the rest were closed already (it was only like 5-530PM). Chinese it was. We got some chicken fried rice and sweet & sour chicken. It was okay, mainly because we were starving, nothing like Cantons though!
After we ate quickly, we walked to our airbnb which was about 15 minutes away. It was a cute Asian family, dad, mom, and 2 young kids. The oldest son (about 5) welcomed us, he ran to the door and flung it open. He kept saying hi hi hi hi, so cute! He decided he would give us a tour of his first floor which was pretty crammed. First the shoe rack (where he said we could leave our shoes) and they had slippers there for us to use (Alex said that's a very Asian thing to do), then to the left the bedroom we would stay in which I think is normally a living room with pull-out leather couch (what we slept on), then their were stairs to their bedrooms I would assume (we didn't go up), and then to the right a bathroom and the kitchen. The parents introduced themselves (the father spoke English, but the mother very very little). They took the little boy who then showed us his little brother, upstairs for a bath and they stayed up stairs for the remainder of the night. We were exhausted so we got ready for bed and laid down. Surprisingly the bed was very comfy. We checked the internet and then went to bed.
London's airport was huge, we had to take a shuttle to the next terminal which was 15 minutes away.
Once we got to the next terminal we called for an uber to bring us to a restaurant that was closest to the place we were staying. Apparently though, on Sundays because soccer is going on and they are super into soccer, they stop serving food at like 4 or something which was a bummer. We walked next door to the grocery store but it was more like a gas station stop so we didn't really find anything. We spotted a couple hole in the wall grab-n-go restaurants across the street so we figured we would try them. One serving pizza and chicken looked disgusting so we passed that one right up. The next option was Chinese and seemed to be the only other option because the rest were closed already (it was only like 5-530PM). Chinese it was. We got some chicken fried rice and sweet & sour chicken. It was okay, mainly because we were starving, nothing like Cantons though!
After we ate quickly, we walked to our airbnb which was about 15 minutes away. It was a cute Asian family, dad, mom, and 2 young kids. The oldest son (about 5) welcomed us, he ran to the door and flung it open. He kept saying hi hi hi hi, so cute! He decided he would give us a tour of his first floor which was pretty crammed. First the shoe rack (where he said we could leave our shoes) and they had slippers there for us to use (Alex said that's a very Asian thing to do), then to the left the bedroom we would stay in which I think is normally a living room with pull-out leather couch (what we slept on), then their were stairs to their bedrooms I would assume (we didn't go up), and then to the right a bathroom and the kitchen. The parents introduced themselves (the father spoke English, but the mother very very little). They took the little boy who then showed us his little brother, upstairs for a bath and they stayed up stairs for the remainder of the night. We were exhausted so we got ready for bed and laid down. Surprisingly the bed was very comfy. We checked the internet and then went to bed.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
I woke up at 1AM feeling very claustrophobic-we were stopped so when we stop the A/C turns off and with 6 people in this tiny room it got warm and now being up I was very aware of it. I have never felt this anxiety before and knew I had to get up to calm down. I tried to just stick my head to the middle of the room and after about 30 minutes I was able to calm myself down. I really wanted Alex to help me but didn't want to wake him since this whole trip he hasn't slept the best. Alex really didn't like European pillows because they are extra flat, basically not a pillow and every place we stayed only had one pillow so I even folded the pillow to make it somewhat comfortable.
It was fairly bumpy the whole trip-lots of tunnels which made my ears pop and hurt from the pressure. I woke up again but this time at 3:30AM and really had to go to the bathroom. Alex came with me because he was up and had to go too. We went to the bathroom closest to our room and apparently it was either locked or someone was taking a really long time. We wait 20 min and then decided to go to another one down in the next train cart. Then it was back to bed until about 8AM. We didn't hear that couple get up or leave which was great and had more room once we were up at 8. We got dressed--neither of us felt rested but at least we slept for hours in chunks. Had breakfast brought to us by the conductor of the our train cart (that took forever since it was only one girl and there were like 8-10 carts of 6 people she had to deliver breakfast to). The breakfast consisted of 2 bread rolls, cherry jam, and either coffee/tea/hot chocolate. The rolls were really tasty and I love cherry so it was yummy! I don't feel it was enough or fulfilling for breakfast but that's all that was given.
The train was also an hour behind by the time we reached Rome. By this time we wanted to find where we were staying. This took a long time because we were given the wrong address by the owner. It took an hour and a half to walk to this place so we were exhausted by the time we got there and we haven't even explore Rome yet.
Rome is fairly moderate to navigate-map is realistic but there are just so many streets that names can't fit on the map.
We got checked in, the owner was a little creepy so we locked our door when we left and then headed into the city. We jumped on the tram and bus (Again no one check tickets like Vienna). We saw so much!!
First was the Colosseum then Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, then lunch at a take-out pizza place (we got pizza at a hole in the wall place with a grandma serving the pizza who didn't speak English at all--we knew we were in a good place then. Alex got sausage and cheese and I got mushroom and cheese--very authentic Italian and it was delicious!). Then it was on to Vatican City with St. Peter's Bascilica, Pantheon, Maria Maggiore Monument which is gigantic. We did so much walking our legs were pretty shot by this point. We stopped for some gelato when it started to sprinkle a bit and we were a little lost so we needed to straighten our our bearings. We got 3 flavors, anilla & nutella, cookie pieces & vanilla, and almond. Soooooo good!! Then we went to dinner (I can get use to this dessert before dinner thing!!). We went to again another hole in the wall that had good ratings on trip advisor and we got the last table in the front of the restaurant (there were only room for maybe 6-7 groups of 2-3 people in the front--very mall and maybe a couple tables in the back-perfect timing for us). We shared a local favorite fettuccine pasta dish with traditional tomato sauce and margherita neopolitana pizza (olive oil, parmesan reggiano, mozzerella, and basil). Yummo!!! It was delicious and served very fast and the best part it only cost us 20 Euro. Woohoo! Everyone working in the restaurant were men. Most of the restaurant customers spoke English so they must get a lot of business from trip advisor.
Then we had to walk back to Colosseum which looked really cool at night and got on our bus to our tram to the apartment. We were wiped!
1st impressions:
-Just massive and quite breath-taking, a beautifully majestic feel, crowded but not packed, smoking of course, people were more put together-dressed very nice, always presenting themselves, lots and lots of make-up, nicer dressed, very serious/stern faces, make you wonder how this place was built because the monuments are monstrous. Rome feels like a naklectic place -mix of ethnicities, and cultures.
Once we got back we showered, in the world's smallest and most ineffective shower, I have ever seen. It was i would say 2 feet by 2 feet and a raised square and then a curtain to make the space even smaller. I think I got more water out of the shower then in it. Anyway we showered and both of us were out!
It was fairly bumpy the whole trip-lots of tunnels which made my ears pop and hurt from the pressure. I woke up again but this time at 3:30AM and really had to go to the bathroom. Alex came with me because he was up and had to go too. We went to the bathroom closest to our room and apparently it was either locked or someone was taking a really long time. We wait 20 min and then decided to go to another one down in the next train cart. Then it was back to bed until about 8AM. We didn't hear that couple get up or leave which was great and had more room once we were up at 8. We got dressed--neither of us felt rested but at least we slept for hours in chunks. Had breakfast brought to us by the conductor of the our train cart (that took forever since it was only one girl and there were like 8-10 carts of 6 people she had to deliver breakfast to). The breakfast consisted of 2 bread rolls, cherry jam, and either coffee/tea/hot chocolate. The rolls were really tasty and I love cherry so it was yummy! I don't feel it was enough or fulfilling for breakfast but that's all that was given.
The train was also an hour behind by the time we reached Rome. By this time we wanted to find where we were staying. This took a long time because we were given the wrong address by the owner. It took an hour and a half to walk to this place so we were exhausted by the time we got there and we haven't even explore Rome yet.
Rome is fairly moderate to navigate-map is realistic but there are just so many streets that names can't fit on the map.
We got checked in, the owner was a little creepy so we locked our door when we left and then headed into the city. We jumped on the tram and bus (Again no one check tickets like Vienna). We saw so much!!
First was the Colosseum then Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, then lunch at a take-out pizza place (we got pizza at a hole in the wall place with a grandma serving the pizza who didn't speak English at all--we knew we were in a good place then. Alex got sausage and cheese and I got mushroom and cheese--very authentic Italian and it was delicious!). Then it was on to Vatican City with St. Peter's Bascilica, Pantheon, Maria Maggiore Monument which is gigantic. We did so much walking our legs were pretty shot by this point. We stopped for some gelato when it started to sprinkle a bit and we were a little lost so we needed to straighten our our bearings. We got 3 flavors, anilla & nutella, cookie pieces & vanilla, and almond. Soooooo good!! Then we went to dinner (I can get use to this dessert before dinner thing!!). We went to again another hole in the wall that had good ratings on trip advisor and we got the last table in the front of the restaurant (there were only room for maybe 6-7 groups of 2-3 people in the front--very mall and maybe a couple tables in the back-perfect timing for us). We shared a local favorite fettuccine pasta dish with traditional tomato sauce and margherita neopolitana pizza (olive oil, parmesan reggiano, mozzerella, and basil). Yummo!!! It was delicious and served very fast and the best part it only cost us 20 Euro. Woohoo! Everyone working in the restaurant were men. Most of the restaurant customers spoke English so they must get a lot of business from trip advisor.
Then we had to walk back to Colosseum which looked really cool at night and got on our bus to our tram to the apartment. We were wiped!
1st impressions:
-Just massive and quite breath-taking, a beautifully majestic feel, crowded but not packed, smoking of course, people were more put together-dressed very nice, always presenting themselves, lots and lots of make-up, nicer dressed, very serious/stern faces, make you wonder how this place was built because the monuments are monstrous. Rome feels like a naklectic place -mix of ethnicities, and cultures.
Once we got back we showered, in the world's smallest and most ineffective shower, I have ever seen. It was i would say 2 feet by 2 feet and a raised square and then a curtain to make the space even smaller. I think I got more water out of the shower then in it. Anyway we showered and both of us were out!
Friday, September 30, 2016
We got up and had breakfast and then were off to the train back to Vienna. The train was 4 hours long. Most of the trains were punctual-they left right on time or a maximum of 2 min late so we made sure we were early every train. We had our snack towards the end of the train ride (apple which we bought at a local market yesterday in Czech) and granola bar (I packed a lot of oatmeal and granola bars for this trip and we only went through half--wanted to be prepared so I guess I over-packed a bit on snacks). We saw lots of open plains on our train ride.
We had lunch in the train station right when we got off because we were pretty hungry. We decided to try Burger King in Vienna and see what the difference would be. Alex got a DB cheeseburger and I got the long chicken sandwich. It was definitely a lot less greasy, tasted much different then American--easier to digest and no stomach ache afterwards
*Toilet paper is vert harsh feeling, its very thin in Europe, hard, and rough and the same is true with their Kleenex here.
We walked around a lot in Vienna, used the subway (since no one checks in Vienna we used it all day for free). We saw the Schoenbrunn Palace and Garden first. It was a ton of land owned by this Royal Family, all sectioned off into different areas where there are water falls, and statues, and trees all aligned, and perfectly flat bushes that look like walls, and a huge hill to climb and look over the city. We climbed it of course and had a marvelous view from the top. We did have our backpacks since we were not staying in Vienna again so that got heavy and annoying as we toured.
It was then off to the city center. We got to relax in some tree shade because the city was very warm after climb. We saw many cathedrals, one being St. Stephen's Cathedral, the historic center, lots of stores/shopping, Parliment. We walked around for a bit and then went to Belvedere which was a nice, but small garden. It had zodiac sign heads of animals which was kinda weird but it was nice to relax on a bench in the garden.
Then it was off to the train station, we had subway in the train station for dinner and boarded our second night train. It would be 14 hours to Rome.
2nd impressions (because we stayed our first night in Vienna at the beginning of our trip).
-Not our favorite city-too many people/too crowded, dirty/crammed, lots of smoking, lots of tourists.
-Felt like an U.S. city
-People were dressed well, people were going places, rushing on subway, and running from train to train
-Outside the city it was more pretty, lots of trees, and parks
We were sharing our room with 4 other people, so it was a 6 bunk room. It was very very tight. We had the bottom bunks so we had a little more room. Two Asian guys were our first roommates. They looked like students and they had the top bunks. One of the guys took his shoes off and wowza his feet smelled so bad. Ewwwww it was gross, I sprayed our shoes with stink killer stuff just to get another smell in the room, it was nasty. After another stop, two older Austrian people join our group. The husband spoke English and the wife knew very little. They were leaving the train at 4:30AM so we let them have the bottom bunks and we took the middle bunks so it was easier to leave in the middle of the night and not disrupt us.
We got ready for bed, there were bathrooms and sinks at both ends of the train cart. We read a little and then we eventually fell asleep. It was nice white noise the sound of the train, but I put my face mask on and earplugs in to get a better nights sleep.
We had lunch in the train station right when we got off because we were pretty hungry. We decided to try Burger King in Vienna and see what the difference would be. Alex got a DB cheeseburger and I got the long chicken sandwich. It was definitely a lot less greasy, tasted much different then American--easier to digest and no stomach ache afterwards
*Toilet paper is vert harsh feeling, its very thin in Europe, hard, and rough and the same is true with their Kleenex here.
We walked around a lot in Vienna, used the subway (since no one checks in Vienna we used it all day for free). We saw the Schoenbrunn Palace and Garden first. It was a ton of land owned by this Royal Family, all sectioned off into different areas where there are water falls, and statues, and trees all aligned, and perfectly flat bushes that look like walls, and a huge hill to climb and look over the city. We climbed it of course and had a marvelous view from the top. We did have our backpacks since we were not staying in Vienna again so that got heavy and annoying as we toured.
It was then off to the city center. We got to relax in some tree shade because the city was very warm after climb. We saw many cathedrals, one being St. Stephen's Cathedral, the historic center, lots of stores/shopping, Parliment. We walked around for a bit and then went to Belvedere which was a nice, but small garden. It had zodiac sign heads of animals which was kinda weird but it was nice to relax on a bench in the garden.
Then it was off to the train station, we had subway in the train station for dinner and boarded our second night train. It would be 14 hours to Rome.
2nd impressions (because we stayed our first night in Vienna at the beginning of our trip).
-Not our favorite city-too many people/too crowded, dirty/crammed, lots of smoking, lots of tourists.
-Felt like an U.S. city
-People were dressed well, people were going places, rushing on subway, and running from train to train
-Outside the city it was more pretty, lots of trees, and parks
We were sharing our room with 4 other people, so it was a 6 bunk room. It was very very tight. We had the bottom bunks so we had a little more room. Two Asian guys were our first roommates. They looked like students and they had the top bunks. One of the guys took his shoes off and wowza his feet smelled so bad. Ewwwww it was gross, I sprayed our shoes with stink killer stuff just to get another smell in the room, it was nasty. After another stop, two older Austrian people join our group. The husband spoke English and the wife knew very little. They were leaving the train at 4:30AM so we let them have the bottom bunks and we took the middle bunks so it was easier to leave in the middle of the night and not disrupt us.
We got ready for bed, there were bathrooms and sinks at both ends of the train cart. We read a little and then we eventually fell asleep. It was nice white noise the sound of the train, but I put my face mask on and earplugs in to get a better nights sleep.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
It was an early arrival so we were up at 6AM. We both slept pretty well. The train conductor responsible for our train cart gave us our tickets back in the morning (they keep them as we travel). We arrived in Prague at 6:35AM.
We had to find the Airbnb which was pretty easy and only 15 min away or so. We met the owners and they welcomed us in even thought it was so early! We needed breakfast still so we went to their kitchen and made some of our oatmeal. It was a couple that lived there and they were getting ready for work, the man left first and then the woman, both very nice. They showed us bedroom which was huge and like half the house. It had a living room in it and the bed was upstairs. We got settled a bit and then were out on the town.
This city was very easy to navigate. This city was very large and people here actually looked like they were going to work. In the other countries, no one seemed to be going to work, no rush, no schedule, they were just living it seemed. We walked down a really large main street that looked a lot like NY streets-not as many people, but some rushing people moving about their day. There were expensive stores and large storefronts. Then we reached the Old Town.-more crammed streets- very Italian-like streets, buildings had huge pointed tops-very medieval feeling. It looked liked we were in the How to Train Your Dragon movie.
We also saw the famous Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Old Town Square.
On our way down from the castle, we kept seeing these dough cones. They seemed to be a cultural must have so we got one. Oh gosh it was delicious and it was called a trdelnik! It is a cake and sweet pastry that is rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with cinnamon sugar and/or almonds and they will fill it with ice cream, nutella, or whip cream and strawberries. We got one with almonds and it was to die for!! You peel it down the cone (check out my fb books and try not to drool). What a fantasic treat---it tastes like a sweet hot preztel almost but much better!
We walked more around the old town square and then had lunch at a sandwich shop called Bageteria Blvd. We kinda just picked because we walked past and after we did it seemed a lot of local ate here. We shared a chicken Caesar sandwich which was good. These sandwiches are made to eat on the go but we decided to grab a table outside for an hour and people watch a bit. People here had bigger builds like Poland, but they were more muscular. Girls and guys were more attractive here as well. Lots of English spoken everywhere. Once we left we were just walking around and these girls from a cookie store asked if wanted to try some samples and heck yes we did! Alex never turns down free samples. They gave us 5 different cookie types to get us to buy them. They girl guiding and selling to us was very nice and knew English of course. Once we said we had to go get local currency and we would be back (which we were not really going to come back), she said they would take Euros or credit cards, but we just kept saying we would come back and then she gave us a nasty look.
We then decided to go back to the apartment to relax for a bit
It really pisses me off that they charge to use the restrooms. We have learned that Starbucks and KFC's have free bathroom because they are American chains so we tend to find and use those. But we go back to our apartments sometimes to go too.
The Airbnb owner had left a local, neighborhood map so after resting for a bit we took that and followed it to a local beautiful park which has this amazing overlook of the city. We sat and reminisced about our trip thus far and cuddled a bit as other couples were doing as well. It was a very nice neighborhood this airbnb place was in and it was a large large house in which we stayed so this woman who owned it had to have had a lot of money and she looked about my age or maybe younger. We wanted another trdelnik so badly so we went to exchange a little more money (a lot of the exchanges are 0% commission which is awesome). This time we got one with ice cream and nutella in it. Wow!!! I crave one now almost everyday because it was that good!! After this before dinner treat, it was off to dinner. The airbnb owner told us about a local Czech cuisine place so we went there and it was only 2-3 blocks from where she lived. It was called Hajshovka. We ordered stuffed chicken with mushrooms that came with a potato stack, and we also ordered dumplings ( I had to get some-they are much denser and drier then what we have in the States but delicious!), and chicken noodle soup. The food was very good. The waitors/resses spoke a little English to at least order. After dinner we left all the Czech money we had (of course we tipped) and walked back to the apartment. We showered and went to bed exhausted!
First impressions:
-Very clean, easy to navigate, still smoking but less, people going places in hurry, very medieval feel in buildings, lots of English, most places will take Euros, this was the closest to feel like being inside a U.S. city.
-I didn't know Czech was called new Bohemia so I guess I am somewhat Czech because I am Bohemian.
We had to find the Airbnb which was pretty easy and only 15 min away or so. We met the owners and they welcomed us in even thought it was so early! We needed breakfast still so we went to their kitchen and made some of our oatmeal. It was a couple that lived there and they were getting ready for work, the man left first and then the woman, both very nice. They showed us bedroom which was huge and like half the house. It had a living room in it and the bed was upstairs. We got settled a bit and then were out on the town.
This city was very easy to navigate. This city was very large and people here actually looked like they were going to work. In the other countries, no one seemed to be going to work, no rush, no schedule, they were just living it seemed. We walked down a really large main street that looked a lot like NY streets-not as many people, but some rushing people moving about their day. There were expensive stores and large storefronts. Then we reached the Old Town.-more crammed streets- very Italian-like streets, buildings had huge pointed tops-very medieval feeling. It looked liked we were in the How to Train Your Dragon movie.
We also saw the famous Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Old Town Square.
On our way down from the castle, we kept seeing these dough cones. They seemed to be a cultural must have so we got one. Oh gosh it was delicious and it was called a trdelnik! It is a cake and sweet pastry that is rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with cinnamon sugar and/or almonds and they will fill it with ice cream, nutella, or whip cream and strawberries. We got one with almonds and it was to die for!! You peel it down the cone (check out my fb books and try not to drool). What a fantasic treat---it tastes like a sweet hot preztel almost but much better!
We walked more around the old town square and then had lunch at a sandwich shop called Bageteria Blvd. We kinda just picked because we walked past and after we did it seemed a lot of local ate here. We shared a chicken Caesar sandwich which was good. These sandwiches are made to eat on the go but we decided to grab a table outside for an hour and people watch a bit. People here had bigger builds like Poland, but they were more muscular. Girls and guys were more attractive here as well. Lots of English spoken everywhere. Once we left we were just walking around and these girls from a cookie store asked if wanted to try some samples and heck yes we did! Alex never turns down free samples. They gave us 5 different cookie types to get us to buy them. They girl guiding and selling to us was very nice and knew English of course. Once we said we had to go get local currency and we would be back (which we were not really going to come back), she said they would take Euros or credit cards, but we just kept saying we would come back and then she gave us a nasty look.
We then decided to go back to the apartment to relax for a bit
It really pisses me off that they charge to use the restrooms. We have learned that Starbucks and KFC's have free bathroom because they are American chains so we tend to find and use those. But we go back to our apartments sometimes to go too.
The Airbnb owner had left a local, neighborhood map so after resting for a bit we took that and followed it to a local beautiful park which has this amazing overlook of the city. We sat and reminisced about our trip thus far and cuddled a bit as other couples were doing as well. It was a very nice neighborhood this airbnb place was in and it was a large large house in which we stayed so this woman who owned it had to have had a lot of money and she looked about my age or maybe younger. We wanted another trdelnik so badly so we went to exchange a little more money (a lot of the exchanges are 0% commission which is awesome). This time we got one with ice cream and nutella in it. Wow!!! I crave one now almost everyday because it was that good!! After this before dinner treat, it was off to dinner. The airbnb owner told us about a local Czech cuisine place so we went there and it was only 2-3 blocks from where she lived. It was called Hajshovka. We ordered stuffed chicken with mushrooms that came with a potato stack, and we also ordered dumplings ( I had to get some-they are much denser and drier then what we have in the States but delicious!), and chicken noodle soup. The food was very good. The waitors/resses spoke a little English to at least order. After dinner we left all the Czech money we had (of course we tipped) and walked back to the apartment. We showered and went to bed exhausted!
First impressions:
-Very clean, easy to navigate, still smoking but less, people going places in hurry, very medieval feel in buildings, lots of English, most places will take Euros, this was the closest to feel like being inside a U.S. city.
-I didn't know Czech was called new Bohemia so I guess I am somewhat Czech because I am Bohemian.
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