Paris- Day 1

Sorry I am a bit behind on my blogging but I just got back from Paris yesterday and am writing this during my European Union class where I am about to give a presentation about the Czech Republic with two other American girls and three Irish boys (Conor, Conor, and Darragh). Also, their brogues are pretty thick and sometimes I have trouble understanding them. Anyway...

Bonjour from Paris!

The only bright side to waking up at 3 am is the thought that you will be in Paris in about 5 hours. That’s what happened on Friday morning when I woke up after 1.5 hours of sleep, brushed my teeth and headed towards the Air Coach with Brittany and Laura. We waited quite a while for the Air Coach but finally got on and were on our way to the airport.

It was kind of crowded when we got there but we got through the check-in desk (where they tried to make Laura pay for bringing her crutches on board) and headed over to security where they patted me down (I always get my luggage searched as well). We made it to the gate and when we boarded the plane Laura got the first row because of her broken foot so we sat next to her with plenty of leg room.

We arrived in Beauvais airport, which has four gates and one baggage claim, and got on the bus that would drive us an hour to Paris. I slept the entire time because I was pretty tired from lack of sleep. Once we arrived in Paris we met up with Stacy, who had gotten into Paris the day before, and ventured to find our hostel.

The hostel was always a little iffy because when Stacy sent them an email to change the reservation they replied “If you want the name of Stacy Curry felt it will straighten.” We still don’t know what that means but it turns out the owner is Korean and only speaks a little English along with French and Korean. She was very nice but we had a scare when we got there and no one opened the door. Someone eventually came and we were shown to our room, but only after we took off our shoes outside the door.

We were running late for the New Europe tour at this point so we hustled along the streets of Paris to find them. Stevie was already on the tour so she was able to direct us where they were headed and we eventually found them. At this point it was a rainy day in Paris and after being up for twelve hours it was dampening our spirits. Laura was a trouper and I have to give her a hand for hobbling around on crutches through the rainy streets of Paris.

Pyramids at the Louvre

The Concord

Apparently the Egyptian government sends a letter every year asking the French to give it back; I'm thinking that's a lost cause.

Our tour guide was Arno and we found out later in the tour that he was a newbie and it was only his third tour. The tour itself was not that interesting but it was still a nice way to see the city. After finishing up at the tour Brittany and Stacy headed over to the Eiffel Tower while Laura and I took a little break in a coffee shop. After resting and drying off we headed to meet them at the Eiffel Tower because the sun had come out. We took some pictures and then headed over to the Champs-Elysee. After looking around a bit we went elsewhere to find a restaurant and ended up eating at Brasserie Bearn, which seemed like somewhat of a local dive, but good food nonetheless. I had the steak au poivre, one of my favorites and also had both French fries and French bread.

After a long day we journeyed back to the Namdemun hostel and journaled a little before heading to bed.  

Prague- Day 1

Onto Prague, my ancestral homeland.

The Wolf Pack woke up at 4:45 am to get ready for the train which was leaving Berlin at 6:30. We got out of the hostel by 5:20 and we stumbled over to the train station. Once we got there we got some food at the food court and every popped a Dramamine to insure that we would sleep during the train ride and be refreshed for our first day in Prague. I slept about three hours and eventually ended up moving to a row of seats of my own to stretch out. When Brittany awoke and saw that I wasn’t sitting next to her she was worried I was kidnapped. It’s nice to know she cares.

View from the train

Trains are really the way to travel and the scenery was gorgeous. Unfortunately our train was an hour and a half late so we really had to hustle to drop our stuff off at the hotel and make the 2 pm walking tour. We did meet up with the tour and our guide, James from Belfast, at Old Town Square just in time to hear the history of Prague. The tour was nice because Prague is the most fairytale city I have ever been in. Every street has so much character and all the buildings literally have faces that look back at you.

Here is the clock in Old Town Square that shows not only the time but the date, moon, stars, zodiac sign, and whether it is night or day. The clock also does a little routine on the hour and a man comes out of the top and blows a trumpet. The designer of the clock was blinded after creating it so that he could never share the secrets of the clock to anyone but he cursed it so that it would not operate for one hundred years, and it didn’t.

Around the edges of the clock are all the names that a Czech boy or girl can be given. Each of these names corresponds with a nameday which is when that boy or girl has to buy drinks for all their friends. Needless to say people don’t broadcast their namedays.

On the other side of the square is the Tyn Church which is simply beautiful and a symbol of Prague. It is also pretty when it is lit up at night. And how blue is that sky?

The Estates Theatre was our next stop because this is where Mozart premiered don Gionvanni and performed The Marriage of Figaro. It is the only theatre left standing that Mozart played in.

Wenceslas Square is a nice and busy part of town and right by our hotel. There is a statue of Good King Wenceslas on a horse in the center that is supposed to come to life when the Czech need him. As you might I have guessed I also sang “Good King Wenceslas” about three thousand times during our stay at Prague. It’s a catchy tune.

The Powder Tower where the gun powder was stored.

This church has a severed arm hanging from the wall for an unknown reason. The common story is that there was this one priest who carried an axe under his robe and one day caught a thief in the church and cut off his arm, then to make him a lesson to others he hung it from the wall. And believe it or not, this is the first of two mummified arms I saw in churches while on vacation.

Franz Kafka was from the Jewish Quarter of Prague and this is a statue commemorating him and his odd dream.

The Jewish Quarter of Prague was meant to be a museum about the Jewish people after they were all exterminated so it was kept in good shape by the Nazis. One of the synagogues is now a memorial where the names of all the Czech Jews who were murdered are written on the walls.

The Rudolfinium is the arts center of Prague and has statues of composers on the top. When the Nazis came through they were told to push off Mendelssohn because he was Jewish but they pushed off Wagner, Hitler’s favorite composer, by mistake. I would not want to be them when Adolf found out.

After the tour we got back in Old Town Square just in time to see the Astronomical Clock chime 5 pm and then headed back to the Musketyr Hotel. Stacy really wasn’t feeling well and Jen called her parents who suggested we find Stacy a doctor. Easier said than done because although my trusty guidebook had a doctor listed the cab driver could not find the clinic. Instead Stacy, accompanied by Brittany and Jen, went to the Prague Hospital, which I understand was quite the adventure. Of course, while they were having this new experience Laura, Stevie, and I were shopping and eating cake; there was no point for all six of us to go to the hospital.

Discussing what to do about Stacy

After Stacy got back to the hotel we had to find somewhere to fill her prescription, like a 24 hour pharmacy. I made it my job to find one, and after receiving no help from the front desk I did. For future reference, pharmacy is “lekarna” in Czech. Jen, Brittany, and I headed to fill the prescription at the 24 hour pharmacy while Laura and Stevie got Stacy some good comfort food at KFC (there are about 12 KCFs in metropolitan Prague.) Taking care of Stacy proved to be a bonding experience for the Wolf Pack and now we know we can handle anything.

Berlin- Day 3: The Tour

An abridged version of Louis's tour

Get ready for a history lesson! Strangely enough one of the most heartbreaking days was also one of my favorites. Germany has somewhat of a tragic history and I am so glad that I got to learn more about it. And I apologize for the length of this post.

On our second day in Berlin we planned to go on the New Europe Tour, which is a 3.5 hour long walking tour that is free but you are encouraged to tip at the end. For anyone visiting Europe and only has a short time in a city this is the best way to see all the major sites and hear the history from people who really know what they are talking about.

Before we hit the tour we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which was very steep at 9.50 euro. It was somewhat interesting because it had stories of a lot of the attempts made to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. Some of these included homemade submarines, chairlifts, aircrafts, not to mention tunneling through or stowing away in the trunk of a car. They also had a US room that had footage of Reagan saying “tear down this wall!”

Brandenburg Gate

At 11 it was time for our New Europe tour so we headed over to the Bradenburg Gate, which it the most recognized structure in Berlin and once divided East and West. Victoria, the goddess of victory, on top of the arch looks directly at the French Embassy in order to remind the French of their many military defeats to the Germans. Our tour guide was Louis from Manchester and he was pretty dreamy with that British dialect and historical knowledge. He knew so much about Germany and the tour was one of the highpoints for my whole ten day long vacation. Here is my abridged version of the tour:

The hotel where Michael Jackson hung his baby off the balcony.

Reichstag-the Parliament building. It was set on fire by Nazi arsons to help cause panic that would bring Hitler to power. Now it has a glass dome at the top so that if the politicians ever forget who they are serving they can just look up.

The Memorial to Murdered Jews- obviously the memorial for Jews killed in Europe during the holocaust. This memorial is located in the middle of the city and is pretty unavoidable, although it is unmarked. Therefore you will probably stumble upon it and not know what it is. The artist says that you can interpret it how you want but Louis interprets the grey columns as a bar graph for the rise of anti-Semitism, starting off just below the surface and then rising to uncontrollable heights during the third Reich. It is also supposed to give an eerie feeling when you walk through it because you cannot really see what is coming at you and the columns tower over you. One error that was made in the construction of it was that they used anti-graffiti paint that was manufactured by the same company who provided the gas for the gas chambers. Oops.

One thing that I found very interesting throughout the day was how open the Germans were about their past and how sorry they were. They don’t want politicians to get out of control so they put the dome on top of the Reichstag so symbolic effect or they don’t want people to forget about what happened when Hitler came to power so they put the Holocaust Memorial right in the center of town, where not only the politicians came see it but also the business district who benefitted from the Holocaust. They also take precautions to make sure it never happens again. For example, if anyone throws up the Nazi salute they are immediately arrested.

The site of Hitler’s bunker. The bunker itself it somewhat collapsed and the government is not reconstructing it so Hitler is not glorified. They also do not want Hitler’s followers to go down there as a pilgrimage or to worship him. It is unmarked except for a small sign showing a map of what lies underneath. It is basically in an apartment complex’s parking lot.

We then walked to the building that used to be Nazi Headquarters. The name is scratched off because after the second World War they tried to cover up the Nazi aspects but that eventually came impossible.

As you can see, it's a lot of fun in East Berlin!

The Current Finance Building- before being the finance building it was both German Military Headquarters and Soviet Headquarters. On the side of the building is a mural of Soviet propaganda showing how great it is to be Communist. In front of this mural on the ground is a picture of the people of the June 17, 1953 demonstration who were killed. This mirrors the idealic scenes shown in the mural to the reality of the time.

The building is thought to not have been destroyed in WWII because it could have been a landmark for pilots or because they British didn’t want to bomb the German Military Headquarters because they thought the Germans might get upset and bomb them in return.

The Berlin Wall- remaining parts of the Berlin Wall. Louis explained all the obstacles facing someone who wanted to go to West Berlin, the least of which was the wall. You did not get to the wall until you went through snippers, machine guns, dogs, landmines, and the electric fence. It’s very tragic that people who want a better life couldn’t go get one.

The owners of this land were killed in Auschwitz and there is currently a legal battle going on to decide who it belongs to. On one of the concrete walls in the plot there was graffiti that said “Bring back the Wall.” Approximately 12% of the people of Berlin want the wall back. East Berlin still isn’t up to the economic strength of West Berlin (it is 25% poorer) and unemployment is at 14% for the country.

After a break for lunch Louis talked to us a little about the history of Berlin and explained that the Bear is the symbol for Berlin but no one really knows why. Jen tried to keep warm during this conversation by doing all sorts of aerobics but I don’t think it helped a lot.

French and Dutch Churches- these churches were built as a place for refugees to come worship. The Dutch church is slightly higher than the French Church. I starting to think that they Germans think they are better than the French.

Book Burning Memorial- here at the university in Berlin thousands of books by Jewish and homosexual writers were bruned after the students heard a speech by Nazis. Now there is a memorial in its place which is a window down to show many empty bookcases. They also have the famous quote by Heinrich Heine which says “Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people." Hauntingly true.

Now the students of the university sell books outside everyday as atonement for what the students before them did. Another example of the remorse that they German people feel. Einstein also went to this university for undergrad but was kicked out for his “dirty Jew physics.” He showed them.

Memorial for Wartime and Tyranny- memorial under which both soldiers and victims from both Nazi and communist Germany are buried. This obviously causes a lot of controversy but soldiers are looked at as victims too. The statue on the inside is that of a mother holding a dying child. The sculptor who created this lost her whole family that the statue represents the helplessness she felt.

The Berliner Dome- giant protestant church in Berlin. Anti-communist meetings were held here in secret. Here Louis also explained to us how the Berlin Wall fell and the role David Hasselhoff played in it.

Alexander Platz- salute to the glory of Socialism. This TV tower is the second tallest in Europe and was built for the 20th anniversary of Communism in Germany. When the sun hits it, however, the light forms a cross that is called The Pope’s Revenge.

And so concludes the tour if you are still reading. I know it was long but it was so interesting!