London with Grace: Day 1 (21/5)

Welcome to London!

(I don't feel like I'm in London until I see Big Ben)

Here is the last couple hours in Dublin and our first couple hours in London with a few bullets:

1. Left Roebuck Hall for the last time at 4:45 am after packing and cleaning that night.
2. Took cab to airport.
3. Tried desperately to rearrange things in order to avoid fees.
4. The flight was scheduled to leave at 7:55 am but was delayed but we didn't care because as soon as we sat down in the plane we fell asleep.
5. Took train to Victoria Station and took black cab to hostel.
6. Nice hostel worker named David at the Walrus Waterloo Hostel (I would recommend it).
7. Went out to explore London!
8. First went past Westminster to Trafalgar Square, stopping for lunch.
9. Went to see Buckingham Palace and took some pictures of it. A nice lady offered to give us directions.
10. Walked over to Piccadilly Circus.
11. Grace bought a purse made of candy wrappers near Piccadilly Circus.
12. Bought Billy Elliot tickets for tomorrow night (35 GBP each) which was a generous gift from the Wittenberg family who are our neighbors.
13. Headed back to hostel for short nap and to get ready to see Les Miserables (and fulfill a dream of mine).

Rome- Day 4

We woke up with only a few more hours in Rome, so we checked out of the Alessandro Palace Hostel and hit the town. As I have mentioned before, I fell in love with the Trevi Fountain so we walked that direction stopping in souvenir shops on the way (where I got a watercolor print of the Trevi so I wouldn't miss it as much). I actually loved the fountain so much that at dinner the previous night I asked the waiter what the policy was for bathing/swimming in the Trevi. He said that they have close-circuit TV on it but he thought that as long as I didn't damage anything I would only get a slap on the wrist. Tempting...


I also bought some postcards and patches, my staple souvenirs.

After shopping we went to the cutest little restaurant on a side street by the fountain. There we ate lunch in the Mediterranean sunlight as the vespas sped past us. Again, I claimed that I was just going to get bruschetta because I had eaten so much pasta, but the pasta looked too good to resist so I got bruschetta AND pasta. I was carb-loaded my entire time in Italy.

After a lovely lunch we headed back to the hostel to get our bags and then walked to Roma Termini to catch our train to Florence. We bought tickets but had a little difficulty locating our train platform and had to run to catch the train. We did successfully make it on broad and were on our way to Florence, Italy!

Loving my life in Italy

Prague- Day 3

My new favorite city? A view from Prague Castle.

Sorry for the lack of new posts the past few days but Kristina Connolly and Carolyn Wott are here visiting and I have been gallivanting around Ireland with them, but more on that in the future.

Our last day in Prague we woke up and were down for breakfast by 9 o’clock. We then checked out and started our day. Stacy was feeling good enough to leave the room by not quite ready to take the hike up to Prague Castle so she went to the Communist Museum while we started our trek. (Afterwards she went shopping and likes to quip that she did the best of communism and capitalism back-to-back.) Prague Castle overlooks the whole city because it is on a hill above the river and there were some wonderful sights to see when we finally got to the top. It was a long walk uphill and after climbing it we knew that Stacy would not have wanted to climb that way feeling as sick as she did.

Not only were the views great but St. Vitus Cathedral was a sight to see as well; we spent a lot of time getting the perfect picture of us with the cathedral in the background. Unfortunately we could not stay up there very long because we were on a schedule and had to finish everything before our 2:30 train to Vienna.

One of the things that we needed to accomplish was buying the garnet jewelry I had been after since I first read about it in my travel guide. Laura, Brittany, and I had already scoped out some of the jewelry stores and we were ready to start spending Czech crowns.  We went to the first shop we had scoped out and Stevie bought some pieces and Brittany bought a pendent but Laura was keen to go another shop so they are left me while I pondered which pieces liked best. I am a very indecisive shopper and kept going back and forth so after a while of trying to figure it out on my own I decided to leave the store to try and find the others. I could not find then but I succeeded in freaking the sales clerk out which probably helped me with haggling (my new favorite hobby).

After getting back I got down to business of getting the best deal as possible. I had taken out 3000 Czech crowns (about 160 USD) and was not going to spend more than that (and I couldn’t because that was the only Czech currency I had). Once I had picked out three pieces that I was going to give as gifts I picked out a pair of small garnet earrings that I wanted for myself and was at 2880 crowns so naturally I asked how much it would be if I got the bigger earrings that I saw on display. The clerk told me that it would be 3500 Czech but I said that I only had 3000 in cash so I couldn’t do that. She said that the lowest she could go was 3300. At this point I was getting nervous about finding the other girls and catching the train so I told her that I had to try and get a hold of them. She then offered me 3200 but I told her that I couldn’t pay that. I knew that I had here where I wanted her and picked up my phone to try and call them. As soon as I open the phone she says 3000 and I handed the money over. I can attribute part of my success at haggling to the fact that I almost walked away because I was so worried about finding the other girls but I think that my determination to get the most for my money helped as well. I might have also worn her down because it took my about an hour to decide what I wanted. The moral of the story: don’t mess with Claire when it comes to jewelry. Now I hope that every time I wear my new garnet earrings people compliment me so that I can tell them the story of bargaining in Prague.

After paying for the jewelry I was able to locate Stevie who was shopping in Wenceslas Square with some of the other girls. I walked over there and then we all met up at the hostel at 1:30 to check out and head over to the train station, which was very close. Trains are my new favorite way to travel. As I’m writing this I am actually on a train to Dublin from Galway after spending the weekend with Kristina and Carolyn. Who would have thought that the girl who first rode a train alone to the city at age 19 would be riding across Ireland and international borders? Trains are more spacious than buses and the ride is so much smoother. You can also move around a lot, which came in handy when Jen wanted to do lunges down the aisle. One of the people on the train also brought their dog, which did not have leash and was free to roam around the train. Good thing none of us are allergic to dogs.

Travel Warriors

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.