Vienna, Austria

*Update*

(It has been a month since Sally and I last posted on this blog. During this time, we have finished our amazing trip in Europe and arrived safely back in America. We’ve been rather busy the past few weeks visiting family and working out logistics of life in America. We are also in the process of starting new jobs with AmeriCorps in Birmingham. All of these exciting things will be documented in this blog, as well as the transition back into life in America, but for now I will pick up the story where we left off in central Europe.)

After three days in Prague, Sally and I traveled by train to our next city destination, Vienna, Austria. This time we made sure to spend a few euros on securing seat reservations in the train and were able to travel comfortably without losing our seats to anyone else.

St. Stephen's Cathedral 

We arrived in the cultural city of Vienna on the 8^th of August. Vienna has a well-functioning metro system that we used to find our hostel which was on a different side of the city from the train station. Our first evening was more laid back, and we enjoyed a nice experience at a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner.

We started our first full day in Vienna by traveling to the city center and visiting the iconic St. Stephan’s Cathedral which started construction in 1137A.D.  Sally and I climbed 370 steps of the South Tower to view the city and historic square.

We then walked a short distance to the house of Mozart where the famous composer spent the most stable three years of his traveling life. We returned to the Cathedral to take a tour of the catacombs. Some underground vaults were filled with bones of plague victims that had died 500 years ago.

Mozart's House

This day ended up being a day of Mozart, because in the evening we went to a nice classical music concert at the House of Music Museum. The musicians included a double bass, a piano, a viola, a cello, and two violins, so many of the pieces we heard were played with some of the original instrumentation. A number of pieces of opera were also played with signers who illustrated the power of the human voice in the small theater.

Late in the evening, we made our way to a Mozart’s café where we enjoyed traditional Viennese dumplings.

The next day we traveled to the south-western side of the city to visit the massive Schonbrunn Palace. The palace was built in the 1740s during the reign of Maria Theresa, mother of Maria Antoinette. It is elegant and enormous. Sally and I spent an entire day touring through the massive gardens and taking a self-guided tour through 40 of the most elaborately decorated rooms I have ever seen. The shear wealth of the former Austrian monarchy is awe-inspiring.

Top--Sally at the Privy Garden, Middle--View of the palace from the Privy Garden, Bottom--Sally in the center of the largest hedge maze in the palace gardens...yes there was more than one. 

After spending most of day at the palace, we traveled into the city and ate at the historical Café Sperl which was a favorite for the Archduke Ferdinand. We dined on a selection of sausages and schnitzel. After dinner, we returned to the House of Music Museum and toured the interactive displays.

Top--Sally standing before the beautiful Glorriette on the palace grounds, Bottom--picture of the rear of the palace

 Our third day in Vienna we spent at the Prater which boasts being the oldest amusement park in the world. The Giant Ferris Wheel in addition to being historically famous also makes an appearance in the Orsen Welles’ classic “The Third Man.” Sally and I enjoyed getting to spend a day at an amusement park.

Prater, Photo credit: http://esctoday.com/102308/discover-vienna-the-prater-and-the-giant-ferris-wheel/

We concluded our day with a free video concert of Lang Lang on the piano. The concert took place in front of the Austrian Parliament building as part of a summer concert series where it is possible to enjoy the music of the most amazing musicians in a nice summer atmosphere with plenty of food vendors.

Sally and I both really enjoyed Vienna and realize that we will have to return. There are many things we didn’t get to do and a number of things we couldn’t afford to do, but it is an amazing city. I have drawn comparisons between Vienna and New Orleans, because it seems like the city embraces its rich musical history and culture. Every night in Vienna 12,000 people are attending musical performances at various historical venues.  

The next day, we left Vienna and continued our journey to visit the beautiful country of Hungary.

~Caleb     

Prague

Sally and I left Dresden and headed to Prague via train for a three day stay. The trains at this time in Europe are quite crowded and half way through our ride someone who had reserved seats took ours and we ended up standing in the back with our luggage. This is not too surprising since the Eurail passes we have don’t cover seat reservations, but in the future we will pay the small additional fee to make sure we have a seat.

On our first full day in Prague, Sally and I explored the enormous Prague Castle which is the largest castle complex in the world. In the center of the castle lies the amazing St. Vitus Cathedral which started construction in 1344. Other parts of the castle date back to the 9^th century. On the western side of the church is a tower with about 270 steps up a spiral flight to a grand vista of the city.

Inside the Prague Castle in front of St. Vitus

View of the Prague Castle from Tower of St. Vitus

Inside St. Vitus

Our Lady before Tyn

Since our tickets were good for two days, Sally and I left the Castle around mid-day and made our way into old town via the St. Charles Bridge which started construction in 1357. Once in old town we saw the Renaissance era astronomical clock which is the oldest working clock in the world from 1410. In addition to time, it also plots the positions of the sun and the moon. We then visited the iconic Church of Our Lady before Tyn with its awe-inspiring Gothic towers.

On the second day of our trip, we revisited the Prague castle in the morning and went to Petrin Park which covers a hill near the Castle. The Park was beautiful with great vistas of the city. The lower slopes of the hill are covered in fruit trees that were overflowing with various ripe fruit. This day also took us back through the Old Town district via Kempa Island, “the Venice of Prague.”

In the Prague Castle Park, the castle is behind me.

Petrin Park among the fruit trees, Below left: outside the Vitus Cathedral, Below right: on the Charles Bridge

The third day of our trip, we visited the Charles Bridge one last time before seeing the innovative architecture of “The Dancing House.” We then rented a row boat for an hour and went out into the beautiful Vltava river.

Sally in a boat in front of the St. Charles Bridge

Open Faced Sandwiches

Prague was an amazing city to visit with lots of unique history. During our time there we relied heavily on the metro system which was cheap and easy to us. We also experienced a lot of amazing foods. Czech Republic or Czechia does meat and beer really well. We sampled all sorts of traditional meat dishes including meat loaf and goulash. The beer was really incredible everywhere we went. It was like the entire city had fresh beer and knew how to serve it to yield the best flavor. I enjoyed some of the most refreshing beer of my life in Prague. Our favorite dessert in Prague was a funnel of warm sweet dough with ice cream or chocolate in side.

One downside to this great city was that during the time we visited it felt like half the world was also visiting Prague. Sally and I were often overwhelmed by the sheer mass of people that seemed to crowd and constipate the city. It didn’t help that Prague Castle is the most visited attraction in the country. After two years in the most sparsely populated country in the world, it was quite tiring for us to be around the crowds of Prague. Part of the reason the city was so crowded was because the old streets are narrow and people are compressed into a relatively small area of historical significance. Other cities that we have visited in Europe seem less crowded because they are more spread out.

After three days of adventure in Prague, Sally and I were ready to head to our next destination, the cultural Vienna.

~Caleb 

Dresden, Germany

The Frauenkirche and Martin Luther statue

Dresden was one of the destinations I was most looking forward to on this trip for three reasons: it's the smallest city on our travels (population just over half a million), it would be a new city in Germany for me, and we had an excursion planned to the Swiss Saxony National Park.

The summer palace in the Grosser Garten

Due to time restraints and the smaller size of Dresden, we only scheduled two full days there, including the excursion. We have not been wasting time on our travel days though. We arrived in the afternoon, settled into our hostel, and went out to explore. The only real highlight the first day was the Grosser Garten, where we wandered around the park, took pictures with the Sommerpalais, and found a geocache. In the evening, we ate döner kebabs, a Turkish food that Germany has embraced, and we enjoyed a cocktail in the rooftop terrace of our hostel overlooking the city.

Exploring the park... TREES!!!

The first full day there was the real day in Dresden. Our first stop was the famous Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) which was destroyed during WWII, then rebuilt 50 years later and reopened in 2005. Afterwards, we located the tourist office where we had bought our Swiss Saxony excursion tickets online to ask about the meeting point. It took some searching, but eventually we found the office, checked in with the lady, and everything seemed good to go, even though everyone besides her was on vacation - in the middle of tourist season.

Inside the Frauenkirche

Then we moseyed about the Brühl's Terrace, nicknamed the "Balcony of Europe," which runs alongside the Elbe River. This terrace eventually led us to the Procession of Princes, which according to Wikipedia is the largest porcelain artwork in the world. It depicts portraits of Saxon kings, dukes, and other high ranking officials from 1127 - 1904. 

We stopped briefly at the Dresden Cathedral and the Zwinger Palace before delving into the museum exhibits at the Dresden Castle. This was one of the best museums I've ever visited, and I highly recommend it if visiting Dresden. While here, we also climbed the clock tower to have a nice view of the historic district. 

By this time, it was around 3pm, so we made our way to Cafe Sperling for lunch, after which we took our tired feet to another park to laze about before heading back to the hostel to wash clothes and hang out on the rooftop terrace.

Panorama of the Procession of Princes

It rained that day. too.

The next day was the day I had been waiting for - the tour to Swiss Saxony Park. Scheduled for 10:00am at the meeting point, we arrived at about 9:40. We stood around for a while until a tour guide with a hop-on, hop-off bus company thought we looked lost. We told him about our tour. It was his tour company that provided that tour, he said, but the bus left at 9:30. He called someone. He apologized. He was helpful and sincere. Crap. Disheartened, we returned to the tour office where we had purchased the tickets. No one was there. We went to talk to another tourist info place. That was the only trip to the park today, they said. We went to a cafe to collect ourselves. Caleb returned to the initial tour place and was able to meet with someone and request a refund. 

The ferry

Why can't we just go? It's on the S-Bahn line. Our Eurail tickets cover all travel on the S-Bahn trains. Okay. Let's go. So we went on our own. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. We ate glorious salads in a restaurant in a little town near the border of the Czech Republic, then realized to make the hike to the Bastei bridge, we were on the wrong S-Bahn stop. So we went back to the right stop (ferry, S-bahn, ferry) and had plenty of time to enjoy the walk in the woods up to the Bastei bridge. The bridge itself wasn't as big as I had expected, but the whole experience of being there was amazing with some incredible views of the German countryside. 

The Bastei Bridge

A view from the top

We ate schnitzel and wurst in the little Germany town at the base of the Bastei before hopping on the S-Bahn to go back to the hostel. A train attendant asked for our Eurail tickets and was pretty insistent that we fill in some information about our travels that we knew we didn't need to fill in. I held my own arguing with her in German, and eventually, she gave up. Victory! 

Even though we didn't spend too much time in Dresden, Caleb and I both felt that there was a strong sense of community and family. It felt like a lovely city with acceptance for all types of people, and it was a pleasant and beautiful place to visit. Next stop, Prague!

Sally

Waiting for our train to Prague

Berlin—A Multi-Cultural Extravaganza

The next morning after a long day of flight and a magical first evening, Sally and I awoke at the early hour of 6AM (a side-effect of our slight jet-lag) and continued our adventure. My first task of the day involved going to a nearby Aldi’s and getting food for our breakfasts during our stay in Berlin. Going to Aldi’s was amazing! Not only were the prices affordable, but the selection of food was amazing with more variety in cheese than I had seen in two years.

TV Tower

This was my first time in Berlin, and I have to say it is a beautiful and amazing city. There is such an emphasis on parks and bikes throughout the city, and this time of the year everything is a deep green that reminds me of home. All of the streets and walls have spray painted tags and artwork, and the people seem to value freedom of expression. Sally and I have seen people dressed (or undressed) in all sorts of fashions.

Doner kabob

Tiergarten

Brandenburg Gate

In the middle of our first full day in Berlin, we experienced an extravaganza of multi-cultural celebrations. We had just been to the top of the iconic TV Tower and were walking past the Berlin Cathedral on our way to the famous Brandenburg Gate, when we found ourselves in the midst of a Hindi celebration. Hundreds of people danced to the rhythmic chant of a lead priest who sang out the names of various Hindi deities. We watched this for a little bit before continuing our walk only to discover a street performer who was delicately rolling crystal balls over the tips of his fingers, shoulders, and head. A little further down the road, we were suddenly herded into an open air street market of various foods and artesian vendors. When we arrived at the Brandenburg Gate with its dedication to victory, we passed through it only to discover a tight rope walker who was just falling into a net. Then we crossed the street into the scenic Tier Garten and were immersed in the quiet of a forest. In no other city have I experienced such celebration of varieties of culture. Berlin is the kind of city that you read about in a fantasy novel (a city in which the author tries to convey a sense of raw personality and culture), but I’ve never really thought these kinds of cities existed until now.

Victory Column 

Bellevue Palace

Sally in a throne at our first Berlin Restaurant 

Yet, within the lively atmosphere, there is still the reconciliation of past with present. Memorials and monuments to the war commemorate those lost and remind us of atrocities that can never be repeated. Even more recent in the history is the Wall that separated the east from the west during the cold war. To an outsider, the lively artwork that dots every spare space and wall of the city is an outcry against the past. People in Berlin are intimately aware of the damage and pain that occurs when a wall is erected.

Above: Checkpoint Charlie, Right and Below:Jewish Memorial 

So as my first European city, Berlin has been amazing! Rather than explain everything we did and ate, I’ll just list our activities for the past few days.

East Side Gallery

Things We Did and Saw in Berlin:

1.      TV Tower

2.      St. Mary’s Cathedral

3.      St. Hedwig’s Cathedral

4.      Brandenburg Gate

5.      Tier Garten—Large park west of the Brandenburg Gate

6.      Victory Column—Erected with Brandenburg Gate to celebrate Germany becoming a nation in the 19^th century.

7.      Bellevue Palace—located in Tiergarten, residence of German Prime Minister

8.      Topography of Terror—Memorial wall with the history of the rise and fall of Nazi power.

9.      Checkpoint Charlie—iconic allies checkpoint station during the Cold War

10.  Palace of Tears—Building where Germans trying to travel to West Germany were processed by Soviet customs.

11.  Jewish Memorial

12.  Magicum—Museum of Magic and a magic show

13.  Alte Liebe Restaurant

14.  East Side Gallery—longest stretch to the wall still standing that displays artwork dedicated to peace.

Things We Ate:

1.      Doner kabobs—Berlin street food, like a gyro, but better

2.      Currywurst—Berlin street food, a thick sausage covered in a sweet curry sauce

3.      Pork knuckles—whole knuckles of a pig boiled to perfection on a bed of sauerkraut

4.      Stuffed egg topped with herring—not a favorite

5.      Bavarian cheese meat—more of light meat loaf without cheese

6.      Schnitzel—breaded pan fried meat

7.      Lots of ice cream

8.      Various German beers

Dinner at Alte Liebe in a boat on a peaceful lake in the outskirts of the city

More adventures coming soon!!

~Caleb