02 June 2009

Backpacking Europe Travel Journal: Pt. II

Prague and Salzburg and a bit more of Wien


Tuesday 5 May

Prague here. Oh my goodness, we’ve been here since 6.30 AM, but we weren’t allowed to Czech-in (haha…) until just now, so we’ve been walking all over around town. We haven’t even been to anything major yet, like the Prague castle, but I love it here—it doesn’t matter where you go; the buildings are all beautiful and there are old churches all over the place, and so many lovely old buildings. I like the fact that we end up seeing so much more this way, than what you’re “supposed” to see. We went to this amazing park, and we also saw a tower with naked, faceless babies climbing on it… odd.



I can’t believe we’ve only been out a week. It feels like so long already. Deb’s getting tired of jumping around so we might stay in Austria for a few days and do some day trips from there. Then we go to Yana’s. I can’t wait to see her! Anyway. I love backpacking, because you tend to see more. We’re not driving from airport to hotel and then taking a bus tour of the main points of the city. We’re walking around killing ourselves (excellent.) and eating at little shops, trekking the residential streets with the dog walkers, passing crazy women yelling in [the scariest language probably in the world] at men with giant beards, and then getting completely lost in a beautiful city and stumbling across unexpected wonders. Oh. And that little fruit shop. That’s some of the best fruit I’ve had. Probably cause I haven’t had real food for the last few days.



Man, in Prague, you take your chances with the people… haha. Some of them are super nice, and some are brutally mean. I could skydive here if I wanted to; I just found a brochure about it. That would be cool… skydive in every country or something. OH MY GOSH—How could I forget the most important thing? I FOUND THE WHITE LION. I finally found it! They have them here. They’re so good… Chris might be right, though I hate to admit it. They might actually be better than Kinder Buenos… for sure, actually. The brown one was good, but this one… wow. OK, Prague Castle & old town square!



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Prague boy! We were walking in old town square, and there was this guy sitting against a building playing a recorder for money, and Deb and I both looked at each other and said, “… he’s so American…” and burst out laughing. I mean this guy seriously had to be American, we could just tell. This college-age guy probably thought, “huh, that would be a cool experience… playing on the street for money in Prague…” Awesome.


[Insert: “Prague is just full of regrets…” haha]



6 May 2009


Had to catch a 5.57 train this morning. After staying out really late to visit the Praha castle. And that was really great, by the way. We went after 22.00, and it was basically us and some guards (marching in time). I’m sure that place is way busy during the day, but there was almost no one around that late.

Man I’m tired. I just took a nap on the train… a few things about that. I am the worst and most embarrassing train-sleeper ever. Any kind of sitting position is tragic. No, no, I sleep fine. I just make wild and frantic motions, and it’s just a fact that my mouth wont stay closed. Haha. Also, I have the craziest dreams when I fall asleep on trains… I wish I could explain this one—crazy airplane stuff, flying around corners in a chair and hitting walls, having a kid that ended up being my downfall, in a very Footloose, Nicole Kidman & several other actresses dressed in 80s clothes kind of way. Some kind of graduation & I threw pictures everywhere instead of hats. The man on the plane wanted my passport, and the other guy was supposed to be my friend! But he locked me inside the barbed-wire-encased plant and that’s when the actresses started dancing around like 80’s teen idols. Terrified!


Okay see what I mean? My dreams are CRAZY. Okay, Prague is amazing. I LOVE IT. It’s my favorite place so far. I want to stay so badly for a few more days, but we don’t really have time, and we had reservations on our freakin’ early train. Oh! I remember another part of the dream. Jare and I were on a motorcycle zooming around, including on a schoolbus (down the aisle). Anyway… Praha. Someone once said that it has a way of grabbing you and pulling you in… it’s so true and I don’t want to leave. I need to take another trip, for Berlin and Prague and Amsterdam, with at least a week in the first two. I mean, I’m 20. I don’t have to do everything now. [insert smiley face] I love this. [] Headed back to Vienna. We’re going to stay there for 3 nights and do some day trips. Budapest, Salzburg, Innsbruck to Zurich where we see Yana! Can’t wait.


We’re pretty much crashing for the rest of the day at our hostel in Vienna. We’ve been walking a LOT and we’re soooo tired. Mmmm comfy beds. Sleepy.


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7 May 2009

Happy International Cow Day! Gutten Kuhtag! We made that up… I think it works… haha.


Deb & Laur talking about how they’re amazing at getting back to where they came from (train stations, streets, etc.) “How…?” “We’re awesome. It’s the only solution.”


(Hiking up Untersberg) Bear feet… bare feet?! [that conversation went on for WAY too long]

Today we decided to go to Salzburg instead of Budapest. We saw many cows on the way and wished them a Happy Kuhtag. Salzburg is so beautiful… we didn’t try to see too much. We did what was most important to us first. We took a cable car up the mountain and it was a perfect day… we could see all of Salzburg and more from that spectacular height. Then we decided to hike the rest of the way up the mountain to the peak where there’s a huge cross. It felt great! I got snow all up my pants and shoes. It was an amazing view up there. This other lady was just sitting and reading… what an awesome place to just chill and read. I love Austria.



Oh, we also visited the tricky fountains… heehee! They were amazing, and the deer head spritzed Deb (the best though is the set of dinner seats that have hidden spouts in them—the host would set them off, and the seat of everyone’s pants would be SOAKED… so they all sat there uncomfortably until he left… hahaha). Headed back to Wien, and we’re going to make dinner @ the hostel—which is amazing by the way. Hostel Ruthensteiner: beautifully airy, light rooms, clean…all great. Favorite so far. Oh, I dropped my camera while it was open, and the lens is totally shot. I’m heartbroken. Completely. I miss my baby already. Budapest tomorrow!


those are the seats that shoot you in the pants!!

2 comments:

Devin Hinzo said...

Prague is one of my FAVORITE cities!

elkirkmo said...

I told you about the White Lion.
And Prague is lovely.