Prague Finals Week

It's finally getting to that time--people are starting to talk about packing up, finals are coming to an end, and people are panicing about how they didn't do everything they planned to in Prague (mainly me). I haven't been the best about blogging consistently through out the semester, so I'm excited to use the week I get home before my internship to finish up all the blog posts I've been meaning to write. It may kinda ruin the point of keeping my parents updated, but there's so many things that I want to write down and remember.

Just a quick recap of some past blog posts:

Praha posts (also known as the most I have left to write):
First Week here
Prague Castle
Czech Republic trip to Kunta Hora
Scott in Prague

Weekend Trips:
Copenhagen
Krakow
Brussels
Budapest
Paris
Berlin/Dresden
Austria
Rome/Sorrento
Copenhagen II

I leave Prague next Friday, but I travel to Croatia from Saturday to Wednesday. While this is most people's last week, I'm not exactly ready to write my "last week" post quite yet. I have to say a few important goodbyes on Friday, but I don't think it will feel like I'm really leaving until I come back to an empty apartment next Wednesday and start packing all my things. For now, I'm going to keep going in blissful ignorance about how little time I have left in Europe.

Instead I'll talk about Prague Spring--I have never been happier to see sunshine, green trees, and warm temperatures (high 60's makes me sweat now, but we've even had days in the 70s). Prague is beautiful in the winter, but Prague in the spring is unreal. People are happier, the city has green parks and trees everywhere, and there's nothing like the absence of a winter coat and winter coat envy (where you stare at everyone hanging out in the puffy jackets with hatred and jealousness). Life is just better. Just to be clear, my charm with Prague winter and snow lasted much longer than most people, but by April it was time for a new season. Here's a quick recap of some of my favorite memories from my favorite season in Prague.

My new favorite Prague memory and warm weather activity is paddle boating on the Vltava River. You can rent the boats for a cheap price (around 70 crowns) and it's beautiful views of Prague. Plus the open container law doesn't exist on the river either, so going after class with a bottle of wine was the perfect afternoon.

The night before May is a celebration in the Czech Republic is called Burning of the Witches. All across the CR people light bonfires to get rid of the witches and begin spring. In Prague, there is a big bonfire in Kampa park with live music and drink and food vendors. I had a 4:30 am wake up call to get to the airport the next morning, so my roommate and I only went for half an hour to check it out. It was very Czech and upbeat, and some people were really into the whole dressing up as witches and dancing around the fire part.

The beer gardens have been the perfect spring addition. They're in beautiful gardens and parks, and always have a good food (the one near my school has the best grilled vegetables). The best trip was when the table next to us brought their puppy and it came over to visit a few times.

For my friend's 22nd birthday, we went to the Jazz Dock to hear a concert. It was my first time there, and it was a really interesting laid back night.

Finally, the last big event was the Imagine Dragons concert at Sasazu. I first bought the ticket in early January, and it was crazy to me that the concert was finally there. I've been listening to them all semester, and had a ton of fun at the concert. Plus, it helped me check off a club that has been on my to do list!

The Dude Comes to Praha

This past week Scott spent his last spring break (I know, I'm jealous he has multiple spring breaks). From picking him up to the airport on Monday night to 5 am Saturday morning, I couldn't have asked for a better week in Prague. It was the prettiest week we've had all semester too--with Thursday even getting up to 70 degrees--so it was perfect weather and perfect company.

A quick list of the highlights from Scott's visit:

Sparta Praha soccer game: This was a big one on my Prague bucket list, and it ended up being the perfect date night. It started out great when I realized that the tram took us directly from my apartment to the stadium (my apartment is usually very out of the way so this was definitely beginning on a good note). We bought some tickets and grabbed a quick dinner of kolbasas and beer. While the stadium was relatively empty, it was really fun to watch the crazy devoted fans in one of the sections. They never stopped shouting and making noise and I can't even imagine how crazy big games could get. Sparta ended up winning (and I ended up buying to Sparta Praha scarfs that every fan was wearing), and I'm so happy Scott and I went.

Beer garden by Vysherad: The great weather completely turned Prague into another city. Beer gardens are starting to open, and Scott and I went to our first one right by our school. The beer was really cheap and the food looked good even though we were holding out for Thai later. The garden overlooks most of Prague and it was fun to go when it was so crowded and nice out. I'm already counting down til the next sunny day to go back.

Sunny day: Technically not an activity, but I forgot how much I love the sun. And eating ice cream along the Vlatava River with Scott. 70 degrees and sunny makes me forget about the snow that lasted all March.

Prague Zoo: This was another big outing on my to do list. Scott and I ended up spending a few hours there on Friday looking around. Compared to the San Diego zoo it was pretty small, but you were able to get close to the animals and nearly every exhibit had a baby something which was enough to make me extremely happy. The best exhibit was the gorillas where there was a newborn and toddler (?) gorrilla. We went around 1 and witnessed the toddler have a full on tantrum while the food was being prepared which was pretty funny. I forgot how human gorillas actually are. Second best was definitely the elephants.

Love Lock Bridge: No Scott and Julia trip is complete without a trip to the love lock bridge. Prague's is so small that it is nearly impossible to fit a lock on it, but we made sure to leave ours. We decided to do the key throwing over the Charles Bridge instead to be a little more dramatic.

Other highlights include going out to the club Retro on Wednesday, having a beer on top of the dancing house, and coming back to the apartment from class knowing Scott was there. Saturday came way too soon, but I'm so happy I have one last trip to Copenhagen to look forward to.

Berlin and Dresden, Germany

Last weekend I went on my programs option trip to Berlin. Our trip started early Friday morning when we left Prague at 7:15 on Friday to drive to Berlin. Our first activity was a quick guided tour of Berlin. We saw some important buildings, memorials, and historical sites. I was actually surprised when I first saw Berlin. It was under a lot of construction and not nearly as strikingly beautiful as most major European cities are. It was complete with huge cranes and water pipes coming out of the ground. Some of the cool parts included the site where the books where burned, the area where Hitler's bunker was, the Holocaust memorial, and the main square. 

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  Our hostel was located directly next to the main train station. This actually became extremely helpful since the train station not only took us everywhere, but also was the equivalent of huge food court/mall and even had a drug store and grocery store. It was a cool and modern station, and we actually spent a surprising amount of time there. Anytime someone needed a snack, quick meal, cough drops, coffee, or grocery run we would walk next door to the train station.

Friday night we headed out to the Mitte area of Berlin to grab dinner and find a bar after. We took our time walking around, but eventually our hunger led us to head into an Italian restaurant. No pictures were taken but I shared a pizza and salad with goat cheese. After having dinner, we were on the hunt for ice cream so we stopped by a Haggan Daz shop and grabbed some ice cream. The funny part is we actually saw a few prostitutes on the way from the restaurant to the ice cream shop even though it was a very public and family friendly restaurant area. I'll admit it was almost exciting because I felt like I could cross off the stereotypical European sights list.

We then went to a recommended bar/club called White Trash, but it was almost empty. It had a very Berlin grunge vibe, but too empty to be very fun. We were all pretty tired from getting up so early, so we headed back to the hostel after a little bit.

Saturday started off with a trip to part of the Berlin wall. Our tour guide talked about the history, and stories of individuals who escaped. We then went and saw two short education videos that were amazing. They were extremely interesting and I may have almost teared up at certain parts. Our last stop was by a ghost metro station. West Berliners would pass through this station to get to the other side of West Berlin, but since it was a East Berlin station, the train wouldn’t be allowed to stop. When it would slow down, the guards would sometimes smuggle messages to people in West Berlin.

After walking around the wall, we headed back to the hotel to plan our day. Berlin is a very metropolitan city, and is known for it’s interesting shopping. Since it was raining out, we decided to grab a cheap lunch at the train station (I got a bratwurst, but it was little disappointing compared to Prague’s kolbasas) and to head out. We walked around a few stores (I picked up a headband), before running into a flea market. Apparently Berlin has huge flea markets all over the city, and they had booths filled with beautiful jewelry, notebooks (I was so tempted), and food. I almost made it out of the market without buying anything until I saw a stand with homemade watches. Our whole group stopped and almost everyone ended up buying one. I got a watch with a long leather studded band and a watch face that is a map of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

We wandered around and grabbed a small dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I combined two appetizers because I knew we had plans to get gelato later. After dinner we went to a gelato restaurant, and I picked out caramel, tiramisu, and stracciatella—which was even more exciting since it was shaped like a rose (I have a soft spot for visually appealing food).

Our tour guide then took us to the top of the Parliament building dome. The whole area over looked the city and it was around sunset so the views were pretty cool (minus the construction). Interesting fact about the Berlin parliament: if they don’t show up to work or for a vote than they actually have to pay a fine to the government. Also the top of the dome is open and they collect the rainwater during bad weather.

We hung out at the hostel for a little bit to relax and get ready to go out that night. We ended up randomly following the crowds to this club called Matrix underneath a train station. It ended up being a really fun night, and felt very Berlin. Weird location, good music, dancers in bras and underwear 

playing the electric violin, and lots of dancing. It was definitely the highlight of Berlin.

The next day we wandered around for a little bit. We stopped by the National Gallery, Berlin Dom, and walked past the synagogue before getting back on the bus to head home.

 Our last stop in Berlin was at the East side Gallery--the part of the Berlin wall that is the largest open air gallery in Europe. It was definitely my favorite area of Berlin, and I could have spent a lot longer just looking at all the paintings.

One of the reasons I was so excited for this trip was because on the way back we were stopping in Dresden, Germany for a quick tour. I’ve wanted to see Dresden since reading Slaughterhouse Five and since it was only a short 2-2.5 hours from Prague. Although I had a good time in Berlin, Dresden was definitely my favorite even though we were only there for a few hours. The whole area looked like a fairy tale with beautiful buildings, gardens, and streets. We got a tour of the city and then were given free time for dinner and to look around. It was a really pretty day out too, so it was fun to see everyone out enjoying the sun. I’m really glad we stopped in Dresden because I would have really missed out on the city. 

Berlin was a fun trip, and I'm really glad I went. It's a city full of history and interesting atmosphere, but it definitely felt more like a metropolitan area than other cities I've gone to (like Paris, Prague, or Krakow). There was great shopping, food, and nightlife. Dresden on the other hand was gorgeous and much more my type of city. They were two opposites, but the weekend was a ton of fun. I have my last program optional trip to Vienna next weekend!