Friday night, before we went our separate ways for vacation, Viany made us an amazing dinner, as always! One of the Spanish teachers and her husband as well as a Spanish teacher from the middle school came over and joined us. That was fun! Then, the three of us headed off to Cuban Cafe. It was a good time at first but then turned into a minor disaster that I won't go into here... anyone who is really curious can talk to me or email me privately.
I'm going to break this down into days for the vacation portion. (Sorry in advance to my LJ friends for not cutting this... I just think that some people reading this won't know what to do with that.)
Saturday.
After a later start than planned, I met Michaela in Paris and the two of headed to the airport. The RER (subway to get to airport) was free for the weekend to make up for all of the strikes this fall, so we did not have to pay a dime to get to the airport! They've changed CDG airport since I flew out of there two years ago. It now takes even longer and is pure hell. After two short flights (and a five hour layover in Zurich), we made it to freezing cold Prague. After wandering around lost for a bit, we finally found the hostel. We ended up just having a dinner near the hostel before collapsing in bed.
Sunday.
We met a guy during breakfast at the hostel, and he decided to join us for our morning. We all went to the Christmas market in the Old Town Square. It was amazing! It definitely became a focal point of our time in Prague. We bought beautiful looking cookies and a cinnamon thing that is apparently a traditional Christmas time treat. We watched the Astronomical Clock ring in the hour and saw the 12 Apostles come out and play and the four figures on the side move around (which we later learned stood for the four things the Czechs hate/fear the most... vanity, oppression by (or was it of?) the church, death, and the Turks). After that, we headed to the National Museum where there was a large collection of stuffed animals. And when I say stuffed, I mean real animals who once lived that are now stuffed. Kind of creepy.
Katie and I did some shopping afterwards, but we didn't really find anything that we cared for. In the evening, we headed to the Charles Bridge. It was all lit up and gorgeous. We walked across it, taking in the sites... including... the Eiffel Tower? No, not really. It was the Petřínská rozhledna, but it really looks like the Eiffel Tower.
That night, we met back up with the guy we met before, and the three of us went to a bar. We met a rowdy group of Brits (including one who had some really mean French jokes and almost had a coronary when we told him we worked for the French government) who immediately befriended us. It was great. We then went to a little restaurant where I got hot chocolate and Michaela (and by extension the rest of us) tried absinthe.
Monday. Christmas Eve.
Michaela and I headed out to the Prague Castle. It included a nice uphill jaunt in the old town, but it was worth it! The castle is huge! Actually, it's the largest ancient castle in the world. We walked around the parts that were open (some things were closed for the holidays) including Saint Vitus's Cathedral . This cathedral resembled Notre Dame de Paris a bit on the inside, but there were a few things that set it apart, but it was nothing compared to the churches to come...
Once we left, we were thoroughly frozen, so we decided to head back to the town square and go to this cute cafe for hot chocolate. It was delicious! It was almost like drinking warm pudding, because the chocolate was so thick! Heaven! We also had some yummy desserts.
Later, we went to see the Powder Tower which was the old entrance to the city. We also saw the Henry Tower which was way less impressive. Then, we walked along the river so we could see the National Theater.
After dinner and a short rest at the hostel, we headed out into the freezing night to go on a ghost tour of Prague. The one we went for never showed up (it was Christmas Eve after all), but a guy from another one did. He apparently has done ghost tours in a bunch of places and has done specials on the History, Travel, and Discovery channels. I think we got a better deal. It was a blast despite the cold. We learned a lot about Prague's legends. One of the most fascinating things was about the architecture. Any building over a hundred years old has some defining characteristics. They're all about 4 stories tall. The first story has demons on it to ward/scare off any "real" demons. The second has heroes to protect the residents from the demons. The third story had the family crest, and the forth (if there was one) had more heroes/saints. Also, all churches have saints and warriors on the top. Michaela and I kept remarking on how different that was and how beautiful it was. Well, we learned that these were there to protect the churches from the demons and evil spirits. All of the saints hold golden weapons. None of them are in peaceful serene positions like you see in most churches. They are all ready for a battle. I won't go into all the ghost stories, because that would take forever, but it was so interesting to learn about them. The ghost tour was definitely worth it.
Michaela and I were freezing so we headed back to the hostel to thaw out before realizing that we were starving. We went out in search of food (around 11 on Christmas Eve... smart). After searching for some elusive McDonald's that we just could not find, we ended up back at the market where we found yummy things to eat. We then decided to get some drinks at a really cool bar down the street from our hostel. Fun!
Tuesday. Christmas.
We decided to go to mass at Church of Our Lady Before Tyn in the Old Town Square. The inside was breathtakingly gorgeous (sorry no pictures allowed). Up until this point, I had never seen anything quite so beautiful. The mass was in Latin. We figured that we knew the Catholic mass well enough to follow it. Haha. Yeah right. I don't know how people used to do it before it was changed during the 60s. We also almost froze to death because the church wasn't heated. That's apparently typical of old churches in Europe.
Next, we did some shopping. We found ornaments at the market and then headed to a mall. I wanted to get a book about the history of Prague, because it is really fascinating. We then had lunch... we bought these sandwiches from a creepy kebab place. We dubbed them "rat burgers" since we had no idea what the "chicken" really was. I tossed mine, but Michaela suffered through it. Instead, I bought a Langose at the market. It's sweet dough (though not too sweet... almost along the lines of an elephant ear but not so thin) with garlic butter, ketchup, and cheese. I know, it sounds weird, but it was actually delicious. Probably one of my favorite things that I ate this week.
In the evening, we went to a Christmas concert at St. Nicholas Cathedral. The concert was really enjoyable, but it was nothing compared to the amazing decorations on the inside of the church. I have pictures, which I will hopefully upload soon. It was nothing short of spectacular. Seriously. I have never seen anything so gorgeous. There were so many statues and so much gold and so much intricate details. No church in France that I've seen can even compare. of course, the church was unheated so we nearly froze to death, but it was well worth it.
For dinner, we had a traditional Czech dinner in the center of town. I had half a chicken (literally, it was half a chicken...) in a honey sauce with au gratin potatoes and vegetables. Yummy! It was a good time.
I think that I remembered everything we did in Prague... I hope.
Wednesday.
We said goodbye to the wonderfulness that is Prague and headed to Barcelona, Spain. After the bitter cold of the Czech Republic, the mild temperatures in Barcelona felt like heaven. By the time we reached the city center and our hostel, we had barely enough energy to stumble out and find a dinner of nice traditional Spanish food... not. We had KFC. It was close and cheap and we were starving and tired.
And let me just say... interesting city. Everything is in two languages... Catalan and Spanish. Neither of which we understand.
Thursday.
Michaela and I headed out to Sagrada Família. This church was started in 1882, and it's still not finished! It is an amazing thing to see though. When you think of Barcelona, you will probably think of this church. It was designed by Gaudi who had a lot of influence in this part of Spain. We wandered around the church and met up with Liliana (the Spanish assistant in Michaela's town) and her friend. We went up to the top of one of the towers. Such amazing views!
Afterward, we headed to Park Güell which was designed by Gaudi and is home to the house where he lived and died, and it is now a museum. It was quite a hike to get to the park, but it was well worth it for its intricate design and gorgeous views of the city. The museum was also interesting to see. I bought some Gaudi inspired earrings and a necklace.
Michaela and I walked down the Ramblas (pretty much the Champs Elysees of Barcelona) to one of the beaches. We walked around the docks and the beach. It was nice and peaceful. We then met back up with Liliana and her friend for dinner on the Ramblas. We had tapas, paella, and sangria. How Spanish are we? We totally confused the French family next to us. There was a mixture of Spanish (between Liliana and her friend), English (between Michaela and I), and bad French (between all of us). They kept giving us weird looks. After dinner, we went to see the Torre Agbar all lit up before getting a few drinks.
Friday.
Michaela and I went to see the Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia. It is gorgeous... only we really did not see that as the outside is currently undergoing some work, so we saw a huge billboard on the front covering the work. Fun. We did walk around inside and inside the cloister where there were nativity scenes and some live roosters and geese... don't ask.
We went to see the bull stadium. Blanking on the name right now, so I can't provide a link.
After lunch, we went to Palau de la Música Catalana. The building is beautiful on the outside, but that is nothing compared to the inside. We bought tickets for a tour earlier in the day. Since it's a private building, you can only enter with a tour or to see a concert. You also can't take pictures of the inside, which is sad because it is truly an amazing site. (I feel like I keep using amazing and similar words, but I just can't help myself, it's true).
We wandered around the Gothic Quarter a bit. It's the oldest part of the city and also where our hostel was. I found a cute funky skirt at some cool clothing store. We also saw Santa Maria del Mar. We then headed to Ciutadella Park , because I wanted to see the Mammoth statue, which we did find. We also saw the Parlament building there as well as some peacocks which we think escaped from the zoo next door.
Next, we headed to see some more Gaudi designs. First, we saw La Pedrera , which was the last picture I took before my camera's battery died (I left the charger in Chauny). Then, we walked to Casa Batlló. Beautiful! We decided to walk back to the Gothic Quarter since we were on a major shopping street. I found a very cute shirt at Mango. I'm happy!
We said goodbye to Liliana and friend (they're staying a few more days) and head our last dinner in Barcelona.
Today. Saturday.
We left Barcelona at the crack of dawn to head back to France. I'm now back in Chauny. I feel exhausted. I still need to unpack, so I can repack tomorrow for Lyon and Dijon. Both Prague and Barcelona were awesome cities, and I had the time of my life. I don't know if I could pick a favorite though. They were both so different. Now that I've had a taste of travel, I'm hungry for more. I'm ready to plan February vacation now. I really want to see more of Eastern Europe, so Michaela and I might try to go to Poland. We'll see.
I doubt I'll have time or motivation to put up all of my pictures before I head off to Lyon and Dijon on Monday, so you might have to wait awhile for those.
No comments:
Post a Comment