Hellooooo again! So I just had my first 3 days of classes (although Tuesday there was a strike, and Monday I only had 1 class....so I guess I should say I just finished my only day of class this week!), and I don't have class tomorrow or Friday this week, so I figured I'd kill some time and write more about my vacation before I forget it all! So I woke up early on New Years Eve day to catch a 9AM train from Prague to Munich. It was supposed to take 6 hours...keep this in mind. Thus, at 9am began my horrible plunge into the world of inaccurate, undependable Czech trains! First off, I had trouble finding the train station because I was walking and didn't have my map. I got there and was quite happy to see that NOTHING was written in English except for "Entrance" and "Exit". So I finally find the platforms and the status screens, with my train toward "München Hbf" (Munich central) on the screen. Then, before they post which platform my train is on, they post the number 15 next to it. I assume this means how many minutes delayed it will be......I am correct. This number grew every 5 minutes, until it was about 9:15am and the screen read "45". So I was about to give up when the 45 turns into something that looks like "vÿn". Do I know what this means? No way.
So I ask a man next to me who I heard speaking English with his sons, and he went to ask someone. He comes back, running, and says that we need to go to Platform 1, hop on, and get off at the first stop. I asked no questions and ran to the platform with what I later found out was a family from the Bay Area! Small world! So we get on the train, get off at the first stop, and eventually find our original train. By this time, it's an hour and a half late. As soon as we crossed the German border, a conductor came into my compartment blabbering in German, and the sweet old Czech lady in my compartment said that we would be getting off, waiting an hour, and getting on another train. And that's what we did.
Eventually, I arrived in Munich, but rather than taking 6 hours, it took closer to 9! My friend Laura, who studies in Lyon with me who normally studies in Munich (she went just to spend the holiday with her school friends) met me at the train station and we went to Hofbräuhaus, a famous beer hall in Munich. We ate what Laura told me was a traditional German meal, and sat at a table full of Italians (who were shocked to see a German and American speaking to each other in French!) Then, we went to Laura's friend's apartment where we were staying for the night. We had a little bit of wine and champagne while playing SingStar (you have NEVER lived until you've seen foreigners doing karaoke to American songs. SO funny!!) and headed out to their friend's New Years party.
Basically, my New Years Eve was full of confusion, shiny fireworks flying everywhere, French speaking with Laura, and people speaking German all around me. It was like nothing I have ever seen, there was no official fireworks "show", it was basically just people lighting bottle rockets out of champagne bottles in the streets! I made a few videos and put them together...I dont know if you can really tell how crazy all the fireworks are, but its a good try:
The next day, we woke up to a fresh, beautiful blanket of SNOW!!! It was so fun! Laura and I spent the day sight seeing, she took me to a palace, the English Gardens, then we went up into the tower of a church downtown and got a great view of downtown Munich at nighttime. Laura was a great tour guide, and I had a good 24 hours of speaking nothing but French when I was with her! She left that night to go back to her home in Innsbruck (Austria), so I called it an early night and went to my hostel.
So at this point, it's January 2nd, just to keep things in perspective! Haha. So the next day I spent the majority of the day en route to or at Dachau. Dachau is technically its own city, and it is the site of the first Nazi Concentration Camp. I still think it's hardly hit me, the gravity of what I saw when I was there. And to add to the experience, it was cold and there was snow on the ground as I stood (somewhat warm with my huge jacket, scarf & many layers) in the same place that the prisoners were forced to stand out in the cold for hours doing "Roll Call" wearing nothing but rags.
Although everything that I saw was very striking, the most impressionable of everything had to have been the Crematorium. It was there that I myself walked through the Gas chambers, and the next room with the ovens. A close second had to be the barracks, where the evolution of the inhumane conditions were clearly demonstrated with 3 different types of "bed" arrangements.
There was also a museum at the site that had a lot of background info on what led to the rise of the Nazis, about prisoners in the camps, and about its liberation. In addition, there were religious memorials from the Jewish church, the Protestant, and I believe the Catholic church which were all very impressive. It was such a great experience and I am very glad I had the chance to see a concentration camp. It's something everyone learns about, but it is just so SO different to see it in person.
After I got back from Dachau, I went back downtown to see a few sites that I hadn't yet seen. One was the Deutsches Museum, which I defnitely didn't have time to go in and view, but it was a neat building complex. Then, I went to the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately it was really dark and there wasn't too much to see, but I've never seen an Olympic stadium before and I absolutely LOVE the Olympics so that was neat for me!
That's about it for Munich...the next day, I took the train to Salzburg, but I think you've all read enough already...I'll keep that for the next installment!!!
Me and Laura shortly after Midnight, dodging fireworks!
The crazy scene in the streets
Schloss Nymphenburg, or Nymphenburg Palace
The view from above of Rathaus, or city hall
The entrance to Dachau...same that the prisoners saw. The text translates to "Work Makes You Free". Irony much?
Dachau was the first major concentration to open up in 1933. At that time, it was mostly just for political prisoners (aka those who opposed the Nazis)
Watchtower.
The latest, and most uncomfortable and inhumane living conditions that were imposed toward the end. There aren't separated sleeping spaces, and it was at this point that there was a huge epidemic in the camp and most people just died of disease before starvation/torture/etc.
The Crematorium
The ovens =(
Gas Chamber
Ok, ok, I know this one is silly. But I wanted a picture at Dachau and I didn't think smiling was appropriate! Deutsches Museum
Hello all and welcome to Part 1 of my epic winter break blog updates. Prague was definitely my favorite city, so I'm sure this update will be longer (and with better pictures!) than the others.
So early in the morning the day after Christmas (I spent Christmas Eve and morning with my landlady and her family, where I found myself in a huge cloud of confusion and French...and Christmas night had dinner with some other California students!), I left my apartment and took the train to Paris, where I headed to Disneyland Paris for the day! I met up with my friend Celine from UCSD who studies in Lyon with me, her childhood french friend Alice (Celine lived in Paris until she was 10) and Mimosa, Celine's friend from UCSD who studies in England. We got access to both parks (Disneyland & Walt Disney Studios) and it was REALLY fun! It was obviously pretty Americanized, but isn't that the charm of Disneyland anyway? It was also still decorated for Christmas, which was lovely!
And in case anyone had heard, the rumor is true, the rides ARE way crazier in Europe! There were upside down loops in at least 3 or 4 rides! It was awesome!
So our day was winding down and we decided to go on 2 rides for a second time before the park closed - Indiana Jones (which is actually a crazy wooden roller coaster here!) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. To start things off, as we hurried through the queue at Indiana Jones, my clumsy self tripped up the stairs and got quite the bump on my knee. You can imagine this made it quite difficult to maneuver my way in the Métro back to Paris with a heavy suitcase!
And then, as we exited the train at Big Thunder, I looked behind me because i thought I had seen a glimmer of something that fell out of my purse. It seemed to be nothing, though, so I moved along towards the exit. I had a sinking feeling that I had dropped or forgotten something, so I searched my purse for my camera.......to no avail. The good ol' Canon Powershot now lays at the bottom of Big Thunder Mountain, with a good 50 pictures of us, the Christmas decorations, and Cinderella's castle inside of it!
So me being me, first thing the next day we went camera shopping. It was slim pickin's, since Christmas had just passed, but I found a new Canon and was good to go for the rest of my trip!
That night at about 9pm our plane set off for Prague, and me, Celine and Mimosa were on our way to Bohemia! The next day, we wandered around trying to find the Old Town Square for an hour or two, and saw a few Christmas Markets, shopping streets, and cool buildings. When we finally found the Old Town square, we realized that it was literally only a 2 minute walk from our hostel! D'oh! At this point we were all frozen to death and on the verge of sickness (this describes quite well the first 2 days that we were there). That night, we had a delicious "traditional" Czech meal of Goulash and Bread dumplings, accompanied by Pilsner Urquell, one of the cheapest most delicious beers I've ever tasted!
The next day, we planned on taking a big 5 hour tour of all of Prague, which included a meal and boat ride, but we couldn't find the meeting place in time so we took ourselves on a tour! We crossed the river and went up to Prague Castle. What I really liked was the quaint little city streets that we walked along to get there. Prague was SO beautiful, I really can't wait to go back some day! That evening we got a nice view of the city from up at the castle, and we headed back to our hostel where we convinced our new room mates who were Taiwanese students studying in the US and an Egyptian to come out with us to the Pub Crawl. So we had our first Pub Crawl and man was it fun!! We met tons of people, none of whom were Czech, ha ha, but all of whom were really fun...from French to South African to Australian and a couple of others...we tried Absinthe for the first time and saw some pretty famous bars in Prague. But all in all it was really fun, and Celine and I amazingly woke up the next morning no longer feeling sick! Go figure!
We spent that day seeing whatever it was we hadn't already seen, like Charles Bridge.. And that evening, after a fatty nap, I actually went on what could probably be considered a date with Emmanuel, one of the french boys we met on the pub crawl the night before. Normally I wouldn't blab this part of the story for all of my family to read, but I thought it was quite a milestone in my experience, finally going on a date with a french boy, in Prague of all places! But it was nice, and we are keeping in touch so hopefully if I play my cards right I'll be able to visit him in the south of France once the weather gets warm!! Oh yes, that sounds nice...
And the next morning at about 8am, I had to wake up and catch my train to Munich. This train ride is another story in itself, as it ended up taking nearly 3 hours longer than it was supposed to....however, just enjoy my beautiful Prague pictures for now!!
Me and the famous Astronomical clock at Old Town Square
Mimosa, me and Celine at the big ol' church up at Prague Castle
Beauuuuuutiful rooftops of Prague!!!!
Cool shot I got of Celine at Charles Bridge at night
Old Town Square. The christmas tree and Tyn Church
Prague by night, view from the Castle
Mimosa, me, Celine, and our hostel friend Zoe (Taiwanese studying at Michigan state!)
Lots of birds as we crossed Charles bridge
Another cool shot on Charles Bridge Me and Celine being silly in our hostel (and accidentally reverse matching! oops!)
Stay tuned for the rest of my stories and pictures!
Okay okay, so I've become extremely bad at updating this thing. But with good reason! I spent Christmas with my landlady and her family, and the day after I headed off on a 2 week long Euro trip, which I just got home from tonight. So in the meantime, while I recover and gather my thoughts...Take a look at my FACEBOOK ALBUM with pictures from last month's Fête des Lumières. You will not be disappointed!
Get excited for stories and pictures from Paris, Prague, Munich, Dachau, Salzburg, and Stockholm!!!
Me and Laura shortly after Midnight, dodging fireworks!
The crazy scene in the streets
Schloss Nymphenburg, or Nymphenburg Palace
The view from above of Rathaus, or city hall
The entrance to Dachau...same that the prisoners saw. The text translates to "Work Makes You Free". Irony much?
Dachau was the first major concentration to open up in 1933. At that time, it was mostly just for political prisoners (aka those who opposed the Nazis)
Watchtower.
The latest, and most uncomfortable and inhumane living conditions that were imposed toward the end. There aren't separated sleeping spaces, and it was at this point that there was a huge epidemic in the camp and most people just died of disease before starvation/torture/etc.
The Crematorium
The ovens =(
Gas Chamber
Deutsches Museum
The Olympic Swimming hall!
