Prague: Czech Me Out!

Hello all from Prague, Czech Republic!
I am in LOVE with Prague; it is absolutely breathtaking.  Maybe I love it so much because Vienna was a let-down or maybe because Carly was here... whatever it was, I love Prague.  It isn't just one part of the city that is beautiful - the WHOLE city is amazing.  Cobblestone streets, adorable shops, amazing food (consisting of meat, potatos, and beer) and so much more.
In Vienna, I met two girls from Australia who were going to Prague the same day I was so we took the 5 hour train from Vienna to Prague together.  They are so much fun!  And as it turned out, we are going to Berlin at the same time too (tomorrow) so we are taking the train together again.  It is wonderful to have train buddies for those longer train rides.  They can be so boring but with two fun Aussies, we played Monopoly card game and talked the whole way.
Once we got to Prague we went our separate ways with plans to meet up in three days to catch the train to Berlin.  I headed to my hostel - adorable and clean!  I am having great luck with hostels this trip.  I only pray that Munich and Paris will be just as good.  Carly, my friend in Spain, was there with her brother and her friend in the same hostel so we hung out together, which was such a relief and a blessing.  Having Carly made everything so much better because traveling alone can be a downer especially after saying  goodbye to friends and family and SPAIN!  The first day we went to the Old Town Square, where there are two churches and the Astronomical Clock.  So much fun!  All throughout the square was little food stands where you could buy beer, hot wine, corn on the cob (which made me think of Iowa), chorizo hotdogs (which made me think of Spain) and chicken skewer sandwich things.  Delicious!  Over the next few days we saw the classic sites of Prague which includes the Jewish Quarter, Wenceslas Square, Municipal House, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and St. Vitus's Cathedral.  We also tried beer brewed by the monks who live in Prague as well as huge amounts of pork.  I was in need of some protein!
The Charles Bridge is a gorgeous site that was built in 1357 and is dsitinguished by 30 statues erected down the length of it.  One of the statues is famous for either bringing you good or bad luck depending on which side of it you rub.  Some people were rubbing both but we figured that would bring you ever worse luck!  Carly and I, not wanting to jinx our travel, opted out of rubbing at all.  Just in case.  Jaja (haha).  Across the Charles Bridge and up the hill is the Prague Castle, which is about 1000 years old and I was told that it is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) castles in Europe.  It didn't really seem like a castle but was gorgeous none-the-less.  Within the castle grounds is St. Vitus's Cathedral - the most famous of all of Prague's cathedrals.  Prague is also known for its Jewish Quarter, which remains perserved even through World War II.  This is because Hitler did not destroy any of the synagogues in Prague.  He did this so after he "exterminated" the Jewish race, he could use Prague and its Jewish Quarter as a "museum" of "what was".  How terrible!  But I am glad it was preserved because it too was stunning even though we didn't go into all of the synongogues.  Within the Jewish Quarter known as Josefov is the Old Jewish Cemetery, Pinkas Synagogue that holds the names of 77.297 Jews and is about 400 years old, as well as the Old-New Synagogue which is the most important and over 700 years old.
In Prague I also ate my first bagel since leaving the States in January.  There are a few bagel places called Bohemia Bagels and I just couldn't resist.  Not as good as Big Apple Bagels that used to be in Burlington but it was sufficient to satisfy my bagel needs. :) On the subject of food, today we ate goolosh and dumplings - tasty!  Then for dessert we shared one of these hallow cinnamon roll things with Nutella in the middle.  Carly and I are suckers for Nutella - our weakness.  The amount of Nutella eaten in the past 5 months is shameful.  Jaja.
Tomorrow I leave for Berlin and am very excited.  Stop number 3 on my journey.  I will be staying with Katie who is doing a STINT with Campus Crusade and is a friend of Barbara's.  I am so blessed that she is opening her home to me.  I am not only excited to meet her and hear all about what she does but I am also excited to meet some students from Purdue University who are doing a missions trip of some-sort over in Berlin right now.  I leave for Berlin tomorrow as my brother departs from Chicago to Europe on his medical school trip to volunteer in Romania.  After Berlin, we will be meeting in Munich.  Yay!  It has been so long since I have seen my brother - highlight of my trip!
Anyways, thanks for tuning in again to my travel blog!  Hope I didn't bore you too much.  :)
Dos besos
Sarah

Socks and Sandals

Vienna without rain is much more enjoyable.
Today I saw the Town Hall, Parliament, Votiv Church, Freud's house, the Spanish Riding School with the dancing horses, Burgtheatre, the Museum Quarter and sooo much more.  I also went to the Naschmarkt which was very neat!  I had coffee there, ate olives, and stuffed peppers wrapped in bacon while people watching.  It was very entertaining.  Everyone is so different yet all the same.  Although I could not understand what they were saying, their actions and expressions said it all.  Wow.  And the food was delicious.  Tonight = the OPERA! in Vienna!  Craziness.  It actually turned out to be a ballet but was at the main opera house in Vienna.  Incredible!  I'm amazed at how flexible the male and female ballerinas are. 
Tomorrow = Prague with Carly.  Thank goodness I will be with someone else.  Because I am still a little sad since leaving Spain.  Today I am over traveling.  Tomorrow will be better, I hope.  I miss my friends and family in the States and I miss my friends and family in Spain.  Blah. 
But anyways these next 15 days will go by so quickly.  And I'll be in the States before I know it, having to deal with even MORE culture shock.  Looking forward to it, of course!  jaja
Dos Besos
Sarah

Stop Crying, Vienna, Please

As I type this, I am sitting in the most amazing little hostel in Vienna, Austria.  It is adorable.  I was a little worried at first when I could not find the place.  I walked around for 30 minutes with a huge backpack in the rain trying to remain calm.  Finally I found it.  The apartment building is a little sketch but when I finally got inside, I sighed a huge sigh of relief.  Adorable.  Home.  Clean.  Smile.  It has everything you could ever want and more.  Computers with internet.  Olive oil and other condiments.  Breakfast included.  Sheets.  Television.  Books.  Information about Vienna.  Even toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, Q-tips.  For crying out loud! 
I love the hostel in Vienna but I have yet to fall in love with the city.  The main reason being the weather.  It is rainy, cold, windy.  Not ideal weather for walking around Vienna or touring huge gardens or palaces.  And definitely not ideal for taking pictures.  However, I did hit the jackpot when I met Jake, a student from Atlanta who is studying abroad at Oxford for a semester.  He knew exactly what he wanted to see, where it was at (he was equipt with a GPS!), and he had a guidebook.  We had a fun time seeing Vienna despite the rain.
First thing we did was go see these 'steps' that are supposed to be some of the prettiest steps in all of Europe.  They were... pretty... but again, it was rainy and therefore not as magical as I had hoped these 'steps' would be.  Then we went to one of the main squares in Vienna where there is this huge fountain and also this is where many concerts are held when the weather is nice.  We went to three palaces today.  The first being the Belvedere Palace, the summer home of the Hapsburgs.  Fantastic.  Even in the rain it was gorgeous.  Second palace was the Imperial Palace in the middle of Vienna close to the Museum Quarter where I will be going tomorrow.  We also walked by the Opera House but were not able to go in because it was Sunday (again, tomorrow).  We walked through Stephansdom cathedral - enormous!  Not as cool as the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.  Nothing will ever beat that cathedral.  Close to Stephansdom is St. Peters church with a huge dome on top.  That was kinda neat although they were doing restorations... always a bummer, especially for photos.  Next we went to the Schonbrunn Palace and actually took a tour!  How interesting!  Of course, it looked as you would expect a palace to look.  High ceilings, beautiful ornate furniture, way to many rooms, gold-decorated everything!  Schonbrunn means 'beautiful spring' which was appropriate because there are so many fountains and the gardens are fantastic!  There is so much land and lush green vegetation... it is crazy!  Even in the rain and wind, we walked up this hill to get a look at the entire thing.  The view was incredible.  The history is incredible as well.  Maria Theresia of Austria, when she was crowned, had an architect re-vamp it.  It is currently this beautiful yellow color.  Emperor Franz Josef of Austria lived and died there.  Also interesting note:  Marie Antoinette is the daughter of Maria Theresa... can't wait til I go see Versailles in Paris!!  At first, I was on the fence about going because it is a whole day afair and costs a bit of money and I thought it would just be another palace but what the heck?!?! Why not.  The history behind all these monuments and palaces is amazing!  Speaking of history, we walked by the Imperial Hotel in Vienna, which is where Hitler had his headquarters in Vienna during WWII.  Crazy, right?  WWII is going to hit me like a brick when I get to Berlin!
Anyways I am hoping it will be nicer tomorrow so I can take more pictures and enjoy myself a little more.  I need to stop by the train station and get my Eurail validated and get all set up to leave Tuesday for Prague.  Tonight, after such a cold and rainy day, I am going to stay in my cozy hostel and read my book.  I'm on vacation.  It's nice.  Although I won't lie, I will definitely be ready to come home-home.  I love traveling but its exhausting.  I think things will go uphill in Prague where I'll have Carly, Berlin with Katie, Munich with Jared and Paris... well its Paris and my last stop!  I will continue to update you all as best as I can.  Hopefully I'll have luck with the other hostels being this nice as well.
Dos besos
Sarah
PS It's still tough being gone from Spain too.  Today, I ate my last tortilla espanola sandwich that Feli packed for me and almost began to cry again.  Ugh. 
PPS I dont know how I could have forgotten to mention this seeing as I love coffee a lot!  Vienna is known for its coffee and particularly coffee houses.  So this afternoon, seeking shelter, we went to one of the famous coffee houses called Central Cafe or something like that... close to the Imperial Palace.  It was absolutely beautiful inside but the coffee was honestly a let down.  Spanish coffee in Feli's little Italian coffee maker is so much better.  :)