Week(s) In Review (OR…I wanted to update…but am also too lazy to put pictures up)
EDIT: yea…yet again, I’m back from where I was (Paris), but have been a little too tired to want to type a long post about my adventures/misadventures. THAT, and my allergies that I didn’t know I had decided to literally kick me in the throat and nasal passages the morning I was supposed to leave Paris, so I haven’t been doing too much lately. But I did regain the use of my nose this morning, so I guess that’s good.
A few highlights from Paris: We never got lost on the 14 line metro system (yet helped a group of people from Boston find their way to La Defense), Climbing 300+ meters worth of stairs to get to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, seeing the mini Statue of Liberty on a tiny island (it might have been an outcropping or a peninsula though) in the middle of the river, my first trip to Catacombs since there was no time (or interest from anyone else) to see the ones just outside of Rome, Versailles, Crepes, running across a giant roundabout without realizing that there was an underground tunnel that would get you to the other side much safer…
EDIT EDIT: you guessed it…I’m back from my next destinations…Bratislava and Budapest. It wasn’t exactly a spur of the moment trip, but my friend and I bought tickets on a Monday afternoon, and left the country early that Thursday morning. Which will be coming up as blog updates…I just haven’t gotten that far. Ive done nothing but travel and do homework for the past month. And I still want to punch my allergies/sinuses in the face.
It might help the pain…you never know.
I’m sure that’s more information that any of you cared to know about me…but suck it up and deal with it.
Damn straight.
Some highlights from my weekend though (before I completely forget what happened, and I keep getting Bratislava and Budapest confused in my head): Devin Castle (note: never walk around a mountain that has a castle in flip-flops. That was a bad choice on my part), St. Steven’s Church, the Citadel (another note: don’t walk up a castle taking the route that cars do. We did not find the stairs until we were on our way down from the top), Hungarian food, Memento park (I now know how to effectively search a house for contraband), Budapest metro system (hands down the creepiest one I have encountered while in Europe)…
Ok, So I guess I need to backtrack a bit to my going’s on since leaving Krakow, the Holy Land of Polish food, and JP2.
It took me a few days to recover from being in Poland….so much so that I have yet to send out postcards (ok…to be perfectly honest…I haven’t sent out postcards from Berlin or Rome either…people might be getting them while I’m in the states….which makes getting postcards only half as cool. BUT each stamp is like a dollar, and times are tough.) ALSO….I don’t remember what I did the day after I got back (which I think was a Tuesday). Its not that I had been drinking or anything, I just have no idea what happened. After a while and traveling so much, the days kinda blur together with little beams of memory at the halfway interesting parts of each day. Also, everyday is different and full of all sorts of random shit. That is why I have like 3 different journals/blogs to keep track of everything that goes on here!
But…I guess that as of this past weekend, I have about 4 weeks left here, and I’m not sure how I feel about that, yet. I mean, I haven’t really gotten all that homesick yet, and the only time I get close to that is when I talk to family members in succession on skype. I think it also helps that some of my friends here are from the Chicago area, so I can get my Chicago fix on a weekly basis. Also, I have so many places left to go and so many things to do (or…and homework and finals too) that I’m not quite ready to leave.
But anyways….enough of the sappiness…time to get back to what I assume people read this for…what the hell have I been up to these past weeks that hasn’t gotten me arrested??
Hm…one night the week before I left for Paris, I went to a pub (its actually called The Pub) for some light competitive drinking…but I really went because I heard that there were $8 ribs- which in all honesty, is almost an excuse to go anywhere. The ribs were, as expected, not that great, and really greasy, (like I had rib hands, and had to take a picture of them they were so greasy), but…not bad for the price. As an appetizer, they had one thing on the menu that was bacon-wrapped apricot. My roommate and I saw that, and immediately HAD to try them. They seriously tasted like breakfast. Am I a little closer to dying of a heart attack- probably- But atleast I went eating delicious food.
What else…um, I went to a beer garden the weekend before I left for Paris, which was about I what I expected- beer and sausages and a big screen that was showing a football (soccer) game- and it existed! That’s a small problem when looking for places to go in Prague: you look for a place on the internet because you wind to try something new…and it longer exists. But the beer was cheap, and the food was decent, so I think I’m going to try and go back some point before I leave.
That same night…three of my friends and I wandered around Prague for a few hours. Prague is an awesome city to wander around with (as long as you have atleast one other person with you). There are very few tourists out, only a few homeless people, and its really quiet. AND…there are 24 hour McDonalds and fried cheese stands around…which always make hours of wandering around worth it….
Which gives an excellent segway to the purpose of this post (besides putting off homework and killing time before dinner): food.
I seem to eat A LOT in Europe. And all different types of food…Czech, Italian, Indian, German, Chinese….and English bacon…
I eat PLETHORA of English bacon. Actually, English bacon…spreadable cheese…sliced processed cheese…and chips, all on rye bread (which is another thing I eat entirely too much of but its inexpensive and delicious here). I would take of picture of this culinary masterpiece…but I never think about it until I’m halfway through the sandwich, and I’m afraid that people would yell at me and tell me to stop eating it. But I figure, English bacon can’t be any worse for me than salami, and I can’t help it that the bacon is cheaper than salami- I gotta save money where I can. Also, I’ve seen a lot of lunchmeat in my days, and having frequented European delis in Chicago, I have never seen English bacon…or anything remotely close to sandwich-sized bacon slices. I’m trying to get my fill of it before I never have it again! Which will be a sad day…I’ll have to go back to my salami, cheese, and chips on rye bread. (I know, because that’s SOO much better)
Another food I eat quite a bit of- Mexican. My roommates and I somehow found the best Mexican restaurant in Prague. Its pretty delicious. Sadly its in a tourist area, but the prices aren’t ridiculous…and they make a mean chicken enchiladas. And it also helps to go at random times in the afternoon so you don’t have to wait an outrageous amount of time to have to sit.
Czech food….as good as it can be at times…can get a little boring after a while. Most of it is variations on meat and dumplings- which is sometimes all I want- but very rarely are there vegetables, which are nice from time to time. But…this restaurant across the street from my dorm makes a delicious piece of chicken wrapped around a potato pancake. And I still need to try stuffed potato dumplings… I hear they are delicious.
Another food item I consume massive quantities of is coffee. I think I have fully embraced the idea of sitting around and having coffee…or having it after eating. Its cheaper than a dessert…and sometimes more delicious, and another excuse to have caffeine. I’m very partial to latte machiattos (sometimes just called a latte)…which are I think steamed milk…a shot of espresso…and frothed milk. I also like these things called frostitos…which are like frappachinos….but more delicious. But not delicious when you are accidentally holding it wrong, and it falls to the ground and splashes on your pants- and you now have frostito pants.
Since I’m on the topic of eating and drinking things, this past Friday (May 15th I think) I went to my first Czech micro-brewery. I think I ate venison (it sounded like a good idea at the time…) and tried to (scratch that- 3) of their beers. First I ordered a wheat beer…which didn’t even taste like beer at first because it didn’t have a bitter aftertaste. And then I had a coffee beer- because I had always wondered what they tasted like- and it was about what I expected- if coffee and beer had a baby I think it would taste like that. But it was still good. They brewery has a banana beer….which I might have to try just because I sounds ridiculous to me (as does a vanilla porter which I had over the summer…and was disgusting). I also tried their sour cherry beer that my friend ordered, and it was better than the Cherry Sam Adams…. But I think it was really a beer champagne or something like that (that’s what their brochure said)
The week before I went to Bratislava and Budapest was….um…relatively uneventful. I had to do homework and such. BUT…I did put off some homework for a ridiculously long time so I could see the new Star Trek in a theater in one of the malls here. It was in English with Czech subtitles…and there were about 10 other people in the theater. Granted, it was close to 10.30 in the PM when the movie started, but it had been released like 3 days before that. I thought the movie was well done, and then I felt like a giant nerd when I understood some of the random references in the movie. Not cool.
BUT NOW….sadly… I’m not leaving the Czech Republic til the middle of June because I have finals and I have to finish up the my projects and whatnot so it can look like I didn’t completely waste my time here….but I’m pretty sure I am going to go to Munich around June 22, I’m just waiting to see how many more people are going. And hopefully, I will be able to go one at least one day trip in the Czech Republic to see some of the towns that I have heard are good to visit, like Plzen (where Pilsner Urquell is made).
It’s hard to believe that I have a little more than a month here…and my birthday is in 4 weeks from today!!
So I close with a quote from this weekend…
Scene: We were in a church in Budapest-
A: So there is a 2 Floriant coin on the floor under a pew. Would it be bad if I took it, but left a 10 (or some other coin that was larger than 2) Floriant in its place? The 2’s are not in circulation anymore.
B: Yes that would be bad. You are stealing from the church.
A: But I would be leaving more money
B: Too bad.
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