Before we got to Krakow, I showed MIchelle a picture of my cousin Soren who was meeting us at the train station. Soren moved to Poland about 10 years ago and I haven’t seen him since. Before 10 years ago, when I saw him at our cousin’s wedding, it had been another 10 years or so since I’d seen him- point being, the times had been few and far between and best to have two sets of eyes looking for someone neither or us would recognize.
However, recognition was relatively instant. We stepped off the train and I said, “He said he’d meet us but I don’t know if that meant on the platform or...” but at that moment we both saw each other and knew quite obviously that we were related. He walked up and said, “Hey Cuz!” and we were off to explore Krakow. And how lovely it is to have family in such a place. He lead us to his apartment only 5 minutes walking from the station where I met his wife Scotia and 6 year old mountain climber MIlo. They live a perfectly adorable Bohemian lifestyle. Soren is a freelance translator, Scotia a working accordion player and, as I mentioned, Milo likes to climb mountains, read Tintin and eat “hot cheese” which I will get to later. Their apartment was a type of enviable classic vintage; the kind which is becoming almost trendy these days- I myself have been known to purchase new, old looking Anthropoligie items- but here their style was legit. In the room we stayed in there was a stack of 4 large blue and orange, on top of which sat 3 xylophones and an old typewriter. They, I’m sure, were placed there not to look quaint but because 4 trunks, 3 xylophones and an old typewriter have to go somewhere.
We were welcomed in to a delicious, homey dinner of homemade pasta- half of which Milo made. It was about 9 when dinner was over and Soren asked if we were totally exhausted or had some desire to go out. When asked what kind of “going out” he was implying he said an old warehouse turned bar, music venue, art gallery (of which Krakow apparently has several) was showing of Plan 9 From Outer Space, and afterward a few of his friends were having drinks at some classically Polish bars if we wanted to experience them. Soon we were walking to the movie and Soren was giving us a rough description of the neighborhoods he was taking us through. We sat in lawn chairs drinking beer and watched the last half hour of Plan 9- which is plenty- after which followed an old public service announcement featuring Little Jimmy and some sleazy man in a business suit lurking in the bushes, warning against the dangers of homosexuals.
Thoroughly warned, we headed to a dark, charming, stoney walled bar where Soren introduced us to some classically Polish drinks including a “Mad Dog”- a shot of vodka, raspberry syrup and tabasco- and some beer which he warned us to take slow because it was higher alcohol than we’d be used to. We met some of his lovely friends who have dinner parties every Saturday and upon hearing that Michelle and I were learning about pastries, invited us to dinner the following night if we’d bring the dessert. We agreed. From there we transfered to another similar bar where we got some more classically Polish drinks, these tasting like apple pie. Again he warned us they were more than they seemed. You can warn all you want, but is one not supposed to finish their drinks? Of course we did. On the way home we stopped at a kielbasa stand where he insisted we try what he claimed would be the best sausages we’d ever have eaten. Although I was unable to recall exactly every sausage I’d ever eaten, I was quite sure this was right up there with the best. The next “morning” I thought about all the times I’d been handed a drink and told to “take this one slow” and probably didn’t. A few glasses of wine with dinner, a large beer at the movie, mad dogs, stronger than average beer, and a mystery apple pie drink later led to quite a persistent hangover. I was determined to work through the pain. This was, after all, my only full day in Krakow. I got up at about 10:30, took a cold bath, shakily ate one egg, tried to chat with some conviction, then went to wake up Michelle and fell back asleep for an hour. I got up again, at about 12:30 having slept most of my opportunity to see the city away. The dinner party was at 4, we still had to shop for ingredients and make the dessert, as well as stop by the train station for tickets to Berlin. I dragged Michelle out of bed and Soren walked us to the train station. We saw a little of old town where Soren pointed out some gruff old women from the mountains selling smoked cheese (or “hot cheese” as Milo called it) out of baskets. Apparently the government had recently declared this act illegal so these women were gravely sticking it to the system. Soren needed to get home to get a little work done so Michelle and I went to the store to grab the ingredients for our Chocolate Mousse. This is when we realized we didn’t know the names of any ingredient in Polish. I was little to no help as I nearly doubled over from nausea and the mere idea of food would force me to sit down from time to time and take a few deep breaths. Eggs we were obviously able to figure out as well as chocolate. Sugar Michelle figured out by taste and cream... We we had some trouble with cream. We were tipping all the bottles over to see how thick they were but after concluding they were all milk, we found that the cream is actually kept on shelves, not refrigerated. Unable to tell the difference between the brands, we bought the one in the cutest looking box, yes box, and we were on our way.
We bought the ingredients by memory of what is in a mousse but needed to look up a recipe for the exact proportions. Of course then we couldn’t find one with exactly the ingredients we used so we picked one that was close and made some changes. The changes, however, began to get so great that we weren’t sure it was really chocolate mousse that we were making. This one had called for egg yolks but we cut those out. Then when trying to whip the cream, two things happened. We were using an electric hand mixer they’d just purchased and never before used. In any bowl we tried to use it splattered more cream out of the bowl than kept in. I was covered in cream as was the kitchen- repeatedly. Finally we figured out a strategy of covering it with a towel as we whipped it. But as I was not looking at it, next time I check the cream, it had turned to butter. Luckily we had enough cream to try again. We did. It did the same thing and this time I was watching it closely but it went straight from liquid to butter. Again, improvising happened, We strained, we folded, we guessed and we made something. We had bought some crispy wafers to use as the bottom and middle layer, spread our chocolate puddingish mixture in between, threw some raspberries on top and we had some sort of chocolate dessert.
We took the bus out to their place. An interesting spot- it was out in the countryside, yet in a little housing complex of duplex type apartments. The dinner was delicious and the company was entertaining. Scotia brought her accordion and wowed us all her talents. When our dessert came out we were a little nervous. The chocolate pudding layers were quite tasty although quite rich but as the moisture soaked into the wafer layers they had become extremely chewy and tough. A slice of cake held its shape surprisingly well but trying to cut the wafers that had become like fabric caused the soft chocolaty layers to smush out in a rich chocolaty mess. The guests praised the dessert but as we looked around the table at everyone intently leaning over their plates and sawing away with their forks, we knew in the future we’d do something differently with this one.
On the way home Milo piped up, “so because I’m still just a little bit hungry when I get home I should have some hot cheese.” Soren: “No, Milo, that was your dinner and we don’t have any hot cheese right now.” Milo: “But I think that hot cheese is... It’s very good you know?” The way kids get hung up on a phrase and use it too often, this was how Milo was with, “you know?”
On the bus somehow I brought up a story about when I was in the pickle isle at a grocery store and leaned over to set my basket down and drooled a small puddle on the floor. Soren said I should have told him earlier that I felt that way about pickles because Krakow was the home of pickles. Apparently they were invented there. So it was his idea that we would go get a drink and get a jar of pickles from a 24 hour grocery store and eat them. We agreed quickly and soon were off to a bar called the Art Bunker, which looked like an old bunker, and had some nice vodka then headed to the grocery store to see the entire isle of pickles he’d told us about. However, it was closed. The 24 hour grocery. A little crestfallen but not giving up yet he took us to another. This one was closed except for the alcohol and candy section. He cursed the heavens but was determined to find something. Soon we passed a small store, hardly more than a tobacco shop but had some food, and sure enough pickles. They were a kind he’d never had but the shop owner said they were the best and we really had no choice. We grabbed them and Soren also noticed some Canadian maple syrup he had to pick up as well. Being originally Canadian and all. They love their syrup. But then Soren insisted they’re actually best as chasers to vodka and that we should sit outside at a bar and eat them all. I asked if they’d care if we brought them to a bar and he said, “ehhh we’ll be outside,what are they gonna do?” So we sat out and ordered our vodka, eating our jar of pickles when the waitress came up and told us unfortunately we couldn’t eat those there since they served food. We smiled and nodded but this did not persuade us. We were feeling a little reckless having already taken the bus without paying, and so he just hid them under the table and would hand us one from time to time. She seemed to be standing guard very close to our table and we often had to palm the pickle in our hand, dripping brine all over our laps. By the time we left there were only 3 left in the jar so we walked them to the park, sat on a bench, cheered our Polish pickles and finished the jar.
We got home and chatted a bit more but then had to say our goodbyes. We were leaving early in the morning ant didn’t expect them to wake up at 6 to say farewell. Upon saying goodbye Soren gave me a copy of his book- ya’ll should check it out. It’s a book of short stores called “Hymns for Millionaires” and I read half of it on the 10 hour train ride to Berlin. That’s right. 10 hours. Yikes. But now were in Berlin, a little groggy and beat. Krakow was wonderful. A beautiful town. Great to see family and something other than museums and churches for a change- as great as those are.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Prague Blague
One can’t help but feel a little empowered when going on a trip like this. Everyone at home is doing their regular jobs and going to their regular classes, but for a minute I think I, the traveler, am doing something different. That is, until you meet all of the other travelers along the way. As soon as I’ve proudly told my story about living in Italy for a few months while going to school and then doing a whirlwind travel of several countries afterward, someone else talks about how they just camped in Mongolia for 3 months, or got an internship in Prague for 2 years, or have been living out of their pack for 7 months and have 14 left to go. Well ,aren’t you all just great and more extreme than me. Put me in my place, why doncha.
The last two days in Prague were pretty go go go. We left our nightclub hostel on Wednesday and stepped into the morning sun to see what Prague had to offer, and the first thing we saw was a woman holding her little pantsless child above a grate in the street to pee. A good image to get us motivated for the day. This was our across the river day so we crossed the famous St. Charles bridge, with its old dark statues, and gothic design and started with the Kafka museum on the other side. Kafka would have been proud to have such a place dedicated to him. It has the atmosphere down pat. The building is small and dark and each section is dimly lit and accompanied by erie music- not in a cheesy “I’m in a Halloween haunted house” way, but in a creepy, “this house could be haunted way.” It’s different. From it you learn about his life, his loves, his writing, and his death but there are also sections devoted to creating the atmosphere to feel that you were in one of his books. Everything was dreamlike and whimsical. One room was white with some walls made entirely of mirrors and one screen. Playing on the screen was a film created to trick the mind into creating mirages. A mirage machine, it was called. It was created from ideas that came from his book The Castle. There were also a few winding hallways made entirely of black file cabinets. A few were open to display an exhibit, and in others were tvs playing bizarre soundless images not unlike the movie in The Ring. One just had severed mangled hands floating into the distance. There was also a black rotary telephone mounted on one wall that would occasionally ring and when picked up there was a recording of a man yelling in German on the other end. Anyone thinking of traveling to Prauge, I would highly recommend that place. It is bizarre and fascinating.
We then stopped briefly by the Lennon Wall. A Graffiti art wall that began as a symbol of protest to the communist government but is still kept up and ever changing. Finally, we went to the Prague Castle. This place is enormous and let me tell you, you’ve got to have energy to go there. Already exhausted from walking and climbing the hill to get there, we probably should have given the castle more time than we did, but it was all we could do to not collapse from hunger and exhaustion by the end. It is many buildings including cathedrals, palaces, galleries, towers, and bastilles. It was quite amazing but a ticket is actually good for two days and it’s easy to see how it could take that long to see it all.
Finally, we dragged ourselves home for a quick rest and then it was off to see Swan Lake at little theatre in Old Town, which was delightful.
Our last full day in Prague, we actually spent out of town. First I woke up with a rash covering my whole face and my lower forearms. It’s itchy and red and has yet to go away. Hopefully that will be resolved soon. I’m sure everyone is anxious to know how it turns out. But anyway, yesterday morning we took a train about an hour out of town to see what had been described to us as a church made of human bones. And.. That’s because that is what it was. It wasn’t actually built with bones, but it was highly decorated with them and contained huge, unsupported pyramids of bones throughout. Apparently it began when holy dirt had been sprinkled upon the grounds of this church and it became a highly popular place to be buried. Then the plague came and everywhere became a popular place to be buried. Soon they started piling bones up along the outside of the church and finally moved them inside- simply as a place to put them. Finally they began to make a design out of it, and I’m not sure how recent that was. Definitely a sight to see though the church itself is quite small and quite crowded.
The last two days in Prague were pretty go go go. We left our nightclub hostel on Wednesday and stepped into the morning sun to see what Prague had to offer, and the first thing we saw was a woman holding her little pantsless child above a grate in the street to pee. A good image to get us motivated for the day. This was our across the river day so we crossed the famous St. Charles bridge, with its old dark statues, and gothic design and started with the Kafka museum on the other side. Kafka would have been proud to have such a place dedicated to him. It has the atmosphere down pat. The building is small and dark and each section is dimly lit and accompanied by erie music- not in a cheesy “I’m in a Halloween haunted house” way, but in a creepy, “this house could be haunted way.” It’s different. From it you learn about his life, his loves, his writing, and his death but there are also sections devoted to creating the atmosphere to feel that you were in one of his books. Everything was dreamlike and whimsical. One room was white with some walls made entirely of mirrors and one screen. Playing on the screen was a film created to trick the mind into creating mirages. A mirage machine, it was called. It was created from ideas that came from his book The Castle. There were also a few winding hallways made entirely of black file cabinets. A few were open to display an exhibit, and in others were tvs playing bizarre soundless images not unlike the movie in The Ring. One just had severed mangled hands floating into the distance. There was also a black rotary telephone mounted on one wall that would occasionally ring and when picked up there was a recording of a man yelling in German on the other end. Anyone thinking of traveling to Prauge, I would highly recommend that place. It is bizarre and fascinating.
We then stopped briefly by the Lennon Wall. A Graffiti art wall that began as a symbol of protest to the communist government but is still kept up and ever changing. Finally, we went to the Prague Castle. This place is enormous and let me tell you, you’ve got to have energy to go there. Already exhausted from walking and climbing the hill to get there, we probably should have given the castle more time than we did, but it was all we could do to not collapse from hunger and exhaustion by the end. It is many buildings including cathedrals, palaces, galleries, towers, and bastilles. It was quite amazing but a ticket is actually good for two days and it’s easy to see how it could take that long to see it all.
Finally, we dragged ourselves home for a quick rest and then it was off to see Swan Lake at little theatre in Old Town, which was delightful.
Our last full day in Prague, we actually spent out of town. First I woke up with a rash covering my whole face and my lower forearms. It’s itchy and red and has yet to go away. Hopefully that will be resolved soon. I’m sure everyone is anxious to know how it turns out. But anyway, yesterday morning we took a train about an hour out of town to see what had been described to us as a church made of human bones. And.. That’s because that is what it was. It wasn’t actually built with bones, but it was highly decorated with them and contained huge, unsupported pyramids of bones throughout. Apparently it began when holy dirt had been sprinkled upon the grounds of this church and it became a highly popular place to be buried. Then the plague came and everywhere became a popular place to be buried. Soon they started piling bones up along the outside of the church and finally moved them inside- simply as a place to put them. Finally they began to make a design out of it, and I’m not sure how recent that was. Definitely a sight to see though the church itself is quite small and quite crowded.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
aaand on to Prague, part 1
There is a lot to do in Prague. We're going to be here a few days so today we decided to kind of take it easy and wander around but we ended up doing lots and lots of things.
We bought some train tickets to go to Krakow, we went to a Medieval Torture Museum, we went to a Belgium Chocolate Museum, we went to Salvador Dali exhibition, we found both an Adria Hotel AND a Palace Adria (I am everywhere in this city. A regular celeb.), we went to the Old Town we saw the Astronomical Clock, we went to a Jewish Synagogue, we bought tickets to go see the ballet Swan Lake tomorrow night, we ate, we wandered, we were exhausted. There is a lot more to do too but we've got a while still. We also never knew exaaactly how much we were spending. Just as we were getting used to Euros, we go to a country where they aren't used. Now we've got the Czech Crowns. About 25 Crowns to a Euro and 1 Euro = 1.30 Dollars. Lots of conversions. We'll think, "oh that was cheap! I.... I think. I don't know though, I just payed with a 100 bill."
And we're getting used to our hostel situation. We're staying in actually a really really nice hostel. When you come in, you walk into the bar area which has live music every night and kind of looks like a night club. The building is really new and nice. We're staying in a 6 bed room which is fine. Each night so far we've been with only guys however. We met the first one when we got in late last night, a little lost and a little exhausted. His name was Jim, from San Francisco, 21, studying landscape design, traveling alone. A very pleasant guy. The other 3 guys were rowdy, possibly Czech guys who partied late and snored loudly. This morning I sat up quietly trying to see if the other guys were still here and just saw a sea of hairy legs. They were all sleeping in their underwear with just their legs exposed. Yup. Still here. Those 3 left today but this very instant, in walked in our other 3. All again look rough and tumble. One from possibly Australia and the other two from Mexico? So far I've only said "Hi" to everyone. --- Never mind, they all just introduced themselves literally just now. And yes. Sydney and Mexico. I was correct. Booya. And also the guys from Mexico seem very nice actually. Sydney still seems rough and tumble. He introduced him self, threw his stuff in the corner and said, "I need a beer" and left. And now we're resting because day after day of walking walking walking and being lost gets tiring. And seeing as how beer is cheaper than water here (about 45 crowns- 1.80 euros-ish) we'll probably partake in that pretty soon as well.
We bought some train tickets to go to Krakow, we went to a Medieval Torture Museum, we went to a Belgium Chocolate Museum, we went to Salvador Dali exhibition, we found both an Adria Hotel AND a Palace Adria (I am everywhere in this city. A regular celeb.), we went to the Old Town we saw the Astronomical Clock, we went to a Jewish Synagogue, we bought tickets to go see the ballet Swan Lake tomorrow night, we ate, we wandered, we were exhausted. There is a lot more to do too but we've got a while still. We also never knew exaaactly how much we were spending. Just as we were getting used to Euros, we go to a country where they aren't used. Now we've got the Czech Crowns. About 25 Crowns to a Euro and 1 Euro = 1.30 Dollars. Lots of conversions. We'll think, "oh that was cheap! I.... I think. I don't know though, I just payed with a 100 bill."
And we're getting used to our hostel situation. We're staying in actually a really really nice hostel. When you come in, you walk into the bar area which has live music every night and kind of looks like a night club. The building is really new and nice. We're staying in a 6 bed room which is fine. Each night so far we've been with only guys however. We met the first one when we got in late last night, a little lost and a little exhausted. His name was Jim, from San Francisco, 21, studying landscape design, traveling alone. A very pleasant guy. The other 3 guys were rowdy, possibly Czech guys who partied late and snored loudly. This morning I sat up quietly trying to see if the other guys were still here and just saw a sea of hairy legs. They were all sleeping in their underwear with just their legs exposed. Yup. Still here. Those 3 left today but this very instant, in walked in our other 3. All again look rough and tumble. One from possibly Australia and the other two from Mexico? So far I've only said "Hi" to everyone. --- Never mind, they all just introduced themselves literally just now. And yes. Sydney and Mexico. I was correct. Booya. And also the guys from Mexico seem very nice actually. Sydney still seems rough and tumble. He introduced him self, threw his stuff in the corner and said, "I need a beer" and left. And now we're resting because day after day of walking walking walking and being lost gets tiring. And seeing as how beer is cheaper than water here (about 45 crowns- 1.80 euros-ish) we'll probably partake in that pretty soon as well.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Austria
Michelle’s words when we woke up on Sunday were “I feel like I was sleeping between layers of butter.” In her half asleep way, that was a good thing. I think we’d both slept better than we have yet. Our beds were soft, it was cool enough to use a blanket, and it was silent and dark. We probably could have slept all day if breakfast weren’t only served until 9:30. And quite a spread it was too. Probably the closest to an American breakfast we’d had. I mean, pastries, bread and pizza are all great... But eggs, fruit, and yogurt are nice too.
Well fueled and rested, it was time to explore Salzburg and after some mild resistance from me about being the only person able to actually forget how to ride a bike, I caved and we rented bikes from our hostel. It has to have been at least 10 years since I’ve ridden a bike and perhaps I didn’t forget completely how to ride one but I definitely struggled from time to time. Overall it was a lovely idea. We rode paths through fields that would occasionally turn a corner and present us with some stunning view of a castle or church on a hill that we weren’t expecting. We rode into Old Town, parked our bikes and walked around. Sazlburg is a beautiful city. Quaint, cute, and old. The architecture is breathtaking. The scenery has a way of making one constantly wish they were sitting drinking tea there with their grandma. AND I would like to point out, that locals actually DO wear lehterhosen and the women wear the complimentary tight bodiced dresses with the fluffy white sleeves. It is too cute.
Of course visited Mozart’s birthplace and residence both of which were pretty facinating. We had a light authentic lunch of bratwurst, a giant pretzel and strudel. And goodness, things are cheap in Austria. Our lunches totaled about 3.50 each. A nice change, I must say.
Once we digested a bit, we quite accidently got lost on our bikes, but that was nice too. We found a cute outdoor vendor market and then later a slumyier part of the city which I guess doesn’t fit with my previous statement, but we also found out way out which was positive. We returned our bikes to our hostel and asked them to call us a cab to our next hotel. Due to the inability to get some of the trains we wanted before we left Italy, we had ended up having to reserve an extra night in Salzburg. We’d reserved our second night first but when we found out we had to add a day, they were sold out so hence our staying in two different places. The cab came up and I was again struck by the difference between Austrian taxi drivers and any other I’ve ever seen. The one we’d had from the train station to the hostel had been a well dressed man in a business suit and the second looked like someone’s stylish grandmother. Anyway, the second hotel was an adorable bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town that I happened upon by accident while figuring out how to get to Salzburg while still in Italy. Cheaper than many of the hostels we’re staying in in other countries, it seemed like a nice little getaway. Haus Am Moos was a little cottage up against the giant mountains, where we were greeted by a little white dog with a gaudy blue bow in his hair. On the front door there hung a sign on the door saying, “please only ring once, It takes us 3 minutes to get to the door.” It was certainly nothing less than charming. I took lots of pictures. We asked what to do for dinner and they said there was a restaurant about 10 min walking down the street. The wee restaurant had two rooms- smoking and non smoking. The non was full so we accepted what we could get. The room was small and there was a thick cloud of smoke covering the top third of the room, and while it made my eyes water, it had it’s own charm. Everyone was huddled closely around tables, talking quietly and it was obvious every knew everyone. People would come in and sit at other people’s tables, smoking and chatting and wearing letterhosen. At one point a little farmer came in and placed a pepper on the table in front of a young man he obviously knew and then laughed uproariously as the boy took a bite and went running from the room to grab water. Our food, though very inexpensive and limited in choices, was both delicious as well as plentiful. I had turkey with potatoes and grilled veggies and Michelle had a steak in an amazing sauce (cooked much more than in Italy) with potatoes. Mostly out of politeness, we forced ourselves to finish what was probably 3 times what would have been sufficient and were thankful for a walk home.
This morning we woke up to another lovely breakfast and are currently on the train up to Prauge. I found in my guidebook both an Hotel Adria and Adria Palace. I know what we’ll be doing when we get there.
PS. If you’re ever in Austria and on an elevator, do Not reach your hand out to stop the doors to open them back up to allow on a lady with a stroller or a big, old, angry, German lady will yell quite furiously at you thinking your fingers will be cut off. Apparently elevator doors don’t open back up when touched like they do in the states. No harm will be done to fingers as the doors only very very lightly close on them but no need to be startled like that by all the yelling.
Well fueled and rested, it was time to explore Salzburg and after some mild resistance from me about being the only person able to actually forget how to ride a bike, I caved and we rented bikes from our hostel. It has to have been at least 10 years since I’ve ridden a bike and perhaps I didn’t forget completely how to ride one but I definitely struggled from time to time. Overall it was a lovely idea. We rode paths through fields that would occasionally turn a corner and present us with some stunning view of a castle or church on a hill that we weren’t expecting. We rode into Old Town, parked our bikes and walked around. Sazlburg is a beautiful city. Quaint, cute, and old. The architecture is breathtaking. The scenery has a way of making one constantly wish they were sitting drinking tea there with their grandma. AND I would like to point out, that locals actually DO wear lehterhosen and the women wear the complimentary tight bodiced dresses with the fluffy white sleeves. It is too cute.
Of course visited Mozart’s birthplace and residence both of which were pretty facinating. We had a light authentic lunch of bratwurst, a giant pretzel and strudel. And goodness, things are cheap in Austria. Our lunches totaled about 3.50 each. A nice change, I must say.
Once we digested a bit, we quite accidently got lost on our bikes, but that was nice too. We found a cute outdoor vendor market and then later a slumyier part of the city which I guess doesn’t fit with my previous statement, but we also found out way out which was positive. We returned our bikes to our hostel and asked them to call us a cab to our next hotel. Due to the inability to get some of the trains we wanted before we left Italy, we had ended up having to reserve an extra night in Salzburg. We’d reserved our second night first but when we found out we had to add a day, they were sold out so hence our staying in two different places. The cab came up and I was again struck by the difference between Austrian taxi drivers and any other I’ve ever seen. The one we’d had from the train station to the hostel had been a well dressed man in a business suit and the second looked like someone’s stylish grandmother. Anyway, the second hotel was an adorable bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town that I happened upon by accident while figuring out how to get to Salzburg while still in Italy. Cheaper than many of the hostels we’re staying in in other countries, it seemed like a nice little getaway. Haus Am Moos was a little cottage up against the giant mountains, where we were greeted by a little white dog with a gaudy blue bow in his hair. On the front door there hung a sign on the door saying, “please only ring once, It takes us 3 minutes to get to the door.” It was certainly nothing less than charming. I took lots of pictures. We asked what to do for dinner and they said there was a restaurant about 10 min walking down the street. The wee restaurant had two rooms- smoking and non smoking. The non was full so we accepted what we could get. The room was small and there was a thick cloud of smoke covering the top third of the room, and while it made my eyes water, it had it’s own charm. Everyone was huddled closely around tables, talking quietly and it was obvious every knew everyone. People would come in and sit at other people’s tables, smoking and chatting and wearing letterhosen. At one point a little farmer came in and placed a pepper on the table in front of a young man he obviously knew and then laughed uproariously as the boy took a bite and went running from the room to grab water. Our food, though very inexpensive and limited in choices, was both delicious as well as plentiful. I had turkey with potatoes and grilled veggies and Michelle had a steak in an amazing sauce (cooked much more than in Italy) with potatoes. Mostly out of politeness, we forced ourselves to finish what was probably 3 times what would have been sufficient and were thankful for a walk home.
This morning we woke up to another lovely breakfast and are currently on the train up to Prauge. I found in my guidebook both an Hotel Adria and Adria Palace. I know what we’ll be doing when we get there.
PS. If you’re ever in Austria and on an elevator, do Not reach your hand out to stop the doors to open them back up to allow on a lady with a stroller or a big, old, angry, German lady will yell quite furiously at you thinking your fingers will be cut off. Apparently elevator doors don’t open back up when touched like they do in the states. No harm will be done to fingers as the doors only very very lightly close on them but no need to be startled like that by all the yelling.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
to Austria
This was the big day. The departure from home base. This morning we packed up and caught our 9:30 train. Boy I’ll miss that station with it’s hour long lines and over priced water. For a while it seemed like we were there everyday, that’s how much we liked it. But anyway, we said goodbye and got out our train that stopped in a little town just outside of Venice we’d never been to before. Our train running slightly late, our 20 minute layover was shortened to 5 minutes during which we leaped off the train into an unfamiliar station where we then had to transfer to a bus. Of course it couldn’t be at all clear where the busses pick up so we ended up running (hobbling... Lots of bags mind you) through the station, down some stairs, around a corner, ask directionsed, ran down a street and then across a street and we were the last to get our bags under the bus before he closed it. Then we embarked upon the 2 hour bus ride that for some reason took 4.... It was never clear why. We got off the bus in Villach, a little Austrian town (I just love that name for some reason. Pronounced Vill- Lock) where they played the song, “Fuck You” by Lilly Allen in the grocery store, and finally we got on our LAST train. Lots of travel today. We took nearly the most convoluted way of getting here that we could- although there were actually worse. By the time we arrived in Salzburg it was about 8:45.
Longer than necessary trip aside, let me just say that Austria. Is. Beautiful. We were on the bus when we crossed the border into Austria. Driving through Italy it was flat, flat, flat, flat, then we came to the check point into Austria and MOUNTAINS. It was mountains the rest of the way. It was an amazingly immediate change. The last train had views like I’ve never seen. I kept trying to take pictures but they didn’t do the sights justice. We had really large and tall windows on our train and sometimes the mountains were so tall you couldn’t see the top from where you were sitting. There were huge jagged pastures of bright green grass covered in little black shacks and white pointy churches. It was rather cloudy and foggy but the mistiness added to its mysterious charm. Just awesome.
When we finally got off the train in Salzburg- by far the biggest city we’d seen. Everything else was villages- we were struck by the crisp air. Molto crisp. In fact, according WeatherUnderground.com it is currently 54 degrees. Quite the change from the 90/ 100s we were “used to” in Italy. We realized also that we had no idea where we were going and when we found our relative location on a map vs the location of our hostel, we figured a taxi would be needed. Our super friendly taxi driver pointed things out to us and constantly let us know where we were. When we asked what we should do while we were here he said, “well tomorrow you can come to a bible reading with me. It’s in English actually so you’ll do well.” We might have to take him up on that.
Turns out our hostel is kind of on the edge of Old Town. Not too far away from things, but not close enough that we really wanted to go out exploring at 9 at night when it was wet and cold and we had no idea where we were. The hostel itself, we noticed as we walked up to it, is a “youth hostel” making it appropriate of younger people and families. This can be good and bad. It means children but probably nicer accommodations- and both of these things turned out to be true. When we walked in, I told them my name and they asked, “you have a 6 person dorm room reserved?” “Yes.” “Well you can upgrade for a private for free.” I don’t know what kind of deal that was but after some deliberation we took it. The rooms here actually amazingly new looking and clean. It looks like we were the first people in our rooms AND we have our own bathroom and this may be the cheapest place we’re staying. So far so good, Austria. Now we just have to hope for a day without rain tomorrow so we can go explorin! Possibly by bicicletta. I’ll let you all know how Mozart’s house is later. Yeah. That’s right. Be jealous.
Longer than necessary trip aside, let me just say that Austria. Is. Beautiful. We were on the bus when we crossed the border into Austria. Driving through Italy it was flat, flat, flat, flat, then we came to the check point into Austria and MOUNTAINS. It was mountains the rest of the way. It was an amazingly immediate change. The last train had views like I’ve never seen. I kept trying to take pictures but they didn’t do the sights justice. We had really large and tall windows on our train and sometimes the mountains were so tall you couldn’t see the top from where you were sitting. There were huge jagged pastures of bright green grass covered in little black shacks and white pointy churches. It was rather cloudy and foggy but the mistiness added to its mysterious charm. Just awesome.
When we finally got off the train in Salzburg- by far the biggest city we’d seen. Everything else was villages- we were struck by the crisp air. Molto crisp. In fact, according WeatherUnderground.com it is currently 54 degrees. Quite the change from the 90/ 100s we were “used to” in Italy. We realized also that we had no idea where we were going and when we found our relative location on a map vs the location of our hostel, we figured a taxi would be needed. Our super friendly taxi driver pointed things out to us and constantly let us know where we were. When we asked what we should do while we were here he said, “well tomorrow you can come to a bible reading with me. It’s in English actually so you’ll do well.” We might have to take him up on that.
Turns out our hostel is kind of on the edge of Old Town. Not too far away from things, but not close enough that we really wanted to go out exploring at 9 at night when it was wet and cold and we had no idea where we were. The hostel itself, we noticed as we walked up to it, is a “youth hostel” making it appropriate of younger people and families. This can be good and bad. It means children but probably nicer accommodations- and both of these things turned out to be true. When we walked in, I told them my name and they asked, “you have a 6 person dorm room reserved?” “Yes.” “Well you can upgrade for a private for free.” I don’t know what kind of deal that was but after some deliberation we took it. The rooms here actually amazingly new looking and clean. It looks like we were the first people in our rooms AND we have our own bathroom and this may be the cheapest place we’re staying. So far so good, Austria. Now we just have to hope for a day without rain tomorrow so we can go explorin! Possibly by bicicletta. I’ll let you all know how Mozart’s house is later. Yeah. That’s right. Be jealous.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
wave goodbye and say hello
And now to pack.
Today I packed up a box to send home of things unnecessary for the last 2 weeks. I can only imagine how much it will cost tomorrow. I've been going through my stuff, throwing things away like crazy. I guess I don't need my citronella candle that never worked or my little boy's white tees that I bought here for work that are already filthy. I could throw away my 56 ticket stubs to the Boboli gardens and if I want to be really frugal, the green and pink cat mask from the dollar store given to me on my birthday (or just hide it in my closet for the next resident). I even just found my self deleting probably hundreds of unneeded files in my "download" section of my computer as though that would lighten the load too. I stopped part way through. Because it won't.
It's starting to get sad, thinking about leaving. But exciting about traveling. And seeing home again. Yup, I'm getting bored of being able to leave breakable things laying out on tables which means, I even miss my kitty. But the last few days have been fun.
Yesterday we went to our morning internships and then skipped class and went to Venice. 1st of all, it was probably my best day at the shop yet. I was getting a little bummed, thinking the guys kind of resented me being there and thought I didn't know anything. They'd ask me a question and if I didn't understand, just kind of ignore me. So yesterday I just piped up and talked and talked and talked. Even though it was more than just a little broken they understood enough and they began commenting on my work more and telling me what things were etc. Just in time right? When I have 2 days left. (1 now). But still, it was nice.
We then trained up to Venice. I wouldn't say I had low expectations but they weren't sky high. People have told me such things as, "I was there for a weekend and that was definitely enough. I wouldn't have wanted longer," or "It's pretty but really dirty" etc. so I figured I was just going because it was a place I hadn't gone. Well, I thought it was gorgeous. And Clean! I don't know what everyone was talking about. Without any cars or streets it seems Way cleaner than Florence. And it is beautiful. It's almost like Disneyland. The buildings were so ornate and colorful and all of the Carnival masks were amazing. I was hardcore theatre-nerding out at all of the Commedia Dell'Arte masks. I really liked some paper mache masks but couldn't think of a safe way to take it home. There were too many heavy/ smashy things in my box to send home and I didn't have room to just carry it with me the rest of the trip. But they were still amazing to see. Anyway. It is delightful. Perhaps there isn't a whole lot to do, but it would be a good place to go relax for a while. I'm really glad I made it there.
And now for an immature moment. My Canadian friend Adrienne told us about a game called Bros Icing Bros the other day (I had never heard of it but I know it exists in the states too... but let me explain). The rules are basically- from time to time you hide a Smirnoff Ice somewhere where another person will accidently find it one day and when they do, they must immediately take a knee, put an arm in the air and chug it. Silly yes. But our dear friend Eric was iced good today. Good enough to write home about. We were eating lunch at a place called The Diner (yeah... we're in our last 2 days in Italy and we craved American breakfast that much... don't judge) and had just finished a belt busting meal. The waiter came to the table and placed the check down saying, "this is for you," then leaned toward Eric and said, "and this is for you." placing a lovely blood orange flavored Smirnoff Ice in front of him. Adrienne had brought it with her and asked the waiter to deliver it. Eric was shocked but had something up his sleeve. "Pretty good," he said, "but how's this for a block?" and pulled one from his pocket and placed it on the table. This meant Adrienne would now have to drink both. And yet she said, "oh but wait.. what is this?" pulling another one from a sock in her purse. Double block. How nerdy is this? Well, these two are hardcore and don't back down- so now it was time for Eric to chug, not one, but 3 sickly sweet, slightly alcoholic Smirnoff Ices. The waiter was cool about the game but said it'd have to be finished outside. Fair enough. So we waddle outside, stuffed to the gills with food, into the thunderstorm and downpour and in the middle of the sidewalk, under no cover, down on one knee, Eric chugged them. He had to take a break between two and three and another one half way through three, but he did it and even kept his food down. What a champ.
I know that's super mature, but I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Twas a sight to behold. Now go ice someone.
Today I packed up a box to send home of things unnecessary for the last 2 weeks. I can only imagine how much it will cost tomorrow. I've been going through my stuff, throwing things away like crazy. I guess I don't need my citronella candle that never worked or my little boy's white tees that I bought here for work that are already filthy. I could throw away my 56 ticket stubs to the Boboli gardens and if I want to be really frugal, the green and pink cat mask from the dollar store given to me on my birthday (or just hide it in my closet for the next resident). I even just found my self deleting probably hundreds of unneeded files in my "download" section of my computer as though that would lighten the load too. I stopped part way through. Because it won't.
It's starting to get sad, thinking about leaving. But exciting about traveling. And seeing home again. Yup, I'm getting bored of being able to leave breakable things laying out on tables which means, I even miss my kitty. But the last few days have been fun.
Yesterday we went to our morning internships and then skipped class and went to Venice. 1st of all, it was probably my best day at the shop yet. I was getting a little bummed, thinking the guys kind of resented me being there and thought I didn't know anything. They'd ask me a question and if I didn't understand, just kind of ignore me. So yesterday I just piped up and talked and talked and talked. Even though it was more than just a little broken they understood enough and they began commenting on my work more and telling me what things were etc. Just in time right? When I have 2 days left. (1 now). But still, it was nice.
We then trained up to Venice. I wouldn't say I had low expectations but they weren't sky high. People have told me such things as, "I was there for a weekend and that was definitely enough. I wouldn't have wanted longer," or "It's pretty but really dirty" etc. so I figured I was just going because it was a place I hadn't gone. Well, I thought it was gorgeous. And Clean! I don't know what everyone was talking about. Without any cars or streets it seems Way cleaner than Florence. And it is beautiful. It's almost like Disneyland. The buildings were so ornate and colorful and all of the Carnival masks were amazing. I was hardcore theatre-nerding out at all of the Commedia Dell'Arte masks. I really liked some paper mache masks but couldn't think of a safe way to take it home. There were too many heavy/ smashy things in my box to send home and I didn't have room to just carry it with me the rest of the trip. But they were still amazing to see. Anyway. It is delightful. Perhaps there isn't a whole lot to do, but it would be a good place to go relax for a while. I'm really glad I made it there.
And now for an immature moment. My Canadian friend Adrienne told us about a game called Bros Icing Bros the other day (I had never heard of it but I know it exists in the states too... but let me explain). The rules are basically- from time to time you hide a Smirnoff Ice somewhere where another person will accidently find it one day and when they do, they must immediately take a knee, put an arm in the air and chug it. Silly yes. But our dear friend Eric was iced good today. Good enough to write home about. We were eating lunch at a place called The Diner (yeah... we're in our last 2 days in Italy and we craved American breakfast that much... don't judge) and had just finished a belt busting meal. The waiter came to the table and placed the check down saying, "this is for you," then leaned toward Eric and said, "and this is for you." placing a lovely blood orange flavored Smirnoff Ice in front of him. Adrienne had brought it with her and asked the waiter to deliver it. Eric was shocked but had something up his sleeve. "Pretty good," he said, "but how's this for a block?" and pulled one from his pocket and placed it on the table. This meant Adrienne would now have to drink both. And yet she said, "oh but wait.. what is this?" pulling another one from a sock in her purse. Double block. How nerdy is this? Well, these two are hardcore and don't back down- so now it was time for Eric to chug, not one, but 3 sickly sweet, slightly alcoholic Smirnoff Ices. The waiter was cool about the game but said it'd have to be finished outside. Fair enough. So we waddle outside, stuffed to the gills with food, into the thunderstorm and downpour and in the middle of the sidewalk, under no cover, down on one knee, Eric chugged them. He had to take a break between two and three and another one half way through three, but he did it and even kept his food down. What a champ.
I know that's super mature, but I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Twas a sight to behold. Now go ice someone.
Monday, August 2, 2010
a moment for foodies
This is entry is entirely devoted to tonight's amazing dinner experience.
Ahem:
Kim, a fellow South Seattle student, lives on the same block as a really adorable restaurant. It has several wide doors that open all the way up onto the street, a second floor with an iron railing and charming stone walls. We walk by it all the time and always say to each other, "let's eat there some day soon." A few weeks ago we got our internship placements and lo and behold... that was Kim's. "Now," I said, "we are going For Sure and you are getting us the hookups." And let me tell you, hookups are the way to go.
Since Monday's are Kim's night off and this is the last one of our our internships, this seemed like a fitting evening. So tonight, 6 of us from South accompanied Kim to her delightful little Osteria. The servers greeted her with obvious warmth and recognition and treated us the same. Our server turned out to be a character on every level. Sporting the only legit Italian afro I've ever seen, as well as a gaudy red and black apron with dancing people all over it and white framed goggle like glasses, he really didn't fit in with the surroundings at all, but couldn't have been more hilarious and great.
And now I'm going to straight up describe everything we ate because it was so wonderful.
For an appetizer afroman said, "I bring you an assortment" and brought us a platter of several Italian meats, toast with pate , bruschetta, and a delicious and olive oily flat bread. We asked for a recommendation on wine and they brought us a wonderful medium dry, slightly flowery white wine which was of course amazing. Our entrees were displayed beautifully, mine being marinated chicken with grilled assorted vegetables. Others included, thinly sliced pork in fig sauce (so. so good.), potato ravioli and beef in a some sort of magical sage sauce. And let's not forget a Bisteque Florentine- a dish famous in Florence, these steaks are cut literally 4 fingers thick, lightly grilled on each side, and taken off the grill when the middle is still dark red and bleeding. This is something I would normally never lay a hand on but being such a quintessential dish I ended up actually ordering it once before and it's really rather unbelievable. When we finished our deliciousness, and they asked if we wanted dessert, we respectfully declined and they respectfully filled our glasses with a dessert wine instead. When That was finished we asked for the check and he nodded, left the room, and came back with two Giant (and I mean giant) pastries which turned out to be some sort of chewy flat bread folded like a calzone and filled with Nutella and cream. As I gathered the buttons from my exploded pants we finally actually got the check. This- I might add- was not a cheap restaurant and for the amount of food we each consumed, we each should have owed at least 40 euro (euro mind you, not dollars) but in fact, we each owed only 25. Hookups. They're simply the way to go.
I had to quite literally drag myself home and was almost bummed to see the horse and carriage guys by the Duomo had turned in for the night or I just might have hailed one. If one of those guys down by the water front in Seattle on the rickshaw bikes had been around I definitely would have taken him up.
Now the food coma sets in.
Ahem:
Kim, a fellow South Seattle student, lives on the same block as a really adorable restaurant. It has several wide doors that open all the way up onto the street, a second floor with an iron railing and charming stone walls. We walk by it all the time and always say to each other, "let's eat there some day soon." A few weeks ago we got our internship placements and lo and behold... that was Kim's. "Now," I said, "we are going For Sure and you are getting us the hookups." And let me tell you, hookups are the way to go.
Since Monday's are Kim's night off and this is the last one of our our internships, this seemed like a fitting evening. So tonight, 6 of us from South accompanied Kim to her delightful little Osteria. The servers greeted her with obvious warmth and recognition and treated us the same. Our server turned out to be a character on every level. Sporting the only legit Italian afro I've ever seen, as well as a gaudy red and black apron with dancing people all over it and white framed goggle like glasses, he really didn't fit in with the surroundings at all, but couldn't have been more hilarious and great.
And now I'm going to straight up describe everything we ate because it was so wonderful.
For an appetizer afroman said, "I bring you an assortment" and brought us a platter of several Italian meats, toast with pate , bruschetta, and a delicious and olive oily flat bread. We asked for a recommendation on wine and they brought us a wonderful medium dry, slightly flowery white wine which was of course amazing. Our entrees were displayed beautifully, mine being marinated chicken with grilled assorted vegetables. Others included, thinly sliced pork in fig sauce (so. so good.), potato ravioli and beef in a some sort of magical sage sauce. And let's not forget a Bisteque Florentine- a dish famous in Florence, these steaks are cut literally 4 fingers thick, lightly grilled on each side, and taken off the grill when the middle is still dark red and bleeding. This is something I would normally never lay a hand on but being such a quintessential dish I ended up actually ordering it once before and it's really rather unbelievable. When we finished our deliciousness, and they asked if we wanted dessert, we respectfully declined and they respectfully filled our glasses with a dessert wine instead. When That was finished we asked for the check and he nodded, left the room, and came back with two Giant (and I mean giant) pastries which turned out to be some sort of chewy flat bread folded like a calzone and filled with Nutella and cream. As I gathered the buttons from my exploded pants we finally actually got the check. This- I might add- was not a cheap restaurant and for the amount of food we each consumed, we each should have owed at least 40 euro (euro mind you, not dollars) but in fact, we each owed only 25. Hookups. They're simply the way to go.
I had to quite literally drag myself home and was almost bummed to see the horse and carriage guys by the Duomo had turned in for the night or I just might have hailed one. If one of those guys down by the water front in Seattle on the rickshaw bikes had been around I definitely would have taken him up.
Now the food coma sets in.
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