Raindrops on Roses... No longer one of our favourite things
The train to Salzburg was pretty uneventful, except that we had some weird Asians sitting next to us. One girl had the most annoying voice known to mankind (a breathy, baby, cryptkeeper type voice) and was a human bottle opener as she used her teeth to open a bottle that should not even be a twist off. Scary! Also, the woman across the aisle ate an entire package of coldcuts in like, 2 minutes, all before 7 am. Impressive!
We had absolutely no difficulty finding YoHo Hostel from the trainstation. Maybe it was the mountains rising up as we walked, but Salzburg immediately seemed far better than Vienna. We pretty much dropped our bags on the bed after checking in and then hauled ourselves back to the train station so that we could get on a train to Werfen to visit the Ice Caves. We verified with 2 different rail officials that we were on the right train, and they even announced the station in English when we arrived (which we believe was entirely for our benefit).
With little difficulty, we found the stop for the bus that would take us up the mountain to parking lot from where there was a 20 minute walk to the cable car. What neither of us knew was that the walk was almost entirely vertical... Thanks for neglecting to share that bit of information with us, Fil. Perhaps luckily, an Australian guy named Andrew had befriended us at the bus stop (note: we don't seek these people out. Rather, friends just seem to gravitate towards us), and neither Laura nor I wanted to look like wimps or seem whiny, so we sucked it up and continued to drag ourselves, keeled over, up the mountain while fit Austrian children skipped along merrily. Weezing and red faced, we reached the cable car (amazingly in about 20 minutes... all thanks to Andrew). The trip was short but fun.... except when we looked up and found we were not at the cave entrance, but had another 20 minute hike ahead of us. What the hell? They don't tell you about that walk until you have paid your €17, or else we would have turned around and lied about going into the caves since you can't take pictures anyway. Also: Andrew. When we finally reached the caves, we had to fight our way past some German kids who were blocking the entrance, and then waited for our tour to start. Our guide had previously been rude to us when we had mistakenly attempted to enter through the entrance, so we were a bit wary of what was to come.
Before entering the cave, they handed out lanterns (real ones! with fire!), that every few people were supposed to carry. Thankfully, they ran out right after they gave one to Andrew who was in front of us, meaning he carried it so we could use our hands for the railings. Another cruel trick they played, was informing us that we would continue to climb upward, but this time in the dark and the cold. Thanks for mentioning that part Fil.... oh wait. You did not. Also, all the pictures on the website only show the flat parts of the cave... not the 1400 stairs you travel over. Clearly that is misrepresentation or something we could sue them for!
Anyway, the ice caves were really neat, and potentially worth the hike up to them. It really was quite cool (ha!) to see ice formations that were 45,000 years old. Plus, it was all glittery! Pretty! Like we said, you can't take photos in the caves, but we both bought some postcards as momentos, so we will have those to show when we return. We do, however, have some gorgeous panoramic shots from the top of the mountain we climbed, so you will have that proof that we did it.
We were completely exhausted when we got back to Salzburg (we were not made for that kind of exertion, but hopefully we will now be sporting Climbers' Legs), but you know us. Got to stick to the schedule. So we walked over to Mirabell Gardens to take some photos of one of the fountains and the steps seen in The Sound of Music (It's featured in the Doe a Deer song). As we walked over, a marching band in full regalia also joined us on the street. They ended up putting on this awesome concert in the park, that I took many many pictures of. The girl band members danced, and used tamborines as props (like they were a gang from West Side Story). It was the cheesiest thing I have ever seen, and have no idea how I will pare down the photos since I have about 15...
One of the really nice things about Salzburg is that it is really quite small so you can easily walk the city in little time. However, we had climbed a mountain (Take that, Mother Superior! We climbed one mountain.. YOU can climb every mountain yourself!) earlier that day (did we mention that?), and done so on a pastry and a quarter bag of chips... so we were starving. We couldn't really find a place that served food good enough to pique our interest for the prices they were asking, so we ended up returning to a place we had seen about a 2 minute walk from our hostel. They had an English menu and locals were eating there so we figured it had to be good. Of course, there was only one man running the place who did all the cooking right there behind the bar, and he spoke very little (read: no) English (I ended up ordering mineral water, when I really only wanted tap... ah well). However, the portions were large and good! Our schnitzel took up almost the entire plate, and we got potatoes and salad (NOT potatoe salad). The man next to us did not want his salad (he scoffed when the owner asked him if he wanted salad. We gobbled ours down, as it is not often that you see vegetables in restaurants here. Sure it had potentially tinned beans, and a strange pickled dressing on the carrots, but I don't know if I've ever eaten anything more delicious.
We then stumbled home, determined to go to bed, even though it was only 8:30 pm. However, the girls in our room ended up wanting to chat, and since they are all nice enough girls, we ended up staying up until the ungodly hour of 11. Only one girl kept to herself, and she is strangely high-maintenance, what with wearing a face mask to bed, and packing the largest bag of marshmallows known to mankind.
Day 2:
Rain, rain, and more rain. This has been the first time on the trip that the weather really has not been on our side. But, the schedule will not denide (or made a fool of!), so we got up, put on our rain jackets, and headed to Hellbrunn. By the time we got there, we decided that rather than doing the trick fountain tour first, we would go into the castle to warm up. The castle was really interestingly decorated, and it was just a lot of fun. Really pretty views of the fountains, and we had it all to ourselves.
The tour of the trick fountain was partly annoying because of the American highschool group we were paired with. Our annoyance soon turned to amusement, when we realized that none of them knew that the trick fountains are all about tricking you into getting wet AND they all seemed to fear this despite it being a torrential downpour. Stupid. At the first fountain, we knew the trick because we had heard about it up in the castle, so we delighted from afar when a girl (wearing her ill-fitting lingerie outside of her clothing) got hit in the face with a powerful jet of water. We then enjoyed watching the sissy boys act like fools as they pranced about attempting to keep out of the fountains' trajectory despite wearing no coats or carring umbrellas. Hurrah for our German tour guide, who made sure they got the most wet from thereon in. Laura and I just took the water in passing, since we were well-protected by our coats anyway. The fountains themselves were so cool that they kind of made up for the dismal weather, although it is a bit sad that we didn't have a nice hot, sunny day to appreciate them.
After the tour we went looking for the gazebo featured in Sound of Music (you know the one). It took us a few tries to find it, but we eventually did and being the only tourists around, got in a quite a few good shots.
Then we went on a bit of a walking tour of the countryside as we made our way to the street where we could take a bus to Frohnburg, which was the front of the Von Trapp house in the movie. The girls in our room had told us to walk around the building, but buildings move for us, not the other way around, so we went through the building instead. If we weren't supposed to, then they should have locked the gates and the doors and had security.
We stopped at the supermarket to get some food for the trains tomorrow and put something in our stomachs as it was now 3 pm, and we had not eaten anything all day except a meager bad Czech cake that morning at 8. Then we took the bus to Leopoldskron, which is the back of the house (seen from across the lake). Think of the pink lemonade scene or the falling in the water with the Baronness. Then we headed back into the city center where we saw the Catacombs at St. Peters (where the family hides from the Nazis... think 'Rolf, please.'), and walked up to Nonnberg Abbey (I think we have reached our mountain quota... which doesn't bode well for tomorrow in Garmisch) where we befriended a little wiener dog! As we walked back down through the city, we went to several fountains featured in the movie scattered about town, and witnessed the most frightening case of domestic abuse in a public venue ever. The man was shouting at his (in)significant other like she was a 2 year-old, and then embracing her tightly for photos. We name him Captain Creep.
Keep in mind, that we set out from the hostel today at 9 in the morning and returned around 6 pm. It rained the ENTIRE time we were in the city, and is still raining now. That said, it is still incredibly beautiful here, and we both agreed that this is the first place that we wish we had a little more time to visit and would definitely want to come back to. We wanted to go up to the mountain that Maria runs down at the beginning of the film, but because it was so rainy and foggy, we didn't think the view would be that great.
We ran to the train station to try and get a reservation for our 6:11 am train tomorrow morning, but the jerk at the ticket booth closed it just as we arrived. Dick! We'll just have to chance it and get there early and hope no one else is crazy enough to leave for Münich at such an ungodly hour. If the train is full, we'll just sleep on our feet for the 2 hour journey.
Oh, and for all the people placing bets on when we'll crash and burn, the odds just got higher in our favour of never doing so. We climbed a frickin' mountain people (do you know who else did that? The Von Trapps... when they were fleeing the Nazis. We did it for fun.) and saw every Sound of Music site possible without a train in a day and a half. We braved the rain and the cold, we lost our feet somewhere around noon today, and yet we never called it a day. As long as we have a schedule to keep, you're going to be paying us in spades (make up for the time we have spent on the internet rubbing this in your faces!).
We probably won't write again until we get to Rome, because there just won't be time. So, hopefully you'll be hearing from us in about 2 days.
So long. Farewell. Aufwiedesehen, goodnight!
P.S. Happy Canada Day. Andrew reminded us that that was today.
The Vienna Opera is no place for a lap dance...
First thing first: Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but Austria is expensive. Too much for us in Vienna, and we have been so busy here in Salzburg that this is the first chance we have gotten to write.
Secondly: The clothing is all ok! We may have over-exaggerated when we last posted; after we tried everything on, things were in fact a little loose! That is what only eating 1 'proper' meal a day does to you!
So, here is our story about Vienna. We know you have all been waiting patiently for it.
We caught the train from Prague with absolutely no problems (take that, Dad!). It was a good thing we got there early because it was pretty full, and we did not have reservations so we scrambled into the first compartment that was open. Soon enough people came in and claimed to have tickets for our seats, so we picked up and moved on to the 'non-reserved' seating section, and just sat with the commoners. When we arrived in Vienna, we really didn't have much of a problem getting the tram from the station to the one near our hostel, although we did make the mistake of not buying the daypass for the transit system. It only cost us a euro more, but in Vienna, we could have used it!
It was ridiculously hot out (everything seems hotter and longer when you have a pack on your back) but we made it to the hostel with no navigational problems at all! First time ever! I think we see a new (positive) trend beginning! We are really coming into our own as travellers and all you naysayers will be eating dust cake with only your words to wash it down!
Despite everything Fil has ever said about Wombats, it was a crap hole. We don't know where he stayed but this place was sketchorama. We had horrible roommates (oh, you'll hear about it), and the bathroom was soooo filthy (think of the one in Trainspotting...). We don't think it had ever been cleaned, certainly not while we were there, nor the stained comforter Laura found waiting her on the bed. Also, the locker we were assigned, did not close. And it was like, a thousand degrees in the room, and for the first day, we could not open the window all the way, which we think was a safety measure on the hostel's part to keep us from throwing ourselves out of it.
Needless to say, our first hour or so in Vienna, was underwhelming in one sense and overwhelming in another. Neither of us were really 'feeling' the city, at first. It just felt kind of blah after Prague and every other place we had been. Nonetheless, we refused to be deterred, and set off for Schönbrunn Palace. It was actually really nice on the outside (too bad you had to pay a fortune to see the gardens), and the audio tour we got for the 22 state rooms we saw was informative and fun (if only the damn group tours would leave us alone. The spanish one didn't even seem to notice when I shouted out 'Dios Mios!' when they crowded us out of a room.). On our way back to the subway, we were actually approached by a fellow tourist who asked in German where the palace was and we successfully understood the German and gave correct directions. (Take that, Taryn! I don't know why, but it seems appropriate).
After Schönbrunn, we had plenty of time to kill and we did not want to face the hostel, so we decided to dip into the next day's itinerary (departing from the itinerary! Sacrilege! You see the depths of our desperation!) and went up to Prater, where the Reisenrad (Europe's oldest ferris wheel) was. We were super excited about this sight, prior to actually seeing it. It was really a let down, as it didn't seem all that cool or all that different from countless other ferris wheels at that carnival. Speaking of which, the carnival was super creepy too. It was pretty much abandonned, although all of the rides were running. It reminded us of how when we were little all tv shows featured bad things happening (i.e., kidnapping, forced drug taking) at carnivals. We left, extremely hungry, and very disappointed.
We then hit rock bottom, when we began searching for a place to eat. We (foolishly) assumed that since our hostel was not really in the city center that things would be cheaper to eat there, but we were wrong. A slice of pizza was €6! The hell? After walking around and getting increasingly desperate, we settled on an eatery called WienerWald. We thought it might be the Austrian version of KFC, but it is so much worse. Both schnitzel burgers that we ordered, came on a bun that decomposed as we ate it (take that, dust cake! - schnitzel burger), and mine heavily featured mayo, while Laura's was all about the ketchup. So disgusting. I still convulse when I think of it days later. It seems that all people eat in Vienna is ice cream. Seriously. We tried it out, to drown our sorrows, and it was indeed good. Pistaccio, Mango, Ferrero Roché... they were all yummy. The final gustatory insult came when we got our complimentary drink from the Wombar. We chose Orange Soda, which was orange syrup with tonic water. Very bad. We hate you too, Wombats.
As for the roommates, there was one Korean guy, who took 30-min long showers, but in 2-min intervals. He also horked his lungs up while doing so. Nasty! Then there was Brazillian guy, who sat around in his boxers in the middle of the floor and slept at 3 in the afternoon. To top it all off, when he came traipsing in with our two other British roommates at 5 in the morning, he had the gall to turn on the light and start screaming at the top of his lungs. Laura shushed him, but that didn't work, so she told him to shut up, and that did. Dick. We hate you Wombats and your seedy clientelle.
Day 2 in Vienna:
We had noticed a free walking tour in the elevator at the hostel, so we decided to go on it, since free things are always good (except for the drink at Wombar). Also, since the tour in Berlin saved that city for us, we thought the same might be true for the Vienna one. We took the subway to St. Stephan's Cathedral, and met our guide 'Dan' who was clearly an American. We really hoped that others would show up so that it would not just be the 3 of us for 2 hours because that makes it harder for us to make snarky comments.
We checked out the cathedral, which was pretty cool (we decided to return later for the Katakomben tour) and headed back out for the tour. On the way we were accosted for the second time by the same person trying to sell us tickets to a classical concert that evening. Vienna is full of these people dressed up like Mozart doing things like this, and although we try to be polite, it is annoying and ruins our schedule! I must say that the way the woman approached me was gold, however, as she came up and said 'You speak English, lady?'. Awesome.
While we were waiting for the tour to start, we overheard an American couple raving about the salt mine tour they had done earlier in Salzburg. I only relate this, because their big selling point, was that prior to the tour, the 'didn't know how salt worked'. Seriously. That's a direct quote. Also, our tour guide's name turned out to be John, not 'Dan' as his name tag said, because he had stolen off a coworker, so we nicknamed him DJ.
The tour was pretty laidback at first; not quite as polished as the one in Berlin. This soon became clear when right in front of the Hoffburg complex, a woman with a badge came up and began interrogating DJ. Turns out we may have been on an illegal tour as he did not have a permit, and it was not clear whether he needed one. They made arrangements to meet later (after she repeatedly tried to take his driver's license -- his only form of identification), but she then proceeded to tail us for about 20 minutes while calling for backup. It was terrifying, but also hilarious.
On the tour we visited most of the major sights in the city, including: Stephensplatz, Hoffburg Palace, Museum Quartier, Volksgarten, Rauthaus, the Theatre, some Law place, and the Jewish Area. The tour then concluded with the most horrible story about why the South tower of the church is shorter than the North tower. We won't tell you the tale, but one reason why this story is bad, is it is really the North tower that is shorter than the South. I guess you get what you pay for... nothing of value. Still, it was fun, and we have a fondness for our Tennessee-born DJ, with his use of y'all (which confused the non-native English speakers) and refering to the church as 'this gal'. Cheers to you, DJ. We hope you are not in an Austrian jail or being deported. We don't even know what you were doing in the city in the first place. We still hate Wombats.
After the tour, we did the National Treasury because we really wanted to see pretty and extravagant jewlery. Mission accomplished. We cheated the system by only buying one audio guide but then cranking up the volume so we could both hear it. Take that ridiculous fees for necessary guides! The crowns were amazing, and we learned quite a bit about the royal families and processes in Vienna, but our favour things were the bees on Napolean's wife's dresses and items, and the golden fleece order necklace that was depicted by this limp sheep. Sadly, neither of these symbols were featured in the gift shop.
Hungry again but wary from the previous night, we dared to try street meat (always a sure bet) and had a käsekrainer, which is an ingenious food idea: sausage injected with cheese. Then they stuff it in a whole baguette (oh we have pictures) and slather it with ketchup and mustard (dijon). Mmmmmm.... cheese-sausage. It was just the thing to hit the spot.
Next was the Catacomb Tour back at St. Stephan's Cathedral, which was pee-your-pants frightening. The tour guide was nicknamed (by us) 'The CryptKeeper', and he clearly spent all his time (alone) in the catacombs. He also had this scratchy high voice that sounded like his larynx had dehydrated several centuries ago. I got yelled at for taking a picture of this weird hand that all the portraits in Vienna seem to feature, but it was an honest mistake, since we had not been told that pictures were 'verboten' beforehand. But, I dared not cross The Crypt Keeper and put the camera away. It was so scary; we were underneat the city next to huge stone vaults filled with Plague bones. Not at all charming like Bone church!
We then had to decided between going to the Modern Art Gallery or trying to get tickets to the Opera. We decided to see if we could get cheap seats for the Opera, since we can see modern art in London (and probably many other cities, too). We could not get seats cheaper than €157, but we did manage to get standing tickets for only €2 a piece. There was this old man in line who tried to cut us off, so we made it our mission to get into the theatre before him. Take that, old man!
We ended up seeing 'Werther' by Mozart. For the first third of the show, the french was translated into German, but then we managed to switch the teleprompter so that it was in English. The opera involved children, Maralyn Monroe, a treehouse, a love triangle, and of course, suicide. Pretty much your standard fare for an opera (well, we are not too sure about the tree house thing). I was worried about my outfit because I was wearing shorts and we had heard there was a pretty strict dress code, but no one seemed to mind and maybe that is because the Viennese have no fashion sense. Must be a thing for people who speak German. There was a flagrantly gay man who wore jeans so tight (and tapered) that we called him 'Silence of the Lambs' Man. I think you can use your imagination as to why.
As for the name of this blog entry, the couple next to us were on some kind of date and made things quite awkward (!) for us by talking about going to see each other's apartments (wink, wink), meeting parents, sitting on laps, and then a strange gyration and thigh stroking all within my immediate line of vision. Creepy! All in all however, we had a great time at the opera, and not just because it kept us out of the hostel until late at night (We still hate you, Wombats!).
That night it rained dramatically, which seemed to freak out British dude #2, so he slammed the window shut, effectively making our room a sauna. We have never been so relieved to leave a place as we were Wombats. We filled out their comment card, with some pretty choice comments and some devil/angry faces for good measure. Take that, Wombats! When we checked out at 6:20 am the next morning, we pretty much dropped the keys on the desk and ran!
OK, scroll upward for our entry on Salzburg (spoiler: much better!).
Gonna wash the size right out of my clothes...
Just got back from the "Wash Cafe" as the laundry facilities at the hostel are broken. The very solicitous worker there took it upon himself to put our clothes in the dryer while we were out getting a bite to eat. We came back to our clothes not on "low temperature" but "normal temperature" and the "extra dry setting". It's not our fault we stepped out for a bit! The wash cycle alone lasted 40 minutes! And who knows how long that dryer was on for!
Now I have a shirt that may or may not fit, and my pants thats were just above the ankle look like they might sit mid-calf. Laura may have capris when she had none before, and a top that she made need assistance getting into.
Honestly. Can't wait for Vienna. We won't have enough money to eat, which will be good since maybe we'll shrink to fit our clothes, as we certainly don't have the funds to buy new ones.
Day Trippin'
Today was a departure from our normal travel style, as we were quite spontaneous. We actually did a large excursion that was not accounted for on our calender (the holy grail of this adventure). A girl here at the hostel had asked us if we wanted to accompany her to Kutna Hora, famous for its "Bone Church". We had been looking for something to do on our last day here in the Czech Republic, and a Bone Church sounded cool/creepy enough. This morning Mae (the girl) told us that she didn't think she could come with us after all because she had met some guys last night, and in a drunken stupor, agreed to change hostels... We weren't that concerned, because we didn't know how much time we would want to spend at the Bone Church and didn't want to be accountable to another person (who is clearly insane, even if she seems nice enough).
At breakfast, we watched music videos (they love Jamiroquai here), but we also attempted not to laugh outright at this German guy sitting at the table next to us. He had the worst hair ever. It was long like Tarzan but featured Joan of Arc bangs. If you're a guy and have long hair, you must part it in the middle and not have bangs. It will still look dumb, but not quite as dumb as this dude.
One nice thing about Mae dropping out is that we were able to take the train to Kutna Hora instead of taking a bus. Not only did this mean shorter travel time (only about 65 minutes on the train compared to a 100 minute bus ride + a 40 minute walk from the bus station), but it also meant we got to use the leftover day on our Czech Rail Pass, so we didn't have to pay for transportation (or at least, we had already paid for it). When we got to Hlavni Nadrazi (the central station), we had to go to the three different counters before we found someone who could -- or at least was willing to -- help us. He told us it was cool for us to just hop on the train, we didn't have to pay any extra, and we also didn't have to make a reservation (or pay a supplement) for our train to Vienna tomorrow. With all the logistics out of the way, we now had to find the platform. Apparently no one working at the rail station knows where trains will appear until 20 minutes before their scheduled arrival. We wandered around trying to find a platform with a train departing at 10:15. We found one, but it didn't have Kutna Hora listed as a destination... so we went back to information, but this time stumbled upon one that claimed to only give out info in Czech. We just wrote 10:15 on the card we were carrying around with a picture of the church and the city name and shoved it into the window. The woman told us to go to platform 2, which was where we had originally been. We then hopped on the train, which actually had compartments like in Harry Potter (!), and fell asleep as we tend to do when we're on trains. We shared our compartment with an English couple, although it took both of us about 3 minutes to realize they were speaking English... maybe our belief that the UK leg of our trip will be easier communication-wise was not correct.
When we reached Kutna Hora, we were happy to see that the Bone Church was only a 13 minute walk from the station. Take that, bus rides! The church itself was really creepy, but also impressive. It's actually kind of amazing what you can do with human bones. It seems like some guy decided to decorate with them after the plague, making a huge chandalier, a coat of arms, and numerous pyramid-like structures. We later remarked that this was a "Hildi Church" (Hildi being the designer from Trading Spaces who is infamous for sticking hay onto walls).
We decided that we didn't really want to see anything else in Kutna Hora, so we headed back to the train station. On our way, we were attracted to a store with this huge Orion mural in the window. Orion is this brand of chocolate that they sell here, and each type of chocolate has a different person on it. I bought a dark chocolate bar and it featured, what we though was a little school boy (as he had a slate under his arm). We now think that he might be a slave to the Orion chocolate factory, as he was depicted in the mural as cowering (or maybe questioning) a man who was poised at a chocolate making machine (although from afar, it looked like he was brandishing a whip!). Steph bought a hazelnut bar with a little boy in a sailor costume on it, who looks like he is either about to pick his nose or ponder something deep and meaningful. He was being escorted to the chocolate factory by his grandmother on the mural, and she also appeared to be preventing him from pondering/picking. We decided to enter the store to see if we could get the whole collection of Orion characters, and lo and behold, we had entered another grocery store! Realizing we had about 700 Kc each, we decided to be frivolous and buy whatever captured our fancy. Banana-filled chocolate? We bought it. Chocolate covered marzipan? Bought that too! Fruity Lentilky (Lentilky is the name for Smarties over here)? Turns out these are Skittles mixed with Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans... we giggled for 2 hours at the train station waiting for the train back to Prague while braving these little treats. There are several different colours, but no colour has the same taste twice. Without the aid of the legend to tell us what the possible taste options were, Steph said she tasted: puffy sticker, caramel, soap, and squash (note: they were only supposed to taste like fruits). I bought these candies that had fruits making faces on the bag, that ended up tasting like perfume, tree, and roses. Now we know why the fruits were making those faces! We also bought 2 other bags of chips, one that was "Garlic", and one that is best described as "Summer Barbecue". Awesome.
On the train back to Prague, we ended up riding with a bunch of school children. It so happens that we ended up riding with the Czech version of Harry Potter: Terry Totter (From the ripped/downloaded version of the movie that I own). He wore his plaid overshirt like a toga-cape, and all he was missing was a scar and round glasses. We're telling you, Prague really is Harry Potter land!
We finally bought stamps for the cards we bought in Berlin, so those will be heading your way soon. As we exited the post office, what should start playing? "Back for Good" by Take That. Clearly they played that specifically for us.
We should mention that the metro stations here have really long, really fast escalators. Like theme-park fast and long! We are not buckled in, but we can't understand how/why people here run down them. Who needs to go faster than the speed of light?
Our hostel has a Suggestion Book in the lobby. Last night while waiting for the internet, we flipped through it to see what other guests had said. After a few pages, Steph, disgusted by the American's grammar, began correcting it. Enjoyable.
So, with approximately 500 Kc apiece to spend, we're off to find the laundromat. This is a dangerous amount of money, since we could pretty much buy the entire city if we wanted to. Tomorrow it's off to Vienna, where the value of the euro and the high prices will quickly make us long for Prague. We better eat now, while we have the chance and the funds.
P.S. Sorry if anything in this entry offends you, Fil!
Prague Castle is the New Hogwarts
Today marked day 2 in our 3 day stay in Prague. It looks like we will be taking that day trip to the bone church tomorrow, because we've essentially seen everything we care to here in the main city (sorry if that offends you, Fil!). We allowed ourselves to sleep in a little bit (to the mature hour of 8:15), although because our hostel is situated on a very busy main road, screeching tires and honking horns were the soundtrack to our sleep so who knows how much good the extra time lying in bed did.
We set off for Prague Castle right after breakfast, and because it was slightly raining, there weren't very many tourists there (Note to Fil: No American tourists were present. Sorry if that offends you.). In order to get to the Castle, we had to not only take the metro, but a tram as well! Not only did we pull this off with no problems, but we got to watch this woman from our hostel miss the train, which was good because we don't like her (Sorry if that offends you, Fil). I told Laura that if she came over to talk to us, I would pretend to be deaf. Ahhhh, good times.
Anyway! Prague Castle was quite picturesque, although not literally because we did not want to pay for the photo permit (which seemed like a rip off anyway, since most of the buildings that you were purportedly allowed to take photos in should you buy the permit then had huge "No photo" signs in them). Alas, we weren't able to take the guided tour because the first one in English wasn't taking place until 1 pm, and it was 11 am when we arrived. We also didn't want to pay for the audioguide, because while I'm a big believer in paying slightly more to ensure yourself a good time (rather than saving a few bucks and hating it), it seemed a bit ridiculous tha the audio guide cost more than the entrance fee itself! As it was, we paid almost $10 to get in... we didn't want this whole excursion to cost nearly $20 (because it really wouldn't have been worth it... sorry if that offends you, Fil). Instead, we contented ourselves to wander through the buildings, narrating it as though we were at Hogwarts. We found the Hufflepuff common room, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, complete with wardrobes for boggarts to hide within (we kept waiting for Berlin to pop out at us... one was so big we expected the whole of Germany to appear!). I also serenaded us with John Williams medelies, which was prompted when we saw a man wearing and Indiana Jones hat. We got some really nice panoramic shots of the city (yes dads, we have been using "panoramic assist" on the cameras), and had a nice stroll through the castle's gardens.
We decided to take the tram back down the mountain, and then make our way to the Jewish Cemetary. When I tried to buy my ticket at the vending machine, the machine ate my 20 Kc coin (for an 8 Kc fare! That's like, 60 cents it was ripping me off!) and it didn't give me my ticket! We began fishing with our fingers up into the machine, and Laura eventually managed to pull out a wad of sponge someone had shoved up into the machine to catch people's spare change. Jackpot! We managed to abscond with 75 Kc... which amounts to about $4.50... which amounts to a large meal. Take that Prague thieves! Outsmarted by two "clueless" Canadian girls.
When we finally made it to the Jewish Cemetary, we were rather hungry, and decided that we didn't really want to pay $10 to only see the Cemetary long enough to take a picture (you have to pay admission to see all of the Jewish-related sites in one lumpsum) (oh, and: sorry if that offends you, Fil), so we decided to head back over the Charles Bridge so I could try and get myself that Official Absinth Spoon I had seen yesterday. Mission accomplished (it's so cool!), we bought the makings for sandwiches for tomorrow's day trip, and actually have enough bread to eat for the next few days. We were going to buy the entire loaf, as it was only 17 Kc, but it was too heavy to pick up with one hand, so we opted for the half loaf. We also picked up some juice (so Laura could fend off her imminent scurvy) and some potatoe chips (in order to fend off our impending malnutrition and subsequent fainting). We ended up getting a bag of "bacon and horseradish" (I thought the white vegetable on the front might have been turnip... I guess horseradish makes slightly more sense) and a bag of a flavour we can only describe as "roast dinner". For 55 cents, how could we say no?
We then headed back into the Old Town to eat a proper meal at The House of the Little Bears (which we had been dying to eat at ever since we found out that was its name in English). We splurged a bit on lunch (or, "linner" if you prefer, as it was at 4 pm), but the food was really good and well worth it. We figured you could tell who the tourists were based on the size of beer: only tourists were ordering the 300 mL Budweisers (hey! They were only 75 cents!).
Since today could also be dubbed "The Day of Food", we headed across the street to Tesco, to pick up some snacks and try to find some appropriate breakfast food as the hostel does not provide meals in Vienna (our next stop). Of course, we pretty much kids in a candy store, focusing mostly on cookies and chocolate, but it was also just fun to wander around and remark at how incredibly cheap all of the food was. You get so used to things being like, 25 Kc, that you sometimes forget that 100 Kc is only 5 dollars... and so when your grocery bill comes to that (as mine did) and you have almost a weeks worth of food... well it's a little bit crazy.
We still haven't figured out how to exit the subway station near our hotel in such a way that we leave through the door we enter, and despite our constantly trying new ways to get out, we always seems to find ourselves in the exact same spot. It's completely bewildering. On the way home, Laura almost got killed as the traffic lights weren't working and she (foolishly) assumed that all Czech drivers would be as curteous as the one that stopped to let us cross. Thankfully, she escaped unharmed (and untouched) but I think both of our jaywalking days are over (even if the crosswalks here are ridiculously slow and you can wait for 5 minutes without being given the right to walk even if all directions have a red light).
That's pretty much it for today. Day trip to bone church tomorrow, which should be interesting. So this is what it feels like to have "down time". Weird.
Sorry if that offends you, Fil.
