Post #8- Bratislava

When I had originally booked a place to stay in Slovakia, I figured 6 days in the capital would be sufficient to get a feel for the city. Not even a week into the whole trip however, more than one person advised that 6 days would be far too long, so I cut it down to 2 days.  So when I left Prague, which I LOVED, I was a little worried that Bratislava would be disappointing. But before even setting foot in the country, I had the surprise of my life: Adam and Becky, two awesome people that I know from university, were on the same train as me from Prague! At this point, they were about 3 weeks into a month-long trip that started in Paris. They were just in town for one night so we of course made plans to meet for drinks later on.

It seems that everytime I check in to a new place, my first 2 questions are "What is the wifi password?" and "Where's the nearest grocery store?" After covering the basics, I set off to find the Bratislava castle (starting to be a prominent trend in most of the European cities I've visted so far).

I met Becky and Adam at their hostel that evening, and we were soon joined by a group from Ireland that included a Ron Weasley doppelganger. Sadly, in all our excitement, we didn't get a photo with or of him. We then went out to find a Slovakian pub and sampled some Slovakian culture. The next best discovery of the day was that Becky and Adam's next destination was Budapest, which was mine too! We planned to meet up a few days later and go to Hungary's famous hot spring baths.

The next day I explored the town partially on my own, then also tagged along with Luis from Colombia, who I met at my hostel, on a free tour of  Bratislava that he had found. These are always really great because the tour guides give a very animated overview of the history of the country without sounding like a textbook.
Although not known to be a 'pretty' city, probably because of its small size, I found it to be really interesting to explore. It has all kinds of quirks, like a statue coming out of a hole in the ground, and a pale blue church.

For dinner that night I wanted to try something traditionally Slovak. I had read about a dish called bryndzové halušky, which consists of small potato dumplings that are similar to gnocchi, in a sauce of sheep cheese, then topped with bacon. The restaurant attached to my hostel had this on their menu, and so I had to try it out:

It might not look all that appetizing but it was incredible. I would go back to Slovakia just for this.

Later that evening, a group of friends that were staying in my room invited me out with them. 4 of them, Chelsey, Lee, Sarah and Abby, were from the US, and Marsi was from Greece. They are all living in Budapest and were just doing a week-long trip together (or maybe just weekend, I forget). Anyway, they gave me loads of suggestions for things to see in Budapest, so it looks like I'll have plenty to do, and hopefully some more company!

Post #7- Brno and Prague(again)

For those just tuning in now, I'm about 2 and a half weeks into a 3 month backbpacking trip around eastern Europe. I started in Austria then made my way over to the Czech Republic, and I'm now on a train to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. After that, Budapest!

After spending 3 days in Prague (gorgeous), I left for 4 days to see some other parts of the country, but then came back because 3 days just wasn't enough... and I also had plans to meet up for dinner with a friend who was also in town, which I did! More about that later.

I left the village of Cesky Krumlov on Monday for the city of Brno, which is the second-largest in the country, and the largest in the region of Moravia (the other main region of the country being Bohemia). After a few minor setbacks, I made my way to Brno, but by this point I almost wished I skipped it in exchange for more time in Prague. Additionally, when I booked accomodations in Brno, I didn't notice the line in my travel book that said, "World War II completely devastated the city and despite being totally rebuilt, Brno has never quite regained its former lustre." Oops. Despite all this, I had a fantastic time there! When I first arrived that night, I found my hostel to be a lot nicer than the last few places I had stayed. I shared a 6-bed room with a group of 4 girls from England who were on holiday for the week and they were a LOT of fun. We had our own ensuite bathroom in the room, and I was able to do a load of laundry at this hostel, which I was pathetically excited about. 

 The city was built on a hill and is surprisingly nice. The next day I climbed the big hill in the middle of town up to the (surprise, surprise) castle, walked past some pretty cathedrals and through the main squares. Really good shopping there too! Not that I could actually buy anything, my bag is pretty full as it is, but there's nothing wrong with looking around and marvelling at how much cheaper everything is over here.

That night, the English ladies, Beth, Ellie, Debbie and Michelle, invited me out for drinks with them. We made it to 3 different bars, and I was still back in time to skype with my parents thanks to the 6 hour time difference! It was a Tuesday night so we weren't expecting a crowded bar scene... and we were right, it was pretty empty. But if you have a good group (and enough drinks) it really doesn't matter.

 The next day I went back to Prague and spend a few more days there. I know I haven't been to that many places yet but I think it's my favourite so far. This time around, I went to some less touristy areas of the city and enjoyed the sunny weather (with plenty of SPF 45 obviously). One of my flipflops broke about a week ago and I'd been having a hard time finding a decent pair to replace them. All of the shops in the main area of the cities are pretty upscale and didn't carry anything as basic as cheap rubber flipflops. So yesterday I asked the receptionist at my hostel for suggestions on where to look, and he directed me to a mall "where Czech people shop".  It was huge and there was a lot more to choose from, and I found exactly what I was looking for at a Walmart-type store. Mission accomplished.

That evening, I met Matt (friend I met while shooting in England about 5 summers ago) at the entrance of the Charles bridge, exactly as planned. It was pretty surprising when we realized that we'd be in Prague at around the same time, and since he's all grown up and has a real job, he offered to take me for dinner! It was even more exciting when he asked me ahead of time whether I had something nice to wear. The restaurant ended up being right on the river, and was certainly among the fanciest I've ever been to. To give you an idea, here's what I had for the main course: Veal filet mignon and brisket with salsify flan, foie gras cream, onion confit and sauce Navarra. (I only remember that word-for-word because I took a picture of the menu, being the classy girl that I am.) I'm still not completely sure what all those things are, but it was delicious.

(This is me using a PIPETTE to put wasabi oil on my starter, a salmon thing. I've used pipettes in the lab many times but I have to say this is the most fun I've had using one.) 

We sat on the terrace with a view of the river and old town behind it and had a great evening. Since we were the last ones there at the end of the night, no one was around to take a photo of us, so we took one of ourselves (again, classy). Pure luxury for a lowly backpacker!

Matt lives in London and is super excited for the Olympics. He already has tickets to more events than I can count, and was kind enough to bring me some London 2012 swag, so I sported this hat on my way to the train station this morning:

In other news, I have booked a flight from Budapest to Venice! Again, not part of the original plan, but too good to resist. Also Ryanair had a limited time seat sale and I booked a flight for less than it costs for me to take a train from Kingston to Ottawa. THEN I’m going to meet Ali in Turin, and we have potential plans to see a place called Lake Como. Ali is also planning on meeting me in Corfu, Greece when I’m there in July! 

Even more news- my friend from university, Maggie, is definitely coming to Turkey with me! This is super exciting and as an added bonus, my parents will be happy that I won’t be alone. My mom visited Turkey with a group when she was about my age, and even though times have changed and it’s apparently very safe to travel there, she has some reservations about me being there on my own. Understandable, and problem solved J

Post #6- Prague (part 1) and Český Krumlov

I made my way to Prague from Salzburg last Wednesday without too much difficulty, but it took 2 trains and a very long travel day. I got in at about 6 pm and took the subway to my hostel, which was conveniently located right downtown. The receptionist at the hostel told me that there’s a free activity every evening at 8 with Kristian, and I obviously had no other plans so I decided to check it out. The activity that night was a cooking tutorial, so I went down and met Neil from England, Geoff from New York, and Linda from Canada. There were some others from South America there, but they mostly kept to themselves. Kristian, a funny Czech man, immediately put us to work peeling and chopping potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and cilantro to make a traditional Czech potato soup, which was delicious.

The next day I got an early(ish) start and explored the old town of Prague on my own. It was an overload of prettiness! There are so many gorgeous buildings, bridges, and long, narrow streets. I found most of the historical sites with the help of my travel book.

That evening I joined the others at the hostel for Kristian’s activity, which was a tour of another part of Prague that I probably never would have seen otherwise. We climbed a hill and took in a gorgeous view of the Vltava river and the city’s lights, and we stopped in at an outdoor concert that was playing folk music. Neil told me about a beer festival (!!!!) that was starting the next day, and he was trying to get a group together to try it out. I clearly did not need much convincing, so we planned to meet the next afternoon.

The following morning I took a free walking tour of the city that was recommended by the hostel. It was great because I had already seen most of the sights so I could orient myself, but I learned a lot about the actual history of Prague, which, as it turns out, has been very bloody for the past 600 years or so.

Later that afternoon I met up with Neil and about 6 others that I had met the previous few nights and we made our way over to the beer festival, which was a ton of fun. They servers, dressed in stereotypical bavarian attire, served 1-litre beer steins. Ben and Steve (also from England) taught us a drinking song, but we weren’t very good at it and I don’t think we ever got the whole thing right.

After a few hours, 4 of us wanted to get back to the hostel for Kristian’s tour of Prague castle, which is actually a complex of palaces. Apparently the Czech emperors were never satisfied with the palaces built by the previous ones, so they kept commissioning their own. At the centre of the complex is this enormous cathedral that I couldn’t even fit into 1 photo, nevermind the whole complex (google ‘Prague castle’ and hopefully you’ll see what I mean).

Sidenote- you know how it’s illegal to drink in streets, on city transport, and in pretty much all public areas? Not such an issue over here.

Since I’m not meeting up with Matt until Thursday, I decided to leave Prague for a while to see some other towns, so on Saturday I made my way to a small, adorable village called Cesky Krumlov. I thought it would be nice to get away from the big city and have some time to relax.

BUT- it turned out to be no less of an adventure, mostly because I kept getting myself into trouble. Not serious trouble, more like a series of minor mishaps. The first one (completely my fault) was that I forgot to write down the name and address of the hostel that I had booked in Cesky Krumlov. I did however, have a map of the town that listed a few hostels and I was PRETTY SURE which one I had booked, so I made my way through town from the train station. Next issue- the reception desk was closed when I got there. Problematic, since I wasn't 100% sure that this was even the right place. But then I noticed a small note with my name on it and a set of keys attached. Woohoo! The note said something along the lines of "gone for a bit, you're in room A, here are your keys, you can register later :) " Big relief! The hostel was quiet, and I had the 8-bed dorm to myself that night, which was great because I was really looking forward to sleeping in.

 I went back to check in a while later and the receptionist who introduced herself as Blanka, maybe in her late 20s, mentioned that there would be some live music down in the bar area later on. She said she didn't know who they were, some young local guys, but suggested I go check it out. Well, she was right about the young part! The band consisted of 4 high school aged boys, 3 of them about 16 and the tiny little bassist couldn't have been older than 14. It was still fun though, they played a bunch of songs that I recognized including some Deep Purple, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Blink 182, so I ordered a pint for 24 koruna (about $1.25) and hung around for most of their set.

I slept soundly that night until maybe around 4 am, when I woke up to a loud pounding on my door. Okay, maybe having the room to myself wasn't so great after all. I didn't make a sound because I figured that anyone who needed to get in should have a key. Then I heard whoever it was banging on the door next to mine. No answer there either. He/she moved on to a few other rooms, determined for an answer. I listened for a little longer... running footsteps, then nothing. Definitely took me a while to get back to sleep after that, but I was too scared to turn my light on to read.

I spent the next day enjoying the town. There's a big castle in the middle, and the Vltava river (same one that passes through Prague) snakes it's way through town creating 3 peninsula type things. Since Cesky Krumlov is so small, it didn't even take me the whole day to walk through all the streets. But I had brought my book and stopped at a pretty park to read for a few hours part way through the afternoon.

When I went back to the hostel to make dinner (brown buns, cheese, some deli meat that I THINK was chicken, and a banana) I sat on a balcony off the kitchen that looked out into a courtyard, and Blanka came out for a cigarette and sat down next to me. She asked about where I was travelling and I asked her where she was from. Then she told me that every Sunday night at 10pm for the past 2 years...something about street art...something about a project of local artists... and I didn't quite get the rest. But she invited me to come join them that night because after they were going to the 'baptism' of her friend's new bar that was opening, called La Cantina. She also mentioned that there was a astronomical phenomenon happening that night so it would be extra special.

So I went down to this side street with her and a few others that I think worked at the hostel, and there was already a group of about 8 or 10 other people (and 3 dogs). There were murals on the walls of some of the buildings in the street, and one of the guys read something to the group (in Czech) and everybody clapped. What I gathered from the whole thing was that this street art project had caught the attention of ...somebody, and they were celebrating the opening of an actual exhibit in town promoting local artists. Or something. A friendly young guy (whose name I never figured out) with dreadlocks started to talk to me, and later when we were all at La Cantina, he invited me to come sleep in the forest with the group that night, and even offered me his extra sleeping bag “the only rule is that you must give off positive energy!”. As much as I’m always up for trying new things, this was slightly beyond my comfort zone (at least at this early stage in my trip) since I had just met these people, had basically just arrived in this town, and didn’t speak the language.

I headed back to the hostel later on (probably around midnight) and walked in to find an old drunk man sitting alone in the pub area. He mumbled something to me in Czech, which I ignored and went to the door to the stairway, at the top of which all the bedrooms are found. But- the door was locked. No problem, I had 4 different keys, one of them was bound to open that door. Although I soon discovered that NONE of them did. I tried all of them repeatedly for about 10 minutes with the drunkard sitting about 3 metres behind me (all the while thinking to myself, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE??). Finally (luckily!!) one of the guys who worked at the hostel came down the stairs and opened the door, but only because he was heading home. If I had come about 15 minutes later, I would have had a bigger problem on my hands.

The next morning I packed up, checked out, and made the hike up the hill to the train station, the same way I had arrived 2 days before. Or so I thought. Somehow, despite my ever improving navigation skills, I managed to take a wrong turn and found myself in unfamiliar territory. Right before giving in and backtracking, I saw a woman pushing a stroller, so I smiled and asked if she knew where the train station was. She shrugged apologetically, so I said the one word in Czech that I knew: “Nadrazi?” which means train station. She motioned for me to follow her, so I did, and after about 5 minutes I saw it. So I wasn’t that far off!

So I get there, get a ticket, wait around for the train, and find a seat when it comes. Now here comes the fun part. I have to change trains at a town called Cesky Budejovice. Apparently this town is bigger than I thought, and has not one BUT TWO stations. I look out my window and see the station sign, and get off. By the time I realized that there would be no transferring to any other trains from this tiny little stop, the train was pulling away. I looked closer at the station sign and it said “Cesky Budejovice something something” which I assume meant ‘south station’ or something indicating that this was NOT the main station. So there I was in a town I knew nothing about, didn’t speak the language, and had no idea where I was going. Great planning, Emily. I thought about hanging around until the next train came, but that wouldn’t be for 2 hours. Instead, I walked into town to try to find a hotel (they usually speak some english there!) and ask for directions to the main train station. This was a challenge because I couldn’t find a hotel anywhere, and the people I did ask spoke little or no english. Not their problem of course. Eventually I found my way, mostly with the help of the one czech word I knew, ‘Nadrazi’. Unfortunately, the Canada flag badge didn’t help me much here.

Of course by then I had missed my connecting train to Brno, but the beauty of trains is that there’s always another one coming, so I just had to wait about an hour and a half until the next one came along.

Lessons learned?
1. Always check to make sure you’re getting off at the right station BEFORE your train pulls away
2. Don’t be afraid to talk to the conductors and ask for clarification, even if you sound like a dumb tourist
3. Never underestimate the utility of knowing even just a few words of the language of the country you’re in!

Post #5- Salzburg

On Saturday morning I made my way over to Salzburg, Austria (about a 3 hour train ride from Vienna) to meet up with Ali again. Salzburg has all of the charm of an old European city but none of the intimidation. It was very easy to explore on foot, which we did that afternoon (despite the rain) after having a very Austrian lunch of schnitzel and dumplings.

After finding the exact place where Mozart was born, we hiked up to the enormous fortress that sits atop the plateau in the middle of town and took in the stunning view, but not before getting a bit lost along the way and accidentally trespassing onto private property, possibly more than once.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at a grocery store for some bread, cheese, salami and a few apples, which was lunch and dinner for the next 2 days *sigh*.

Our hostel was SO great! Every night at 7 they show The Sound of Music (which took place in Salzburg) in one of the common areas, which we watched two nights in a row. There was also a bar there, since it's much easier to make friends after a cheap happy hour pint of the local brew, Stiegl. We met two extremely fun girls from California, Caitlin and Emma, who have been studying abroad and traveling around for months, and the next day the 4 of us took a day trip to a nearby alpine town called St Wolfgang. It was very cute and bavarian-looking, but we didn't spend a lot of time in the town because our main purpose was to find hiking trails. We spent about 5 hours trekking up and through the mountains, enjoying the views, frolicking in meadows, and singing songs from The Sound of Music because it seemed appropriate. Such a great day, and we were lucky because the weather was gorgeous.

Ali had to leave the next morning for Turin to start her Italian Job (haha). I was sad to see her go but it was so great having her with me for my first week away, and we had a lot of fun exploring Austria together. We have some potential plans to meet up a few more times too, which would be fantastic. I wasn't planning on going to Italy, mostly because I want to be able to have a lot of time there and see everything, but now that I have a friend living there for the summer, I don't think I can resist seeing at least some of it. Also if she gets some time off, she might come meet me in Croatia or Greece (or both!). I originally booked 6 days in Bratislava next week, the capital of Slovakia, but I hear that it's fairly small and 2 days is more than enough to see it all, so it looks like I have 4 days freed up in my schedule and literally a world of possibilities.

On Monday I explored more of Salzburg on my own and took tons more pictures. As I mentioned last post, a guy (around my age, maybe a few years older) approached me as I was crossing a bridge in the middle of town and asked me what part of Canada I was from, since he'd seen the Canada flag badge on my backpack. His name is Aaron, he's from Vancouver, and is also travelling on his own. We chatted for a few minutes and gave me a few tips.

A purolator package containing my computer power cord was waiting for me when I got back to the hostel at around 4, woohoo, thanks Mom and Dad! I spent a fair bit of time uploading pictures, writing emails, and realizing how much I missed regular internet access on something other than an ipod touch. I wandered into the bar later on and hung out with Ian, the bartender from California, who we'd met a few nights before. He'd been travelling around Europe and happened to land a job at the hostel in Salzburg to fund future travels. We hung out for a bit the next night too and watched a few episodes of Game of Thrones together. 

On Tuesday, I decided to bike to Germany. I had read about the German town of Berchtesgaden not too far from Salzburg, and there were buses that went out that way pretty frequently (half an hour or 45 min trip). But since I have nothing but time, I borrowed a bike from the hostel, packed a lunch, and took a leap of faith with my navigation skills.

  It was a gorgeous day and the ride took me a little over 2 hours.

The town is small and quiet but really cute, although it's actually known for having important ties to Hitler. His 'Eagle's Nest' is nearby, which was apparently used as his retreat. I wandered around the cobblestone streets snapping pictures like the annoying tourist that I am, then stopped at a bakery that had this on the outside:

...so naturally I had to go in and get a pretzel. It was delicious.

On Tuesday night the hostel bar was busy and I met a group of funny German guys who were on some sort of university trip. I wasn't really clear on what they were doing in Salzburg, but they were all studying civil engineering and taught me how to say cheers in German (Prost!) and a few other words that I already forget.

Today is Wednesday and I'm writing this on my train to Prague. Yesterday I got some exciting news from my friend Matt- he's going to be in Prague next week too! It's funny because he lives in England, I live in Canada, we haven't seen each other in about 4 or 5 years (we met in England when I was competing with the army cadet national rifle team) and we're meeting up in the Czech Republic of all places. Technically I would have been in a Czech town called Brno by the time he arrives, but since I have the luxury of being able to switch up my plans at the click of a button, I'd say an extra few days in Prague is worth the excellent company!

And Canadian flag badge gets another point-- the girl across from me on the train that I'm on right now saw it and it turns out she goes to the University of Ottawa. That's 4 people now! It's definitely coming in handy.