When I left you last, I was in the midst of recovering from my trip to Copenhagen, mainly by binging the recently released season of House of Cards (thirteen episodes, three days, college has taught me well). Tuesday was spent yet again at the partner college in two of the easiest courses of my life. After my school day was over I wanted to explore, and decided to get off the S-Bahn a stop early and walk across Tempelhof Park.
I didn't realize the massive size of the park, which was stupid as I had been there before and knew that it was a former airfield. The walk across took me about forty-five minutes. My iPod died almost immediately as arrived so I lacked music, but it was refreshing. Standing in an incredibly large flat space, surrounded by a city, with the wind flowing through my hair and jacket, listening to the birds sing and not interacting with other people was incredibly therapeutic and greatly needed. Upon my arrival at home, I spent the rest of the day and the next packing for Prague and finishing up school work.
On Thursday, I woke up at six-thirty and met up with the group at Berlin's main station where we boarded the six-hour train that would transport us to Prague. The train ride was uneventful, and marked with gorgeous scenery. Upon our arrival in the city, we took the metro straight to our hostel, Miss Sophie's (highly recommended) and recovered for bit before heading out on a tour of the city.
The tour was interesting, but failed to present a structured history of the city, nor did it really orient us to the area. Afterwards, we were given free time to wander before dinner, so some of us grabbed delicious pastries and shopped a little. I purchased a deep red scarf, something that I'd been wanting for a while, a beautiful art print, some postcards and a joke present. Dinner was delicious and accompanied by a good light Czech beer. Afterwards, the group headed back to the hostel and most of us crashed fairly early as it had been quite a long day.
The following morning, we awoke to fresh start, and after gorging ourselves on the most delicious hostel breakfast in the world, we headed out on another tour, this one about the Jewish Quarter of the city. We visited three very different synagogues, one quite plain, another quite decorative and the third a memorial to the Czech victims of the Holocaust. Afterwards was lunch and then free time.
After discovering a yellow submarine (a yellow submarine), we crossed the famous Charles Bridge and headed to the John Lennon Wall, which is a wall simply covered in graffiti devoted to, surprise, John Lennon. Every minute it seemed one of us found an awesome quote or piece of art. There was also a street performer who dragged the group in and led them in renditions of Hey Jude and other famous songs. Nearby was also a bridge that held hundreds of padlocks, similar to the one in Paris.
Following that, half the group headed back to the hostel and the rest of us continued on to the Letenské sady, a park that had a great view of the city. We all raced up the very steep path to the top to discover a square with skateboarders, a giant metronome, and many pairs of shoes flung over a cable. The city stretched out below us and even in the dreary day, it was beautiful. Then we headed back to the hostel via one of the city's older trams, and the extremely deep metro system.
That evening, in varying levels of dressiness, the group attended a ballet performance, split into three pieces. I greatly enjoyed the experience, as the theater was gorgeous, the dancing was wonderful and it was an excuse to dress up. I channeled my inner Claire Underwood, with red lips to match my new scarf, and a simple black dress. Following the performance, some of us headed to a late dinner, and then a friend and I had a night-cap back at the hostel before crashing. The rest of the group stayed out till early morning in varying levels of intoxication.
Our last day in the city was unstructured, and consisted entirely of free time until our train left that afternoon. Myself and a friend wandered up to the city's most famous site, the Prague Castle, and explored within its walls, including the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral. We also saw the gorgeous morning sun over the city and its numerous spires. Afterwards, we headed to the Klementinum, which was home to the Mirror Chapel, Baroque Library and the Astronomical Tower. It was a nice lesser-known attraction, and I would give my left foot to explore the beautiful library even more. However, I left with said foot attached, and we ended up back at the hostel about an hour before we were due to meet up, where we relaxed and enjoyed our final Czech beers.
The train ride home was simple, with some of the group remaining behind to explore the city for another day, and the rest falling asleep due to their late night out. I read, listened to some music, carried on interesting conversations with my compartment-mates and fought the desire to nap. We arrived back in Berlin at around 21:20, where we split up and headed home to our apartments and homestays.
I arrived home to an empty apartment, as my host-family is away until late this afternoon. After calling it an early night, I awoke this morning, and have simply been catching up with homework,, laundry, unpacking, and other small chores. Tomorrow, it's back to grind, with a German midterm, but thankfully, no history class following it. The rest of the week contains normal classes, an adventure to the Werkbund Archive for my architecture class, an excursion to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, and a visit from two classmates from my school, one of which is my extremely close friend and travel partner.
This weekend, overall, was a mixed bag. I enjoyed the city. The history is interesting, it has a lot to offer, but it's hard to navigate and get your initial bearings. Additionally, the adventure was marred by personal issues, homesickness, and being burned out from traveling less than week before. However, I am hopeful that the coming days will better. Farewell for now.
On Thursday, I woke up at six-thirty and met up with the group at Berlin's main station where we boarded the six-hour train that would transport us to Prague. The train ride was uneventful, and marked with gorgeous scenery. Upon our arrival in the city, we took the metro straight to our hostel, Miss Sophie's (highly recommended) and recovered for bit before heading out on a tour of the city.
The tour was interesting, but failed to present a structured history of the city, nor did it really orient us to the area. Afterwards, we were given free time to wander before dinner, so some of us grabbed delicious pastries and shopped a little. I purchased a deep red scarf, something that I'd been wanting for a while, a beautiful art print, some postcards and a joke present. Dinner was delicious and accompanied by a good light Czech beer. Afterwards, the group headed back to the hostel and most of us crashed fairly early as it had been quite a long day.
The following morning, we awoke to fresh start, and after gorging ourselves on the most delicious hostel breakfast in the world, we headed out on another tour, this one about the Jewish Quarter of the city. We visited three very different synagogues, one quite plain, another quite decorative and the third a memorial to the Czech victims of the Holocaust. Afterwards was lunch and then free time.
After discovering a yellow submarine (a yellow submarine), we crossed the famous Charles Bridge and headed to the John Lennon Wall, which is a wall simply covered in graffiti devoted to, surprise, John Lennon. Every minute it seemed one of us found an awesome quote or piece of art. There was also a street performer who dragged the group in and led them in renditions of Hey Jude and other famous songs. Nearby was also a bridge that held hundreds of padlocks, similar to the one in Paris.
Following that, half the group headed back to the hostel and the rest of us continued on to the Letenské sady, a park that had a great view of the city. We all raced up the very steep path to the top to discover a square with skateboarders, a giant metronome, and many pairs of shoes flung over a cable. The city stretched out below us and even in the dreary day, it was beautiful. Then we headed back to the hostel via one of the city's older trams, and the extremely deep metro system.
That evening, in varying levels of dressiness, the group attended a ballet performance, split into three pieces. I greatly enjoyed the experience, as the theater was gorgeous, the dancing was wonderful and it was an excuse to dress up. I channeled my inner Claire Underwood, with red lips to match my new scarf, and a simple black dress. Following the performance, some of us headed to a late dinner, and then a friend and I had a night-cap back at the hostel before crashing. The rest of the group stayed out till early morning in varying levels of intoxication.
Our last day in the city was unstructured, and consisted entirely of free time until our train left that afternoon. Myself and a friend wandered up to the city's most famous site, the Prague Castle, and explored within its walls, including the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral. We also saw the gorgeous morning sun over the city and its numerous spires. Afterwards, we headed to the Klementinum, which was home to the Mirror Chapel, Baroque Library and the Astronomical Tower. It was a nice lesser-known attraction, and I would give my left foot to explore the beautiful library even more. However, I left with said foot attached, and we ended up back at the hostel about an hour before we were due to meet up, where we relaxed and enjoyed our final Czech beers.
The train ride home was simple, with some of the group remaining behind to explore the city for another day, and the rest falling asleep due to their late night out. I read, listened to some music, carried on interesting conversations with my compartment-mates and fought the desire to nap. We arrived back in Berlin at around 21:20, where we split up and headed home to our apartments and homestays.
I arrived home to an empty apartment, as my host-family is away until late this afternoon. After calling it an early night, I awoke this morning, and have simply been catching up with homework,, laundry, unpacking, and other small chores. Tomorrow, it's back to grind, with a German midterm, but thankfully, no history class following it. The rest of the week contains normal classes, an adventure to the Werkbund Archive for my architecture class, an excursion to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, and a visit from two classmates from my school, one of which is my extremely close friend and travel partner.
This weekend, overall, was a mixed bag. I enjoyed the city. The history is interesting, it has a lot to offer, but it's hard to navigate and get your initial bearings. Additionally, the adventure was marred by personal issues, homesickness, and being burned out from traveling less than week before. However, I am hopeful that the coming days will better. Farewell for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment