January 21, 2007 in Dublin
All in all I think I enjoyed Prague the most so far of any of the places I have been. The city is amazing, I have never seen a place like it before. It's definitely on the list of places I have to go back to. I also made a TON of new friends that I will probably never see again but at least we are all friends on facebook haha. I went to an ice hockey game when I was there too with some of them haha. It was kinda long though, but it was still fun to go see it in Prague. I also went to the castle with one of my roommates and we saw everything there before we went to the game. On my last day there I walked around town by myself because the Aussies left, and just looked at all the buildings and how beautiful the city was. I was actually quite sad to leave all of them but at the last minute I found out that a group of French people I made friends with and two Irish blokes were on the same flight as me! So we sat by each other and then parted at the airport and I made my way to my hostel.
I got to my hostel easily enough, luckily I had a few euros to get a bus ticket because NONE of the atms worked at the airport! I walked allll over the airport and tried every single one haha. So I checked in my hostel but they are jerks and wouldn't let me go to my room because all the rooms are closed from 11am - 230pm... just so they can clean them. I don't see why I can't even get in my room to set my bag down... but nope they said no. Also yesterday I left my umbrella in the room and they wouldn't let me get that either. This hostel suuuuucks. They also charge you a euro per day to use a locker and kick you out of the hang out area at 11 and the showers suck. I guess that is why this place was the cheapest one haha. At least tomorrow is my last night and I wont have to deal with them all much longer. The people here are lame too, none of them want to make friends like in Prague and Krakow. So I walked around and saw things by myself because I couldn't find anyone else to go with. The first night I stayed in and rested because I was tired from the traveling. Then the next day I went to The Hugh Lane Gallery and saw all the artwork there, what mainly grabbed my eye were the impressionist paintings.
After that I headed to the river and walked along it to Phoenix Park and walked around there for a while. And by the time I left it was getting dark and cold and rainy so I headed back to the hostel. Then next morning I woke up extra early (730) so I could check out the free breakfast knowing in advance it would probably suck because this place is like that in general. So I got up at 730 (before the sun was up) like they said it started then... but thats when the guy starts putting everything out, not when breakfast starts. So I had to hang around for 20 minutes while he set out creepy bread, butter, and jam... thats it. My last hostel had bread, butter, jam, nutella, peanut butter, some spread I didn't know what it was, hard boiled eggs, 4 kinds of cereal, 2 kinds of juices, milk, coffee, croissants and other things I can't remember... and that place was a lot cheaper that here... oh well, I guess this is why Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in the world. lol So I went back to sleep until the sun came up and then I went out and got a 10 euro haircut from a Polish woman and it actually looks pretty good. And then I headed to The National Galleries... but it was closed, just my luck. After that I head to The National Museum that was open and saw all the artwork there ranging in dates from 1300s to the 1900s which was really nice. And after that I headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral to see if I could get in before it closed... but I didn't haha. So I just saw the outside of it which was still nice. And then I started the LOOOOOOOOOONG trek back to the hostel in the dark where I am now. And tomorrow... I haven't decided what to do yet haha, and then Wednesday I'm off to Madrid again!
Showing posts with label prague. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prague. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Train to PRAGUE
January 17, 2008 in PRAGUE
So I got to the train about an hour early just to be safe and it was there so I got on and the conductor showed me to my room which was a looooot nicer than I thought it would be. It was a small room with 2 beds and and a sink and luckily there was a plug so I watched "Cidade de Deus" before I went to sleep. But as I soon found out, it wasn't so easy to sleep on a train so I didn't sleep much and the train arrived at 645 am in Prague. I wandered around the station in search of an ATM and I finally found one but it gave me a 2000 crown bill and I had to go find change now so I could buy a 17 crown bus ticket haha. After that I got the bus and headed to the hostel. I got there at like 730 and luckily they let me check in cuz I just went right back to bed. Then I went on a walking tour with 2 of my australian roommates and saw the whole city which is really nice and now one of my favorites. Then I had a quick nap and hung out in the bar in the basement of the hostel with everyone here and made a hundred new friends. I met people from Argentina, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England and probably a bunch of others I don't know. I also got to practice Portuguese, Spanish, and French with them all haha. I'm about to head out and explore the city, so thats about it for now.
So I got to the train about an hour early just to be safe and it was there so I got on and the conductor showed me to my room which was a looooot nicer than I thought it would be. It was a small room with 2 beds and and a sink and luckily there was a plug so I watched "Cidade de Deus" before I went to sleep. But as I soon found out, it wasn't so easy to sleep on a train so I didn't sleep much and the train arrived at 645 am in Prague. I wandered around the station in search of an ATM and I finally found one but it gave me a 2000 crown bill and I had to go find change now so I could buy a 17 crown bus ticket haha. After that I got the bus and headed to the hostel. I got there at like 730 and luckily they let me check in cuz I just went right back to bed. Then I went on a walking tour with 2 of my australian roommates and saw the whole city which is really nice and now one of my favorites. Then I had a quick nap and hung out in the bar in the basement of the hostel with everyone here and made a hundred new friends. I met people from Argentina, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England and probably a bunch of others I don't know. I also got to practice Portuguese, Spanish, and French with them all haha. I'm about to head out and explore the city, so thats about it for now.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Time to leave Poland
Tuesday January 15, 2008
Its 730 pm and my train for Prague leaves in about 3 hours. I'm a bit worried because I hear the station is kinda complicated and there might not be very many English speakers on hand to ask questions. But next time I write I'll let you know how it went haha.
Yesterday I got up early and headed towards the old Jewish section of town called Kazimierz after a king a long time ago that said all the Jews can come live in Poland. First I went to an old synagogue that is no longer in use, because there aren't very many Jews left, that was transferred into a museum about Jews in Poland before WWII. After that I headed to a museum that had 3 exhibits (Galicia Jewish Museum click here), one about resistance movements by Jews during WWII in Krakow and the other 2 were about what has basically happened to things such as synagogues and Jewish cemeteries and towns since WWII. So basically it was as depressing as the concentration camps where. I never thought about it before but there are synagogues and other places that mainly Jews used all over Europe that were basically abandoned after WWII because there was no one left to use them. Theses exhibits focused on Poland and showed a lot of pictures of synagogues that have for the most part been abandoned all over Poland. It also showed areas where there were Jewish cemeteries but most had little or no markings because the Nazi's took all the gravestones and used them to pave roads and sidewalks. There was also a monument I couldn't find that my friend was talking about that would have been pretty nice to see, she said it was a bunch of empty chairs facing the same directions. Oh well, there is always next time. I had also tried to go to Wawel Hill where they have a castle and a cathedral but it was closed so I went today instead. So I was about about the city for about 6 or 7 hours and by that time I was getting realllllly cold so I came back for a rest and then went out with my new friends that I made here.
Today I slept in and then went to Wawel Hill where they have a castle where the kings of Poland lived and also a cathedral where they have bodies and remains of kings of Poland and other important people and where all the kings coronations were held. I spent a few hours there and then walked around the city until I got too cold and had to go back to the hostel to warm up and rest before my train to Prague.
Its 730 pm and my train for Prague leaves in about 3 hours. I'm a bit worried because I hear the station is kinda complicated and there might not be very many English speakers on hand to ask questions. But next time I write I'll let you know how it went haha.
Yesterday I got up early and headed towards the old Jewish section of town called Kazimierz after a king a long time ago that said all the Jews can come live in Poland. First I went to an old synagogue that is no longer in use, because there aren't very many Jews left, that was transferred into a museum about Jews in Poland before WWII. After that I headed to a museum that had 3 exhibits (Galicia Jewish Museum click here), one about resistance movements by Jews during WWII in Krakow and the other 2 were about what has basically happened to things such as synagogues and Jewish cemeteries and towns since WWII. So basically it was as depressing as the concentration camps where. I never thought about it before but there are synagogues and other places that mainly Jews used all over Europe that were basically abandoned after WWII because there was no one left to use them. Theses exhibits focused on Poland and showed a lot of pictures of synagogues that have for the most part been abandoned all over Poland. It also showed areas where there were Jewish cemeteries but most had little or no markings because the Nazi's took all the gravestones and used them to pave roads and sidewalks. There was also a monument I couldn't find that my friend was talking about that would have been pretty nice to see, she said it was a bunch of empty chairs facing the same directions. Oh well, there is always next time. I had also tried to go to Wawel Hill where they have a castle and a cathedral but it was closed so I went today instead. So I was about about the city for about 6 or 7 hours and by that time I was getting realllllly cold so I came back for a rest and then went out with my new friends that I made here.
Today I slept in and then went to Wawel Hill where they have a castle where the kings of Poland lived and also a cathedral where they have bodies and remains of kings of Poland and other important people and where all the kings coronations were held. I spent a few hours there and then walked around the city until I got too cold and had to go back to the hostel to warm up and rest before my train to Prague.
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