Photo Blog!

Okay, I know I've been back from Munich and Prague for a while, but I JUST realized that I never posted a photo blog for you guys. So, long overdue, here are some of my favorite photos from the trip!

One of the first things we saw when we got to Prague -- I love grafitti! It's so beautiful, especially when it's done artfully. :)

The Dancing Building in Prague -- isn't it beautiful? I wish I could have gotten more shots of it, but I never got the chance.

Again -- grafitti. I love it.

Okay, this time, a picture of me with grafitti.

This and the next picture are from a random open air market we found on the street in Prague. It was super cute. :]

Another picture from the open air market -- their fruit was so fresh.

Doors to a church. :)

One of the very random interesting sculptures we saw in Prague.

This is the entrance to the Charles Bridge (Karluv rnost). It was really cool -- there were sculptures everywhere -- some religious, some not -- that were beautiful, but the way the sun was in the sky prevented me from taking a single good picture of them. :(

This was one of the few good pictures I did get on the Charles Bridge -- the guy was having his pupper "play" along with a record that was playing. It was pretty cute.

Neuschwanstein -- I've covered this one before. :]

These statuettes are of King Ludwig and his fiance that never married before he died.

These were some candles in a Munich church we toured (not St Peter's or St Nepomuk's). I'm not totally sure I was supposed to take pictures, but I'm really glad I did.

I know, I know, again with the graffiti. But I love political graffiti. And this time, in Munich, on the back of St Peter's Church! (Unrelated: Can anyone translate that one for me?)

This is a couple I spotted while on our Hitler and the Third Reich tour. They were cute. :]

This is the building where the Nazis (NASDP) had their first political rally. It is now a bar/tavern/thing in the bottom and a large eating hall of some sort on top.

A shot of one of the tables in the upstairs dining hall-type room where hundreds of people gathered to hear Hitler speak as teh leader of the Nazis for the first time.

This is the Apple Store of Munich, which was built on top of the site of the beer hall where Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch happened.

This was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich. The guitar is a big deal because it's actually a piece of the Berlin Wall. Legit, huh?

This is a picture of Mahdis and I at the ever-wonderful Hard Rock Cafe that I love so dearly. :]

Uhm, cool grafitti, anyone?

A random cute little fruit stand near the Glockenspiel.

The apricots at the fruit stand. They were apparently (according to my mom) the best apricots ever. She hasn't eaten once since she got back to the US because she thinks they won't be as good. She said the same of the cherries.

I love how bright the colors of those cherries were. It was eye-catching.

Just pay attention to the license plate.

This is near the Beverly Hills of Prague, in the Jewish cultural center. If you look closely, you can see a Star of David on the door.

Actually in the area where the Jews were corralled into pogroms before concentration camps were established and running.

A very beautiful church in Prague. :)

We stumbled across a wedding while in Prague for the second time. I decided not to post pictures of the bride and groom (yes, I have some), but I thought this was really pretty and acceptable to post. :]

These were up in the Astronomical Tower, and I thought they were really cute. :]

Here's a picture of the actual Astronomical Tower. We went up to the top and took pictures, but none were particularly mesmerizing or anything.

I know it's blurry, but this was at the five story club we went to in Prague that was crazy fun. It was a great way to end the vacation. :]

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Havee any of you taken any cool trips recently?

More Texans, Hitler, And Everything Else

Remember how I was saying I could attract every Texan everywhere we go? I've proven myself right numerous times since then.

On the 24th we spent part of the day walking around and sight-seeing (the Glockenspiel, St Peter's Church, etc) then going on a tour of the parts of Munich that show it's Nazi history. Since they're not exactly proud of Hitler, Munich has naturally allowed some of the buildings to be torn down or fall into disrepair or they just conveniently didn't rebuild them after WWII ended, but some are still around. For instance, the museum the Nazis built to house "German art" is still around, built resembling the neoclassical style but uglier. However the beer hall where Hitler attempted the Beer Hall Putchz (which landed him in jail) is actually now the site of a very nice two-story Apple store. The buildings that are still around are typically used for other things and it's only been very recently that they're admitting to the Nazi history o the building.

That night, we dropped by Hard Rock Cafe - Munich and had some good old burgers and fajitas (ah, Tex-Mex) then went across the street to Hofbräuhaus, which is actually where the first Nazi political rally was held. The place is like a huge typical German hangout -- long wooden benches and tables, pretzels and sausages, free-flowing beer, really loud traditional music, waitresses in slutty milkmaid outifts, the works. That's where we ran into more Texans -- one of the people we talked to had lived in the state for a little while before going to UC San Bernadino, then graduating and moving to Riverside, California. I never caught his name, unfortunately, but we actually ran into him again on the street in Prague twice, which was super bizarre.

The next day, we mostly spent the day shopping near Marienplatz (the square where the Glockenspiel is) at a few big German department stores and some other European stores. We got on a train headed back to Prague around 4:45 and that's where we ran into more Texans. The carriage we got in was actually super crowded but I managed to somehow sit us down right next to three guys that just graduated from Rice University (Houston). We talked through probably a little more than half of the six hour train ride about a little bit of everything -- medical stuff (they're all about to start medical school), Houston versus College Station, Iran, scary stories, the Olympics and China -- one of them actually worked at the Beijing Olympics. How bad ass is that?! We talked a lot about Chinese culture and he (his name was Tommy) actually got me really pumped about studying abroad there in a few years. So that was kind of a Godsend since I'd been starting to doubt myself and freak out about learning such a complicated language and moving across the world. But now I can't wait to go! I know I said I'd love to live in Europe, but China might be quite awesome as well. We're thinking about going to Beijing next year to look around and see the country once before I go live there.

The next morning (the 26th) we woke up and went to see the half of Prague we didn't see the first fay we were there. Our hotel was really close to both what we dubbed "the Beverly Hills of Prague" and the Jewish cultural center. After breakfast, we walked around the Jewish area, taking pictures of synagogues and etc. It was the same area where the Nazis coralled all the Jews into pogroms after Kristallnacht and before the concentration camps were built and there was still a lot of evidence of that history in the area. I didn't actually take many pictures there because I felt kind of weird taking touristy pictures in a place where a lot of people spent their last free weeks of life, but the few I have are on facebook and flickr. It was then, as we were leaving the area that a man stopped me on the street, looked at my maroon 'Howdy, we are the Aggies' shirt and said, "are you from Texas?" I said we were and he immediately exclaimed "I'm actually a horns fan, but it's so nice to see a friendly Texan face!" I laughed and we chatted for a moment before parting ways.

My dad joined us later that day (he hasn't been with us the rest of the trip) and we showed him the Jewish pogrom area, walked through the Beverly Hills shops (Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, etc), then had a really late lunch/really early dinner at 4 pm. After that, we went to a really famous five-floor club in Prague even though it was pouring rain. We had to leave earlier than appreciated because we had to leave for the airport at 5:30 am, but it was fun.

Yesterday, unfortunately was all travel. I woke up at 4:30 am (Prague time-- about 8:30 pm CST) to be downstairs and ready to go by 5:20. We got on a plane to London and chilled there for about six hours. Luckily, there was plenty of free alcohol, good shopping, and (don't act surprised) Aggies to keep us amused. Because, yes, after running into six Texans during our trip, I FINALLY ran into two Aggies. It was pretty awesome. I got home pretty late, thanks to my good friend Kevin who was nice enough to come pick me up from the airport then take me to Sonic for American food. :]

Now, I'm unpacking, writing, probably going to Buon Giornio's and editing pictures for the rest of the night. I'll be attempting to stay awake until at least 9 pm to conquer jetlag. Hopefully going through the close to 700 pictures I took during five days of legit vacation will help in that endeavor. :)

A Thought While in Prague

In life, you should laugh, you should love, and above all, you should
live.




[The picture is of some graffitti I saw on the side of a church. Cute? I think so.]

Prague it up, baby!

June 20, 2009
Today, we arrived in Prague at about seven pm after a nine-hour flight to London, a four-hour layover, and another two-hour flight. My first impression of the country is one of beauty: I’ve already taken dozens of pictures since getting here and I can’t wait to take more. If only I’d gotten the Canon Rebel XSi before coming. :[ But my little Sony CyberShot will get the job done. And I will have the Rebel XSi in time for Buenos Aires for New Year’s Eve.

We stumbled across a little pub near the hostel where we’re staying and ate there around nine pm. The owner (we assume) looked surprised that American tourists had stumbled across his little place but served us great food and beer that we happily inhaled after so much less-than-delicious plane food. We paid in Czech crowns and called it a night. (A picture of the pub is below.)

June 21, 2009
So, apparently today is really the only full day we’re spending in Prague. But, what a full day it was.

After leaving the hotel at nine, the whole day was just go, go, go. We walked to the main squares in Prague, shopping as we saw shops that interested us (I got a quite fabulous bracelet, boots that should have been $200, but I only paid $45, and a scarf), going to open air markets that sold the freshest fruit and best candy I’ve ever had in my life (pictured left), talking with random locals and attempting to learn a few basic words in Czech, taking too many pictures on random benches and in front of random fountains (that's Mandy being very excited about Prague to the right), and finally making it to the main tourist attractions by around two.

We walked by the famous Astronomical Clock, getting very lost on the way there (but finding cute little churches and cafes during that time), ate a late lunch on the river, crossed the Charles Bridge (or Karluv rnost, pictured right and below) to St. Nicholas Church and Prague Castle. We didn’t go to the Frankz Kafka museum, which would have been cool, but the Castle (and the palaces surrounding it) amused us for too long. We didn’t get to go inside, but the courtyard was absolutely stunning – the private chapel and all the fences were gilded with gold, enormous statues were everywhere, and non-smiling guards were standing solemnly by. In fact, we tried to make them laugh, and someone succeeded, but I’m ashamed to say it wasn’t me. After seeing the castle and taking more pictures than will ever make it onto Flickr, Facebook, and this blog combined, we started wandering around, stopping at a Starbucks to listen to people speaking in dozens of different languages, going in search of a little bar I had spotted on the way that was serving free drinks if you were cheering for the right team during the football (soccer) match (Brazil v. Italy) but never finding it. Instead, we stumbled across a Hard Rock Café, which was extremely exciting. We went in and got a few drinks and hung out with out waiter, who was a cool blond Czech boy named Honsek (pronounced: On-seek), who encouraged me to try a Sex on the Beach, despite my misgivings about peach schnapps. The drink ended up making it onto my list of Top 5 Favorite Drinks. After that, we grabbed some pizza at a nearby restaurant (we wanted local food, not American food) and by the time we got finished there, it was past eleven and we started the thirty-minute walk back to the hotel.

All in all, it was a pretty great day; we’ve kept our phones off and avoided TV as much as possible, but one thing we’ve still been paying attention to is the whole mess in Iran because the two women traveling with my mom and I are actually Iranian. In fact, I just watched the video clip of Neda’s death (graphic – don’t watch if you have a weak stomach) on CNN and I’m realizing how out of control this whole situation is. Moussavi is preparing to become a martyr and encouraging his protestors to not lose their temper yet (supposedly – no one is sure since international media is barely allowed to report anymore and all our information comes from social networking sites) thousands are dying in Iran every day. I wish there was an easy solution to this whole situation, but there never is. There’s never an easy solution for anything. (Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/son_of_persia/3652037011/ )

Anticipating!

First and foremost, I apologize for taking so long to update!

I leave for Prague in roughly seven hours. After a few days there, I'm taking a train to Munich, which is also going to be awesome. I recently mentioned that my mom is letting me plan the Munich part of our trip, and I've finally made my decisions:

1. St.Nepomuk's (also called Asamkirche) -- a rococo style church. (Pictured.)
2. The New Residenz palace of the Bavarian rulers -- 130 rooms open to the public & the royal jewels on display.
3. Nymphenburg Palace -- the summer residence of the Bavarian rulers.
4. St. Peter's Church -- the oldest church in Munich. It has the best view of the city.
5. Alte Pinakothek -- a museum full of the Old Masters: Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, Da Vinci, etc. :]
6. The Glockenspiel -- 32 little mechanical figurines re-enact some of Munich's history.

There are other museums to go to -- The BMW museum, a modern art museum -- and palaces to see, so I'm sure there will be some of that too. What we're doing in Prague is going to be a surprise for me though! I'll try to update throughout the trip -- pictures, posting, etc. Hopefully! I've got to go finish packing though. Have a wonderful week, all of you!