Day 16 - Vienna/Budapest

There hasn't been much luck when it comes to easily finding out lodging every day.  And there has been just as little luck finding our way from each hostel back to the train station, metro, etc.  Vienna was different though!  When we arrived, we had a sign pointing us right to our hostel.  When we left, we figured out that our hostel was about 50 meters from the train station we were departing from.  It was really great considering we were running right up against the wire as usual.  So, we boarded the train and took off with a good amount of time to spare.  

After about 3 hours, we were in Budapest.  This city is much different than the others.  It is the furthest east we will be going, and also is the most diverse culture... which brings me to my next point.  Honestly, the culture here was pretty boring and somewhat cold.  Everyone from tram operators to waitstaff at restaurants treated us like stupid Americans.  They didn't even try to speak our language.  How dare they!  We are Americans!

Anyway, the day was filled mostly with roaming around the city.  We saw some baths, ate more pizza, saw a few cool buildings and monuments, at at the grocery store for dinner, and finished the night posting pictures... which was a much needed activity.  Other than that, not too much to keep going on about, so I will cut this one short.  

Pictures!!!

Alright, the time has finally come...  We are starting the process of posting pictures.  As soon as I get my camera working, I will post some videos and different things I have done. We are working backwards, so please keep checking back as photos from the beginning of our trip will be coming soon.  After we get all caught up over the next few days, it will stay current. 

The majority of our photos will be Josh's work, and can be found here: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/josh.hargrave.608

Also, the link can be found in the future on the right hand side of the page.  Just click PHOTO GALLERY.

Enjoy!

Hello to Josh's blog followers...

I just want to say a quick hello to all of Josh's friends and family who are following our journey over these couple months.  I have been blogging daily, and will continue to do so up until our return to the States.  Josh will also be posting from time to time.

The reason we are combining the blog is because Josh is going to focus on pictures, and I am going to focus on writing (and Josh really hates blogging).  It just works out better this way.  So, please follow along.  If you want to catch up, just start at the beginning of my blog.  That is where Josh left off!  

Day 15 - Prague/Vienna

I usually just wait until the end of the day to blog, but I have a 4 hour train ride to Vienna today and I chugged 2 cups of coffee before I left, so I thought I would spend a few minutes doing some mid-day writing.  Right now, I am riding through the Czech countryside.  Right now it's fairly flat, and we are right beside what looks like cornfields.  I might be a total idiot, but that's what it looks like.  Looks like I am driving up I-35 in the middle of Kansas or Nebraska.  Makes me miss good ol' midwest, USA... but that's another blog altogether.

Anyway, today is going to be a great day for a few reasons.  First of all, it started off great with a hearty breakfast at our last hours in Sir Toby's Hostel.  They have the best breakfast I have encountered so far.  It cost 100 Crowns which right now is about $6.50 USD.  They had organic, fair trade coffee, fresh pancakes, scrambled eggs, homemade granola, and all sorts of breads and cereal.  It was really a great breakfast, and it's all you can eat.  I had a pancake, some eggs, granola w/ yogurt, and 2 cups of coffee.  Josh had a similar spread, but chose hot tea.

The other reason it's going to be a great day is because today is the Euro 2008 final in Vienna, and that's exactly where we are headed.  In a matter of hours, we are going to be right in the middle of the chaos.  I can't wait to watch the game with hundreds of thousands of people.  It is going to be so fun!  Can't wait!  Alright, well that's about it for now.  I will write more later tonight after the game...

... I am writing again from the train.  This time we are on the way to Budapest.  I would have finished the blog at the end of the night last night, but it ended up being a little later than I thought, and I was also pretty tired.  Alright, so we got in to Vienna, and were pleasantly surprised to see a sign for our hostel right outside the train station.  We stayed at Westend City Hostel, which was very centrally located between the train station and FanZone, where we headed to watch the game.  After a quick check-in, it was about 4:30pm or so and time to start heading toward the main area where everyone was hanging out and getting ready to watch the game.  By getting ready to watch the game I mean people were drinking lots of beer.  We decided that it would be a good idea to just grab a few beers at the mini-market before we headed in to the FanZone, and drink them on the streets (We weren't breaking any laws because it's legal to do this in Austria).  It was a good idea too, because in the mini-market they are about 1.50 Euro.  In the FanZone, they are 4.50 Euro.  So, we grabbed a quick bite (McDonalds for me and Pizza for Josh), had a couple of drinks, and headed in to the craziness.  The place was getting full hours before the game, and they had everything from games to music to food and drink.  It was a great scene with all the Spanish and German fans being cordial for the most part.

The game started around 8:45 and lasted about 2 hours.  I really loved just being in the middle of all the fans and experiencing true passion for sports.  You don't see it as much in the States, and I can't really put my finger on why.  It might just be the fact that it's so many people with so much passion for their country, paired with so much passion for the sport.  Anyway, it was really a cool event.  If you didn't watch, Spain won 1-0.  Josh and I then had to do the walk of shame back to the hostel, as we had decided before the game to buy German flags and wear them around as we rooted for Germany.  Bad decision I guess.

After a quick stop for pizza (yes, that's 2 times for Josh in about 6 hours if you are keeping score at home) we headed back the the hostel, and found that our room was about 100 degrees.  So, we went down to the lobby, grabbed a fan, and made the best of it.  Just for the record, falling asleep sweating is not the greatest feeling in the world.  

Day 14 - Prague/Kutna Hora

A quick note... please read the blog right before this one.  I have posted 2 at the same time.  So, read Day 12 before Day 13...

If you aren't careful, it's easy to just spend your time in the city everywhere you go.  I think my favorite thing about traveling to new places is getting outside the city and exploring the culture and landscape a little more...  Which is exactly what we decided to do on this day.  After a quick check with the front desk of Sir Toby's Hostel, we decided to go to a little town about an hour south of Prague called Kutna Hora.  The main reason we decided to go there is because it houses a very unique and totally random Bone Church.  What is a bone church, you might ask.  Well, I haven't ever been to any others, but this one is a church surrounded by a graveyard, which houses bones of 40,000 different human beings.  Everything in this church that isn't wall is human bones.  For example, the center of the church has a chandelier which is made up of every bone in the human body.  Obviously, the fixture uses multiple bones of the same type, but the cool part is that it uses every bone in the human body... and it's a chandelier.  Pretty interesting stuff.  I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Prague for a few days.  

I would not, however, recommend spending a lot of time in the town.  We walked around for a few hours, thinking we might stumble upon something cool and we ended up just getting tired and bored.  For example, we sat on this bench for about 30 minutes or so, throwing rocks at a dead bird.  Then, when that got old, we noticed that there was an ice cream cone next to the bird.  Josh decided that the bird would look much cooler with a waffle cone on it's head, so he made sure that happened.  Then we threw a few more rocks at it....

We got back to the train station just in time to jump on the train before it took off back to Prague.  Just in the nick in fact.... anyway, we must have boarded the wrong train, because we stopped every 5 minutes or so.  It took an hour to get to Kutna Hora, and about 2 1/2 to get back to Prague.  Not sure what we did but that tested my patience a little bit.  Luckily the iPod was charged enough to get me all the way back... that reminds me.  One thing I have been doing on this trip is just listening to my iPod randomly.  Right now I have 2416 songs on it, and I just am hitting random whenever I get on a train.  Obviously I will skip songs, but it's been really nice to just have anything pop up.  I may sound super dorky right now talking about this, but it's something I have been doing a lot and I really like it.  I think I will keep it up.  Right now I am listening to "Lovers Side of Town" by Joe Purdy.  Another quick note.  If you haven't ever listened to Joe Purdy, do it as quickly as possible.  My friend Laurel introduced me to him a little over a year ago, and I have been hooked ever since.  Great chill music.

Ok, what a rambler I am...  After we got back, I grabbed a quick shower and we headed over for a late dinner at the pizzeria next door.  Turns out that we had one of the best pizzas I have ever had.  Since Josh is veg these days, we split a cheese pizza.  It had mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan, and one other.  It was really incredible.  Top 5 pizzas I have ever had.  Maybe top 3.

After dinner, we headed back and talked with some friends we made a few days earlier in the hostel kitchen.  They are from Santa Barbara.  The connection there is my sister who goes to Westmont.  Turns out, this guy is the son of the chaplain at Westmont.  Once I get around a phone, I am going to call Emily and tell her about it.  Another Santa Barbara connection is my dear friend Cara Sanders.  They didn't know her, but I thought I would give her a shout out... we talked to them and another random Aussie named Dan for a while, then headed down the the little downstairs pub with Dan to grab a bedtime brew.  We sat down and then were joined soon by a group of other cool people.  Some from Australia, some from the UK, and then a few others from the States.  I talked to a girl from Kentucky for a while named Christina.  She was a very naturally pretty girl.  She graduated from St. Louis University, and now lives in Austin in the Winter, Chicago in the Summer, and takes a month off during Christmas.  How great is that?  Anyway, we talked for a while and then I headed off to bed without getting any of her info.  Mistake?  Possibly...  

Day 13 - Prague

Our hostel in Prague was Sir Toby's Hostel.  It was definitely the best one I have stayed in, and I think Josh would agree that it was pretty solid.  The place is 4 stories tall, and also has a basement which serves at the breakfast area in the morning and the bar at night.  The next floors are all different types of rooms.  Some are 8-10 bed rooms, and others are as small as 2-5.  For those of you that aren't familiar with Hosteling, it's basically whatever you want to spend for convenience and comfort.  So, if you are a light sleeper and just want a night by yourself or with one other person, normally you can get a 2 bed room.  I really prefer staying in something larger though.  First of all it's cheaper.  Secondly, it's just a lot more fun to hang out in a room with other new and different people...  If this trip has taught me anything so far, it's that I want to continue to grow and appreciate new people, ideas, and cultures.  I think that back in the Texas Bible Belt, it's easy to get used to being "normal" or being around people that are "normal".  This trip makes me want to step outside that box even more than I already do when I get back.  

Alright, so back to Prague.  We woke up around 10am or so, wandered over to the local supermarket and grabbed some random breakfast foods.  I had a banana (like I do pretty much every day), an apple, a small loaf of bread, and a breakfast bar.  Josh did basically the same thing.  I think he might have gone crazy and grabbed some yogurt.  After breakfast we headed off to the Prague Castle.  On our way we wandered through the cool medieval streets (all uphill).  It is really cool to be able to wander through a city that has been, for the most part, completely preserved though the years.  It's just a different feel when you can be in a place where all of the buildings are still in tact, and the history is so preserved.   Ok, the Prague Castle is really a sight.  It sits up above the main part of the city, and is so intricate.  I wont bore you with the details, but just know that it's pretty incredible.  Once I get my dang camera connected somehow, I will upload pictures of it.  Another option that will be coming very soon will be a site that Josh is going to upload all his pictures to.  Once it is set up (hopefully soon) I will direct everyone toward it.  Sorry, I am getting off track.  Prague Castle houses one of the coolest churches I have ever seen.  The architecture is incredible, but the inside is what is amazing.  The stained glass is just really amazing.  Again, pictures will be available soon.

After Prague Castle, we resorted to doing what we are really starting to do best... wandering.  We covered most of the main part of the city during the next 3-4 hours.  Let's see... I am trying to think of something exciting for this day, but honestly it was just sightseeing.  Kinda boring honestly.  I will just skip to dinner, which was easily one of the best parts of the day.  We wanted to grab a good meal since we have been eating randomly for the past while.  So, we thought the best option would be to find some internet and look up a good place online (because we have the computer now!).  Turns out the only place we could find with free wifi was the local KFC... that's right, Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Not a cool coffee shop or cafe.  Thanks America.  Anyway, we looked up some places on Frommers and found an Italian place pretty near by.  It turned out to be a really excellent decision.  This place was great, and now rivals the Vietnamese in Berlin as the best meal so far.  For me - 4 cheese penne pasta with chicken.  For Josh - spinach and cheese ravioli.  We paired that up with a few Pilsner Urquels each, and it was a great meal.  Then we waited an hour for the check.  Freaking Italians...

Day 12 - Berlin/Prague

So I said in my last post that it was the last full day in Berlin.  Actually, we ended up staying a little longer than we thought today.  I mentioned that we were waiting on the computer, and that it had, in fact, arrived.  The only problem is that they didn't drop it off.  They kept it at the main post office in Berlin because there is a tax on incoming goods.  It's an EU tax they use to make sure people aren't shipping in goods for cheap.  So, in an effort to completely plagiarize another person's blog, I am going to give you the story how Stephanie told it...

"However, the morning they left we went to pick up their laptop.  Ryan had it shipped here because they realized as they went that for what they were doing, it was needed.  It came, but because the value was written as $2000 they wouldn't deliver it (due to the 20% tax that the EU puts on all such shipped items).  I had warned them ahead of time about this, but somewhere in the chaos of it all, the message was lost.  So the German Post was definitely holding the computer hostage.

It just happened to be about an hour away from where we live by public transport, which wouldn't have been so annoying if we hadn't made the trip 1 1/2 times due to my failure to accurately read the hours of operation on the postal slip.  So, yesterday morning we began our second trip there, to find out that the U4 had been shut down and was not running past Schoneburg, and so we had to go back the way we came, catch another line, and head a different direction to end up at the same point.  I got out my phone and alerted the GPS to our whereabouts, except that I am not really good with maps or directions, so I walked us in circles.  Every time I asked anyone where we should go, they directed me through the park, including the man at the city hall with the bushiest eyebrows I had ever seen and a fantastic collection of ear and nose hair - as well as the transvestite who thought I was hitting on her man when I asked for directions, so she sent me the opposite direction that we were supposed to go (once again, through the park.)  Thankfully, Ryan was smarter than all of that and said, "Hey Steph, I think it's this building behind us."

So we get in and register to wait.  That's right, register to wait.  Then we waited.  Then they called us up and told us that the tax would be 250 Euros.  Josh maintained stunning composure the entire time (this is true to character as my cousin Jessie likes to refer to Josh as the most peaceful person she has ever met), but I could see Ryan starting to calculate the extravagant cost of convenience.  Ryan and Josh then did what they do best, discuss why it will work out and why even if the worst case scenario happens, everything will be OK... They call our number, 63.  That's when it started.  I explained that they were backpacking, had the computer shipped, it was obviously not worth $2000 but as Americans we write this kind of stuff for insurance purposes.  They then told me that this was stupid and they should have known EU tax laws before they shipped, and that the American system is stupid.  I then explained to them that as stupid as it is, that was no less the case and that it made little logical sense for two guys backpacking through Europe to send for their laptop to pay $400 in tax on it so that they didn't have to go to an internet cafe and so on and so forth.  After a lot of back and forth, they charged the minimum tax (47.25 Euros) and we were on our way.  Let me just say I was dealing with the two most patient men I have ever encountered in my life, and I was grateful."

So, that's the story of the shipped computer.  This story and many other great little excerpts can be found at cricketjohnson.blogspot.com 

The rest of the day consisted of jelly donuts for lunch, a 4 hour train ride to Prague, peanuts for dinner, and our first night's stay at Sir Toby's Hostel in Prague.  I will talk more about the hostel in the next post.  I think this is long enough.