Venice

After our two-day stint in Vienna, we took a long bus trip to Venice. Along the way, we got to see a glimpse of the Alps!

The bus driver, by law, had to take a 30-minute break, so we decided to walk toward a wooded area where we happened upon a river. This was a great way to break up the trip with some fresh air and nature.

Finally, we made it to Venice and started on our tour of the city with Jan. The above photo is of the Jewish quarter, which is unique in that many of those that survived Auschwitz returned to live in Venice.

Venice really is full of canals and everyone really does get around by boat.

This is the building where the Duke lived and where many government tasks were carried out. In the past, Venice claimed to be a democracy, but in reality only 200 people had the right to vote. Inside this building is a big hall where they would meet about various issues. Additionally, court trials would take place here and if a person would be found guilty, they would be walked to the jail, which was connected by a bridge.

All over the sidewalks there are stacks like this. They have these because the city floods often in the winter and when it does, people quickly set these up to create a narrow walkway above the water. Jan told us that many people abandon the walkways as they get very crowded very quickly, but that they must be careful so as not to fall into the canals.

St. Mark's Basilica in San Marco square, the most popular in Venice. As you can see, it was under construction, but if you look on the top, four horses can be seen . These are replicas of the horses that the Venetians stole from Constantinople (the real ones are housed inside). This was very controversial at the time as the soldiers sent to Constantinople were supposed to go further on the Crusades, but the Venetians had told them that the Orthodox Christians in Constantinople were just as terrible as the Pagans. Of course, this was not the purpose of the crusades and the Church was not pleased with Venice.

More canals.

We were lucky enough to stay on the island and not the inland town, Mestre. This was the view from the room I stayed in.

We were in Venice on Palm Sunday. During our morning tour, we saw these guys carrying loads of palm branches to the churches. 

On Sunday, we did a tour of the Duke's Palace. This photo was taken from the inside.

A stairway during the tour; the architecture and detailing of the ceiling is gorgeous!

These two photos are of the inside of the dungeons. The doorways are very short and many people from our group had to duck to get through.

This is the "Bridge of Sighs" through which prisoners would look to get their last look of freedom before being taken to the dungeons. Legend says that Casanova was the only person to have ever escaped from this prison.

More from the inside of the Duke's Palace. 

This is another piece in San Marco Square that has been stolen from another country. The meaning of it is unclear, but the story that made the most sense to me was that it symbolizes a cautious friendship. As you can see, the men are hugging, but still clutch their swords, as they do not fully trust one another.

This is a building in San Marco Square. At the top, there is a winged lion, the symbol of Venice.

We found a palm branch tied to one of the bridges in honor of Palm Sunday.

Some of our group had tried this restaurant named Alfredo's for dinner the night before and highly recommended it. They told us that it was inexpensive take-away pasta for which the pasta and sauce where made from scratch. We decided to go for lunch and were not disappointed in the slightest.

After lunch I found a cool postcard of San Marco Square flooded and decided to get creative with it.

Later that afternoon, we wandered around some of the quieter parts of Venice and found an unoccupied bridge to take photos on- and who can pass that up!

Instead of taxis, they have Vaporetti, meaning little boats. Basically, it is a waterbus.

Wandering through town, we happened upon this lovely fellow playing a gorgeous and moving melody, enhanced by the acoustics of the tunnel he was in.

We made our way, winding through streets, to this beautiful church.

On our way back to the hotel, Fabio stopped us and asked if we would like to take a gondola ride for 50 euros so we, of course, couldn't say no to him (most cost 80 euros). Below are some photos I snapped along the ride. 

Up next: Spring Break adventures through Tuscany and Catalunya!

Vienna

Our first stop on an almost 2-week adventure was Vienna, Austria. While we were there we saw a lot of museums, most of them covering the history of the Habsburg family. It was crazy to me that I had not learned more about them in history classes back in the states because they were a very powerful family that had a lot of influence throughout Europe.

The group walking into one of the main squares, surrounded by museums.

At the first museum we went to, these keys were displayed. Jan explained that the cities/states that the Habsburgs conquered gave a 'key to the city' as a symbol that they were submitting to the empire.

This museum brought up something that I had not ever thought of before. These are photos of the different outfits that the emperor had to wear depending on where he was at. Before, whenever I thought of an empire, I thought of it as I do the United States, meaning that it are not only legally on nation, but the people also are patriotic toward the empire. On this trip I learned that the emperor, instead of being like the president, was more like the king of all the lands. This meant that any traditions that the king would normally be present at, the emperor had to be present at. 

This is a photo of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna. The part of this cathedral that stuck out to me differently from the others that we have seen was the patterned roof outside.

The next day, we had a choice between visiting three different museums: an ancient one, a natural history one, and a modern art one. I really enjoy modern art so I chose to go with that one and later on, was very happy with my choice because I found a new favorite artist- Gustav Klimt. The museum had a special showcase for his work and I fell in love with the detailing and the colors used. Below, I have photos that I took of the two they were displaying. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to cross the city to see the museum that housed most of his work, including his most famous, The Kiss. 

Our museum was smaller than the rest, so we had some extra time following our visit. There was a courtyard outside of the museum with these wonderful blue chairs. They were large enough to comfortably fit four people, but that didn't stops some people from piling six onto one! 

After an hour long nap on those glorious chairs, we went to the famous outdoor market in Vienna where I finally tried Weinerschnitzel. It mostly just tasted like chicken-fried pork, but it was really good with the lemon on top!

After this, we visited one of the museums centered around Empress Sissi, but no photos were allowed so I have nothing to show. The museum displayed the royal tableware and the imperial apartments. It was interesting to learn about her life, but I got the impression that after her death she was idolized as a great and wonderful empress when in reality, she had not been praised as much during her reign.

We found the Mozart statue and took a couple photos in front of it. The statue is quite large- you can barely even see me!

Prague and Dresden

The performers are always interesting to see. These ones are in Prague, Old Town Square.

Some of the iconic statues on Charles Bridge. An interesting thing that our instructors pointed out to us is that people would constantly touch the wrong part of the Charles statue for luck because they did not know the legend. For luck you are supposed to touch the man being thrown off of the bridge (St. Charles), but instead many people touch the onlookers and the dog. After they mentioned this, I couldn't pass by without noticing at least one person doing it the wrong way.

This is Lennon Wall in Prague, not far from Charles Bridge. It originally just had John Lennon's face on it, but over the years, it has been added to and still can be. Now the name Hrabal, a famous Czech author, can be seen repeatedly on the wall.

Part of Lennon Wall that I really liked.

During our second stay in Prague, this banner could be seen when we walked from Charles Bridge to Old Town Square. Ukrainians are one of the largest immigration groups in the Czech Republic, so the recent developments there are not taken well by many here.

This is the symbol of Prague and is on every drain in the city.

In Prague I had the chance to try another traditional Czech dish: crispy duck with cabbage and dumplings.

One side of the Cathedral at the Prague Castle.

Some of the guards at the Prague Castle.

In the cathedral at the Prague Castle the tombstones, which used to be placed on the ground over the bodies of nobles, are now propped up so that they do not break from people walking on them. The purpose of the stones being on the ground was to show humility in death as people would walk over them, symbolizing that we all have the same fate. 

A couple of shots from inside the cathedral.

This is a diagram/map of what the cathedral used to be (upper left-hand corner) and then what is was changed into.

This is a building within the castle walls. It doesn't have much historical significance, but our professors told us that the Czech flag is often not seen unless it is on an official building.

In this hall they used to hold all kinds of events from dinners to jousting. It is still used today for important meetings and events.

Many of the ledgers were destroyed in a fire, but the remaining ones are kept within the castle. These ledgers kept the information on which families owned what land, so when they needed to prove their property, the family would need to remember the color of book and symbol on it. For example, the blue book with the lily. As you would expect, the fire spawned a lot of forgeries.

This is sometimes called "Golden Lane" and used to be home to the servants of the king. Now there are small souvenir shops inside.

Sarah and I outside of the castle with a jester!

Shelby and I brought a group up to the monastery that we liked so much last time for a late lunch after seeing the castle.

When it is cold outside, many of the street vendors offer hot wine along with coffee and hot chocolate, so I thought I'd try some. This is what it looked like, it was pretty tasty!

On Saturday we went to Dresden, Germany and on the way I snapped this pretty photo of the river from the train car window.

This is a statue of Martin Luther outside of the church in Dresden. In World War II a bombing destroyed all but a small section of this church. When they rebuilt, they were able to use some of the original masonry, which can be spotted as the darker stones.

The original piece can be seen on the left side. It is darker simply because of its age.

Just some things that I liked in Dresden.

I tried a traditional Saxony dessert, egg custard cake, and it was delicious! 

Some ruins remaining from the bombing.

We went to the top of the church and snapped a couple photos of Dresden.

Sunday was a bit more serious because we went to the Jewish Quarter in Prague. The only reason that this area was not destroyed in the war is because Hitler wanted to make a museum to commemorate an extinct race. These photos are of the cemetery, where people of the Jewish community were buried for hundreds of years. The area that they had to use was so small that the cemetery goes approximately 6 layers down. The most moving part of the Jewish quarter, however, was the first synagogue that we visited. On the walls were the names of all of the Jewish people in the Czech Republic that disappeared in World War II catalogs by town and surname.

Next week we leave for Vienna and then Venice on Thursday and then afterward we are set free for spring break so get ready for photos from Florence, Pisa, and Barcelona too!

Adjusting to life in Olomouc, Czech Republic

I have officially been in Europe for 3 weeks. It has been a hard adjustment. While I was in Prague, everything was fine, but at soon as I got to Olomouc and tried to relax, I got a cold that ended up lasting for a week and a half. Finally, by the time that our group went back to Prague, my cold had gone away and I am now healthy again.

Shelby and I at the window to our room in Olomouc!

Some of the things that make the change worthwhile are:

-The street food. It’s something that I cannot find back home in Nebraska, but it is so good and very inexpensive! My favorite so far is the crepe stand. They offer sweet crepes, like what I am used to seeing on a menu such as chocolate, chocolate-coconut, chocolate-strawberry. The unique thing about these crepes is that they also have savory ones such as cheese, cheese-spinach, and cheese-ham.

-The dogs. It seems that almost every person here owns a dog, big or small. Seeing the dogs around town makes me miss my own dog, but as much as I love my dog, I know that he will never be as well-trained as these dogs here. Often, I see them walking with their owners without a leash and the dogs don’t ever veer from the direction and path that their owners take. One interesting case is a house that has three large dogs along the main street we walk on to take us back to our dorms. These dogs are trained to see you down the block and start barking incessantly, but as soon as you pass the house, they stop completely as you are no longer seen as a threat.

-The public transportation. In Olomouc they have a bus and tram line system, which helps us to live here without a car. The first time that I had one of their officers (who by the way are dressed in plain clothes) ask for my tram pass I tried to offer her my seat because I figured she might want to sit. Eventually I figured out that she wanted to see my pass, not to take my seat.

-The colorful buildings. While most places in the United States are painted with basic builder colors, in Olomouc, buildings have their own flare. Different sections are painted either different shades of the same color, or a completely new color. There is even a street where all the light poles are painted a pretty lavender instead of the plain metal that is on every other street. The result gives me something nice to look at and it’s the little touches like this that can make something special.

However, there's always something to be missed when you leave home. Some of those things for me are:

-Having access to certain things online. That’s right, a lot of sites that are commonly used in the US are not available in Europe. Sites like Pandora, Spotify, Netflix, and Hulu. Of course, I have found a way to watch my shows being the Netflix junkie that I am, so I posted this complaint for the sake of Pandora because I haven’t found a remedy.

-Lack of internet access. Having the internet here is kind of like having the holy grail. Don’t get me wrong, there is internet access, but you have to know how to look for it. Wifi is not something that is as widespread here as it is in the US. In order to get it, I often have to go to a public place like the union, an academic building, or a café that has free wifi. While we were in Prague this past weekend, our hostel did not have good wifi so we ended up in the same gelato place three days in a row. This was partially because you could buy a ‘shovel’ of gelato instead of a ‘scoop’ and it was delicious, but it was also because they had free wifi. We would all get our ice cream, then sit down, and for the next five minutes it was silent as we were all checking our messages, snapchat, instagram, and facebook. It was actually a very comical phenomenon.

-Diet Coke. Coca-cola is one of the most widespread brand names across the globe. However, Diet Coke, is not. The only similar product that I can find is Coca-cola Light. This is a sad imitation of my favorite soda. It tastes a little more like Coke Zero that it does Diet Coke. One thing I know for sure is that I will be asking my mom to meet me at the airport with a large gas station Diet Coke when I land back in the states.
-English. When signing up for this trip, I knew that there would be a language barrier and that because of it, some things would be difficult, if not impossible. The entire trip is a learning process and I am very grateful for the opportunity, but I cannot say that hearing people chatting in English is not a joyful noise to me.

-Smoke-free restaurants. Usually I can handle the smoke from cigarettes, but if I am around it too long, it makes my throat and eyes hurt. One thing I'll look forward to with coming home is going to a restaurant and having clean air.