Praha Round Two. City so nice we went there twice

Prepare yourself for a long-winded account of several long trips. I'm about to bust out mad blog posts. This trip occurred about two weeks ago. Again, I'm just lazy.

So the blessing and the curse of our program, if you haven't already guessed, is that we have a ton of time to travel on our own and a central location to do it from. Downside is that this is damn expensive. However, I have convinced myself that "I will never get an opportunity like this again" and that I should blow my life savings on traveling around Europe. So why the hell did Rachel and I decide to return to Prague again? We pretty much fell in love with the city the first time. A bunch of our friends live there, not to mention our favorite Czech boy Stephan!

We were smarter about our travel plans this time, no more 6 am flights requiring all night adventures through the Brussels brazil district. We arrived in Prague in the evening. It was quite refreshing having done this before and knowing what to do. This saved us some crowns (aka Czech monopoly money) because we now know you dont have to pay for public transport. Upon arrival at my friends Jon and Ari's apartment, we realized that about 20 other AU kids were also visiting Prague, staying in other various places around the city. However, our apartment complex was a nexus of raging over the five days that we spent there. Thank god we had our own space though, we might have gone crazy if we had to be around all those biddies, all the time.

Prague biddy patrol

Because I've been so lazy and did not immediately write this blog, my following account is going to be more like word vomit from the few notes that I wrote down. It's gonna end up being a long and wild ride, so hold on.

Our first night there we were convinced to go out to the bar. It was real nice seeing a bunch of my friends. We ended up at this bar called Crossbar, a very Czech establishment. By very Czech I mean a lot of slavic looking dudes drinking Pilsners and dancing to hardcore electronic music in a dark room. Basically I loved it.

Our next day was spent doing mostly tourist stuff, some things that we had already hit up in our previous trip, like the lenin wall. One thing that we did not see the last time that we wanted to was the babies. We had heard a lot about David Cerny who was an anti-communist artist who designed these "babies" and even affixed them to a Soviet broadcast tower in protest against communism.

Babies on the ground

Babies on the tower

Onto more Czech attractions. This thing called a train bar. Now use your imagine as to what a train bar could be. Here's the answer. It's a bar where your drinks are delivered by train. Boom.

Choo Choo! Pilsner coming through!

As was previously mentioned, fried cheese is one of the most amazing things about Prague. I consumed four over the course of five days. Load that up with some saurkraut and curry ketchup. Explosion in my mouth.

Fried cheese 4/4

Now in the states, halloween is a special time for us college kids. Particularly girls. It is the one night where you can dress like a total whore and not get judged for it, in fact, it's encouraged. On the whole, I was disappointed that this trend has not made its way over to the Czech Republic. Women were relatively clad at this club we went to, despite the fact that the event was named "Bloody Sexy Halloween". We actually had a lot of fun, the DJ at the club played a lot of our favorite hits and we danced the night away.

We recovered the following morning with a great spot named Bohemian Bagels. Pretty much the only place to get Bagels in Prague and damn they were good. That day we visited the old jewish cemetery which was certainly a powerful experience. The jewish minority in Prague was given this plot of land for their cemetery and has been burying people there since the 15th century. Thus, the cemetery is many layers high with an estimated 100,000 people buried in this tiny plot of land. The density of the headstones is astonishing.

Another thing about the Jewish cemetery. Hitler did not destroy it (or any of Prague) during WWII because he wanted Prague to be his capitol and also a memorial to the Jews as the "race that used to be". Dick move.

Once my boys Jon and Ari returned from their wild weekend in Copenhagen, we had a great time just relaxing with them and catching up. Rachel got real domestic and cooked some delicious meals. In order to do some cooking, however, we needed to go grocery shopping. Never have I ever been grocery shopping where I cannot understand one word of food labeling. Now, this was fine when were buying pickles or chicken. But when it came to selecting a spice packet, we settled for the one with the word 'Mexico' in it.

Almost done, just a couple more things that I gotta tell yall about in Prague. Rachel, my boy James, and I visited this museum about controversial photography. While as some of you may know, this is not exactly right down my alley. However, it turned out to be awesome and I feel more cultured because of it. It illustrated the progression of legal issues in photography, allowing me to nerd out a little bit.

I mentioned my boy James. Well apparently he lived in Prague for a short time when he was a wee little boy and his babysitter from that era still lived in Prague. Not only did this babysitter still live in Prague, he opened up a successful restaurant and invited us there for dinner one night. But he went even further. Gave us discounts on our food, free drinks, including this shot of something that tasted like pure christmas. Amazing!

This one park that we visited was actually a highlight of this leg of the trip. Besides Rachel stepping in dog poop, it was great to get back into some resemblance of nature and shrubbery. Rachel took some nice senior portraits of me with her big fancy smancy camera. We played with some ducks and just walked around taking in all the fall colors. Am I gay? No, this park was just cool.

Questionable

All in all, a baller five days in Prague, doing it for the second time. We then struck out for Rome, where our trip seemed to take a turn for the worse...BUM BUM BUM

Ms Frizzle's Magic School Bus- part 1

So this is a very backlogged account. This trip occurred approximately two weeks ago but, due to aforementioned exams and a 10 day jaunt through europe, has not yet been immortalized into history.

Coincidentally, this adventure began on perhaps the most important day of a young boy's life: his 21st birthday. Now, in the United States, the 21st birthday is the best day of your life that you never remember. It usually involves drinking a little or a lot too much and then waking up telling yourself you will never drink again, ironically. This particular 21st birthday began at 730 am with shots...Ok I lied about the shots. It did begin at 730 with me waking up, putting on a fresh suit and heading off to my internship. The next 8 hours were spent researching the Russian nuclear industry, dicking around on facebook, and going out to a classic lunch at Steve Snack. So 5pm rolls around and it's time to party right? Wrong. Time to book it back home and head back to the bus station to meet the other 26 students, our teacher, and our badass bus driver to begin our five day trip.

We arrived in Luxembourg (the city, which also happens to be the name of the country) that evening around 11 and just hit the sack from there. We had to be up early the next day for some more educational adventures. So, I ended my 21st birthday in Luxembourg. Not many Americans can say that.

The next day we again discovered the wonders of European hotel breakfasts. Every kind of juice imaginable, eggs, meat, breads, caprese salad, pancakes, the list goes on. Definitely better than the what us Americans refer to as the continental breakfast. After stuffing ourselves with that and packing extra for lunch, we embarked for the European Court of Justice. While, yes, I find justice interesting, watching 2.5 hours of minutae debate over the competition of the royalty collection industry is boring as shit. I nearly fell asleep several times and would have if not for the man who watches everyone in the audience and makes sure they dont fall asleep. Seriously, if you need to pay someone to do that, you need to get some sexier cases. This court was nothing like Law and Order. After the case, we got some lectures from court employees about the role of the Advocate General and the General Court. This wasn't as much of a snoozer.

Following our immersion into European justice, Jerry (our professor) immersed into the landscape of Luxembourg city, educating us on the Luxembourgish language, the immense wealth of the Luxembourgish people, and the history of Luxembourg, mostly in the context of the two world wars. These "Jerry tours" are something I really have come to appreciate. He's extremely knowledgeable about everywhere we go and I definitely would not be having the same abroad experience without him. I pulled a rookie move yet again, forgetting my camera so no original pics of Luxembourg. O well. That night, I attempted to celebrate my 21st birthday with a drink. We had a few and then turned in. However, I recently found out that I will be accompanying my dad and uncle to Las Vegas upon my return to the States. Looks like I will truly get a legit 21st celebration with some of my best bros.

Next day we departed for Strasbourg, France. On the way we saw a few sites. An American World War II cemetery where General George S. Patton is buried. Pour one out for one's homies. But seriously, we approached the cemetery in misty and brisk weather. All of a sudden my American pride and a bit of homesickness returned. Through the mist I saw an old man with his army cap on stand before Patton's grave and give him a salute. This choked me up a bit. The cemetery was extremely powerful. After that we also visited Schengen, Luxembourg (an intersection of France, Luxembourg, and Germany), as well as an allied bunker that was part of the Maginot line.

Strasbourg is the site of the European Union Parliament's plenary sessions. I won't go into this, but it's French people being stubborn and demanding that they get some slice of the EU pie even though it makes a million times more sense to just keep everything in Brussels. We didn't actually see the parliament building but we did hit up The Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. Finally, I remembered my camera so if you've made it this far reading, here's some pics to break up the monotony.

Strasbourg: The intersection of French and German culture

Astronomical clock inside Notre Dame de Strasbourg. The most physics exposure I've gotten thus far

The Council of Europe was impressive. At least the facilities were. In my opinion, CoE is a bygone institution that set the foundation for the EU but really doesn't do anything anymore. It passes non-binding resolutions on human rights within Europe. Important, but I'm not sure that you need a whole separate institution and a multi million euro building to do this.

Chamber of the Council of Europe

Another complaint about the Council of Europe. Aesthetics. One of the rooms that we were in looked like a rainbow threw up on it. woof.

serious interior design needed

The European Court of Human Rights came next. It basically tries complaints of european (not just EU) citizens against states for human rights abuses. It has a huge backlog of cases and from what I gathered, was not very effective. Disappointing because there are still atrocious human rights abuses that still happen in Europe.

Ok, getting tired of typing here and you're getting tired of reading. But there's a lot of stuff still to mention. One- the food in Strasbourg. So dank. Having recently recovered from vegetarianism, some of my first meat-intensive meals were in Strasbourg. German sausage, ham, sauerkraut. Beautiful. The city is also beautiful. Check this sunset photo. (shoutout to my dad who loves sunsets)

  Ok, last leg of the trip, were in the clear. First, a note on our travel situation. A Mercedes bus packed with 27 college students and one professor. Some of us were at our wits end with each other by the end of the 5 days. Let's see how we survive the 11 day trip together in a few weeks. So, Trier, Germany, our last destination. Here we did not visit any institutions or do any real learning at all, which was nice. Instead we took an epic Jerry tour of the Roman ruins preserved there. Now, I was thinking pretty much the same thing you are right now. Roman ruins in Germany? That just doesn't add up. I didn't believe it either. Apparently Trier served as a capital for the Roman Empire back in the good ol days. Check these pics.

Pont Nigra, gate to the ancient Roman City

One very important thing about the Pont Nigra: While we were up on the second level of the Pont, I saw a very familiar scene. It was four young kids using their arms to spell out O-H-I-O, the classic around-the-world sign of The Ohio State University. I was so so so happy to see this. I enthusiastically yelled out O-H! and was returned with the I-O. This was one of the best moments of the trip.

ancient Roman arena in Trier

Ancient roman baths aka nudist club

How did they build this without machines?

Trier also offered us some beautiful views. Here's a rare shot featuring the mysterious author.

Upon leaving Trier, we hit up some more World War II sites including a great museum that offered perspective both from the Allied and Axis perspectives. Really makes you think about the humanity of the "enemy".

Original Sherman tank at the Battle of the Bulge Museum 

shells on shells on shells

Ok. Finish line. It was a powerful finish line, however. We visited the Ardennes forest, the site of the Battle of Bulge and saw the Allied and Axis lines. We also visited a German Battle of the Bulge cemetery. It was much different than the American cemetery, instead attempting to evoke feelings of the devastation of war. There are six names per headstone, with many only reading "a German soldier". Definitely a worthwhile and moving experience.

So, I should be writing my next blog post about my 11 day adventure to Prague and Rome soon. However, I'm all blogged out after just this one. Sorry I'm not sorry.