Prague and back to Vienna

After circumnavigating much of central Europe, I had just enough time for one city. On June 28 I arrived in Prague for an improvised visit. I decided I would stay more than just one day before going to Vienna. Prague was more impromptu and I was a little bit out of my tourist-element. I didn't go on any tours and learn much about the city, so unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of knowledge to share. I can say that it was a beautiful city and is worth a visit. It is quite fun and the nightlife is lively.

Getting into Prague, I was already impressed by the architecture.

On Saturday morning I headed north through the city towards Prague Castle with some friends I made at the hostel from Northern Ireland and Canada.

The entrance gate to the Charles Bridge

A distant view of the Prague castle

A panorama of the city and the river Vitava from Charles Bridge

Charles bridge was unlike any bridge I had been on. An immense stone structure, it had countless stone statues lining both sides. Like the entire city, it was a historical and architectural overload.

Myself and a Canadian friend from the hostel on our way to Prague Castle

I was a rich man in Prague - the exchange rate was something like 26 Czech Koruna for every Euro, or about $1 for every 20 Koruna.

A view from the northwest end of the city.

There is a Miniature Eiffel Tower in Prague. It is much smaller than the real one, but because it stands on top of a hill to the west of the city it is technically 1 meter higher above sea level than the one in Paris.

The cathedral in Prague Castle. The castle didn't really remind me of what one might expect a castle to look like. It was more of a square fortress surrounding a cathedral. Granted, I didn't go inside the castle perimeter.

Inside the cathedral. I think I've seen more than enough of these for one month...

How nice, we ran into a statue of a boy with a shiny polished penis. There was another statue earlier whose foot you could touch for good luck and fertility. I assume this is the same.

Outside the Franz Kafka museum, there is a fountain with these statues. Their manly members are actually motorized; they move side-to-side, up and down. I was starting to think that I was back in Brussels.

These giant babies were sitting down near Charles Bridge. I missed it, but I guess on the TV tower in Prague these guys are actually crawling up and down the structure, which is actually pretty frightening. I'm not sure what the barcode means; I heard it has something to do with commercialism.

Lennon Wall. This is a wall actually dedicated to John Lennon. It was originally dedicated in the late 60s. It resembled Czech resistance against the Soviets because every time the Soviets would repaint the wall, people would come back to draw on it again. This continued even when guards were put up. Still today people are allowed to draw whatever they want on it - and they still do.

Hey look - Bucky Badger made it to Prague!

There is a tradition in Europe to put love locks onto bridges; this one is clearly saturated.

Another quirky aspect of Prague.

I found a cross embedded into the cobblestone, but I'm not sure who it was for.

Finally on Sunday the 29th of June I hopped on another day train. This time, I would arrive back in Vienna and complete my loop of central Europe, ending my month of nonstop city-to-city travel just in time for class.

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I have to say it was an incredible journey. When I left the states I wasn't sure how well it would turn out. But with great luck and a lot of excellent people everything went really well. In the course of 27 days, I visited (meaning toured for at least 3-4 hours) 17 towns and cities in five countries, and actually stayed in 12 of them. I suppose I moved a little faster than I had planned on, but it felt fine to me. With wonderful hosts I got to get a feel for different cultures as little less of a tourist. Special thanks to Wolfgang & Heidi, the Segers, Herman, and Silvia for taking me in for altogether 10 nights!

You may be quick to point out that I am not done traveling, which is most definitely true. But after Prague it was time to switch gears and focus for class. Think of the summer lab course I am taking in Vienna as a boot camp for chemical engineers. It is nice being in Vienna and actually staying in one spot for five weeks. Packing up every couple days to go on to a new city and maybe even a new culture was exhilarating, and I hope to do it again some time!

Berlin

The afternoon of the 26th we headed out from Hamburg to Berlin. There we met up with Rachel and Emily after doing laundry. They had just headed through Barcelona, Italy, and Vienna. The first night we wandered around the west end of the city where we knew that our walking tour wouldn't be going. It ended up being more of a commercial area and most places were closed after 8 pm, so there wasn't a ton to see. We then headed over to the Tiergarten, a very expansive park in the middle of the city; similar to Central Park in NYC.

Anders, Emily, and Rachel on the train over to the west side of Berlin

Berlin Victory Column, which stands in the middle of Platz der Repulik. 

Statues around Platz der Republik

The next day we had a lot of time to explore the city. First in the morning we went to the Museum Island, which has four old museums and one church on it.

A model of the Museum Island

Berliner Dom

We had a few hours in the morning before our scheduled walking tour, so we spent time in the National History museum. I found it very interesting to get a broader view of Germany going back centuries. There was an interactive display charting the movements of different tribes in Europe and how the Roman Empire expanded north and receded. What especially struck me was how new the Germany as we know it today really is. It was only fully united in the 1870s after the Prussian Wars; before that it had been for the most part a lot of city states.

At 1:30 pm we found our way back to the Museum Island to meet up with the walking tour group. Our guide was really good and he tried to give as broad a picture of German history. The tour was also rather somber, however, as much of it focused on the Nazis, WWII, and the Cold War. For good reason, too.

Neue Wache, or New Guard House. It was originally built as a house for the troops of the crown prince of Prussia. Then it was dedicated after WWI as a memorial for the fallen of war. During Soviet occupation it became a memorial for the "Victims of Facism and Militarism". Finally, the above statue was installed under the Occulus and it became dedicated to the "Victims of War and Tyranny". The statue shows a mother holding her dying son (a soldier) in her arms.

Checkpoint Charlie

A view of the edge of the Wall

Our Australian tour guide. Behind him, the Berlin Wall.

A view inside the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Outside the memorial. It's just plain slabs of stone, but it leaves an impact. Things don't feel quite right - the stones are all offset from one another, uneven, and at different heights. Inside one feels isolated, as one quick turn cuts you off from your friends.

A quick dinner after the tour

Panorama outside the Holocaust memorial

Brandenburg Gate in the evening

The Soviet memorial for the Battle of Berlin

The Soviet memorial has two decommissioned tanks in the front and artillery.

Humboldt University

After a long day of touring we called it quits. The next day our group split up; Rachel and Emily went off to London and Anders headed down to Munich. I would enjoy going back to Berlin - a day and a half wasn't enough time to see the city. Apparently it has more museums than any other city in Europe, too. It will have to wait, unfortunately. Alone with only two days left to Vienna, I took a day train to Prague.

Cologne, Bremen, and Hamburg

Cologne

Back to Germany! On Saturday the 22nd of June, Anders and I took a day train from Amsterdam to Cologne. We chose to go there primarily because Ian, a friend of Anders, works there now and there was a street festival going on. We actually crashed on a couch one night at the house of a very nice lady named Silvia; I used for the first time couchsurfing.org to actually stay somewhere. She was very kind to let us stay; Silvia lives a short train ride north of the center of Cologne with her dog, Snoop.

We met with Ian and a German friend of his and hung around the street festival. It was basically a bunch of small band performances in different department stores. Afterwards we enjoyed the atmosphere of a the bars in Cologne.

Ian and I

Ian and Anders

The next morning we met up with an additional two people, Lars and Christine, for brunch. I had also contacted Lars through Couch Surfing; he had been unable to host but wanted to meet up anyway. Really cool guy; him and his girlfriend Christine showed us around the city center for a couple hours.

We walked through a flea market next to the Rhein.

Apparently this bridge used to be much wider a century ago before it was destroyed.

A section of the original Roman road that ran through Germany.

Dom; the largest cathedral in Germany

Inside the Dom

Our crew outside the Dom. Ian, Anders, Christine, Lars, and myself

A view of the city center from the north, near the city center. Looking down the Rhein river.

Afterwards we met back up with Silvia. She showed us around the village near her home for a little while. Then, it was farewell and off to Bremen!

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Bremen

That afternoon we took a train north a few hours up to Bremen. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this city; it was notably calmer than most of the other cities I had been to (granted, it was a Sunday evening/Monday morning). Anders and I got into Bremen at around 5 pm and probably didn't get checked in to the local Jugendherberge until an hour or so later. I really didn't like staying there as much as normal hostels; it was very large, empty, and stagnant; the staff weren't particularly friendly as well. Along the way to our housing we checked out the area, and afterwards we grabbed a bite at a real German diner.

Picture of the square

Another picture of the square: Town Hall on the left and Bremen Cathedral on the right

A boat-restaurant on the River Weser

A delicious dinner! Schnitzel with fries and a dark beer

The next day we took some time in the morning and afternoon to look around Bremen. It was a short visit, but I feel like we saw quite a bit of the city.

Again at the town square; statue of Roland, the patron of the merchants, outside the town hall

Inside the cathedral

We listened to this organ for a a little while; beautiful music!

Nearby the courthouse

Bremen was definitely a low key stop; we didn't have any luck finding a cheap walking tour, so we took it easy and killed some time. Anyway, our train was already leaving at 4 pm that afternoon, off to Hamburg!

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Hamburg

That Monday evening we got into Hamburg only an hour or so after leaving Bremen. We stayed in Hamburg about half a day longer than Bremen. I definitely moved fast in this part of the trip, but a day or two is about enough to get a feel for each city, and I had far to go. Really, we were scheduled to be in Berlin by the 26th, so through northern Germany we just winged it.

The first night we checked into a 10 bed dorm in a pretty good hostel on the west side of the city. We met a few of our roommates, who happened to all be Australians. The first guy was a middle aged/old Aussie named Murray who apparently had been traveling for four years. I didn't pry, but I have no idea how somebody could travel around the world nonstop like that. And the other two Australians were doing their leap year, which is a year off between high school and college for travel. They tell me it's common to do there. Really, these people make me feel like a hermit.

We looked a bit into the Reeperbahn, which is Hamburg's red light district; it's not nearly as bad as Amsterdam's. Being a Monday night, the area wasn't crowded. We met some Swiss people and enjoyed spending a few hours at the Diskotech.

The next morning we tried to do the city justice. At around 11 am there was a 'free' walking tour (they expect you to tip at the end, but it's still a really good deal). Our tour guide was an American living in Hamburg who did a really excellent job.

The group being given an introduction by the tour guide (in red).

City Hall

This church has a beautiful organ, which we got to hear being played for a few minutes. Apparently, Bach had at one point wanted to move here an play this organ. However, the Hamburgers wanted to charge him to be able to use it. So, he went elsewhere...

This building was interesting; the little knobs each have guild coat of arms on them, resembling various trade guilds.

Shaped like a ship, honoring Hamburg's role as a port city.

Church of St. Nikolas, which has stood in ruins as a since the bombing of Hamburg in World War 2.

A view of the port

In the afternoon after the tour our guide recommended a nearby museum called Miniatur Wunderland. Basically, it's a museum filled to the brim with little scale models of real cities. At first I was skeptical since it wasn't exactly cheap. However, our Australian friends had heard really good things so we decided to check it out. It was definitely a good decision and was probably one of the best museums I went to all month.

There was an exhibition in the beginning of the museum, where they built a little model of a German town and, through eight stations, showed how the area would have changed over the past few thousand years.

The exhibition also had a timeline of the erection of the Berlin Wall.

A view above Checkpoint Charlie.

There were five booths they made with the input of different political parties in Germany, showing what they stand for.

Then we got into the main part of the museum. Here is the Switzerland zone, which spanned two floors. This is at the base of the mountains.

On the second floor, we reached the top of the Swiss Alps.

The museum also cycled between daytime and nighttime. Here in Bavaria, we are looking at Schloss Neuschwanstein. I didn't realize I would be visiting it twice!

The two Australians we met at the hostel and who had the excellent idea to come here.

Anders and I met a guy from Stuttgart named Ben who came along with us to the museum. I was surprised at first to find out he was German; he had been studying in Scottland and sounded like it when speaking in English.

The museum often had a lot of quirky 'Easter eggs' throughout it. Here, for example, is Big Foot.

In the American zone, we got a view of the Grand Canyon!

And here is Las Vegas at night.

Looking down the road at a bunch of cyclists crossing a bridge.

I'm going to attempt to upload a video onto the blog; hopefully it will work! They had a huge section dedicated to a miniature airport, with airplanes actually taxiing, taking off, and landing.

The museum also had a bunch of trains going everywhere. And, in the Swiss section, there was a chocolate producing factory. It actually took pieces of pre-made chocolate, wrapped it, and dispensed it for consumption at the push of a button! I definitely recommend visiting the Miniature Wonderland if you go to Hamburg and are really nerdy like myself.

I had heard about a free nightly fountain show in a nearby park. Anders, Ben, and I went over a little before 10 pm to check it out. A couple of people control the valves to the fountain and sync the water and the lights to music. They do it for a half an hour most weeknights and change the songs used every week or so.

The night we went they were playing jazz.

I also kept seeing these little buggies around Hamburg. They are like miniature Smart cars.

The next morning it was time to pack things up and catch a train. I feel that although we might have skimped on Bremen, we did get the most out of Hamburg. At long last, off to Berlin!