Subject: more of Cor's life in Europe
Hi Everyone!
I think I'm going to fast-forward a bit for this letter and tell you about Prague (which is STILL two weeks ago already!) When my three-week German course at the ETH ended I had a whole week free before classes started for real.
Which meant, like everyone else, I was NOT going to spend the week in my room or just wandering around Zürich- I have the rest of the year to do that! Besides, I still had one day on my Europass to use before it expired within the next two weeks. SO I talked to a few people to see what their plans were- some were going away, some were going home (those who were within a country or two) and some hadn't thought that far yet. My friend Chris (Shoemaker, from Maryland & WPI, whose visa form was mixed up with mine- yes I met him for real here) had kind of the same thoughts about travel that I did, so we decided to travel together. At first we were thinking Salzburg, and then playing it by ear from there- if we wanted to go somewhere else within the week, we'd decide later. But then we thought that we could easily make a weekend trip to Salzburg, and that since we had a whole week we could go somewhere a little further away. So at the last minute we changed our minds and headed to Prague! It was a 12 hour train ride- the Albert Einstein route (because he lived in Prague, then moved to Zürich, studied /taught at the ETH....just random point of interest) :) which was good, because we had a chance to talk, see some more great countryside, and read up a bit on this city we were going to.
The description I'd give you of the countryside is pretty similar to what I told you about the trip from Zuerich to Dresden, so I'll skip that.
Except that with all the times we passed through different countries (Switzerland-Austria-Germany-Czech Republic) I didn't get ONE stamp in my passport! I'm kinda disappointed about that. :(
Anyway, when we arrived in Prague, within the first 30 seconds of having our feet on the ground, we were assaulted by 3 different people trying to offer us accomodations! It was amazing! Apparently it's very common in Prague for people to rent out rooms in their homes (pensions) but it still really surprised me. And they were so pushy, too! One guy insisted that all the youth hostels closed in August, which we knew was a lie, bec. Chris was here in mid-Sept, and no trouble finding one. So we told them we had a place to stay already, thank you very much, and took their cards with their phone numbers, etc and went on our way. We exchanged a bit of money, bought a phone card, and headed towards a phone to call the hostels. (Behind us two of these men started arguing over who had talked to us first!) While Chris was on the phone a woman came up to me and asked if we were looking for a place to stay. She also had a room in her apartment, very cheap (300kC, about US$10!), and it seemed like a good offer. She seemed very nice, and I trusted her a lot more than the smelly guys who were harrassing us before. It turned out her offer was cheaper and in as good of a location as the hostel, so we decided to take her up on it. This woman, Monika, gave us a lot of advice and helpful hints on the way home- how to buy Metro tickets, where to exchange money at a good rate, where the grocery store is, etc. Her apartment was comfortable, and we had use of the kitchen, and everything. It was kind of late at night, and we hadn't eaten yet, so we went to the restaraunt down the street. I was kind of skeptical- we only had about US$8 in Czech kronen between the two of us. But we managed to get soup, entrees, and drinks all for about Us$3.50 apiece! And it was good food, too. SO that was my first realization of how affordable everything is in Prague. (Compared to Zuerich, where I spend close to SFR100 (US$80) a week on food, and dinner at a restaurant would cost min SFR20 (US$16)!!!)
After dinner we went into the City center, which is absolutely gorgeous at night! Everything is all lit up, and there are such beautiful buildings to begin with! We walked through the Old Town Square, across the Charles Bridge, and around a bit on the other side of the river. I kind of felt like I was back in Dresden, standing on the bridge, looking at the city, with so many views screaming for a camera! (Mine was back in the room, but I took a TON of night shots in the next few days- I'll have to see how they come out!) :) When we walked through the Old Town Square, I recognized it immediately- one of the studios at RPI designed a theater here, and a few of those designs were used in DD- the studio I was in last semester. It was kind of cool to see as a cardboard model, but it is incredible to see in real life!!!
There's a big cathedral, and the town hall (I think that's what it is) across from it, both in black stone (oxidized sandstone), with big towers/spires which are lit from below. They have a kind of spooky, Transylvanian feel to them, but at the same time they seem so stately, delicate, and ornate. (if any of those words make any sense together!) At the other corner is another church, with white, curving forms (Baroque, I think), and bulbuous copper roofs on the spires. Other than that the rest of the square is surrounded by a wall of buildings, of different colors- soft, mostly pastels- and the ground floor carved out as an arcade where people can walk and go into all the stores and restaraunts. They look kind of like there are apartments on the next two floors, either that or there once were, and now its offices, stores, etc.
It was really interesting- even the cathedral front was covered by these city buildings- you have to go through a door that leads to a little alleyway to actually get to the entrance of the church!
In the middle of the square- but off to one side is a big statue, with big steps leading up to it on one side, and shrubbery on the other. Those steps are PACKED with people during the day! It's a great place to sit and watch all the people in the square!
Also in the middle of the square, but off to the other side- as though the statue and it were dividing the square in thirds- was a big white tent covered with Swiss flags. When we went by the next day, there was piped music coming out of it- brass choirs, Alphorns, yodeling, all sorts of traditional Swiss music- and tons of people walking in and out- it was really just a tourism promo, that we thought was kind of funny- travel FROM Switerland to Prague, to hear "authentic" Swiss music!
Anyway, Old Town Square (Stare Metske, or something like that) is a beautiful place that we walked through a billion times in the next few days!
OH! And I forgot to tell you- on the side of the Town Hall is the Astronomical clock, which is famous, kind of like the Glockenspiel in Munich. Every hour crowds of people gather in front of it to watch all the little people spin around in the doors at the top of the clock. It's kind of neat to see, (apparently better at noon, which we never did see) but it's also funny to see so many people crowd around at the top of every hour!
OK, enough about Stare Metske. We did learn a few words in Czech during the week- we asked Monika- and used them whenever we could. I don't really know how to spell them, but
please= "prosim",
thank you= "dekuji" (DEH-kwee),
hello (good day, I think)= "dobre dne," (do-BREE d'nuh)
good bye= (no-SKLAR d'nuh)
yes="ano"
no="ne"
There you have it, the extent of my Czech vocabulary. (You never know when you're going to need to say something in Czech!) :) But really we found that we could say whatever we needed to in either English or German- most people knew at least one. And hand gestures also work wonders. The one time we couldn't use either was when we went to a little out of the way diner on our way to Karlstejn. The place reminded me of KC's Diner near Cooperstown- very down-home, out of the path of most tourists, very friendly people- a little of the local flava. The menu was entirely in Czech (most places had English/German translations) and we really didn't know what we were looking at. We found a few of the words in the little travel book we had, but mostly we were going to randomly pick things and see what we ordered. The waitress couldn't speak either of these languages, but she pulled out a book from behind the counter with a few different translations to help us. From there we ordered, and we actually picked well- and the waitress was so helpful! She was kind of like a grandmother.
OK, so I'm being kicked out now- I'll finish later!
Tschau!
Cory :)
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