Mas Maß!

A few weekends ago, Sue (my travel and adventure buddy!) and I decided to take a night train to Munich for Frülingsfest, a spring smaller version of Oktoberfest. Remembering how lucky we were with the night train to Zurich at the beginning of the semester, we decided to test fate again and just reserve normal seats on the night train, hoping that we would end up with the cabin to ourselves again. Wrong. We find our cabin and we are the only two seats that are reserved. Unfortunately, there are two people sprawled across all of the seats. Awkwardly standing outside, we debated the proper social protocol for such a situation. Luckily, they woke up before we reached a decision, so we were able to enter the room. Opening the door, we were blasted with the worst and most pungent feet smell ever. We were also confined to two seats while the other two people sprawled over 4 of them. It was for sure our worst night train experience ever.

Grumpily and on not much actual sleep, we made our way to our hostel. Never you worry, though. Germany did not let us down. We decided to take a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, commonly referred to as the 'fairy tale castle' located about 2 hours from Munich. This was by far the best idea we have EVER had! The train ride out was accompanied by views such as this:

We started off right for a German, stopping at what I will refer to as a beer hall with a food stand. It was a wonderful idea. Then we trekked halfway up the mountain to the castle. So. Beautiful. Seriously. Afterwards, we walked to the Marienbrücke, a bridge overlooking the castle. We were surprised to find that places actually look like this:
I mean. Seriously. Wow wow wow!

That night, we met up with some of our fellow IESers for Frülingsfest.

As it turns out, Frülingsfest is really just a carnival with a huge beer hall in the middle. Naturally, we went on the bumper cars. I mean, how do you turn that down?
I did almost die trying to take pictures while in the bumper cars, though. Apparently they aren't regulated at all in Germany - I thought I was going to get whiplash every time a car bumped into me! Crazy intense...AND AWESOME!

Of course, we enjoyed plenty of Munich's main specialty - beer. We enjoyed them in style - in one liter Maß:

What can I say? We embraced the German culture.

I Love Poland like a Druggie Loves Krak-ow!

Okay I know I'm absurdly behind. Tomorrow I'll be done with finals and papers and such, so maybe I'll get completely caught up...maybe. Anyways, I thought I'd finish up on the Adventures of Nikki's Easter (Spring) Break! Last stop on the 5-country break was Krakow, Poland. Easter weekend in Poland might have been the best idea we'd ever had. Apparently Poland is ridiculously Catholic. Who'd a thunk? Not I. I guess I never really wondered, but nonetheless I wouldn't have pictured that...like ever. Good to know, eh? The cutest little Easter market in the center of town provided lots of painted eggs that I fought myself for 2 solid days to not buy (I won...although I don't know how much of a win NOT BUYING them is...), YUMMY food, and raspberry beer. Walking around, what do Whitney and Emily decide to do but juggle while they wait for me to get back down from the random hill I saw and of course HAD to climb:

(while Mike stands by awkwardly. Haha!). Grinning the whole way, we got to the Wawel castle just before sunset. On the other side of the castle, a hill overlooked the Vistula river. While the others took pictures, juggled, and did other sources of merriment, I propped myself up on the ledge of the wall and just sat looking out:
The clouds raced by, in a hurry to whatever their destination was. It was absolutely breathtaking. I'm a dork, and of course wrote a poem about it when we got back to the hostel that night.

Darkness fell as we made our way back to the hostel. In contrast to the pitch black of the outside, the glowing lights from the various churches in the middle of their Easter Vigils beamed out, beckoning passers-by in. As we kept going, we came across an Easter vigil coming outside to light their candles. Having never experienced a view such as this, I was only slightly disturbed by the images that the campfire reflected off the priests' garments. I felt really bad about it, but it definitely just made me think of pretty much what my subconscious had oriented with the idea of cult gatherings:

I don't know what that says about me...whoops!

The next day we walked around some more, exploring the Jewish quarter. We visited the old Jewish cemetery. Noticing that many of the gravestones had rocks set atop, I was intrigued:

After getting back, I researched into this and found out that it's a Jewish tradition to leave a rock when you visit a gravesite, to mark that you visited and in honor of the person whose grave you visited, much like our flower version, albeit a more permanent gesture, as the rocks won't wither, nor will they fly away. It was astonishing how many rocks some of the gravestones had. I love it.

Sunday, Emily and Mike had to leave earlier than Whitney and I. So after dropping them off at the bus station, we headed back to the Easter market (of course) to eat and shop some more. Walking around afterwards, we heard music. Naturally, we headed off in that direction. What do we find, but nuns dancing...to a monk praise band!!!!!

We were all kinds of excited. While Whitney recorded the festivities, we both just stood there with the biggest grins on our faces. I remarked that the only thing that would make this better is if they all of a sudden started playing a song that I knew. What happened two songs later? They started playing "How Great is Our God"...in Polish!! I didn't think my smile could have stretched any bigger, but apparently it could, and did as soon as I heard the beginning of the song. I mean, it sounded more like "pddddedjhf nsssjsfhskuerg seue isbnde gaaaaaaad!" to my complete lack of understanding Polish, but I sang along (and danced, too, of course) in English, thinking that there was no better way to spend an Easter evening.

As the sun started to fall, it was time for Whitney and I to head to the train station to catch our night train back to Vienna. As Whitney had talked to the lady in German when buying our tickets, we didn't realize that we were in a fancy sleeper car until we found our absolutely beautiful PRIVATE compartment, with our own sink, closet, chocolate croissants, and bottled waters:

We slept better than we had all trip and awoke bright and early (about 6 am!) in Vienna, still glowing from our wonderfully epic Spring Break! (More Krakow pictures here)

Auschwitz

While I could insert a few antics, sing a song, or insert a bit of comedic relief, that wouldn't do Auschwitz or its history justice. Instead, I'll provide a few facts and comments but mostly let the pictures below speak for themselves.

I was thoroughly impressed with the tour at Auschwitz. The tour guide didn't try to break the tension, force you to draw anything out of it, nor did she try to make this experience out to be anything less than it was; instead, she simply gave facts and led us through.

"Arbeit Macht Frei," meaning "work frees oneself" or "work makes freedom," was a common phrase used by the Nazis at the entrances to their labor camps. This particular entrance was to Auschwitz I - Auschwitz was actually comprised of three camps: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz). Auschwitz I was the original camp, used mostly to hold Poles and Soviet POWs. The camp is actually smaller than I thought it would be. Starting with only 8 buildings (referred to as blocks), the prisoners here built others to hold the increasing numbers.

In between two of the blocks was the "execution wall," used for individual executions of prisoners of Auschwitz I. Today, it is kept as a memorial to those individuals.

We then went off to the death camp of Auschwitz II - Birkenau, named for the birch trees surrounding the camp. Right after getting off the train, people were separated into the few "lucky" who got to live and those who walked down the Road of Death to the gas chambers disguised as showers.

The train tracks to Auschwitz II - Birkenau.

At the end of the Road of Death is now a memorial to those killed at Birkenau. Plaques in every language spoken at the camp line the current end of the tracks:

FOR EVER LET THIS PLACE BE

A CRY OF DESPAIR

AND A WARNING TO HUMANITY,

WHERE THE NAZIS MURDERED

ABOUT ONE AND A HALF

MILLION

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN,

MAINLY JEWS

FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES

OF EUROPE.

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

1940 - 1945

As a last try to cover up their tracks as the Soviets were about to liberate the camp, the Nazis blew up the gas chambers that had been disguised as shower facilities.

The rest of the pictures can be found here.

What Kind Catholics Eat a Pork Knee on Good Friday?

The next leg of my Spring break, spent with Whitney and Emily from TU and Mike (Whitney's friend), started off in Praha (Prague), Czech Republic. I had been adament on making it to Eastern Europe, especially after spending a few months in my History of East European Jews class, and FINALLY I was there! Not knowing what to expect, our adventure started just after we got off the bus from Vienna (a breathtaking bus ride, during which Mike and I were enthralled by a Czech film...with English subtitles, of course), as finding your hostel as soon as entering a new country always is. This adventure was filled with attempting to make swimming hand motions to signal the Czech woman we came across that we were trying to find the direction to the river, to which she responded with a completely confused and helpless expression. She later indicated that we could "Glab glab glab" to a Taxi...ask a Taxi driver about the river because he would probably understand. Well, never you fear - we found the hostel, without having to glab glab and dish out money to a taxi driver.

We came across a wedding tradition - the bride and the groom each have a lock. They lock their individual locks together on a bridge (to symbolize their unity) and then throw both keys into the water.

You may not know it, but there's this wonderful little place called the John Lennon Wall. A popular tourist attraction, this wall is covered with visitors' additions and whatever they felt necessary to express, be it John's face, words of encouragement, speaking out against hate, etc. The colorful destination was definitely a highlight of our trip. Of course, I left my own addition to the wall. Unfortunately, all I had was a pen that stopped working halfway through the quote I was trying to add: "Say anything, but say what you mean," one of my favorite quotes from a band called Mae. I got as far as "say anything"...wonder what that will bring. Maybe stories of dragons saving princes from evil princesses. Or not.

Lunch was at a restaurant I would like to refer to as "the green room" - the green walls and tablecloth gave all pictures taken inside a green tint. Add to it the fact that I was wearing a green shirt...well, it was as though grass and trees were so glad to be alive and in springtime, that they threw up all over this restaurant. Seriously. It was awesome. As we contemplated what Czech food we wanted to eat, Catholics Whitney and Mike all of a sudden realized that it was a Lenten Friday...Good Friday for that matter, and they could not eat meat. As they had been ogling the various Czech pork dishes, their faces suddenly sunk with the realization. Trying and failing to come up with a legitimate way to rationalize the meat, Mike decided he would let fate, God, etc. decide by asking the waitress what she recommended. Were she to respond with some vegetarian entree, he would take it as a sign of "really, guys? Please." from God. Her response of "the pork knee is very Czech" gave Mike all the go-ahead he needed. Assuming a 'when in the Czech Republic' mindset, Whitney promptly seconded the pork knee order. And then the two Catholics massacred their meat on Good Friday.

The only redeeming quality of the Prague Castle was probably this Alfons Mucha stained glass window. As I hadn't been able to make it to the Mucha exhibit in Vienna yet, I was very happily surprised to find a stained glass such as this in the St. Vitus Cathedral. That happiness was probably about all that got me through the most boring audio guide I have ever tried to listen to - it was like one of those history classes that turns people off history for the rest of their lives. They really should think through letting boring people teach history; more people could be interested if they weren't turned off so at such an early age.

The good tourists we are, of course we went to go check out the Astronomical Clock, the oldest parts of which date back to 1410. The lower part, a calendar, wasn't added until around 1870. Let's be honest - I have no idea how to read this combination of times from a different scale, calendar, zodiacs, and moving figures. It's only slightly too much. Slightly. Right. I can't help but wonder if people actually understood what the top part was saying, in a time illiteracy was common. I can't imagine not being able to read, but understanding this seemingly (to my eyes, of course) ridiculous and random clock-thingy-do-wop. But who knows. Maybe it makes perfect sense.

Mussels, Raspberry Beer, and Comics

The next part of my Spring/Easter break was a quick trip with Sue to Brussels, Belgium. After our overly frantic rush to the airport in Rome, we took the plane ride to Brussels to calm our poor hearts. With RyanAir, there are no assigned seats, so Sue and I ended up separating our ways for the duration of the flight. I found myself seated next to a loud, boisterous man who couldn't stop complaining about everything - from the man who wouldn't sit down so we could take off, to the woman who couldn't figure out how to fit her suitcase in the overhead compartments. As obviously enthralled with that conversation, I quickly found my headphones and promptly went to sleep, not waking until the sudden jolt of landing which was interestingly enough followed by a round of applause by my fellow flyers. Not having ever thought this happened outside of the movies, I was left wondering what the flight had been like to award an applause at the landing. I didn't dwell too much on these thoughts as I tried to figure out how to find Sue. After reuniting, I was able to revel in the French that surrounded me everywhere (plus Dutch, but I didn't really care quite so much about that, let's be honest)!! I used that opportunity to do my best to remember what I could of French, speaking as much of it as I thought possible. Unfortunately words like "bitte," "danke," and "Gruss Gott!" came to me more quickly than their French equivalents of "s'il vous plait," "merci," and "Allo!" Seriously. It was very fun and challenging searching my memory for the correct words, though.

As Brussels is renown for its comics, we decided (the instant we heard about it) to hit up the comic museum (Centre Belge de la Bande dessinée). Oh. My. Gosh. Soooo freaking cool! A breakdown of the steps to making a comic strip, original artwork, and exhibits on various famous Belgian comic artists filled our visit. A museum for the whole family, you could easily find really cool things like the Smurfs (did you know they were Belgian?!!!):

Tintin and Astérix (wonderful memories from my high school French days) were also found in the museum. I was thrilled for obvious reasons.

After the museum, we decided to walk around, but (obviously) in the direction of food. The street that finally captured our attention:

Lined with restaurants on both sides, we were glad that we already had planned a destination that we had heard had good food at a reasonable price. Otherwise, the indecisiveness of Sue and I might have left us wandering the streets until our stomachs finally forced us to make a decision on the matter. We wouldn't want that, now would we!? The stereotypical Belgian dish is moules et frites (mussels and fries). While I'm always up for experiencing culture through food, I was a little antsy about whether I would like mussels enough to eat an entire bucket of them. Going a slightly more conservative route, I ordered the seafood pasta, which still had the necessary moules for my convenience:

Mmmmmmmm! I was very much a fan of this meal! Washing it down with a framboise - raspberry beer, another specialty of Belgium left me in a state of pure contentment.

I must say - Belgium is a slightly odd place, in the best way possible. 'Why?' you may ask. Well, the things they are known for (moules et frites, beer, chocolate, art nouveau, and a hub for the UN: 

)are only a slightly bizarre combination. Where else could you go chocolate store hopping, sampling for free the specialties of each store? Where else can you find random comics on the sides of buildings:

Well hello there, Tintin!

But seriously, a very fun a quick trip. For a pictoral telling of my Brussels trip, click here.

I Rome from Town to Town

...I go through life without a care - The Wanderer

To start off our week-long Spring break (or Easter break - Osternferien), we thought what better place than Rome? Saturday night, we walked around the neighborhood of our hostel and ended up finding this nice little cafe that we decided to try. This ended up being the best food of the entire time in Rome! Not only was the food delicious, but our charismatic waiter spoke fluent Italian, English, German, and French. We were only mildly impressed. Right. As one who speaks some of 3 of the 4 languages, I just sat in awe while for the most part understanding what he was saying. I want to be like that. So cool, seriously. And Italian, too? Wonderful.

The only protestant in a group of Catholics, I saw the more Catholic side of Rome during our short few days there. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Not at all. Palm Sunday, we were able to score tickets to Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter's, with none other than the pope presiding! Pretty cool, even for us non-Catholics. The square was absolutely packed! Luckily, we thought ahead and got there early (especially good since I mysteriously lost my ticket to the event...something I was ready to take as a sign that I shouldn't be an in cognito protestant at this event. Okay enough Catholic/Protestant comparisons), and therefore got seats "fairly close" - we got a seat, which is more than I can say for about 70% of the people there. But seriously, I've never seen so many Catholics in my life:

Mass ended up being fairly cool and interesting, albeit 3 hours long. As I was already sleep-deprived and didn't understand most of what was being said...AND literally the ENTIRE GOSPEL was sung, I fell asleep. Whoops! I tried not to, I promise. But the entire gospel sung in one church service? Please. I grew up Episcopalian, a church in which people will start very obviously start checking their watches when they think the service is going too long. Only slightly different.

After mass finally ended, we made our way to a) stop and get some YUMMY pizza, and b) to be more touristy! Hitting up the Colosseum, we couldn't help but get in the mood for fighting:

Afterwards we visited the Roman Forum, where we had the best tour guide I've ever encountered, Paul. He really made the history come alive for us as he led us around. He entertained us so much, we were very tempted to take a tour he was doing that night, but thought better of it as our stomachs made their presence and the fact that we hadn't eaten in a long time very evident. We also wanted to catch a few more sites and were second-guessing our abilities to go on a third tour of the day. I know I'm not much of a tour person, so even though we had one really good one, I wouldn't have enjoyed another one quite as much.

The next day we got up super early to climb to the top of St. Peter's Basilica before Mike, Ellen, and Whitney had to head to the airport for their flights back to Vienna (Sue and I were staying another day). 501 steps later, we had:

-passed the first stop towards the top which gave us an inside view of the Basilica

-conquered staircases that began to curve vertically, causing us to walk slanted

-reached the top of where we could climb

-been given beautiful panoramic views of the city:

Naturally, we also saw the inside of the Basilica. It was only slightly RIDICULOUS! If you were to look at a picture of the inside, you would never guess how high the walls go or how big it is in general, unless you were to compare that to the size of the people inside. Looking like ants engulfed by the walls and gates that extended up all the way we had just climbed, we were awestruck by the beauty and grandeur.

After the others left, Sue and I ventured out in search for an authentic and cheap cafe from which to buy lunch. Finally we succeeded - English (for the first time since we arrived in Rome) was nowhere to be heard in this cafe. The guy we ordered our food (with the pointing system that works for all languages) didn't speak a lick of English. We knew we were in for a treat, an idea that was confirmed the moment we put the food in our mouths. The bread literally melted in my mouth as the cheese and meat provided the perfect compliment. Adding a few cups of strong Italian coffee made the meal perfect and just what I needed to get through the rest of the day after less than adequate sleep for the previous few nights.

A trip to the Vatican museum left me with just one word: wow. Not the biggest fan of the Sistine Chapel - overrated and too busy in my opinion - I was consistently amazed by all the rest of the artwork, from that on the ceilings and walls:

to the tapestries, the elaborate floors, the newer art exhibit, and more. I took a lot of pictures there. Feel free to look at as many or as few as you desire. If you're not the biggest fan of art, I would suggest skipping about 100 of the pictures, which are pretty much all from the exhibit. I told you I was impressed.

The next morning after a lot of crazy running around to try to find our way to the airport, a venture made mildly more complicated by the vague Italian directions and the lack of any signs pointing us in the right direction, we finally grabbed a cab and made it to the airport with 5 minutes to spare before check-in for our flight closed, and about 10 minutes before boarding began. With a sigh of relief as we got in line to board, we pushed out of our minds the ponderings on what to do if stranded in Rome.

Elizabeth in Österreich

Just in case I was already missing her after seeing her only 4 days before in Dublin, one of the loves of my life, Elizabeth (my roommate freshman  year and my to-be roommate next year) came to visit me in Vienna! We did all of the wonderfully touristy things such as visit the gardens of Shönbrun, the Hofburg palace, the Naschtmarkt. As Saturday was the nicest day we had seen as of yet in Wien, we all enjoyed just walking around all day while showing Elizabeth all around Wien. What should we find while walking the Ringstrasse but a protest in full-swing, complete with live music! It was the most peaceful protest I've ever heard of. Maybe I should describe how the Austrians do protesting - drinking Ottakringer all day while listening to live bands perform in honor of the protest's subject. This one was against the economic decline. And here I thought we all liked it when the economy wasn't doing well. Guess I better re-think that thought process. Ah well. Better luck next time, eh?

Given the extent of our Saturday (followed by a night on the town Austrian style, of course!), we were all too willing to accept the bad weather Sunday and gave in to the idea of a slow day spent inside. That's not to say that we didn't do anything, oh no! We had cuddle time watching a few episodes of The Office:

Elizabeth, Whitney, and Sue all cuddled on my bed ready for The Office time!

We also made a fully Austrian dinner including (but not limited to) Wienerschnitzel and Knödel. YUMMM!