Czeck, please.

6-24-05
Indeed today we did take a tour of the palace. It was of course huge, as a palace should be. It took half the day just to go through it! After that, we took a trip to the ferris wheel, which used to be the biggest in the world, and now it's just "big". We didn't ride it though, neither of us really felt like it, and it was 9 dollars a person. You didn't even get your own car! the cars were actually each the size of busses. It was crazy. Well, since we got a day pass for the metro today, we then took a trip to the other side of town where the cemetary is. We saw the graves of Beethoven, Strauss, Mozart, Brahms, and more. There was a whole section of just the musicians! We also went to the jewish part, and this part was really sad because the nazis came through and basically destroyed the cemetary only in the jewish part. There were lots of stones that were toppled over, broken, and missing. The city is trying to put out replacement stones for many of them, but it looks like arlington now with a bunch of stones exactly the same.

6-25-05
Today we made the drive from Vienna to Prague with a bunch of stops along the way. We got lost plenty of times, and were often quite frustrated especially in Czeck republic since we couldn't speak the language, but we ended up getting everywhere we wanted. After crossing the Czeck border (and getting a passport stamp), we got pulled over by the police saying we were speeding "somewhere back in the last town", and we had to pay 1000 kr for the ticket. Now, if you're up to date on my posts, you know that not only were we not speeding, I don't think we even hit the speed limit. Unfortunately, there's no way to get out of it, so we had to pay it. That sucked big time. Once we'd gotten over that annoyance, we stopped in Telc, a beautiful small town and had lunch, and then we went to Kutna Hora, where there is a church decorated with the bones of 40,000 people who died in the black plague. It was really eerie, and strange, but I guess that is what brings tourism money to the town, so keep it coming! pictures will be posted of this. In the evening we arrived in Prague, and we got an apartment there, so we checked in and went to sleep early since it was raining.

6-26-05
It was still raining this morning, so we got a late start in hopes of it letting up. We went to the Jewish part of town today, seeing all the synagogues and museums, and the old Jewish cemetary. The cemetary was kind of neat in that they didn't have enough space, so over the years, they brought new layers of dirt to have more room, so it is very high, with thousands of stones. The site was used from the 13-1700s and is now just viewable for tourists. We also did the obligatory walk through the old city and across the Charles bridge, and we will likely go back tonight to see it in the dark. Now I am doing laundry, so the cafe is passing the time =)

more to come...

Wienershnitzel

incase you haven't seen them, here are the pictures from Day 1 until Rome.
http://www.jacobbrand.com/gallery/bela

6-22-05
We got up this morning, and after breakfast, we loaded the car and headed out of town. Dad had these grand ideas of going to a bunch of small towns along the way from Salzburg to Vienna (Wien). We stopped at Mauthausen, which was a concentration camp during WW2. Even though I have taken countless Jewish History clases, and visited many holocaust museums, it is still almost a shock to my psyche every time I go to another memorial. This camp is still in the condition it was during the war, and it was eerie to be there.

We came to Wien around 6:00, and the guy that owns the hotel was really nice. He was a funny guy, and gave us great suggestions on where to go. Right outside the hotel (which is on the Northwest corner of the center of town), there is the "campus". I am not sure that there is actually a school there, but it is in the courtyard of a block of buildings, and it is this green area with five restaurants and a grocery and a park and a playground, all situated within the courtyard of this enormous block. We came in at 8:00 and couldn't find a place to sit, and then fianlly squeezed into a table that already had a few people sitting at it. I've never seen any restaurant so crazily crowded! We finally ordered around 8:30, and it was 9:20 before we got our food. We thought they'd forgotten about us, but I suppose with a restaurant that full, it takes a lot longer to get your food. But it was worth the wait. I got salmon, and dad got lamb, and they were enormous delicious dishes, and there wasn't a tourist in sight. We like to pretend we're not tourists wherever we are. So we loved it.

6-23-05
We got up early today (surprise surprise), and walked around town for what seemed like forever. We went to the synagogue, and took a tour after some very in-depth questioning about our reasons for being there. Security is high. We went and ate some bread and cheese and yogurt lunch (we have a fridge in the room, so that keeps the perishable stuff a while longer), and then we went to do some decision making about the next ten days. Here, coffeeshop life is the norm in the afternoon, so we decided to be locals, and sit in a coffeeshop. After that, we went and sat in a park, and then went and sat at dinner on the campus, and then came back here. Today was a day of sightseeing the town and the people of the town.

Tomorrow hopefully we'll be going to a palace, and taking a ride on the enormous ferris wheel here (it used to be the largest in the world before someone else decided they wanted one bigger).

The Hills are Alive...

I am going to fake it out and divide this into two posts, since it's been a while.

6-19-05-
This morning we went to the train station to figure out my ticket from Berlin to Stockholm for later in the trip, and man, I'm glad now I have my Eurail, because that trip alone was over 250Euros without the pass!! haha. Anyway, I am standing in line, and I see Javier Orraca, another Tech student. This is my fourth encounter with people I know from Atlanta. It is so funny! (not sure if I ever wrote about #3, where I ran into megan and two of her friends from UGA)

Anyway, during the day we went to the Alta Pinakothek and Pinakothek des Modernes museums (since on Sundays each are only 1 Euro entrance.

Around 1:00, we left on our drive to Salzburg. We took HWY 304 rather than the Autobahn for much of the ride so we could go through small towns along the way. We stopped and ate lunch at a river in Wasserburg, and near the end of the drive, we cut over to the Autobahn for a while. We rented a 4 for 4 smart car (bigger than the regular smarts), but it is a REALLY crappy car. Dad was afraid to take it above about 90 kph, and so the only things we passed on the hwy were trees. Every car went racing by us. It was both funny and sad at the same time =)

We arrived at Salzburg around 4:00, and we went to the Pension Lenglachtner, which was really a persons house with a few rented rooms, but the people were really nice, friendly, and helpful.

We walked around the city at night, and went to Mozart square (that is where Mozart was born and grew up), saw a few old buildings, and then we ate at Wienerwald - a chicken restaurant dad remembers eating at 40 years ago when he lived in Germany. Lucky we found it because everywhere else was either closed since it was Sunday, or only served pork products!

6-20-05
We got up and went on the Sound of Music tour today. It was a bit cheesy, but surprisingly interesting! we learned a lot of history both about Austria, and about Salzburg, and of course saw all sorts of Sound of Music filming locations. The whole movie pretty much was taped in and around Salzburg. Our tour guide, Steph, was pretty cool, and really knowledgeablele, but a bit impatient with us. He was about 24, and from Holland. After the tour, we ate baked goods for lunch and got dad's camera that he forgot at the coffeeshop from the tour. We also walked to the Nonnberg (cloister) where some scenes from Sound of Music were taped, but also where the real Maria was a nun, and where she married in real life. Supposedly it is the oldest continuously used convent in Europe - or one of the oldest, I can't remember, but it's been in use over 100 years. We came back and napped, and then we got dressed up, and at 6 we went to Wienerwald again for dinner, and somehow managed to get a whole chicken with vegetables and fries for 6.80 Euros!! Good thing during this part of the trip Dad is in charge of hotels, and I'm in charge of food! I think I win haha. After we ate, we went to a concert! It was at Mirabell Schloss (Mirabell Palace). The concert was 2 Mozart Sonatas and 2 Beethoven Sonatas. It was really cool seeing a concert in an old palace concert room. During the performance, two pigeons somehow got into the room though, and it was a bit distracting, both for the audience, and for the performers =) At night, we walked around and got some ice cream, and ran into Danny White - another GT guy who now lives in San Francisco. He made a funny comment that keeping in mind how many people we run into on the streets, keep in mind as well how many people we haven't run into just because we're on the wrong streets and the wrong time. haha!

A LITER of BEER???

I got your attention.

Now that I am in Münich, or München as they say here, Things are a bit different. I arrived in the evening of the 15th, and stayed the night in a hostel. I had a chance to do laundry and relax and meet other students touring, and then in the morning, I was to meet my dad at 2:00ish at the hotel, so I had to kill time until then. So, I wandered the streets and found myself shopping. I love the stores here. I was so excited to get to finally shop in them since I wouldn't have to carry anything aroung, but instead put it in the suitcase and send it home with my dad when he left haha. Well, we met up in the afternoon, and after resting for a bit, we were ready to hit the town. We spent the afternoon getting some food (and beer), and then walking around town. There is a river in town that is diverted to create this random huge wave in the middle of the city, and surfers have a blast on the wave. We watched the surfers for a while, and went on walking. At 5:00, we were in the Marienplatz square to see the Rathaus (government building), and saw the clock chime 5:00, where the small figurines circled the clock and put on a bit of a show for the tourists. The next day, Friday, was our day to spend in the city. We instead spent ALL DAY at the Deutches Museum, which is an enormous museum with over 50 exhibits, including a special exhibit on Einstein since it is the 100th anniversary of his famous E=mc^2 discovery. We made it to about 10 of the 50 exhibit sections, and we were there pretty much from when the doors opened until they closed. One of the coolest exhibits was that on model trains, and they had this gigantic model train layout. There were about 15 trains going at the same time around the model, each representing what one might see on the regular tracks at various times in history. Everything from Steam engines, passenger trains, transport trains, hi speed trains, Diesels, electric, etc etc. It was really cool. Besides that, they had a video camera attached to a few trains and it was projected onto a video screen, so you could "ride" the train, and really see the intricacies of the model. It really looked lifelike as the train was stopping at platforms and picking up passengers, and blowing its whistle. So cool.

At night, we went to the synagogue here, and everyone was really nice and welcoming. We'd come earlier and paid for dinner, and really enjoyed it, especially since there was some sort of Jewish History convention in town, and so there were quite a lot of foreigners besides us. There were a lot of college age students too, and they were singing zmirot (jewish songs) all evening. It was touching to see such a strong sense of Jewish pride in a community that was not only disassembled, but endured horrific atrocities. Amazing. One of the women we met teaches Jewish history at the public schools here, and it is actually a requirement here not only to study Jewish history, but also to visit a concentration camp. It is nice to see that the country has taken responsibility for its history.

Dad has been having a blast practicing his German with anyone who will talk to him. He's a riot.

Today we went to pick up our rent-a-car and then drove out to Dachau. We took a tour of the commemerative memorial and reconstructed Nazi "work" camp. It is really eerie being there, and walking through it. We spent about 3 hours there.

After going, we went back to the city of Dachau, and had lunch in a park, and then headed back to town, and went to the AugustinerKeller Biergarten. "Beer Gardens" are literally what they sound like. Restaurants that serve more beer than any fraternity boy would know what to do with. We each ordered a liter. yes, a LITER of beer, and a pretzel. Now, you're probably wondering...Bela doesn't much care for beer, why would she order a whole liter of beer? well, that was the smallest one they offered. I could get a half liter, but it would've been filled with apple juice (used for the kids). It was pretty cool having a beer bigger than my head. The tables were big, so a while after we got there, some people from Germany and Switzerland joined us, and the guy asked my dad "does your wife speak German?" referring to me. Now, I am not sure if he said that because I look like I'm old enough to be married to a 60 year old, or if my dad looks young enough to be married to a 22 year old, or if they just thought he was dirty. Or, if that is just how they do things here in GERMANY...

Tonight, we went back to the Synagogue for the evening service and third meal, and before the service, we sat in on a Shiur, or a lesson, on Judaism given by the cantor. It was a nice class, and it was in English, which I was happy about, but I'm sure dad would've liked to have struggled through the other class.

Tomorrow we're going to the Pinakothek museums, and then leaving town en route to Salzburg.

Until then, I'll think of you while drinking a liter of beer...
Bela

Munchin in Munich...

I arrived in Munich yesterday. On the 14th, I headed to Lido, the beach by Venice, and it downpoured. It was my 'relax' day, and I spent all this time going to the beach to have it rain. It was about a 45 minute ride from Pl. De Roma in Vencie. Oh well. Since the goal was to relax, I headed back to the hostel and took a nap and read during the afternoon, and then in the evening, I got a roomate for the night, and she was really cool. Her name is Beth, 22,and she was from England, also recently graduated, but in speech therapy. We immediately got along famously, and talked non-stop for like 4 hours, through dinner, and after dinner, we sat downstairs with other people and hung out. There were a lot of people traveling alone that night too. There was Lindsey from CA, Inga from Canada, and another girl and guy from England whose names I can´t remember. we had a blast just chatting it up late into the evening.

In the morning, I checked out and went into town and got my ticket for Munich for 1:30, dropped my bags in luggage check at the station, and went to the Jewish Ghetto AGAIN. Because it had been a holiday for the past few days, everything has been closed, and so finally, I was able to take a tour of the old Ghetto. There were 5 small shuls in the ghetto, three of which I was able to see. Interestingly enough, the layout was similar to a church in that the pulpit was higher than the rest of the synagogue, making the person reading the Torah higher than the ark holding the Torahs, which is not a common thing found in Judaism. Turns out, jews were only allowed specific professions in the ghetto: money lenders, physicians, or second hand clothes sellers. They could not be craftsmen or artists, so christains actualy built all of the synagogues. After touring the Ghetto, I made my way back to the train station for the trip to Munich. Within the ride, a man from Sicily sat near me and we talked for a bit, though he struggled a lot with English, and we all know how much Italian I know ;-) Later, as we approached Innsbruck, a peculiar man entered my "cabin" on the train after seeing my copy of "The Da Vinci Code" on the seat next to me. We talked for a bit, and he asked me about why I thought Dan Brown would write the book, etc. etc., and then he left. Strange.

on another note,

Have you ever looked down the toilet on a train bathroom? I know you're not supposed to go when the train is in the station, but today I looked down, and realized that when you flush, it just goes on the track...interesting...

Venice

The other night's four seasons concert was wonderful. It was actually a student orchestra from some sort of conservatory, but they were incredible. The soloists were really good.

Yesterday morning, Miles and I took a train to Venice, and honestly, Venice is one of the cooler cities I've visited. Everyone parks their cars on the outskirts, because there are so many canals and small rivers, one can not navigate by auto. Everyone must walk, and the city is quite confusing. There are water busses - basically really big boats that everyone takes to get around the city. They are really expensive if you just get one ride (5 Euros), but you can get an unlimited 24 hour pass for 10.50, and it is well worth it. The city is pretty hard to navigate by foot, and this helps. Yesterday Miles and I walked around just seeing the city, and in the evening it was the jewish holiday of Shavuot, and so I went the the famous Jewish Ghetto here, and was invited to a wonderful meal put on by of course, the Chabad here. I brought Miles along, and though he said he enjoyed it, I think it might've scared him a little haha. It was fun though.

Today, Miles got his train ticket, and then we walked around the city for a while before Miles left. After he left, I spent a while more taking in the city, window shopping, and avoiding the touristy areas. I was considering doing some of the touristy things today, but honestly couldn't bring myself to see another church or museum, so I decided against it and just walked around.

I was supposed to be here in Venice for another two days, but I feel like I have exhausted what I'd like to do in the city, so while earlier today I was considering going to Switzerland, I think instead, I am going to go to the beach for a day to relax off the last 25 days, and prepare for the next 25.

After my last post, we were waiting in line to go into the Academia where the "David" is housed, and none other than Cressie T. from GT comes up and says hi. It turns out the GT oxford program was in town. It was crazy seeing GT kids in Italy!! The David statue is much more impressive than I'd envisioned. there are copies of it all over town, including two large copies in prominent areas, but this one was honestly incredible (and I am not that big of an art fan in general). Talk about a good lookin' jewish boy ;-)

Well, I love Tuscany. Yesterday, after going to see the inside of the synagogue here in Florence, we took a train to Lucca, which is a town just about an hour from here. It is a small town, and we rented bikes for a few hours and just enjoyed riding around the area. We were going to get an early dinner and then come back to Florence when we decided to change plans. Pisa is just a 15 minute train ride from there, and though there is nothing in Pisa except the tower, we decided it'd be fun to go. We took off and went to Pisa, which is surprisingly REALLY cool. The tower of course leans, but it is quite a sight to see.

In the evening, we took a train back to Florence, and I went to the synagogue for services. there were a lot of tourists there, and honestly, I didn't see too many Italians. Even the sermon was in English. After services, the Chabad rabbi had everyone over for dinner, and it was a lot of fun. About 20 people ate there that night.

Today, we took a day trip to Sienna, another Tuscan town about an hour and a half from Florence. It was beautiful. I really liked the town, and it wasn't overrun with tourists. It had an amazing square, and a wonderful ambiance. We came back to town, and as we're walking through one of the markets, I hear "Bela!" and of course here, everyone says "Ciao Bella" or Bella whatever", and though at home, I turn because they'd obviously be talking to me, here I turned and then remembered I was in Italy, and kept walking. But then I heard "Bela, Bela, Bela", and I turn around, and Adam Eisenman, a friend from GT, was sitting at a cafe with some of his friends. It was soo random! but great to run into him too. Tonight, Miles and I are going to a town a half an hour away to hear a free concert of the Four Seasons. I'll post later on how that turns out

Love to all!

Firenza Italia

Yesterday morning we went back and took a tour of the Synagogue museum and Jewish Ghetto area of Rome. It is pretty much non-existant anymore since they have changed a lot of that areay, but it is still the jewish quarter in town, even though there aren't that many Jews. After we spent the morning in the Jewish area, Miles and I said goodbye to Jacob and Austin, and left them in Rome as we took a train to Florence.

Upon arriving in Florence, it was quite chilly, and we went to where we were staying. We're "roughing it" here is Florence at a campsite. It is on Michalangelo hill overlooking the city. The view is gorgeous, and we're staying on cots in a tent. It was REALLY cold last night sleeping, but the campsite is pretty cool. Some people come with their RVs or personal tents, but many like us just get the key to a tent and use it.

Today we have been walking around Florence which is a great shopping city, and the art is amazing as well. Tomorrow and the next day we're taking day trips to Tuscany, but we're not sure where yet. Definitely Sienna, but not sure for the second day. On the 12th, we'll take time in the city again, and then head for Venice. More to come of course soon.

Take care of yourselves, and don't miss me too much!!
Bela

Rome Con't

Wow. Rome is quite the city. On Sunday like I mentioned, we walked around the whole city, and yesterday morning, we went to the colosseum and that was quite cool too - especially since that is what a lot of people think of when they think of rome. But like I mentioned the other day, my back was really hurting, and it was to the point of being unbearable. I could bearly walk, and we finally decided I should see a doctor. We went to a hospital here in Rome, and the basic outcome, after my broken Italian, and the doctor's broken English was that I needed to rest. So yesterday afternoon, I rested. At night we saw the spanish steps and the trevi fountain, and had a great dinner. Today, in the morning we went to the vatican museums which included the sistine chapel, and spent the whole morning there, and then I went back to the apartment to rest for a bit. In the afternoon, we figured out which bus route went to the Jewish Ghetto and Synagogue, and when we arrived, they said they were closed (contrary to our books). We had dinner at this little hole in the wall with mediocre food, but the people were great. It was basically 5 Italian guys hanging out and drinking wine while one kept talking to us and making conversation, it turns out he didn't even work there. He was just the only one who spoke english! It was great. The owner was this short man, and the others said they called him "little man" Tomorrow we leave for Florence...

Traveling Northward, to the Ancient City...

We spent the last day in Naples touring the actual city of Naples. Not much changed in my theories about the city. I still think it is pretty dirty, the food of course was good, but really not a great or enjoyable place to be overall ( and I really like cities abroad normally). We spent the beginning of the day traveling under a church to the catacombs and basically, the church was built on TOP of ruins, which was really cool to see. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Duomo, which is another famous church there, but pretty much didn't do too much in Naples.

We arrived at 9:31 at the ticket window in the Naples train station yesterday, and were on a train that left at 9:36. we knew the trains left often, but wow, we rushed right into one! it was great. I have realized that purchasing my Eurail pass was not worth it. I assumed the trips would be more expensive than they are, and so it seems I've wasted a fair amount of money on it. I'm not too worried, I am trying to keep in mind that I have a job when I get back, and to splurge since this is my graduation present to myself. However, divided out, the eurail pass costs 45 dollars per use. I have been spending 15-25. Oh well.

Upon arriving in Rome, I had booked an apartment, and got a great deal. The apartment is amazing, It sleeps four, with a full b athroom, full kitchen, and a living room. We are really enjoying the place. Go here to see the apartment http://www.lovelyhomeinrome.com/immagini.htm
(or to book a place if you're going to Rome)

On our way to the apartment though, we needed to get money out of an ATM, and every ATM we stopped at wouldn't take our cards. It was very frustrating. Later in the day we found working ones, but it was strange, since we've never had any problems before!

Once we arrived at the apartment, we took a walk to Vatican City, which is surprisingly close to the apartment, and spent a few hours there. We went into St. Peter's, and paid to walk to the top of the basilica. It was pretty cool. 551 steps later, and short of breath, we had quite the view of the Vatican City. We also walked around down through the city, went grocery shopping, had some dinner, and then waited at the apartment for a bit to meet up with Miles.

Miles is a friend of mine from home, and he met up with us last night and will continue traveling with me for a little over a week - Until Venice). He spent the whole day on the train reading about Rome, so he was like a walking encyclopedia. Today, I had some ideas of where I'd like to go in Rome, but nothing set in stone. Miles had a whole itinerary of where to go, and it was great! It was like having our own personal tour guide. But man, Miles has more energy than the other three of us combined. Austin caught a cold the first day we were in Naples, and now Jacob is starting to get sick. I am afraid that I might be next. So we had the two of them, both a bit under the weather, and my back was bothering me, but man, we could've each drank 3 espressos, and not been able to keep up! we walked around until about 5 when we headed back to the apartmnet exhausted. It was great though. We visited a lot of Ancient Rome. In the morning, we saw an obelisk that was originally from the circuis maximus (where the chariot races were held). We accidentally came upon an armed forces band, which was surprisingly good. We climbed to the top of the huge monument of Victor Emmanuel, and got some good pictures, and then into a square designed by Michaelangelo on the top of the Capitoline Hill, and into an art museum there. We then went to the Roman Forum, which is actually quite large (at least, larger than I expected). I learned a lot today in Roman history, culture and mythology. I think I must've slept through that part in high school...or maybe they didn't teach it. After the exhausting day, we came back to the apartment after grocery shopping, and made...surprise surprise...Pasta for dinner!! It saved us a bit of money though, we can't ever seem to find good inexpensive restaurants, or really too many restaurants at all!.

I need to head back to the apartment now in time to get some sleep for tomorrow's craziness!!
ciao!
Bela

Italians and their cheese.

We Traveled for about 26 hours to get from Greece to Naples. It was quite the travel, but luckily not bad at all. Upon arrival in Naples, the first thing we noticed was how dirty it was. Naples (especially by the train station and surroundings) is absolutely disgusting. I'm talking dirt, garbage, and street vendors everywhere, it is smelly, and a bit scary after dusk. The shopping is pretty good though. you can pretty much get anything you want for really cheap. Unfortunately, we can't really buy anything since we'd then have to carry it for the rest of the trip. Yesterday we took a day trip to Pompei, which is a city on the outskirts of naples. The coolest thing about Pompei is that the city was actually built in 600 BC. In 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius, the local volcano erupted, and literally wiped out the whole city along with its inhabitants. Because It was so sudden, when the archiologists began excivating 200 years ago, they found more than they ever expected. Incredibly, they found everything completely intact, including the people! the volcanic ash preserved everything incredibaly, and now it is quite the tourist attraction to see the city. Today we took a trip to the Isle of Capri, about 45 minutes by ferry from Naples. Capri was by far the most expensive place we've been since the beginning of our trip, and though there were a few cool things to see there - like the blue groto, we decided we weren't sure it was worth the time and money. We didn't realize it, but today was a holiday here, so getting to Capri was utter chaos. Buying the ticket was a 45 minute ordeal, and for those of you who have ever been to NY and bought tickets at TKTS, take that line, multiply it by 10, then add everyone speaking different languages, and condense it to an area of about 20 feet x 5 feet. I've never had so much trouble with the concept of a line as I did today. Oh well. tomorrow is our day to travel around Naples, and then the next day we're leaving for Rome. By the way, the food here is Awesome. everything has been amazing so far, and I can't get enough of it. and on another note - the toilets here flush quite nicely =) Have a wonderful weekend! I'll be thinking of you.