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Turning Twenty in Prague

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I was in love with Klosterneuberg at the beginning of this week, and now I think Prague may just have stolen the title.

It was that amazing.

So, we missed our first train to Prague due to inconsistencies in some of the S-bahns in Vienna (GEE WIZ!)- but four of our group left for Prague at 1:58 and the other six of us left at 3:58. In the meantime, we explored the art in the Upper Belvedere Palace, which was probably my favorite art collection that I've seen since coming to Vienna (and that's saying something, since I have seen TONS!). They had the old, and the new... let me see...

schiele_3171mi
"Tod und Ma:dchen" (Death and Maiden) by Egon Schiele (1915)
(I'm singing a song called "Der Tod und das Ma:dchen by Schubert right now so I thought it was very fitting)

Gustav Klimt, Der Kuss. 1907/08, Belvedere, Wien

"The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt (1907)

Franz Matsch, Hilde und Franzi Matsch, die Kinder des Künstlers. 1901, Belvedere, Wien
Hilde und Franzi Matsch, Children of the Artist, by Franz Matsch (1901)


klimt-portrait-of-adele-bloch-bauer.jpg
"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" by Gustav Klimt (1907)


Friedrich Gauermann, Landschaft bei Miesenbach, um 1830, Belvedere, Wien

"Landschaft bei Meisenbach" by Gauermann (1807)


messerschmidt_5638mi

"Augenschmertzen" by Messerschmidt (1770) [as a side note, the guy who sculpted things like this was crazy and eventually got sent to an asylum.]


And I had a lot of other favorites. I really wish I could have spent a bit more time there and taken better notes about my favorite artists. But I did really like Klimt and Matsch. :D

So our detour from Prague was actually a wonderful adventure! We boarded the train without incident, and arrived in Prague around 8:30 pm. We had a wonderful hostel with really nice owners and just a good atmosphere. All 10 of us stayed on bunks in the same room. We had two bathrooms and a kitchen! It was very nice (compared to the hostel in Bratislava). It's called Prague-1. Stay there if you're taking a trip to Vienna. Cheap and good. Yay.

Some of us went to go find food. We ate at an Indian restaraunt, which was an experience! I ate some kind of minced meat with rice and vegetables, though I wasn't able to down it all.

Woke up on my Birthday! I took my time getting ready- took a shower, and I was ready to go while most were starting to get up. We left, got lost on the tram (which is honestly, not a bad way to go when you're trying to tour a city. Just go somewhere remote on a tram, then walk around and try to find your way! Have fun exploring! It's great :D ) - but then made our way to Bohemia Bagel. Absolutely delicious! I ordered a large breakfast and hot chocolate. I wish they had a place like this in America, or in Vienna for that matter!


And most unfortunately, my camera battery died a few minutes after leaving the Gothic Church (St. Vitus)- which was my favorite favorite thing about the city!!! I just ate it up!!!!

So we made good use of our time. We were on our feet touring the city from about 9:30 til 5 pm, where we ended up at the Imperial Cafe. It was a lovely restaraunt! I ordered venison and a chocolate truffel cake (which were both excellent), and they brought the cake out to me with a candle in it, and the waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to me, even with their Czech accents- it was adorable! And Ty gave me a pink Gerber daisy. He's sweet.

Then some of us went back to the hostel to relax! I love relaxing at home... and we were a bit exhausted from climbing these hills all around Prague and walking on so many un-even cobblestone streets (quite literally I don't think I walked on a single sidewalk in Prague that was NOT cobblestone).

But our spirits remained happy as we walked in the rain back to the hostel. The rain is quite friendly in Prague. Some of us watched a VERY pirated copy of Get Smart, and I fell asleep.

This morning, Amy, Shea and I got up pretty early and started our touring. We went to the Jewish Quarter. I don't have any pics, so some of these online ones will have to do! Prague has the oldest Jewish Synagogue still standing! It's still being used today. It was built around 1270. Then there was the Jewish cemetery that supposedly has 100,000 Jews buried in it, with the people buried 12 deep, because the space was so small! We couldn't go inside because it was Saturday (Jewish Sabbath).

We ate at Bohemia Bagel again- and then we went souvenir shopping!! I haven't done a lot of that in Vienna. But somehow, the land of Bohemia has a lot more interesting things. I bought a corn husk angel ornament and a little pitcher from this cute store that sells hand made products from the Czech Republic. Then we looked at the market and I bought some wooden elephant earrings! I'm really getting started on my collection. I've got three pairs of elephant earrings now (one from Santa Barbara, one from Vienna, and now a pair from Prague!) :D

Anyways, then we took the train back home from Prague and here I am late at night finishing this extremely long post.

Now I'm Twenty years old! Hooray. Hopefully good things are waiting for me around the corner.
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Comments

brittney said…
It is SO fun to hear about your experiences, Emily. What a wonderful time you seem to be having. Oh, and I'm having a hard time believing your 20, although you don't seem any younger, its just that its so old for my little cousin!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sean and Bethany said…
EMILY I LOVE THE STAINED GLASS! that is true art. It's so intricate, and colorful, all those tiny pieces put together! it was so much fun talking with you at clay's on saturday! i'm so glad you're enjoying yourself! i CANNOT believe how fast this semester is going for me. i feel like i'm living in fast forward. janae and peter may say hello! had cinnamon rolls over there last night. interviewed Bryce Kirkman last night for Eliza's bridal shower...asked him some juicy questions on video so we can show it and ask eliza for a fun game! that's on saturday! :) two tests this week. i love you!
Monday, March 16, 2009
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