Prague: Day 3

 "No American shall get through our village!"

This is an old poster from the communist era of propaganda against the US. On our third and final in Prague we visited the Museum of Communism. The museum was small but we were still able to see a lot of old communist paraphernalia, propaganda, etc. It was pretty interesting

 After wards, I hunted down something I saw on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. 

 And it was pretty easy to find! It's essentially a fried cheese sandwich. Pretty much like one big mozzarella stick in a hamburger bun. Yum!

My friends and I then visited the old Jewish Quarter in Prague that we got a glimpse of on our tour on the first day. We visited a couple synagogues and also saw art from children who lived in the ghetto before being deported.

 Spanish Synagogue.

"Old-New" Synagogue

The majority of the places we visited in the Jewish Quarter prohibited photography so we were unable to take pictures of much. After a few hours there we did some walking around the old town square, our favorite part of Prague and did some final gift-shopping.

All-in-all, this trip was really something. It provided just about everything you could ask for with a new experience. New food, language, culture, history, currency, everything! I highly recommend Prague to anyone who plans on coming to Europe.

-Michael

Prague: Day 2

Day 2 in this fairy-tale land started off with another tour with the same group. A nice American woman who is also an English teacher throughout the week in Prague was our tour guide and she took us up to Prague Castle. We walked and talked and then took a tram up a little bit to make the trip a little easier.

This is the view from the castle of the town.

St. Vicus Cathedral. The tour lasted about 2 1/2 hours and we learned a lot about the history of Prague dating back to medieval times (we saw a building that still has cannon balls stuck on the side of it!) And learned about some scandalous stories from the communist era.

 After the tour my friends and I decided to go to the Museum of Torture. We figured, if something like that exists we have to see it! It's probably the smallest museum I've ever been to but it was definitely effective, as you can see by this "Witches Chair" above. My friends and I left the museum cringing.

Here is a shot of the canal at sunset on our way back to town from the castle. Gorgeous, ain't it?

Stay tuned for Day 3!

Prague: Day 1

 Made a weekend voyage to the capital of the Czech Republic, PRAGUE! (Praha in Czech.) I never thought I'd see myself going to the Czech Republic but there I was. It was absolutely amazing and gorgeous, a town filled with so much history. Dating back to medieval times, WWII, and a communist era. My friends and I arrived in on Friday and had a nice "czech" meal for lunch and then we took a free guided tour to see all of the highlights of Prague.

 Old Town Square's world famous Astronomical Clock

 Rudolfinum Concert Hall

Old Town Square

After the two-hour tour we signed up for a pub crawl which included 3 pubs and ended at a 5 level club. Didn't take my camera out then so I don't have any photos but it was a good time!

The trickiest thing for me about being in the Czech Republic was the currency. 1 euro = approx. 23 CZN so we were pulling out very large bills from the ATMs. I had to physically write down what I was spending just to make sure I wouldn't over shoot it.

                                                                     
Aaand stay tuned for Day 2!

Amsterdam: Day 2

Unfortunately I did not take as many photos on my second and last day in Amsterdam. We didn't really do much that was noteworthy. However, we did start the day off with some amazing apple pie at a restaurant called "Winkle."

After that we essentially just wandered around the town and then went to the Anne Frank house where no photos were allowed so I was unable to document that. We didn't really do much that night either because we had an early train the next morning so all in all I'm very glad I had a chance to visit Amsterdam but it was much too short of a trip and I really hope I can go back before my year abroad is up!

Next up, my trip to Prague!

-Michael

Amsterdam: Day 1

Now before you get all excited about seeing a triple X, let me start off by saying that this is the symbol that represents Amsterdam! Nothing too scandalous about that is it? It's on the garbage trucks, street lamps, buildings, etc. Just a couple weeks ago I took a train from Paris to Amsterdam (about 3 1/2 hours) and it felt as if I had entered an entirely different world.

The buildings  and canals were beautiful but the streets were dangerous! Not only are there roads and sidewalks, but there are designated lanes for bicyclists and for the tram which was almost impossible to hear approaching.

We spent the majority of our time walking around and getting lost in this (at the time, very windy) city but did do some noteworthy activities such as visiting the Van Gogh Museum. Home to a vast majority of his early and later collections.

I actually wasn't sure if we were allowed to take photos inside or not, but I took some nonetheless. After the museum we wandered around a bit more, found a park which was nice to release some energy in after being in a museum.

And then later that night we made our way to the infamous Red Light District where are you are most definitely not allowed to take photos! But a strange sight awaited us there in the canal that divided the street.

Swans! You can see a glimpse of the windows with the red lights where the women stand and wait for.. clients.

Stay tuned for Day 2!

Cluny Musée & Saint Sulpice

Bonjour!

Back in Paris I decided to check out a couple sights that I had to visit after Barcelona and one of the first ones on my list was Musée National du Moyen Age Thermes de Cluny de Paris. Woof! What a name! Essentially it is the museum of middle ages and of course it was free entry for me because I am student of France. 

 I've actually walked by this museum several times because it is on the very busy St. Michel and was surprised to see how large the interior was. Definitely glad I went to check it out!

I also went to visit a church that my brother had wanted to see while he was here called St. Sulpice, I had never really heard of it before but thought it might be worthwhile to check out. I was also surprised by how large this church was but yet still so hidden from most of Paris. St. Sulpice, unlike Notre Dame, was very peaceful and not flooded with tourists.

And that's all for today! Stay tuned for my trip to the Pantheon and Amsterdam!

-Michael

Barcelona: Day 3

Hola!

Alright so on our last day for Barcelona we headed towards the Joan Miro Fondacion which is a museum dedicated to the artist Joan Miro.  To get there we had to take the metro to tram-like metro because the museum was on a hill.

After the museum, we explored a little bit and found another museum nearby that we didn't go inside of but it was still a good opportunity for some photos!

After this we went to La Rambla and headed to the port that we visited the first night. But because it was dark then we couldn't really see much so we made a plan to go back there during the daytime.

Then we decided to re-visit La Sagrada Familia because the first time we only saw one side of it and didn't go inside. So, this time we spent more time there. This church is pretty incredible and breath-taking. I've never seen anything like it before. Gaudi, the artist who designed Parc Guell was also the man behind this church's architecture.

When we finished with La Sagrda Familia we killed some time and then asked the lady at the front desk of our hostel if she knew of any good tapas places around and she gave us the name of a place that was within walking distance.

Yum! And the next morning at a very early hour we boarded the metro to the bus to the airport, to the airport in Beavauis Paris, and then the bus to Paris, and then took the metro home. Woof! It was a great trip filled with sunshine and seafood. I really hope to go back there again someday.

-Michael