We left Prague early Saturday morning for our field study to Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and some of the Czech countryside. There is a second session of the study abroad program, so we've lost a few of the people from our session, but gained a number of new people.
Our first stop was in the Czech countryside. We stopped to hike the area around the medieval Maiden Castle. Jan (our program director, who is great) had all kinds of little "shortcuts", most of which involved cutting through woods and going down big slopes though. At one point we walked into this huge open field-- it reminded a lot of people of The Sound of Music, minus the huge mountains. It was pretty to look at, but I absolutely cannot stand walking though tall grass, which, of course, is what we did. I just don't like the tall grass rubbing against my legs and not being able to see where I'm stepping. There ended up on being some type of plants in there that made a lot of people's legs itch too . . . Aside from the tall grass, I thought the rest of the hike was good-- even trekking through the woods down slops wasnt bad. The castle itself was neat and parts of it were still preserved somewhat okay.
My Favorite part of the day though, was our visit to Cesky Krumlov. It is supposedly the best preserved renaissance city. It has never been significantly damaged by wars, natural disasters, or anything else really. That day there was this huge renaissance festival going on, which Jan says normally doesn't happen at the same time as the tour. It was really interesting, and I feel like it really helped us fully see the culture within this city. Nearly everyone from the area was dressed very traditionally-- men, women, and children all dressed in full out renaissance costume. There was a huge parade, all kinds of specialty food and craft booths, and a big concert in the city square-- just as the main attractions. There was so much going on!
In Cesky Krumlov we also did a tour of the castle. All of the other castles I have been to so far are either in ruins or don't show you much of the actual living quarters of what we think of as the actual "castle". It actually has been really interesting to me how we perceive a castle to be and what a castle actually is. Technically, it is just an enclosed settlement that is high up above the rest of the city, which could mean that it is up on a hill and doesn't necessarily mean that it is this huge, towering structure. The first time we went to a castle was kind of disappointing because we have this image of what a castle should be-- I blame Disney-- but that isn't necessarily how castles look. That's not to say that there aren't castles that look like the ones we generally think of, but many of them aren't at all what you imagine. The castle in Cesky Krumlov fell somewhere in between the two extremes, you could tell it was a building of importance because of its mass, but still wasn't the stereotypical castle we often imagine. It was, however, the first glimpse I had at the actually living quarters of royalty. There was room upon room of gorgeous architecture and furnishings. This particular castle was expanded and remodeled throughout all of the different major style periods, so it was also interesting to see that progression throughout the castle.
When we had walked around town earlier, we had seen a canoe rental place, and had planned on retuning, but of course it poured the second we had some free time . . . Earlier that day I went on a second optional hike up to these shrines that overlook the city. We took more "shortcuts" through field and woods but this time I saw two snakes-- one dead and one alive. The dead one didn't bother me, but the live one was in the tall grass we were walking through. It was mostly underneath the grass that had been patted down from being walked on, but it's head stuck out. I didn't see it until I was just about to walk over it. I just kept going because I was already mid-stride over it by that point, but my legs shook a long time afterwards out of nervousness I think.
I hadn't expected really care for Cesky Krumlov, but ended up really enjoying our one day there! It was just such a cute little city with so many different things to offer. I wonder how it would have been different if we had gone when the festival wasn't going on though. If anything though, going during the festival probably was really good for seeing just how influential the city's history is on the culture of the people still living there today.
We were up early the next morning for our trip to Vienna, Austria! Of all the places we're going, I think that I was most excited for Vienna. I'm not even quite sure why, but something about it had really stuck out to me and I was anxious to get there. When we got there, we went right off to the Imperial Palace and gardens. The gardens are absolutely massive! We only explored the main stretch of the garden, but it still took a while. It was also disgustingly hot though too. I was pretty sure at that point that I would end up with sunburn by the end of the day, and I did! I had left my sunscreen back in Prague, thinking I wouldn't need it based off the the cool, rainy weather there. The burn really isn't too bad though!
Honestly, I wasn't sold on Vienna. I'm not sure if it was because my expectations had been high, or if I was just too fatigued to fully appreciate it, but I found myself kind of disappointed at the end of the day. A major contribution to this probably though, is the size of Vienna. It is HUGE in comparison to Prague! Only having one full day to try to visit it and walk around to all of the major sights in a city that is so massive is just not going to happen . . . We did some touring around after checking into our hotel in the afternoon, but the stops were very brief and didn't include actually touring any specific places. So, while I have seen a lot of important places in Vienna, I don't feel like I really got a sufficient exposure to it. I definitely didn't dislike Vienna, but I'm not sure if the short time we were there for was sufficient enough.
Being a Sunday, everything closed down early-- if even open at all. We weren't given any concrete suggestions for things we should try to do or see with our free time that afternoon and evening, so we really weren't sure what we should do or how to even get much of anywhere. Karen had read about this ferris wheel in Vienna that is well known, so Katherine and I decided we would check that out! Our one thing we had planned on definitely doing in Vienna, was listening to Billy Joel's "Vienna" in Vienna.
There ended up on being a big group of us that went to find the ferris wheel. We hadn't eaten yet and I had a bad headache anyways, so even though I really wanted to go I was feeling like I should maybe just go back to the hotel to sleep. It took us probably about an hour to find it using our maps and walking. We had tried finding some food places along the way, but hadn't found anything everyone was willing to agree on. What we thought was just going to be this famous ferris wheel turned out to be an entire carnival! At that point I was starving and really not feeling great, so I was not exactly thrilled at the time . . . We luckily were able to find this pizza place there that wasn't too bad. Once I had eaten I felt completely better! I'm so glad that I did because we ended up on staying at the carnival for probably a little more than an hour after that.
On the way into the carnival, we had seen this huge spire with swings on top if it. It was something that a lot of us wanted to check out and maybe go on, so that was the first place we went to. That thing was so much fun! Katherine and I sat on swings that were attached. We clutched each others hand as we made it the 350 feet up to the top of the spire! It's just like the normal swing ride at any carnival, nothing scary or too fast, but just so high up above everything else-- even higher than the huge ferris wheel. We had such a great view of Vienna and the surrounding area! It felt really free up there! Katherine saw some lightning off in the distance though. On the way down to the bottom there was a section where the swings spun faster and faster. So much fun! After feeling kind of mixed about earlier in the day-- between feeling sick and my expectations of Vienna-- I felt so great after that ride.
We eventually made our way over to the ferris wheel. I thought it was going to only be Katherine and me, but Charlie, Joel, and Krisia ran over to join us after we got in line. We sat down in the cart, and literally the second we start moving, it starts pouring! The cart had somewhat of a covering, so it definitely could have been worse, but we still got wet. We were still able to whip out an iPod to listen to our Billy Joel though! We had mentioned listening to it in Vienna during week one, so it was really just so surreal to finally be in Vienna, so far beyond week one, and to be listening to what I will undoubtedly always consider to be "our song". On any other night, the rain may have made the night a bit of a downer, but I think that it couldn't have been more perfect. We had to walk 20-30 minutes back in a raging storm and arrived back to the hotel completely drenched-- despite our umbrellas-- but I think it will we something that will always make the night that much more memorable. We belted out some Sound of Music and really just made the most of it! I am really going to miss the group of people from that night . . .
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