Christmas in the Czech Republic

Seeing The Nutcracker; photo credit Alexa Berry

Merry Christmas everyone! While I am currently celebrating the holidays back in the States, I was able to see and experience some Czech Christmas traditions! One tradition that I sadly missed out on (because I was in Italy) was the celebration of St. Nicholas Day. On this holiday, there are many people dressed up as Angels, Devils, and St. Nicholas walking around the city. These characters come up to kids and ask them to sing a song, and if they do, they are typically rewarded with candy. You can read more about the holiday here.

The Nutcracker at Národní Divaldo

Throughout the semester, our program offered free tickets to go see different cultural events. December’s cultural event was The Nutcracker! The show took place at the beautiful National Theatre (Národní Divaldo). However, this was not a traditional production of The Nutcracker, but rather a new combination between The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol. Yes, there was a Scrooge character dancing around the stage. None of us knew the production would follow this new plotline, so we were all confused, and did not fully believe it was a true production of The Nutcracker until we looked online afterwards. I am glad I was able to get the chance to go and see another performance in the National Theater, but I wish it had just been the traditional Nutcracker instead of the new experimental theatre.

Gingerbread at a Christmas Market stall

Even before leaving for Prague, I had been looking forward to going to the Christmas markets. Prague has multiple Christmas markets throughout the city, and I visited all of the major ones. The products at these markets range from souvenir stands, to soaps and lotions, toys, and handmade goods, along with food. While most of the markets were similar, it was nice to be able to walk around the different markets and do my Christmas shopping in Prague instead of a Walmart or Target. All of the traditional Czech street food can be found at these markets, including sausage, fried potatoes, and trdelnik, which is a delicious almond and cinnamon pastry that comes in a spiral.

Christmas Market at Old Town Square;
photo credit Nikki Johl

What comes to mind when you think of traditional Christmas food? Probably not carp and potato salad, right? Well, those are the two main foods typically associated with Christmas here in the Czech Republic! Our program had a Christmas dinner for us, where in addition to carp and potato salad, they also provided us with traditional Czech Christmas cookies (which typically includes lots and lots of gingerbread). Overall, while there were some Christmas decorations throughout the city, it still did not really feel like “true” Christmas, mostly because I was not at home (and partially because it was 50 degrees, too warm for Christmas!).

Ciao, Bella!

My final weekend of traveling this semester was spent in Italy. The weekend was split between Milan and Venice. We flew in and out of Milan, and spent two of the three nights there, but Venice was the highlight of the trip. It was late afternoon on Thursday by the time we checked into our hostel in Milan. We headed into the city center and went to one of the main squares. We went inside the huge Duomo church and just walked around the downtown area. We did not do much the first evening because we were planning on waking up early to take a train into Venice the following day.

Canals of Venice

We had booked a night in Venice in advance, but had not yet bought train tickets. The staff at our hostel said to not bother buying in advance, and to just buy tickets from the train station the day of our journey. We had checked the time tables once we got into Milan, but had not realized exactly how expensive the tickets would be ($46 each way, which really isn’t too bad, but once you factor in the cost of the plane ticket and transport to and from the airport, we realized just how much would be spent on transportation that weekend). We did make a morning train, which was good planning because the duration of the ride is just over two and a half hours. The place we were staying in Venice was quite close to the train station, so we easily found our way. The apartment we were staying at in Venice was amazing! It was huge and located right next to a canal. After dropping off our bags, we walked around and headed towards the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco.

Partially flooded square; photo credit Alexa Berry

We did not buy a public transportation pass in Venice because it is very expensive, and you can easily walk everywhere. We made it to the main square in about half hour, and that was with us just wandering around and following the signs that are posted on every street corner. Once we got to Piazza San Marco, we went inside Saint Mark’s Basilica. This is one of my favorite churches I have ever been to, partially because the stones in the floor are laid out in a fantastic geometric pattern! Unfortunately there was scaffolding up on the outside due to restoration, but you could still tell how beautiful the church is from the outside. We just wandered around the piazza and down random side streets, and we never did get lost (yet another time GoogleMaps has come in handy).

Seafood appetizer platter; photo credit Alexa Berry

We went back to the apartment for a little rest and to figure out where we should eat for dinner. We looked online and found a traditional place called Paradiso Perduto. We went in and luckily got the last table available. The waitress was incredibly nice and helped us order, giving us her recommendations and telling us how large the dishes were. We ended up getting a huge seafood platter as an appetizer; it was maybe the best seafood I have ever had! They were making handmade pasta, so of course we had to try some. We shared a plate of squid pasta, and a plate of “cheese and pepper” pasta, which of course was just mac & cheese. The next day we once again wandered around the island, gradually making our way towards the college square, Campo San Margerita. This was the area where I had stayed in Venice four years prior, so I recognized quite a bit! We also went inside the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, ate gelato, and shopped around a flea market we stumbled upon.

The Duomo Cathedral in Milan

We took an afternoon train back to Milan and arrived around 5:00. We were staying in a different place than the first night (a real hotel!), so we headed over to check in. When we got to the building, the receptionist told us that our room was actually at another location nearby, and showed us where to go on the map. We were all a little confused and were unsure of what was happening, but we took her directions and went to find our hotel; however, the receptionist had pointed us to the wrong street, so finding the hotel took a little longer than expected, but we eventually found it. That night we had “aperitivo” for dinner, which is where you just buy a drink at a restaurant, and then you have unlimited access to the buffet of appetizer food.

On Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel, and headed back towards the area of the Duomo. This time around, the area was so packed with tour groups that we could barely move. Since we had already been inside the church once before, we decided to head towards a park and castle area. There was a large flea market going on, and it was packed with people. Somehow our group got split up, and it took over half an hour trying to find each other again, which is hard to do when you don’t have data and cannot easily find wifi. I had tried to get tickets to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, but unfortunately they were sold out and we were unable to go. Besides London, Milan was the place most similar to an American city I had been all semester long. I liked how the city was laid out, and the metro was easy to use, but other than that it did not feel extremely “Italian.” Also, I am a little surprised by the fact that Milan is a major location for fashion week! There were a lot of name brand stores (I have never seen so many H&Ms in my life), but the people were dressed normally, if not a little fancier than average. Overall, it was a great last weekend of travel, and while I do not need to go back to Milan again, I would go back to Venice anytime in a heartbeat.

On the Rialto Bridge in Venice

Viennese Waltz

Downtown Vienna

My trip to Austria, like my weekend in Krakow, was organized through my study abroad program and included a tour guide. Both of these trips have been nice because I have not had to worry about any planning. We got to Vienna in the afternoon, checked into the hostel, and had a little bit of downtime before going on a city tour. The first thing I noticed about Vienna was how large and regal all of the buildings are! There is such great architecture in Vienna; while Prague also has a fantastic array of architecture, I liked how spread apart the buildings in Vienna were so you could really appreciate each building for its size.

Wiener Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz

This weekend was the coldest weekend I have experienced in Europe so far, and was made all the worse because there was always a light mist in the air. The entire downtown area of Vienna was so pretty because Christmas lights were strung up between the buildings in the main pedestrian area. After the walking tour we went for snacks at Café Central, and then headed to Wiener Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz, the main Christmas market. Overall, the food at the Christmas markets was so delicious. The food consisted of kartoffelpuffer, a garlic hash brown; käsekrainer, a sausage filled with cheese; and a great jelly donut, all washed done with some "punsch." At the Weihnachtsdorf Maria Theresien-Platz market we split some erdäpfelschmarrn, a mashed potato volcano, complete with with chili on top (not what you would think as typically “Christmas” food, but quite possibly the best thing I had all weekend long). The atmosphere at all these Christmas markets was very similar, but each had its own unique vibe. The Vienna markets are usually ranked in the top 10 Christmas markets around the world, and I definitely understand why!

Upper Belvedere; photo credit Nikki Johl

On Saturday we had the second half of our bus tour around the city. We stopped at the Hundertwasser Village, which had a bunch of funky little buildings and architecture, built from the concepts of Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. After this we went to the Belvedere, which is a famous art museum housed inside a gorgeous building. The Belvedere has many famous works of art, but the most famous being Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. My personal favorite collection in the museum was the Character Heads statues sculpted by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. Overall, the Belvedere is one of the best art museums I have ever been in because it had a great assortment of art and just the building alone was so beautiful.

We had the Annatorte at Demel Bakery

Later on in the afternoon we wandered around the Naschmarkt, which is a combination food and flea market. Even though it was a little rainy, all the vendors were out selling their goods. After the market we decided to head to Sacher Hotel to try the famous Sachertorte, which is a traditional Austrian chocolate cake. However, when we got there, the line to enter was long, and since it was so cold, we decided instead to go to Demel Bakery. We got a table in the bakery, ordered café mélange (Austrian drink very similar to cappuccino), and split some cakes between four of us. We got a mini-Sacher cake, a chocolate-chocolate mousse cake, and a layered walnut cake.

Sunday morning we toured the Schönbrunn Palace. We had some downtime to walk around the grounds before doing the official tour inside. The gardens were absolutely huge! There was also a Christmas market right in front of the palace. Finally it was time for the tour. The palace is enormous; there are over a thousand rooms, and it is commonly referred to as little Versailles. The Palace was decorated in a Rococo style, which is a lavish and rather dainty style of architecture and decoration. My favorite room we walked through on the tour was in the enormous ballroom. Vienna is the most regal city I have visited, and I hope to someday have the chance to go back and visit when the weather is warmer so I can appreciate all the gardens.

Hundertwasser Village; photo credit Alexa Berry

 

Culture Clash

John Lennon Wall (which recently got completely painted over)

By now, I have been abroad in Europe for three months, and have experienced a few different stages of "culture clash." Culture clash goes deeper than just people speaking a different language and having different national foods than you; it also includes dealing with a whole population who may act completely different from you, making you feel at odds. During our orientation programs, our teachers told us that we would experience highs and lows throughout the entire semester abroad. Throughout the first six weeks in the Czech Republic, I did not experience much culture clash; instead, I found myself missing friends and family (and pets!) from home. Eventually, as I started to become more comfortable in Prague, the culture clash really started to hit me. During the following month, I started being bothered by things that never bugged me before. While one of the first things I noticed was the Czech people never make eye contact, I thought that would pertain only to strangers on the street. But no, that happens EVERYWHERE, even in stores and restaurants they will just stare at you. Within the past few weeks I have once again started to go into a "high" and not be as bothered by these things, but overall I think that for me, personally, the hardest part about living here is the language barrier. Even though so many people do speak English, there are still multiple moments everyday where I have to simply point at things or attempt to use my very basic grasp of the Czech language.

"Perunova" is my tram stop; the chart is the tram timetable

I also am not used to always taking the public transport. While the trams and metros run frequently, it does take a long time to get anywhere. It takes me half an hour to get to school, and anytime I take the tram to go somewhere, the journey (and wait time) usually takes at least 20 minutes. The absolute worst part about the trams is that sometimes they are so crowded you have to squeeze in; yes, I have been squashed against the door before. I do have quite a handle on the tram and metro system now, but I have to say that Google Maps is the greatest app ever invented. All you have to do is type in the place you want to go and the app will tell you how to get there using the public transport! This is fantastic because you can load up the app while you still have wifi access, and the app will track your progress even without internet!

Cappuccino from La Bohème Café

Another oddity about the Czech Republic is that they do not use credit cards. Almost everywhere is a cash-only establishment. I was not expecting this when I came abroad, and find it a little surprising, especially since Europe is far more advanced with their credit card technology than the US. When I do use my card, I have to sign a receipt for every purchase, even if I am only buying a $2 coffee. I have to admit that I do get Starbucks sometimes, mostly because it is the coffee shop nearest the metro station, and I know for certain they have regular, drip coffee! While Starbucks is popular here, the English chain Costa Coffee is more prevalent (and I think I like it more). But don’t worry, I have not only been drinking chainstore coffee; I have been exploring around my area and have found quite a few nice cafés in my neighborhood, such as my personal favorite, La Bohème Café.

Successful Prague Thanksgiving

Grocery shopping usually is not too hard, partially because I always buy the same things. It did take me two months to find where they keep the salad dressing. Occasionally, I will go to the fancy Marks & Spencer, which is a British brand and somewhat similar to a Trader Joe’s. The food is more expensive there, but all of the labels are in English so I know exactly what I am buying! One of the weirdest culture differences so far is that there obviously no Thanksgiving here in the Czech Republic (added onto the fact they do not really celebrate Halloween). I basically had no fall holidays! However, I did have a Thanksgiving celebration in one of my friends’ apartments. We all pitched in for a turkey, and then everyone else brought over side dishes. One of the Czech buddies even made pumpkin pie out of a real pumpkin she picked up from the farmers’ market! I brought cranberry sauce and made a green bean casserole; however, I had to used a “funyun” substitute for the fried onion topping (both items I looked through many stores and finally found at my new favorite store, Marks & Spencer). While it was definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving, it was still a fun dinner party. As we went around the table saying what we were thankful for, my contribution was that I am thankful I am lucky enough to spend an entire semester living, studying, and traveling in another country.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

St. James's Gate Brewery; photo credit Alexa Berry

About a month and a half ago, some friends noticed that there were particularly cheap flights from Prague to Dublin, so we took advantage and booked our weekend there. Somehow I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the plane on both flights! We arrived Friday night, dropped our stuff off at the hostel, and then went right out to dinner. Our hostel was in a great, albeit expensive location known as Temple Bar. We went to a "traditional" Irish pub for dinner, which had a great atmosphere and had musicians playing folksy music. The Irish are incredibly friendly, which was a bit of a culture shock coming from Prague, and to be honest I did not get completely use to it during my weekend there. I also discovered that when I wear my glasses, I apparently look like Ariel Winters who plays Alex on Modern Family (I definitely don't look like  her, but apparently the Irish think I do).

Long Room at Trinity College

The next morning we went on a free walking tour of Dublin. Free walking tours have become one of my favorite things to do as soon as I get to any new city. They are a great way to learn history while making sure you get to see a lot of the major sights (and even though they're technically free, everyone tips the tour guides a few bucks). After the walking tour we backtracked to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. It was very cool to see such an old manuscript, but the best part of that exhibit was the Long Hall library upstairs. Our walking tour guide had told us that George Lucas wanted to film in the library for the recent Star Wars movies, but Trinity College did not grant him permission, so he took a lot of photos and created a CGI-generated library for his Jedis. After all that walking we went back to the hostel for a rest before heading out for another traditional Irish dinner (I had fish and chips), before walking around Temple Bar and O'Connell street at night.

Gravity Bar

On Sunday we had a lot of attractions to visit. We started at the Guinness Storehouse which was very well done. One of my favorite parts of the museum was learning how the casks (barrels) that stored the beer were made; I had never realized it was such a time consuming process to make just one cask, and each cask can only hold 8.5 gallons! Another part of the tour was the "tasting room" which was an absolutely ridiculous gimmick. We walked through a loud, dark hallway, and then abruptly entered a bright and quiet room, which was designed to shock our senses. I couldn't help but laugh, it was as if we were in a Willy Wonka beer factory. The best part of the storehouse was the Gravity Bar at the top, which provided us with a 360-degree view of the city.

St. Christ's Cathedral

After the Guinness Storehouse we walked to St. Christ's Cathedral. The church had some awesome tile work, and like every other church in Europe was huge, but the cool part was the "treasury" underneath the main floor. The day before on the walking tour we had learned that at some point in time a cat and rat somehow got trapped in one of the organ pipes, and through some magic of air pressure, their remains were preserved for a hundred years. While it's kind of gross, it's also interesting to really see things we had learned about in the walking tour. I also had not realized that they used St. Christ's Cathedral to film many scenes from the show The Tudors; I thought it was funny they had used the basement catacombs of the church as the backdrop for the Tower of London in the show!

The next stop on our hectic day of sightseeing was going to archaeology branch of the National Museum of Ireland (which was free!). Saw some great exhibits on the Vikings of Ireland. It's so impressive that most of the stuff on display in the museum was over a thousand years old, especially their gold and jewelry exhibit! A lot of the jewelry looked brand new, and the glass beads were incredibly similar to the beads sold in stores today. The best part of the museum was the exhibit with the "bog men" of Ireland. These remains were found in Ireland, but instead of being simply skeletons, much of their body still remains- organs and fingernails included! Later that evening I took the DART train a half hour out of the city to walk around the coastal town of Howth. While it was dark by the time I got there, it was still relaxing to walk around and be by the sea at night.

One of the things I liked most about Dublin was that we could walk everywhere! If I ever had to describe a city as a "quaint," Dublin would be that city. We lucked out and it barely rained during our entire weekend, which is a bit unusual for Dublin. I liked all of the attractions and things we did, but felt that the city was overall a bit touristy. While I am interested in going back to Ireland someday, and doing a tour of the coastal villages, I am satisfied with my trip to Dublin and felt that I saw everything I needed to see.

Trinity College; photo credit Alexa Berry

Kraków, Poland

Cloth Hall in Krakow, Poland

Memorial for 82 Lidice Children

Since my weekend in Krakow included a trip to Auschwitz, I want to include a summary of when I took a field trip to Lidice and Terezín here within the Czech Republic. This field trip was designed to teach us about the art that people made while inside the concentration camps. The Protector Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated by two Czech soldiers in 1942. After this happened, the Gestapo used Lidice to make a deterring example of the whole village. The Gestapo shot all of the men in the town, and sent all the women and children were sent to concentration camps; 82 children were gassed at Auschwitz. The only children to survive this horror were those who looked “Aryan,” and they were sent to live with German families. 

Barracks used to hold political prisoners in Terezín

After visiting Lidice we went on to Terezín. First we toured the museum that displayed artwork made by children living in the concentration camps, and then we went to the baroque-style military fortress. This fortress was originally built to hold artillery in the 18th century, but from 1941-1945 it was used as both a Jewish ghetto and  a prison for political prisoners and prisoners of war. While Terezín was not an extermination camp, many people died due to the horrible living conditions. Jews came to Terezín from all over Europe, but mostly Central Europe. Terezín quickly became a major transport center out to Auschwitz, but when people were sent out, they had no idea where they were going. I am glad that I went on this field trip so I could see how the past presence of the Nazi regime directly affected the Czech Republic, but also so that I would be able to compare the concentration camp of Terezín with the extermination camp that was Auschwitz.

"Work Makes You Free" Gate at Auschwitz 1

My weekend trip to Krakow started with an overnight bus ride from Prague that left Thursday night at midnight. I have to say, I did not sleep that much, so when we arrived in Poland I felt a bit like a zombie. After a quick breakfast at a youth center, along with the chance to brush my teeth, we headed straight over to Auschwitz to start our tour. We first toured Auschwitz 1, where many of the barracks had been turned into small museums or memorials. One of the most disgusting things I have ever seen was a room that had cases of human hair from the people who imprisoned there from 1941-1945. All of the women had their hair cut or shaved off to further dehumanize them, but the most sickening part was that the Nazis repurposed their hair as insulation in the lining of their soldiers' jackets. Another hard room to walk through was the  room that had 44,000 pairs of shoes. It was very difficult to see the mountains of shoes from people of all ages, especially when you saw that some of the women had brought or worn heels; it just really showed that nobody knew what was going on and obviously had no idea what to expect when they got to the concentration camps.

Cans that contained the gas used in gas chambers

While at Auschwitz 1 we also walked through a gas chamber and then the accompanying crematorium, which had ovens that look similar to MRI body scanners. The gas chamber we walked through could fit 700 people. All the Nazi officers had to do was drop gas in from the ceiling and all of those hundreds of people in the room would be dead within 20 minutes; the gas only needed human heat to activate and spread through the air. While this gas chamber could fit 700 people, the ovens could only burn through 350 people a day. At the neighboring concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazis solved this problem by making multiple gas chambers, all with larger furnace rooms.

Next we went over to Auschwitz-Birkenau which was a much larger camp; the ultimate cruelty is that the Nazis made prisoners at Auschwitz 1 build the barracks here. Some of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List was filmed at this location. We walked the length of the camp, which for most people, was their last walk ever before being lead to the gas chambers, which were even larger than at Auschwitz 1. When the fresh prisoners were getting shipped in, they were automatically sorted into two lines as soon as they stepped off the train, one line for people who were fit enough to be considered "valuable" to the regime and the other line of those deemed too weak, who were immediately sent to their death. The Nazis targeted anyone wearing glasses, since that had a stereotype of intellectual people; this means that I most likely would have been automatically sent to my death as soon as I arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

After our four hour tour, we got back on the bus and headed towards Krakow, which was about an hour and a half away. Since this was an organized trip, we got to stay in a hotel. While this was just a regular, 3-star hotel, after staying in a couple of hostels, this hotel felt like The Ritz. After checking in and dropping our bags off, we walked around Krakow for awhile. The main square is large and spacious and has many restaurants. The building in the middle of the Square is the Cloth Hall, which has many little vendors inside, so we did some shopping. We ended up eating at a little pierogi place for dinner, and it was delicious.

Wawel Cathedral

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (which had a surprisingly good continental breakfast), and then had an organized walking tour of Krakow. The leaves were just starting to change colors, so every though it was a little dreary outside, Krakow was very beautiful.We started at the Schindler's Factory Museum, walked around the Wawel Castle and Cathedral, and finished at St. Mary’s Basilica in the main square. The inside of the basilica had a massive ornamental display at the front altar; it was absolutely beautiful. After lunch, my friend Alexa and I decided to go back to the Schindler's Factory Museum. The museum was very well done and did a great job of depicting was it was like to be in Poland during World War II and the Nazi Regime.

Underground church in the salt mine

Sunday morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and got back on the bus. Our last tour before leaving was visiting and walking through the Salt Mines in Wieliczka. These salt mines were absolutely huge, and we were quite far underground during our tour. In addition, this salt mine was the first ever UNESCO World Heritage site. While I am glad that we went to the salt mines, by that point in the weekend I was a little tired of tours and ready to go back to Prague. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Krakow, and I hope I get a chance to go back to Poland at some point in the future. I am grateful that I got the chance to visit Auschwitz, and even though I was there and walked through an extermination camp where so many people unnecessarily lost their lives, it still is difficult to imagine all of those horrible things happening.

Wawel Caste; photo credit Alexa Berry