Monday, Dec. 21st
Tuesday, Dec. 22nd
This is the day that Anna arrived in London! I was so excited and couldn't believe that I hadn't seen here since June, before I left for Cambodia. Almost 6 months. Wow. It is a good thing she came over here because otherwise I wouldn't see her for more than one year! That definitely would be pretty crazy. Her flight was supposed to land at Heathrow at 9:15am, and she decided to navigate her own way from the airport to the hostel (pretty easy because the tube goes right there - just a few changes along the way). I hadn't heard about any delays, so I just say myself down in the coffee shop below where we were staying, starting around 10am and waited. After a couple of hours, I started to get a little nervous...but I made friends with the person working there while killing time :) Finally around noon (I think), Anna arrived (yay!!!) but without her backpack (definitely NOT yay). Apparently all the flights went just fine but her bags got left in Amsterdam. But, it was supposed to be delivered to the hostel in 24 hours, so we were not too concerned.
After getting her set up with a key, we set off right away to check things out. Since all the museums are closed the 24th to 26th, we only had a few days before Christmas to check things out. We did:
- british museum
- covent garden and belgo for happy hour mussels (learned about it when I studied there)
- we will rock you musical (very weird, but the guitarist from Queen gave a guest solo at the end - AMAZING!!!!)
- home and bed!
Wednesday, Dec. 23rd
- borough market - lots of fun food
- christmas fair thing on the Thams
- tate modern
- kept walking, big ben, westminster abbey - and then over to victoria and albert - harrods after
- dinner in chinatown - only an okay place
Thursday, Dec. 24th
- camden market - Anna got some clothes since her bag STILL hadn't arrived.
- angel and kings cross - walk from angel to the dorm I lived in when I studied here
- english breakfast at restaurant near there
- bought food for christmas day so we wouldn't starve!
Monday, August 17, 2015
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Trip to Prague, June 17-23, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Not too much happened on this day because I arrived sometime in late afternoon or early evening. The really nice thing is that something was messed up with my reservation at the hostel (Miss Sophie’s), so instead of staying in a 5-6 person dorm room, I was able to stay in a really nice single room for the same price ($29 instead of $90). The hostel is really nice and definitely feels more like a hotel, even the check in area. I would definitely recommend it to other people!!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Even though none of the guidebooks mentioned a museum pass, I was able to find one when I went to a tourist office. It was fairly expensive at full price. I am really glad I was able to use my student card and get a discount because I definitely would not have used it enough to recoup the cost of the full-price card. Anyway, I got the pass for 4 days and headed off to explore.
My first stop was the Old Town. It is supposed to be set up around the largest square in all of Europe (not sure I believe that). Because the World Cup is happing right now, though, the square was taken up with a huge screen to show the games. It was kind of interesting to see that in the middle of a really old and beautiful square. And, yes, the place is packed with tourists. It is just unreal!
In the Old Town, I went to the old city hall and the clock tower. The top of the tower had a nice view of town, and then I was able to get a tour of city hall. At the time I went it was supposed to be in Italian, but no one else showed up so I got a private tour in English, which was nice. It was very interesting because apparently what is now the ground floor in that part of town used to be the 2nd floor and what seems like the cellar today used to be the ground floor. The city used to flood a lot, and the residents finally got sick of it and built up the town, basically burying the old ground floors. Underneath the city hall I was able to see the old doors and windows that used to go out to the street and stand in an area that used to be in the middle of the street (and now is underground and underneath a building). Talk about strange!
Once I finished there, I walked along the river for a little bit and went to the Smetana Museum. I had heard of him, but wasn’t able to conjure up any of his compositions. Luckily, the museum had a really neat section where you could choose different selections of museum to listen to, and I definitely recognized his My Country piece. The entire museum was only in Czech, but they had a guidebook in English to follow, and it explained everything quite well.
From there, I walked through the Jewish Quarter (but didn’t go into anything yet) and went to St. Agnes Convent. It was started by the sister of King Wenceslas in the 1300s and today houses an excellent collection of Medieval art. It was a good collection, was displayed very well, and was a nice size to see (not too big and not too small). Unlike Romania which seems to have an obsession with St. George killing the dragon, this museum was full of images of St. Barbara and St. Catherine. I am not totally sure who St. Barbara was but now I am a little bit curious about why her head was cut off!
Finally that evening Grete arrived, and we met in the lobby of the hotel. We have seen each other maybe two times since graduation, but I think this is the first time since then (and my trip to Norway that summer) that I actually have seen her for more than 1 hour at a time. It was a lot of fun, and I am so glad that we were able to meet up while I was in Europe (she is back in Norway now).
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Well, today was a full day with lots of walking, but it also was a little disappointing. In the morning, we went over to the Castle District. We didn’t do all of the things there because even though they all were included with my museum pass, Grete would have had to pay separately for everything, and some of the things just didn’t seem worth it. Instead, we decided to stick with the ‘biggies.’
First, we went to St. Vitus Cathedral. It is free and definitely worth a trip (it is worth it even if it did cost money). The outside is very Gothic and inside is really quite austere….except for the huge stained glass windows along the two main walls. The windows are absolutely amazing and unlike any that I have seen in other churches – just so alive and with so many vivid colors.
Then we went to the Old Royal Palace and the Basilica of St. George. They were both pretty unimpressive considering the price of the ticket ($12 if you do not have the museum pass!!!). That is one thing about Prague – everything needed a ticket, and the tickets were surprisingly expensive (particularly when compared to the quality of what you were getting to see – often not as impressive as the ticket price would lead you to believe).
Once we finished with the castle district, we decided that we had just enough time to walk down to the Petrinsky sady. This is the park with a weird little miniature of the Eiffel Tower, but we did not go there. Our destination was the Kinsky Summer House which now houses the city’s ethnographic museum. It was quite impressive on the outside, but rather small inside (but quite nice). This worked out well since only had a few minutes to see everything. It was fun to see the differences in traditional costumes in the places that I have been – Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic.
That evening we had a really nice and inexpensive dinner. We both got soup (we ordered potato leek but they brought French onion – the same price and it was still good). Then we shared two main courses – black risotto with candied lime and grilled salmon and a pasta with mushrooms and mussels (although I don’t remember seeing or tasting any seafood in there!). To go along with it, Grete had two glasses for a Czech rose wine, and I had two glasses of a semi-sweet sparkling wine. Delicious! And, just try to guess how much that cost? It was an even better deal (though perhaps the food wasn’t quite as good but I liked my drink better) than the excellent meal that Silvia and I had in Budapest. That was around $20 a person (with only 1 soup to share and 1 glass of wine each), and this was only $16 a person (two soups and two glasses of wine each). Awesome!!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
This was a pretty low-key day for us, and we really did not have that much time because Grete needed to leave for the airport no later than 4pm. After we got up and packed and left our bags at the hotel, we went to the Mucha Museum (http://www.mucha.cz/index.phtml?S=home&Lang=EN). I hadn’t really been planning to go because it wasn’t included on my museum pass, but I am so glad that we decided to. It is a museum of the work of Alphonse Mucha, who is one of the most celebrated Czechs and who was the central figure in the Art Nouveau movement in the 1910s-1920s.
After that, we walked around the Jewish Quarter and looked for the famous clock that is in Hebrew and goes counter-clockwise. We didn’t have time to actually look around at anything else there – just time for a quick lunch and then back to the hotel. After Grete left, I walked over to a different hostel that I would be staying at – it just seemed like I should try out a new place while in town instead of going back to the one from the first night. For the next couple of nights, I stayed at a place called Mosaic House, which is part of the St. Christopher’s group (Anna and I stayed at one of their places in London). It just opened less than two weeks earlier, and they hadn’t quite worked out all the kinks. Still, it was very nice, and it is the first so-called ‘green’ building using recycled grey water, etc in the Czech Republic.
Monday, June 21, 2010
My plan for this day was to take the bus out to Terezin, a concentration camp about 1 hour outside of Prague. I had a list of all the bus departure times from online, although it was a bit confusing because I found conflicting information online – some said to go to one station and others said to go to a different station. I just followed the information on the bus website, but now I am not so sure that it was right. I got to the station and found the bus terminal (trust me, not a lot of info there!!!). No bus ever came, and it looked like either the bus was really late or that the times online were wrong and that it wasn’t coming for another three hours! That was strange because it was supposed to be hourly. Anyway, I decided not to wait around and to do something else instead.
Because I wasn’t able to go out to Terezin, I decided to visit the sites in Prague’s Jewish Quarter instead. It is supposed to be one of the best preserved Jewish Quarters in Europe. Unlike many areas during WWII, this section was sort of saved and all of the synagogues still remain intact, including one from the 13th century. What is really interesting is that some of the archivists and other people in the Jewish community received permission from the Nazis to gather and catalog documents and objects relating to their community. Even today no one knows why the Nazis permitted this – and after it was complete, all of the people involved in the project were sent to the concentration camps and killed. How strange to know that you are giving your life for something like that.
The Jewish Quarter itself includes an area and around six different sites to visit. One ticket lets you into most of them (all but the New-Old Synagogue – that is the one from the 13th century). I was able to see the Pinklas Synagogue where the walls are covered with the names of all of the Jews in the Czech Republic who were killed during WWII. I saw a few Schafers, so I wonder if any of our family was Jewish or if that was just a popular name for people of German descent (I also saw it in a cemetery in Romania!). Upstairs had a very interesting exhibit (though very cramped and crowded!!). Terezin was sort of a model concentration camp that the Nazis used for propaganda purposes to show that the Jews had a good life in the camp.
Because of that, there were things like schools and theatrical productions, etc. In the end, of course, almost every person who went through that camp was killed at Auswich or another camp further east. This exhibit was of children’s drawings from the camp – it was a special program set up by a Jewish artist from Vienna who had been sent to the camp. Of course, just like everyone else in the camp, all of the children who made the drawings eventually were killed. A very sad and thought-provoking exhibit to see.
From there, I went to see the Old Jewish Cemetery. It is a pretty amazing place. Because Jews were only allowed this small space for hundreds of years, bodies often are buried 12 deep, and the top of the cemetery is basically littered with tombstones. It is unlike anything I have seen before.
I also went to a few more of the sites – a community hall building and a couple of other synagogues. They all were small museums inside with exhibits ranging from a history of Jews in the Czech Republic and Prague to specific practices in the Jewish community. Probably the most interesting and visually stunning place to see in these areas was the Spanish Synagogue. It is a newer building and just amazing inside.
After going to the Jewish Quarter, I tried to go to the Dvorak Museum, but it was closed on Mondays. Instead, I just went back to the hostel and worked on grading and trip planning for the rest of the evening.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
First thing in the morning I went to the train station to get my ticket to Bratislava for the next day. They had a big ticket office, and it all worked out really easily. From there, I decided to wander around town a little bit. First, I head back up to the Jewish Quarter (I think it was my 4th time in that area since I have been here!) and went to the Umelecke Sklenarstri Jiricka studio where they make stained glass. For all the walking and hunting it took to find it (and I had walked passed it on Friday without evening knowing it!), it wasn’t really worth it. No one was really working that day, and there wasn’t really much to look at – though they were nice enough to let me in and poke around a bit.
From there I went to the Vinohardy district. This is an area that someone recommended online was a way to see an interesting/nice part of the city that was a bit off the touristy track. I walked a ton getting around, but it was pretty and felt more real than the parts of the city that I had been in so far. There were things like parks and schools and just people living, which was nice to see, although I am still not convinced that Prague is a place I actually would want to live. At this point, I even think I have seen enough that I do not really need to go back again. I arrived on Thursday and left Wednesday, so that is a really long time!! Anyway, I decided to walk through a park for a little bit (Havlickovey sady). It was nice and green and kind of wild and seemed so empty! And, it was such a beautiful day that I decided to have a little nap on the park bench and rest for a while before I continued my walk.
After those explorations, I went to the Dvorak Museum (http://www.antonindvorak2004.cz/english/muzeum-antonina-dvoraka.html), and this time actually got in! Just like the Smetana Museum, there was an English guidebook to use during the visit. It translated all the text and explained what all the documents and objects in the display cases were. It was a little disappointing though because the vast majority of the materials were reproductions or copies – none of the music or scores were originals. I wonder if the museum owns that material and if not, who does. It was a nice little museum (and cheap – about $2.50), and afterwards I went down the street to look for the actually building where the Dvorak family lived for many years. Let’s just say that the museum building is much nicer looking than his actual apartment building.
As has been the case for the past several days, I returned to the hostel around 4pm and spent the rest of the day grading papers (finished!!) and looking at travel info (booked my hostel in Bratislava!!). The two German guys who had been in my room for the previous two nights left and three Swedes took their place – all guys, of course. It was my Prague destiny, apparently, to share a room with three guys for all three nights I stayed in the hostel.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
This morning I just got up, printed out my directions for the hostel in Bratislava, picked up some food, and headed to the train station. I currently am on the train from Prague and am typing this up (although I know it won’t be posted until sometime later). It will be a 4.5 hour ride, and my next update will come in the Bratislava section.
Not too much happened on this day because I arrived sometime in late afternoon or early evening. The really nice thing is that something was messed up with my reservation at the hostel (Miss Sophie’s), so instead of staying in a 5-6 person dorm room, I was able to stay in a really nice single room for the same price ($29 instead of $90). The hostel is really nice and definitely feels more like a hotel, even the check in area. I would definitely recommend it to other people!!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Even though none of the guidebooks mentioned a museum pass, I was able to find one when I went to a tourist office. It was fairly expensive at full price. I am really glad I was able to use my student card and get a discount because I definitely would not have used it enough to recoup the cost of the full-price card. Anyway, I got the pass for 4 days and headed off to explore.
Wenceslas Square with the National Museum at the end.
My first stop was the Old Town. It is supposed to be set up around the largest square in all of Europe (not sure I believe that). Because the World Cup is happing right now, though, the square was taken up with a huge screen to show the games. It was kind of interesting to see that in the middle of a really old and beautiful square. And, yes, the place is packed with tourists. It is just unreal!
The square in the old town.
All the people watching the World Cup in the square.
In the Old Town, I went to the old city hall and the clock tower. The top of the tower had a nice view of town, and then I was able to get a tour of city hall. At the time I went it was supposed to be in Italian, but no one else showed up so I got a private tour in English, which was nice. It was very interesting because apparently what is now the ground floor in that part of town used to be the 2nd floor and what seems like the cellar today used to be the ground floor. The city used to flood a lot, and the residents finally got sick of it and built up the town, basically burying the old ground floors. Underneath the city hall I was able to see the old doors and windows that used to go out to the street and stand in an area that used to be in the middle of the street (and now is underground and underneath a building). Talk about strange!
The astronomical clock on the clock tower in the old town square.
Some of the figures inside the clock.
View down from the top of the clock tower.
Me in front of the old town square.
Once I finished there, I walked along the river for a little bit and went to the Smetana Museum. I had heard of him, but wasn’t able to conjure up any of his compositions. Luckily, the museum had a really neat section where you could choose different selections of museum to listen to, and I definitely recognized his My Country piece. The entire museum was only in Czech, but they had a guidebook in English to follow, and it explained everything quite well.
The Smetana Museum (and the castle in the background).
From there, I walked through the Jewish Quarter (but didn’t go into anything yet) and went to St. Agnes Convent. It was started by the sister of King Wenceslas in the 1300s and today houses an excellent collection of Medieval art. It was a good collection, was displayed very well, and was a nice size to see (not too big and not too small). Unlike Romania which seems to have an obsession with St. George killing the dragon, this museum was full of images of St. Barbara and St. Catherine. I am not totally sure who St. Barbara was but now I am a little bit curious about why her head was cut off!
Finally that evening Grete arrived, and we met in the lobby of the hotel. We have seen each other maybe two times since graduation, but I think this is the first time since then (and my trip to Norway that summer) that I actually have seen her for more than 1 hour at a time. It was a lot of fun, and I am so glad that we were able to meet up while I was in Europe (she is back in Norway now).
Me and Grete with a BIG egg :)
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Well, today was a full day with lots of walking, but it also was a little disappointing. In the morning, we went over to the Castle District. We didn’t do all of the things there because even though they all were included with my museum pass, Grete would have had to pay separately for everything, and some of the things just didn’t seem worth it. Instead, we decided to stick with the ‘biggies.’
Outside of the cathedral in the castle.
First, we went to St. Vitus Cathedral. It is free and definitely worth a trip (it is worth it even if it did cost money). The outside is very Gothic and inside is really quite austere….except for the huge stained glass windows along the two main walls. The windows are absolutely amazing and unlike any that I have seen in other churches – just so alive and with so many vivid colors.
One of the stained glass windows in the cathedral.
The Mucha stained glass window at the cathedral.
Close-up of the Mucha window.
Then we went to the Old Royal Palace and the Basilica of St. George. They were both pretty unimpressive considering the price of the ticket ($12 if you do not have the museum pass!!!). That is one thing about Prague – everything needed a ticket, and the tickets were surprisingly expensive (particularly when compared to the quality of what you were getting to see – often not as impressive as the ticket price would lead you to believe).
More from inside the castle area.
Once we finished with the castle district, we decided that we had just enough time to walk down to the Petrinsky sady. This is the park with a weird little miniature of the Eiffel Tower, but we did not go there. Our destination was the Kinsky Summer House which now houses the city’s ethnographic museum. It was quite impressive on the outside, but rather small inside (but quite nice). This worked out well since only had a few minutes to see everything. It was fun to see the differences in traditional costumes in the places that I have been – Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic.
Kinsky Summer House.
That evening we had a really nice and inexpensive dinner. We both got soup (we ordered potato leek but they brought French onion – the same price and it was still good). Then we shared two main courses – black risotto with candied lime and grilled salmon and a pasta with mushrooms and mussels (although I don’t remember seeing or tasting any seafood in there!). To go along with it, Grete had two glasses for a Czech rose wine, and I had two glasses of a semi-sweet sparkling wine. Delicious! And, just try to guess how much that cost? It was an even better deal (though perhaps the food wasn’t quite as good but I liked my drink better) than the excellent meal that Silvia and I had in Budapest. That was around $20 a person (with only 1 soup to share and 1 glass of wine each), and this was only $16 a person (two soups and two glasses of wine each). Awesome!!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
This was a pretty low-key day for us, and we really did not have that much time because Grete needed to leave for the airport no later than 4pm. After we got up and packed and left our bags at the hotel, we went to the Mucha Museum (http://www.mucha.cz/index.phtml?S=home&Lang=EN). I hadn’t really been planning to go because it wasn’t included on my museum pass, but I am so glad that we decided to. It is a museum of the work of Alphonse Mucha, who is one of the most celebrated Czechs and who was the central figure in the Art Nouveau movement in the 1910s-1920s.
An example of Mucha's work with the well-known swirling hair and nice colors.
After that, we walked around the Jewish Quarter and looked for the famous clock that is in Hebrew and goes counter-clockwise. We didn’t have time to actually look around at anything else there – just time for a quick lunch and then back to the hotel. After Grete left, I walked over to a different hostel that I would be staying at – it just seemed like I should try out a new place while in town instead of going back to the one from the first night. For the next couple of nights, I stayed at a place called Mosaic House, which is part of the St. Christopher’s group (Anna and I stayed at one of their places in London). It just opened less than two weeks earlier, and they hadn’t quite worked out all the kinks. Still, it was very nice, and it is the first so-called ‘green’ building using recycled grey water, etc in the Czech Republic.
The hostel.
Monday, June 21, 2010
My plan for this day was to take the bus out to Terezin, a concentration camp about 1 hour outside of Prague. I had a list of all the bus departure times from online, although it was a bit confusing because I found conflicting information online – some said to go to one station and others said to go to a different station. I just followed the information on the bus website, but now I am not so sure that it was right. I got to the station and found the bus terminal (trust me, not a lot of info there!!!). No bus ever came, and it looked like either the bus was really late or that the times online were wrong and that it wasn’t coming for another three hours! That was strange because it was supposed to be hourly. Anyway, I decided not to wait around and to do something else instead.
View across the Danube to the Frank Gehry building in the background.
Because I wasn’t able to go out to Terezin, I decided to visit the sites in Prague’s Jewish Quarter instead. It is supposed to be one of the best preserved Jewish Quarters in Europe. Unlike many areas during WWII, this section was sort of saved and all of the synagogues still remain intact, including one from the 13th century. What is really interesting is that some of the archivists and other people in the Jewish community received permission from the Nazis to gather and catalog documents and objects relating to their community. Even today no one knows why the Nazis permitted this – and after it was complete, all of the people involved in the project were sent to the concentration camps and killed. How strange to know that you are giving your life for something like that.
The Jewish Quarter itself includes an area and around six different sites to visit. One ticket lets you into most of them (all but the New-Old Synagogue – that is the one from the 13th century). I was able to see the Pinklas Synagogue where the walls are covered with the names of all of the Jews in the Czech Republic who were killed during WWII. I saw a few Schafers, so I wonder if any of our family was Jewish or if that was just a popular name for people of German descent (I also saw it in a cemetery in Romania!). Upstairs had a very interesting exhibit (though very cramped and crowded!!). Terezin was sort of a model concentration camp that the Nazis used for propaganda purposes to show that the Jews had a good life in the camp.
Because of that, there were things like schools and theatrical productions, etc. In the end, of course, almost every person who went through that camp was killed at Auswich or another camp further east. This exhibit was of children’s drawings from the camp – it was a special program set up by a Jewish artist from Vienna who had been sent to the camp. Of course, just like everyone else in the camp, all of the children who made the drawings eventually were killed. A very sad and thought-provoking exhibit to see.
The clock on the top is normal, and the one on the bottom is in Hebrew and goes backwards.
From there, I went to see the Old Jewish Cemetery. It is a pretty amazing place. Because Jews were only allowed this small space for hundreds of years, bodies often are buried 12 deep, and the top of the cemetery is basically littered with tombstones. It is unlike anything I have seen before.
Close quarters in the cemetery.
I also went to a few more of the sites – a community hall building and a couple of other synagogues. They all were small museums inside with exhibits ranging from a history of Jews in the Czech Republic and Prague to specific practices in the Jewish community. Probably the most interesting and visually stunning place to see in these areas was the Spanish Synagogue. It is a newer building and just amazing inside.
Outside of the Spanish Synagogue.
(internet photo)
Inside the synagogue. Very nice!
(internet photo)
After going to the Jewish Quarter, I tried to go to the Dvorak Museum, but it was closed on Mondays. Instead, I just went back to the hostel and worked on grading and trip planning for the rest of the evening.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
First thing in the morning I went to the train station to get my ticket to Bratislava for the next day. They had a big ticket office, and it all worked out really easily. From there, I decided to wander around town a little bit. First, I head back up to the Jewish Quarter (I think it was my 4th time in that area since I have been here!) and went to the Umelecke Sklenarstri Jiricka studio where they make stained glass. For all the walking and hunting it took to find it (and I had walked passed it on Friday without evening knowing it!), it wasn’t really worth it. No one was really working that day, and there wasn’t really much to look at – though they were nice enough to let me in and poke around a bit.
Some of the buildings along the river (and a closer view of the Gehry building).
More of the buildings along the river?
From there I went to the Vinohardy district. This is an area that someone recommended online was a way to see an interesting/nice part of the city that was a bit off the touristy track. I walked a ton getting around, but it was pretty and felt more real than the parts of the city that I had been in so far. There were things like parks and schools and just people living, which was nice to see, although I am still not convinced that Prague is a place I actually would want to live. At this point, I even think I have seen enough that I do not really need to go back again. I arrived on Thursday and left Wednesday, so that is a really long time!! Anyway, I decided to walk through a park for a little bit (Havlickovey sady). It was nice and green and kind of wild and seemed so empty! And, it was such a beautiful day that I decided to have a little nap on the park bench and rest for a while before I continued my walk.
After those explorations, I went to the Dvorak Museum (http://www.antonindvorak2004.cz/english/muzeum-antonina-dvoraka.html), and this time actually got in! Just like the Smetana Museum, there was an English guidebook to use during the visit. It translated all the text and explained what all the documents and objects in the display cases were. It was a little disappointing though because the vast majority of the materials were reproductions or copies – none of the music or scores were originals. I wonder if the museum owns that material and if not, who does. It was a nice little museum (and cheap – about $2.50), and afterwards I went down the street to look for the actually building where the Dvorak family lived for many years. Let’s just say that the museum building is much nicer looking than his actual apartment building.
The Dvorak Museum in the "America" house.
The actual apartment where Dvorak and his family lived.
As has been the case for the past several days, I returned to the hostel around 4pm and spent the rest of the day grading papers (finished!!) and looking at travel info (booked my hostel in Bratislava!!). The two German guys who had been in my room for the previous two nights left and three Swedes took their place – all guys, of course. It was my Prague destiny, apparently, to share a room with three guys for all three nights I stayed in the hostel.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
This morning I just got up, printed out my directions for the hostel in Bratislava, picked up some food, and headed to the train station. I currently am on the train from Prague and am typing this up (although I know it won’t be posted until sometime later). It will be a 4.5 hour ride, and my next update will come in the Bratislava section.
The main train station in Prague.
It looks bigger in this picture, but this was a cute little sandwich that I got for my train ride.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Trip to Dresden, Germany (June 16-17, 2010)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
As I mentioned in my last posting, I decided to stop in Dresden for a day on my way to Prague. Why not since it doesn’t cost anything extra? What is really interesting is that I actually can use my ticket anytime in the next month, so I could just stay put in Dresden for a while. I am not going to, but it is nice to know there are options. No way do the trains work like that in the U.S.!
In the morning, we woke up earlier than usual (no 9 or 10am stuff this morning!) to finish getting ready before calling for a taxi to take us to the airport. Because Corrie was bringing home one of my big bags, I went to the airport to help her with everything and to see her off before I took the bus to the train station (Berlin Hauptbanhof). Everything worked out just fine: Corrie got checked in and in the security line, and I made it to the train station with enough time to get my maps of Dresden printed and get some food – perfect!
Now, let’s just say that all train stations need to be like the German ones, or at least this one. Tons of signs and easy to navigate. You even knew within the 10 foot area of where to stand for the car/wagon that you would be getting on for your seat on the train. Nice! The train was exactly on time, of course, and I am really glad that I ended up reserving a seat because it ended up being pretty crowded – the people without seats kept having to shuffle around. By the time the waves had calmed from everyone getting on in Berlin (the train actually was going all the way to Budapest – interesting to know), I ended up having a guy around my age from Australia sit next to me. He also was going to stop over in Dresden for a day before continuing on to Prague. What are the odds? We were able to talk, so the train ride seemed to go pretty fast (only about 2.5 hours anyway), and then we walked together for a while when we arrived. We stayed at different hostels, but it was nice to have someone to kind of wander lost with for a little bit. Still, Dresden seemed pretty easy to navigate, so I think I could have done just find on my own if I had to.
I got to my hostel/hotel, the City Herberge. It is an interesting place and got some very mixed reviews on http://hostelworld.com, but it has seemed fine to me so far. Definitely a little pricey ($45/night for a single with a shared bathroom, compared to around $20 for a dorm bed in a hostel), but I really wanted my own room after sharing with my mom for a week and soon to be sharing with my friend in Prague. So, I got all checked in, dropped my bags in the room, and headed out to explore the city. Luckily, I was mere minutes from the historic center of town, and it was an absolutely beautiful day.
Like Turin, Italy (and probably most touristy cities), Dresden has a city pass that gives you access to lots of museums and transportation. Even though I will just be here for one day, I decided to get the pass (48 hours, all city transportation, 13 museums free, 21 euros – 30-ish US dollars). The museums are pretty expensive here, at least 7 euros each, so I think it will be well worth it. I immediately set off to check a few of them out.
Stop 1: Zwinger Palace – Armory / Rustkammer
Well, this definitely is the stop for someone who has an interesting in old guns, armor, or swords. The weapons were impressive, but I liked the suits of armor the best – ones for men, horses, and even children. Some had to be more ceremonial because they just seemed much too fancy for actual battle and are in way too good condition to have ever seen any fighting. Basically, this is a pretty small museum and definitely not worth the separate 7 euro entry fee that you would pay without the museum pass unless you are some kind of crazy lover of all this armor.
Stop 2: Zwinger Palace – Gallery of Old Masters / Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister
This museum was in an absolutely beautiful building, but you could not even take pictures in the hallways of the ceilings. Guess you will just have to visit it yourself (or look it up online)! They had a really nice temporary exhibit with lots of pieces by …. After that, much of the permanent collection for a little 16th-17th century and religious for my taste. BUT, I did get to see a Rembrandt that I knew very well, and I had no idea it was in this museum! That definitely was worth the cost of the while museum pass, at least for me.
At this point, I ended up running into the guy from the train, so we visited a few other museums together. It seems kind of crazy to meet the same person twice in one day, but then again the historic center of Dresden is pretty tiny, and everyone is out to see the same things.
Stop 3: Zwinger Palace – Porcelain Collection / Porzellansammlung
The porcelain collection was quite nice, and this generally is not my favorite stuff. It had an interesting blend of plates, dishware, vases, and teapots with some amazing animals. Some were even life-size, like a huge cassowary and vulture!
Stop 5: Royal Palace / Residenzschloss Dresden
New Green Vault / Neues Grunes Gewolbe
What a treasure trove this place is! Like many things in Dresden, much of the structure was badly damaged during the very end of WWII. This place just re-opened in 2006 after being closed since the start of the war. The objects certainly were opulent and definitely help explain why there have been so many uprisings against monarchies. Much of the population lived in poverty and servitude while the royal families exchanged gifts of diamond encrusted boxes, ships made of ivory, and intricately carved cherry pits!
Turkish Room / Turckische Cammer
A surprisingly random collection with objects from a German campaign in Turkey and in the Turkish conquests during the Ottoman Empire. Probably the most interesting objects were some swords (or something) made by a master craftsman in Transylvania, specifically in Klaussenberg – the German name for Cluj! How funny is that?!
Changing Exhibitions / Kupferstich-Kabinett
At least this is what I assume we saw! It was a series of rooms with many random things, starting out with math, science, and physics objects (not so much art but things like telescopes, etc) but then it morphed into a quite random collection of older and very recent art (like the 1500s to almost today). It wasn’t all that interesting, and we scurried through this whole section in about 10 minutes – perfect timing considering the museum was just about to close for the day!
All-in-all, a fairly successful day in using my pass – 4 different places that would have cost money (31 euros in total)!! After all of those museums, it was 6pm – closing time. The Aussie guy and I walked around town a little more and then headed off to find food. He is travelling for a while and living on a budget, so he just got some things to make at the grocery store. I got a piece of pizza and a salad and then headed back to the hostel to eat that while I used the internet and graded papers.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Check out time seemed early to me at 10pm. I definitely could have slept later, but had to get up, repack, and head to breakfast (included!) before I was kicked out of my room. Before I left to explore some more, I first looked around online, booked a hostel for that night (just an 8 minute walk from the hotel where I will be staying with Grete for two nights!), and got some directions for Prague. Unfortunately, I still haven’t told my bank that I am travelling, so I really really hope that I will be able to withdraw some money when I arrive. If not, I will hope to use some euros for a little bit until I can get on the computer and get through to my bank.
Anyway, I ended up finding what looks like a really nice hostel: Miss Sophie’s. It is in the New Town and seems fairly close to the train stations, the old part of town, and where I will be staying Friday and Saturday. Perhaps I should have just gotten a single again because it was only $41 vs $29 for a dorm, but this time I went with the cheaper option. First time for a dorm room hostel since I was travelling with Anna, so we will see how it goes on my own!
Once a few of those plans were set, I headed out to see a few more things in Dresden before I left town at 3pm. I tried to go to the Albertinium, which has a few different things, including a big collection of contemporary art. For some reason, it was closed until Sunday. That was a little annoying, and I think the people selling the museum card should tell you that kind of thing!!! It worked out okay though because I decided to see two other museums that I hadn’t really thought about before then.
First, I went to the Museum of Ethnology (Museum fur Volkerkunde) in the Japanese Palace (Japanisches Palais). To do this, I finally made it across the river! It didn’t really seem like there was much in the way of the ethnography museum itself (I wonder where the 90,000 objects are?!), but I did get to see a special exhibit of the Messien ceramics/porcelain company – something like 300 years. I saw some of their stuff at the Porcelain Museum, but this exhibit had everything in English as well and went through the history of the company, the creation of different designs and motifs, etc, which was nice.
After that, I decided to go to the Pillnitz Palace (Schloss Pillnitz). I knew I wouldn’t really have time to look around, but I thought it would be nice to take the tram and bus out there. This was a really great idea because the trip was beautiful. It was such a good idea because just the old center of town wasn’t making me too sure about Dresden. It was nice, filled with lots of beautiful buildings, but it kind of seemed to be lacking something….like all the people who lived there. In addition, the area just around the old center was a lot more industrial and kind of East German, so I just wasn’t sold on the city as a whole. The ride out to the Pillnitz Palace definitely showed me a whole different side of the city and made it look like a great place to live – lots of cute neighborhoods, tons of trees and parks, beautiful buildings, farms on the edge of town, etc.
Unfortunately, by the time I actually got to the edge of the palace, there wasn’t nearly enough time for me to go in (or even walk close enough to see it!). I basically just turned around and got on the bus going in the other direction. I guess that just means that if I ever come back, however unlikely that is, that there are a few things left for me to see: the Pillnitz Palace, biking around town (everyone was doing this!!! – even looked like lots of people were on biking tours of the whole region), a group of other palaces outside of town in Buhlau (the 3 Elbe castles), the composer Carl Maria Von Weber’s house (who knew he lived here?!), and the Wagner museum (he was the conductor of the Dresden symphony for a number of years, apparently). It is doubtful that I will return, but it is nice to know that it is a place that can be recommended.
I finally made it back to the hostel and had just enough time to grab all of my things and get to the train station with just about 20 minutes to spare. I actually am writing this on the train (though I am sure it will be posted later), and we already are in the Czech Republic. The route has been really pretty – cute towns and farms – but very different looking than Romania and much more interesting than the ride from Berlin to Dresden (it basically just looked like Texas!).
As I mentioned in my last posting, I decided to stop in Dresden for a day on my way to Prague. Why not since it doesn’t cost anything extra? What is really interesting is that I actually can use my ticket anytime in the next month, so I could just stay put in Dresden for a while. I am not going to, but it is nice to know there are options. No way do the trains work like that in the U.S.!
In the morning, we woke up earlier than usual (no 9 or 10am stuff this morning!) to finish getting ready before calling for a taxi to take us to the airport. Because Corrie was bringing home one of my big bags, I went to the airport to help her with everything and to see her off before I took the bus to the train station (Berlin Hauptbanhof). Everything worked out just fine: Corrie got checked in and in the security line, and I made it to the train station with enough time to get my maps of Dresden printed and get some food – perfect!
Now, let’s just say that all train stations need to be like the German ones, or at least this one. Tons of signs and easy to navigate. You even knew within the 10 foot area of where to stand for the car/wagon that you would be getting on for your seat on the train. Nice! The train was exactly on time, of course, and I am really glad that I ended up reserving a seat because it ended up being pretty crowded – the people without seats kept having to shuffle around. By the time the waves had calmed from everyone getting on in Berlin (the train actually was going all the way to Budapest – interesting to know), I ended up having a guy around my age from Australia sit next to me. He also was going to stop over in Dresden for a day before continuing on to Prague. What are the odds? We were able to talk, so the train ride seemed to go pretty fast (only about 2.5 hours anyway), and then we walked together for a while when we arrived. We stayed at different hostels, but it was nice to have someone to kind of wander lost with for a little bit. Still, Dresden seemed pretty easy to navigate, so I think I could have done just find on my own if I had to.
I got to my hostel/hotel, the City Herberge. It is an interesting place and got some very mixed reviews on http://hostelworld.com, but it has seemed fine to me so far. Definitely a little pricey ($45/night for a single with a shared bathroom, compared to around $20 for a dorm bed in a hostel), but I really wanted my own room after sharing with my mom for a week and soon to be sharing with my friend in Prague. So, I got all checked in, dropped my bags in the room, and headed out to explore the city. Luckily, I was mere minutes from the historic center of town, and it was an absolutely beautiful day.
I think this is the opera house.
A street in the historic part of town.
Stop 1: Zwinger Palace – Armory / Rustkammer
Well, this definitely is the stop for someone who has an interesting in old guns, armor, or swords. The weapons were impressive, but I liked the suits of armor the best – ones for men, horses, and even children. Some had to be more ceremonial because they just seemed much too fancy for actual battle and are in way too good condition to have ever seen any fighting. Basically, this is a pretty small museum and definitely not worth the separate 7 euro entry fee that you would pay without the museum pass unless you are some kind of crazy lover of all this armor.
Stop 2: Zwinger Palace – Gallery of Old Masters / Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister
This museum was in an absolutely beautiful building, but you could not even take pictures in the hallways of the ceilings. Guess you will just have to visit it yourself (or look it up online)! They had a really nice temporary exhibit with lots of pieces by …. After that, much of the permanent collection for a little 16th-17th century and religious for my taste. BUT, I did get to see a Rembrandt that I knew very well, and I had no idea it was in this museum! That definitely was worth the cost of the while museum pass, at least for me.
Too cool that this was in Dresden and that I saw it!!!
At this point, I ended up running into the guy from the train, so we visited a few other museums together. It seems kind of crazy to meet the same person twice in one day, but then again the historic center of Dresden is pretty tiny, and everyone is out to see the same things.
Stop 3: Zwinger Palace – Porcelain Collection / Porzellansammlung
The porcelain collection was quite nice, and this generally is not my favorite stuff. It had an interesting blend of plates, dishware, vases, and teapots with some amazing animals. Some were even life-size, like a huge cassowary and vulture!
Stop 5: Royal Palace / Residenzschloss Dresden
New Green Vault / Neues Grunes Gewolbe
What a treasure trove this place is! Like many things in Dresden, much of the structure was badly damaged during the very end of WWII. This place just re-opened in 2006 after being closed since the start of the war. The objects certainly were opulent and definitely help explain why there have been so many uprisings against monarchies. Much of the population lived in poverty and servitude while the royal families exchanged gifts of diamond encrusted boxes, ships made of ivory, and intricately carved cherry pits!
Turkish Room / Turckische Cammer
A surprisingly random collection with objects from a German campaign in Turkey and in the Turkish conquests during the Ottoman Empire. Probably the most interesting objects were some swords (or something) made by a master craftsman in Transylvania, specifically in Klaussenberg – the German name for Cluj! How funny is that?!
Changing Exhibitions / Kupferstich-Kabinett
At least this is what I assume we saw! It was a series of rooms with many random things, starting out with math, science, and physics objects (not so much art but things like telescopes, etc) but then it morphed into a quite random collection of older and very recent art (like the 1500s to almost today). It wasn’t all that interesting, and we scurried through this whole section in about 10 minutes – perfect timing considering the museum was just about to close for the day!
Interior section of the Royal Palace.
All-in-all, a fairly successful day in using my pass – 4 different places that would have cost money (31 euros in total)!! After all of those museums, it was 6pm – closing time. The Aussie guy and I walked around town a little more and then headed off to find food. He is travelling for a while and living on a budget, so he just got some things to make at the grocery store. I got a piece of pizza and a salad and then headed back to the hostel to eat that while I used the internet and graded papers.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Check out time seemed early to me at 10pm. I definitely could have slept later, but had to get up, repack, and head to breakfast (included!) before I was kicked out of my room. Before I left to explore some more, I first looked around online, booked a hostel for that night (just an 8 minute walk from the hotel where I will be staying with Grete for two nights!), and got some directions for Prague. Unfortunately, I still haven’t told my bank that I am travelling, so I really really hope that I will be able to withdraw some money when I arrive. If not, I will hope to use some euros for a little bit until I can get on the computer and get through to my bank.
My hostel is the white building in the back right. In the foreground is a skate park.
Anyway, I ended up finding what looks like a really nice hostel: Miss Sophie’s. It is in the New Town and seems fairly close to the train stations, the old part of town, and where I will be staying Friday and Saturday. Perhaps I should have just gotten a single again because it was only $41 vs $29 for a dorm, but this time I went with the cheaper option. First time for a dorm room hostel since I was travelling with Anna, so we will see how it goes on my own!
Once a few of those plans were set, I headed out to see a few more things in Dresden before I left town at 3pm. I tried to go to the Albertinium, which has a few different things, including a big collection of contemporary art. For some reason, it was closed until Sunday. That was a little annoying, and I think the people selling the museum card should tell you that kind of thing!!! It worked out okay though because I decided to see two other museums that I hadn’t really thought about before then.
First, I went to the Museum of Ethnology (Museum fur Volkerkunde) in the Japanese Palace (Japanisches Palais). To do this, I finally made it across the river! It didn’t really seem like there was much in the way of the ethnography museum itself (I wonder where the 90,000 objects are?!), but I did get to see a special exhibit of the Messien ceramics/porcelain company – something like 300 years. I saw some of their stuff at the Porcelain Museum, but this exhibit had everything in English as well and went through the history of the company, the creation of different designs and motifs, etc, which was nice.
And now you know what it is called the Japanese Palace.
After that, I decided to go to the Pillnitz Palace (Schloss Pillnitz). I knew I wouldn’t really have time to look around, but I thought it would be nice to take the tram and bus out there. This was a really great idea because the trip was beautiful. It was such a good idea because just the old center of town wasn’t making me too sure about Dresden. It was nice, filled with lots of beautiful buildings, but it kind of seemed to be lacking something….like all the people who lived there. In addition, the area just around the old center was a lot more industrial and kind of East German, so I just wasn’t sold on the city as a whole. The ride out to the Pillnitz Palace definitely showed me a whole different side of the city and made it look like a great place to live – lots of cute neighborhoods, tons of trees and parks, beautiful buildings, farms on the edge of town, etc.
This actually is of some little private community gardens on the way to the park and palace.
Unfortunately, by the time I actually got to the edge of the palace, there wasn’t nearly enough time for me to go in (or even walk close enough to see it!). I basically just turned around and got on the bus going in the other direction. I guess that just means that if I ever come back, however unlikely that is, that there are a few things left for me to see: the Pillnitz Palace, biking around town (everyone was doing this!!! – even looked like lots of people were on biking tours of the whole region), a group of other palaces outside of town in Buhlau (the 3 Elbe castles), the composer Carl Maria Von Weber’s house (who knew he lived here?!), and the Wagner museum (he was the conductor of the Dresden symphony for a number of years, apparently). It is doubtful that I will return, but it is nice to know that it is a place that can be recommended.
I finally made it back to the hostel and had just enough time to grab all of my things and get to the train station with just about 20 minutes to spare. I actually am writing this on the train (though I am sure it will be posted later), and we already are in the Czech Republic. The route has been really pretty – cute towns and farms – but very different looking than Romania and much more interesting than the ride from Berlin to Dresden (it basically just looked like Texas!).
My semi-artistic shot of a church in the evening, back lit by the setting sun.
The same church in the morning sun :)
And, the final picture of Dresden....fighting babies!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Trip to Maramures, May 27-29
I finally was able to organize a trip out to Maramures, which is one of the regions in Romania (other regions: Transylvania, Wallachia, Dobrogea, etc). It remains one of the most traditional regions where you will still find men and women wearing traditional clothing, working in the fields, and living very minimally. And, it is up in the mountains and absolutely gorgeous! I went together with Terri and Michael and their son Theodore, the same people who I traveled with to Sighisoara. We make a pretty good travel group, but unfortunately this time I was still recovering from the removal of my first two wisdom teeth and Terri was battling a cold and laryngitis. Still, it was am amazing trip, and we all had a great time. Romania is just so beautiful, and the people are so friendly. Don't skip us over on your trips to Europe! And, it is well worth getitng out in the countryside to see some more traditional areas. Romania is one of the most rural countries in all of Europe, so be sure to see that side, especially as much of this likely will be changing in the next 5 to 10 years since Romania has joined the European Union.
We initally were planning to rent a car, drive to Maramures, and find our way around the countryside. However, a few days before the trip we decided to switch to a guide, and this was the best decision we EVER could have made. We used George Iurca, who was recommended by a friend and who also is highly recommended in the Lonely Planet book. For a total of $125 per person (for all 3 adults) we got a tour guide (in a car) for basically 3 full days, 2 nights stay, and amazing homecooked food for breakfast and dinner (and the total includes the tip we left). Not only was the price amazing, but George is just great. He is from the area and was able to show us all sorts of neat places.
Thursday, May 27, 2019
We almost took the wrong bus, but luckily George got in touch with me Wednesday night, and we figured everyone out. Whew! We almost ended up in Baia Marie, which also is in Maramures but 100 km away from where we were going. For your reference, you need to get on the bus from Cluj to Sighetu Marmatiei (Sighet) and get off at Sieu, which is about 3 hours. Apparently if you drive yourself it is much faster, but we were on tiny little roads with oodles of potholes, and I am pretty sure that much of the trip was spent going around 30 to 40 miles/hour. Talk about slow! Still, it was a nice ride and seemd to go fairly quickly because the scenery was so unbelievably breathtaking. Growing up in central Texas, I just always yearned for trees and grass and green things and water, and trust me when I say that Romania in the spring really delivers all of those things.
We arrived in Sieu promptly at 11am, and our guide George met us at the bus stop. Instead of stopping by his place to drop off our bags, we just stowed them in the car and jumped right in to sightseeing. First stop, Barsani Monastery in the village of Barsani. This is a pretty interesting place. It was built in 1998, and they actually are still working on parts of it, but it is on the site of a much older church (and maybe monastery) from the 1700s, I believe. It burned was destroyed more than 100 years ago, and they just recently have been working on the new buildings. 12 orthodox nuns live there now and run things. They have a beautiful wooden church (this is what Maramures is known for!), an outdoor altar, a place with healing waters, a museum, the home for the nuns, the home for the priest, a building where the nuns make crafts for sale, and a building for the pilgrims to stay and eat.
While still in Barsani we also went to see a woodcarver's home and workshop. In addition to the magnificent wooden churches, many of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Maramures also is known for its intricately carved gates. We went to the home of own of the most well-known carvers; he even was one of the invited guests to represent Romanian folk crafts at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival when it featured Romania! He wasn't home during our visit, but we still got to look around.
After we finished up there, we headed down the rode to Ieud where we went to 3 churches, one modern and two wooden. First, we tried to go to the "church on a hill" (called that because, well, it is on a hill...and a steep one at that!), but George could not locate the priest with the key. So, instead we headed off to another wooden church in town. This one is called the Biserica de Lemn din Ses and is a Greek Catholic church built in 1717. Today it houses one of the largest collections of glass icons in Maramures. They are not my favorite things, but they are definitely something distinctive of Transylvania.
On the way back to find the keys to the "church on a hill" we stopped at a new Orthodox church. It was locked up, but we were able to see some neat murals from the outside, including one of Jesus ministering to a group of people dressed in traditional Romanian costumes, specifically ones from Maramures.
Finally, we tracked down the person who had the key to the "church on a hill" (offically called Biserica din Lemn din Deal) and headed up. It is the oldest wooden church in Maramures and was built in 1364. If that ancient date for a wooden church isn't impressive enough, this church also used to house the first known written document in the Romanian language (although written in Cryllilc). It is from 1391-92 and today is in a museum in Bucharest.
We also drove further out of town to see a field of wild orchids that George knew about. I had no idea that orchids grew outside of warm, moist places like South America or perhaps Louisiana or something, but apparently Romania has some of its own wild species. Since I don't know much about orchids, I was expecting something similar to what you see in people's homes, but instead they had really tiny flowers.
From there we went on to Poienile Izei to see our last wooden church for the day. This was a very interesting church with great paintings inside, including ones of devils torturing sinners. Let's just say that they came up with very...inventive....punishments. No pics allowed inside, but here are some great ones form the outside:
Finally around 6pm we got made it to George's house and were able to unload all of our stuff and eat dinner. Talk about a spread. We walked in to the dining room and saw all this food - some kind of fancy egg dish with sauce and hard boiled eggs, fresh homemade bread, branzoica (this one was a dough with cheese, dill, and onion inside), and a plate with veggies. Little did we know, but this was just the appetizer! We also had soup with potatoes and grated carrots; the main course with creamed wild garlic (delicious!), cabbage (varza) mushrooms, and pork (none of that for me); and dessert of cake. Wow.
More pictures from Day 1:
Friday, May 28, 2010
We didn't end up finishing breakfast (fresh veggies and crepes with jam!) and actually heading out of town until around 9:45 in the morning, so we had to adjust our plans just a bit. Instead of seeing more wooden churches, we decided to focus on some other things. First thing, we went back to Barsana and went to a market on the edge of town. Monday is the big market day, but there were still lots of people there, both buying and selling. It was pretty interesting to go to. Lots of places sellings basic things like safety pins and diapers because the small villages do not really have stores to sell that kind of thing. But, there also were the stalls filled with women looking at scarves and yarn to make rugs and the stalls for men checking out the sharpest scythes. Yep, they still use scythes here - no mowers at all. And, there also was an area on the end of the market where people were selling animals: piglets, chicks, calves. Too cute.
From there, we headed out to the village of Sarbi where we saw a water mill. By controlling the flow of the water, they were able to run a few machines - a thresher in the summer, a mill to grind the corn into corn meal, a machine to turn wool into felt for the traditional vests and jackets, and a washing machine. There are smaller ones to wash clothes, I think, but this was a huge one for big rugs. It was a pretty impressive site, to say the least.
At the same place, they also were making palinca (kind of like tiuca but stronger). It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen! Big metal barrels filled with rotting apple mush - with part of the barrel rusting into the apple mush. Ick. No wonder that stuff is so disgusting to drink!
We also were able to play with some baby kittens and puppies. I almost took a kitten home with me (we had a real bond, I promise!), but since I am leaving so soon, I guess I can't really do that. We also got to go inside their home and see some of the amazing embroidery work and rugs that the woman had made. I was able to buy one table runner, but most of the stuff was not for sale. I can't even imagine how long it would take to make all of that, so I can't imagine selling it if I made it either!
Up until this point, we pretty much had been in a valley, and now we drove up into the mountains. Again, it was just so beautiful. We had lunch near a little ski slope and then went to see a place where they made charcoal. It was a pretty interesting, but definitely dirty process. However, the charcoal maker lived in the most amazing setting. Up in the mountains, right next to a small river. It was just beautiful.
Then we continued over the mountains to go see some water buffalo herds. What, you might be saying?! Am I talking about Cambodia now? Nope, apparently they have been raising water buffalo here for more than 100 years. Trust me, I was surprised, too! They are stronger than horses for doing work, they give more and better milk, and there were other good points but I cannot remember them all right now. Anyway, we passed several herds and then were able to get out of the car to see one group close to the road. Now that definitely was a site that I was not expecting to see in Romania!
And, our journey did not end there. We went to another wood carver's house. The one we visited on Thursday did the big gates outside of people's homes, and this one did smaller, more decorative carvings. We didn't get to see him work, but we did look around his studio...and I, of course, bought a few things, including a great little statue of a woman carrying a container of sticks on her back.
Finally, we were finished wtih our touring for the day, but we still had a 2 hour drive to get back over the mountains and back to Botiza for dinner. It was a long but really good day! Once we got home, dinner was delicious, as usual. We started with appetizers of an omelet like thing, cucumber and tomato salad, zacusca (a spread made out of red bell peppers), and tomatoes with a cheese and dill filling. The main course included chicken (it smelled really good), fish, and mashed potatoes, and we had fresh Romanian strawberries and hazlenuts for dessert. Following dinner, Terri and I walked around town for a little bit. There wasn't much to see, but it was just nice to get out for a little bit.
Other pictures from Day 2:
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Today we were on a tighter schedule because we had several things that had to get squeezed in before our bus left Sighet at 4:30pm. This meant that we actual finished breakfast (cornmeal pancakes!!) and left town by 9am. Of course, we started off a little slowly because there was a small market in Botiza that we checked out. It had a lot of the same things as the other market but was smaller, so it did not take too long to look around.
Then, we drove up to Sighet and on to Sapanta. Both of those places are right on the border with the Ukraine, which we could see in thebackground. We also drove past the only high school in Romania that is taught in Ukranian. Pretty neat! Also, it might surprise you to know that this area is just 13 km south of the geographical center of Europe (north to south and east to west). So, it is called Central Europe for a reason. No Eastern Europe here!
In Sapanta we were able to see the Merry Cemetery, which was a really neat place. It is called this because it is filled with around 2,000 brightly colored carved crosses. On them are paintings and sayings (even jokes) about the person's life and death. It is such a unique place and a lot of fun to see even if you don't speak Romanian or go with a guide. The original carver started doing this in the 1930s and continued through his death in 1977 (I believe) and a couple of other carvers have taken over for him, so the tradition continues today, which is really nice.
On the way back out of town we stopped to see the tallest wooden church in Romania. We were supposed to see the previous tallest church the day before, but it had we decided to see the water buffalo and wood carver instead. The new one is controversial in its claims, though, because it is on a stone base. Let the fighting continue. It is still be finished so we weren't able to go inside, but it definitely is tall.
In Sighet, our first stop was Elie Weisel's house. If you are like me, it might surprise you to learn that, yes, he in fact was Romanian! Who knew?! Unfortunately, the house isn't open on the weekends until June, so we were one week to early. We just managed to snap a few shots of the outside. Then, we went to the Museum of Arrested Thought. This museum is devoted to communism and the fight against it. While mostly about the situation in Romania, it also covers some of the neighboring communist countries in Europe and even touches on places like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Cuba. It is a very good, thought-provoking museum, largely because it is housed in one of the most infamous prisons during communist Romania. Some national heroes like Gheorghe Bratianu and Lucian Blaga (you will see buildings and streets named after them all around the country) died in this prison. The exhibits are in Romania, but they have an excellent booklet in English that you can use during your visit. Ask for it if they do not offer!
Our last stop before the bus was the Ethnographic Museum. We had just visited the one in Cluj the Saturday before, and the one in Sighet paled in comparison. Still, it was nice to walk through quickly and to see some of the differences in the Maramures traditional costumes. From there, we bid farewall to our lovely guide George, hopped on the bus, and headed back to Cluj. It was such a great trip, and I am so glad that I was able to do it before I left the country. I wish that I had figured out how easy and affordable it is to do trips on the bus and train and to use guides. Of course, winter was long and meant no travelling for quite some time, but now I know for the future.
We initally were planning to rent a car, drive to Maramures, and find our way around the countryside. However, a few days before the trip we decided to switch to a guide, and this was the best decision we EVER could have made. We used George Iurca, who was recommended by a friend and who also is highly recommended in the Lonely Planet book. For a total of $125 per person (for all 3 adults) we got a tour guide (in a car) for basically 3 full days, 2 nights stay, and amazing homecooked food for breakfast and dinner (and the total includes the tip we left). Not only was the price amazing, but George is just great. He is from the area and was able to show us all sorts of neat places.
Thursday, May 27, 2019
We almost took the wrong bus, but luckily George got in touch with me Wednesday night, and we figured everyone out. Whew! We almost ended up in Baia Marie, which also is in Maramures but 100 km away from where we were going. For your reference, you need to get on the bus from Cluj to Sighetu Marmatiei (Sighet) and get off at Sieu, which is about 3 hours. Apparently if you drive yourself it is much faster, but we were on tiny little roads with oodles of potholes, and I am pretty sure that much of the trip was spent going around 30 to 40 miles/hour. Talk about slow! Still, it was a nice ride and seemd to go fairly quickly because the scenery was so unbelievably breathtaking. Growing up in central Texas, I just always yearned for trees and grass and green things and water, and trust me when I say that Romania in the spring really delivers all of those things.
Gypsy house! They are so interesting and almost always half finished like this.
If you can't read the sign, it has Judetul Maramures, which means Maramures County.
We arrived in Sieu promptly at 11am, and our guide George met us at the bus stop. Instead of stopping by his place to drop off our bags, we just stowed them in the car and jumped right in to sightseeing. First stop, Barsani Monastery in the village of Barsani. This is a pretty interesting place. It was built in 1998, and they actually are still working on parts of it, but it is on the site of a much older church (and maybe monastery) from the 1700s, I believe. It burned was destroyed more than 100 years ago, and they just recently have been working on the new buildings. 12 orthodox nuns live there now and run things. They have a beautiful wooden church (this is what Maramures is known for!), an outdoor altar, a place with healing waters, a museum, the home for the nuns, the home for the priest, a building where the nuns make crafts for sale, and a building for the pilgrims to stay and eat.
Walking up to the monastery.
The church at the monastery.
The whole complex: building for the nuns to live in, for the priest to live in, a workshop, a museum, the church, an outdoor altar for the summer, and a place for the pilgrims to stay and eat.
Beautiful lupines at the church.
While still in Barsani we also went to see a woodcarver's home and workshop. In addition to the magnificent wooden churches, many of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Maramures also is known for its intricately carved gates. We went to the home of own of the most well-known carvers; he even was one of the invited guests to represent Romanian folk crafts at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival when it featured Romania! He wasn't home during our visit, but we still got to look around.
The ornate gate leading to the woodcarver's home and workshop.
This is our guide George with a new entry way going on the edge of town!
After we finished up there, we headed down the rode to Ieud where we went to 3 churches, one modern and two wooden. First, we tried to go to the "church on a hill" (called that because, well, it is on a hill...and a steep one at that!), but George could not locate the priest with the key. So, instead we headed off to another wooden church in town. This one is called the Biserica de Lemn din Ses and is a Greek Catholic church built in 1717. Today it houses one of the largest collections of glass icons in Maramures. They are not my favorite things, but they are definitely something distinctive of Transylvania.
The church in Ieud.
Just sitting in the cemetery....
Oh no, I don't fit in the door!
As you can tell, there are LOTS of glass icons.
And, as you also can tell, I did make it through the door.
Just the cutest picture ever. Theodore with the lady who keeps the key for the church.
On the way back to find the keys to the "church on a hill" we stopped at a new Orthodox church. It was locked up, but we were able to see some neat murals from the outside, including one of Jesus ministering to a group of people dressed in traditional Romanian costumes, specifically ones from Maramures.
Terri's wonderful picture of the new church.
Can you see the traditional costumes?
Finally, we tracked down the person who had the key to the "church on a hill" (offically called Biserica din Lemn din Deal) and headed up. It is the oldest wooden church in Maramures and was built in 1364. If that ancient date for a wooden church isn't impressive enough, this church also used to house the first known written document in the Romanian language (although written in Cryllilc). It is from 1391-92 and today is in a museum in Bucharest.
I think I just posted one of the Eiffel Tower from the same angle.
One of the interesting carved grave markers.
View from the top of the hill. How beautiful is it?
From there we went on to Poienile Izei to see our last wooden church for the day. This was a very interesting church with great paintings inside, including ones of devils torturing sinners. Let's just say that they came up with very...inventive....punishments. No pics allowed inside, but here are some great ones form the outside:
Sitting with Theodore and the man who has the keys to the church. Notice the wonderful painted doors and the man's tiny little hat (very traditional for this area).
Pretending the play the special board, only used on special times when the bells cannot be rung (like the week before Easter).
Another cemetery shot.
Finally around 6pm we got made it to George's house and were able to unload all of our stuff and eat dinner. Talk about a spread. We walked in to the dining room and saw all this food - some kind of fancy egg dish with sauce and hard boiled eggs, fresh homemade bread, branzoica (this one was a dough with cheese, dill, and onion inside), and a plate with veggies. Little did we know, but this was just the appetizer! We also had soup with potatoes and grated carrots; the main course with creamed wild garlic (delicious!), cabbage (varza) mushrooms, and pork (none of that for me); and dessert of cake. Wow.
Our bed and breakfast in Botiza.
The orchard/garden in the back of the b&b.
After dinner, Michael and I decided to walk around town (the village of Botiza with around 2,000 people) before it got dark and while Terri put Theodore to bed. There was a new orthodox church and old wooden church up a hill right behind where we stayed. The new church had a group of guys, including the priest, playing cards outside, which was too funny. On the way up to the wooden church (it was locked; we just checked out the cemetery and outside of the church) a couple of kids started to follow us. They heard us speaking English, and one of them knew a little. They wanted to show us a nut tree in the cemetery and picked lots of flowers for me, which we left on a little girl's grave (the kids chose the spot...awww). Our walk didn't last too long, though, because they wanted me to go to their house...and Michael had started talking to the priest, who was the kids' grandfather, and he also invited us over. We got to see some pictures and met his daughters, both of whome spoke English and lived in Cluj (what are the odds?!) and were in town for the church's anniversary that weekend. It was a fun time even though we didn't get much of a walk in!
More pictures from Day 1:
Lots of stork nests on the telephone poles.
Someone's small and very nicely organized garden.
Laundry day.
From the river.....
.....to the line.
Ox-drive cart with a load of hay.
A little calf in a cart....how cute is that?!
Working in the fields.
Friday, May 28, 2010
We didn't end up finishing breakfast (fresh veggies and crepes with jam!) and actually heading out of town until around 9:45 in the morning, so we had to adjust our plans just a bit. Instead of seeing more wooden churches, we decided to focus on some other things. First thing, we went back to Barsana and went to a market on the edge of town. Monday is the big market day, but there were still lots of people there, both buying and selling. It was pretty interesting to go to. Lots of places sellings basic things like safety pins and diapers because the small villages do not really have stores to sell that kind of thing. But, there also were the stalls filled with women looking at scarves and yarn to make rugs and the stalls for men checking out the sharpest scythes. Yep, they still use scythes here - no mowers at all. And, there also was an area on the end of the market where people were selling animals: piglets, chicks, calves. Too cute.
The market, nestled up against the hills.
Just your normal day at the market - while the women check out the yarn for rugs....
...the men test out the scythes.
And you can even pick up your tombstone!
We spent quite a bit of time at the market, checking everything out and making a few purchases. Some bells for Theodore, and Terri and I both got a few of the traditional scarves. I have no clue if I will end up wearing them, but they are brightly colored and lots of fun.
A family taking a break from all the shopping.
The traditional shoes for sale...pinch-something.....
A gypsy (Roma) mother and daughter packing up.
From there, we headed out to the village of Sarbi where we saw a water mill. By controlling the flow of the water, they were able to run a few machines - a thresher in the summer, a mill to grind the corn into corn meal, a machine to turn wool into felt for the traditional vests and jackets, and a washing machine. There are smaller ones to wash clothes, I think, but this was a huge one for big rugs. It was a pretty impressive site, to say the least.
The traditional, water-run washing machine.
At the same place, they also were making palinca (kind of like tiuca but stronger). It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen! Big metal barrels filled with rotting apple mush - with part of the barrel rusting into the apple mush. Ick. No wonder that stuff is so disgusting to drink!
The makings for palinca. Gross!
We also were able to play with some baby kittens and puppies. I almost took a kitten home with me (we had a real bond, I promise!), but since I am leaving so soon, I guess I can't really do that. We also got to go inside their home and see some of the amazing embroidery work and rugs that the woman had made. I was able to buy one table runner, but most of the stuff was not for sale. I can't even imagine how long it would take to make all of that, so I can't imagine selling it if I made it either!
All the embroidery.
Theodore sporting the men's traditional hat :)
Up until this point, we pretty much had been in a valley, and now we drove up into the mountains. Again, it was just so beautiful. We had lunch near a little ski slope and then went to see a place where they made charcoal. It was a pretty interesting, but definitely dirty process. However, the charcoal maker lived in the most amazing setting. Up in the mountains, right next to a small river. It was just beautiful.
Burning piles of wood, soon to be charcoal.
Then we continued over the mountains to go see some water buffalo herds. What, you might be saying?! Am I talking about Cambodia now? Nope, apparently they have been raising water buffalo here for more than 100 years. Trust me, I was surprised, too! They are stronger than horses for doing work, they give more and better milk, and there were other good points but I cannot remember them all right now. Anyway, we passed several herds and then were able to get out of the car to see one group close to the road. Now that definitely was a site that I was not expecting to see in Romania!
Water buffalo and the water buffalo herder (shepherd?).
Up close!
Out near the water buffalo we passed a migratory gypsy family.
And, our journey did not end there. We went to another wood carver's house. The one we visited on Thursday did the big gates outside of people's homes, and this one did smaller, more decorative carvings. We didn't get to see him work, but we did look around his studio...and I, of course, bought a few things, including a great little statue of a woman carrying a container of sticks on her back.
And, just after we left the woodcarver's, I saw two women actually carrying the baskets (sans sticks).
Finally, we were finished wtih our touring for the day, but we still had a 2 hour drive to get back over the mountains and back to Botiza for dinner. It was a long but really good day! Once we got home, dinner was delicious, as usual. We started with appetizers of an omelet like thing, cucumber and tomato salad, zacusca (a spread made out of red bell peppers), and tomatoes with a cheese and dill filling. The main course included chicken (it smelled really good), fish, and mashed potatoes, and we had fresh Romanian strawberries and hazlenuts for dessert. Following dinner, Terri and I walked around town for a little bit. There wasn't much to see, but it was just nice to get out for a little bit.
Other pictures from Day 2:
A pot tree. Used after WWI to 'advertise' a daughter who was ready to be married.
Cute old lady wearing the traditional skirt/apron of Maramures.
Traditional blue homes.
The infamous Romanian potholes. I thought our car was going to fall into some of them!
This is just so iconic of Romania: church, horse drawn cart filled with hay, and potholes.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Today we were on a tighter schedule because we had several things that had to get squeezed in before our bus left Sighet at 4:30pm. This meant that we actual finished breakfast (cornmeal pancakes!!) and left town by 9am. Of course, we started off a little slowly because there was a small market in Botiza that we checked out. It had a lot of the same things as the other market but was smaller, so it did not take too long to look around.
Scarves and cloth for sale. Terri and I got some at the market in Barsana.
Terri (wearing one of her scarves) hanging out with Victor at the b&b.
Then, we drove up to Sighet and on to Sapanta. Both of those places are right on the border with the Ukraine, which we could see in thebackground. We also drove past the only high school in Romania that is taught in Ukranian. Pretty neat! Also, it might surprise you to know that this area is just 13 km south of the geographical center of Europe (north to south and east to west). So, it is called Central Europe for a reason. No Eastern Europe here!
The trees and hills are in the Ukraine!
In Sapanta we were able to see the Merry Cemetery, which was a really neat place. It is called this because it is filled with around 2,000 brightly colored carved crosses. On them are paintings and sayings (even jokes) about the person's life and death. It is such a unique place and a lot of fun to see even if you don't speak Romanian or go with a guide. The original carver started doing this in the 1930s and continued through his death in 1977 (I believe) and a couple of other carvers have taken over for him, so the tradition continues today, which is really nice.
The cemetery. You can see the older headstone on the left and the newer, restored one on the right.
Peaking around the corner of one of the crosses.
There it is.
In Sighet, our first stop was Elie Weisel's house. If you are like me, it might surprise you to learn that, yes, he in fact was Romanian! Who knew?! Unfortunately, the house isn't open on the weekends until June, so we were one week to early. We just managed to snap a few shots of the outside. Then, we went to the Museum of Arrested Thought. This museum is devoted to communism and the fight against it. While mostly about the situation in Romania, it also covers some of the neighboring communist countries in Europe and even touches on places like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Cuba. It is a very good, thought-provoking museum, largely because it is housed in one of the most infamous prisons during communist Romania. Some national heroes like Gheorghe Bratianu and Lucian Blaga (you will see buildings and streets named after them all around the country) died in this prison. The exhibits are in Romania, but they have an excellent booklet in English that you can use during your visit. Ask for it if they do not offer!
Outside of the museum.
Inside the museum.
Our last stop before the bus was the Ethnographic Museum. We had just visited the one in Cluj the Saturday before, and the one in Sighet paled in comparison. Still, it was nice to walk through quickly and to see some of the differences in the Maramures traditional costumes. From there, we bid farewall to our lovely guide George, hopped on the bus, and headed back to Cluj. It was such a great trip, and I am so glad that I was able to do it before I left the country. I wish that I had figured out how easy and affordable it is to do trips on the bus and train and to use guides. Of course, winter was long and meant no travelling for quite some time, but now I know for the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)