prague is a very beautiful city with a ton of cultural significance. the only down side is that it is full of weekend travelers, (casinos and brothels everywhere) the through backpacker, and the casual sightseer. i was with a few friends that i was studying with along with frederick, an argentinean who was going around through germany and surrounding countries for about 2 and a half months.
i was there for around 3 days and while in the past i have always tried to fit everything in all at once, this time i wanted to make sure that i was able to take everything in. i knew that in 3 days, i was going to have enough time to fit everything in with leisure time to spare. this extra time allowed me to do a little more while still being able to see what i wanted.
this is a pic of the astronomical clock and calender in the old town square. i was able to go up to the top of the tower and get a view of the surrounding city. i have always loved to go up in the towers to see the views and in prague i was able to go in 3 towers, old town square, charles bridge and the petrin tower which was about 20 minute walk straight up a hill side followed by about 250 steps in a tight staircase. the view was by far the best of the city and you could see right into the middle of prague castle where st. vitus's cathedral is located. these are the views i have always loved to see and i look forward to these spots whenever i go somewhere to visit.
if u ever make these trips on your own , i recommend that you take the time to walk, and forget the mechanical transportation...not only is it something that betters your health, you appreciate it more in the end. also its been said when in rome do as the romans do...only the tourist take the public transport.
and like the title says, a city for the tourist...its never fun to feel like a tourist
for 5 days in the romantic city of paris france. not only are the canadian ladies jealous of my excursion, but i get to see this guys in a hostel along with 4 or 5 others. one can only hope that he's wearing those matching underwear that him and his twin brother dutch posses. well be there tom, 29.1.09 until next mon 2.2.09, and yes not only am i going to be seeing paris, ill be missing a few days of class as well. (dont worry mom, i took my test ahead of time and wrote a paper already for tues so im ahead of the game)
prague is a very beautiful city with a ton of cultural significance. the only down side is that it is full of weekend travelers, (casinos and brothels everywhere) the through backpacker, and the casual sightseer. i was with a few friends that i was studying with along with frederick, an argentinean who was going around through germany and surrounding countries for about 2 and a half months.
it was a busy day for class excursions, after the synagogue trip in freud's class, we took a trip to the house of a concert pianist who not only plays, but collects, (about 35-40 grand and concert grand pianos) restores, and builds pianos as well. he spent the first 15 minutes giving a brief overview of the piano he was working on for a concert he was playhing in april, but also took us to two rooms, on filled with grand and the other filled with concert grand pianos, about 10 in each room. he also has garage with about 15 unfinished pianos that he will be working on this year. he told us a brief history on each piano and the difference of each by playing and letting us listen to the sounds that are porduced in each one. it was really cool seeing the insides and the make up of these instruments
for freud class, we visited the oldest and largest synagogue in vienna and the only one in the first district. (yes that's me wearing a yarmulka...dont ask)
im living in the 3rd district, which is able a 5 or 10 minute walk into the ring, and i decided to look through a book to see what all is around me and besides a few good parks, i saw something called the hundertwasser haus. little did i know, i was about a block and a half away from where i'm staying on marxergasse. this house was designed in 1985 by fridensreich hundertwasser and he decided to "sell" his plays to the city for free so that nothing ugly would go up instead...interesting but still pretty neat
the first few days in vienna i was able to find some time to walk around the ring, the circle of streets that enclose the first district (which used to be the wall around the city but that came down about 100 years ago). the first day, i was very tired from the flight over and i only spent about 2 hours in the downtown area. i didnt go into many of the buildings but more or less walked around and checked out what vienna had to offer. the next day i did the same thing but was able to go in and out more than the day before...this was just outside stephansdom, the focal cathedral in vienna. there were about 15 or 20 of these horse drawn carriages in a line around the outside of the cathedral.
