TinyTravels.com

pictures seem to be in demand. we would put more of them up, but it can be a bit difficult because we can’t always hook our camera’s up to the computers we are using.

today is out last day in prague. we leave for berlin in about 3 hours.

we arrived in prague at 7 in the morning. we found a hostel to stay in but couldn’t check in till 3 pm so we had to walk around till then. our hostel is really nice, it’s modern. i really like the showers, except that the water turns off after 20 seconds, so you have to push the button over and over again till your done with your shower. the first day we walked around and saw charles bridge and the main downtown part. after we could check in we went and took a nap for a little bit and then went out. we asked the person at the front were to go and she circled a bunch of bars that weren’t very far from us. we didn’t end up finding them, but we found a few others.

the second day we went and walked around the old town and went up to the castle, we went into the church and then walked around the city some more. jessica finally bought a jacked at h & m. that night we drank in the bar at the hostel with a bunch of others that are staying here, we only went out that night to get some food.

yesterday we went and arranged our train ticket to berlin and also went and saw the tv tower that has babies crawling up the side. not real babies, but brass ones. it was pretty interesting. we also saw a lot of bob marley stencils. kinda odd i thought. after that we went back to our room and had some drinks with an english guy, john, who we have been hanging out with. we showered up went down stairs and had some drinks and then went on a pub crawl with people from the hostel.

manuel

Day 1

It’s cold here. Real cold. Jessica didn’t bring very warm clothes. I did. The first day we got in at 5 in the morning and it was raining, not hard though. We ended up meeting a lawyer, his name is Gabe, in Budapest and he happened to be on the train with us to Krakow. We all stayed at the same hostel. The Gardenhouse. It’s pretty nice, and is in a really really good location. It is about 30 feet from the main square in Krakow. Krakow is also pretty cheap, unlike Budapest which was super expensive. When we got to our hostel we took a nap and then went and walked around town. We drank some warm beer that had cinnamon and some red juice in it. It was surprisingly good. We got drunk and then went to bed.

Day 2

so we were supposed to get an early start so that we could see Auschwitz and the salt mines in the same day but gabe was the only who got up. instead of doing a pre-paid tour to Auschwitz we decide to be cheap and take the public bus there. it took us an hour and 45 min to get there and then once there we waited an hour and a half for the next english guided tour. manuel and i both felt nothing while there. others around us cried and we just felt absolutely nothing. we waited an hour for our bus to come and bring us back to Krakow, and that ride was 2 and a half hours long. this one trip took us about 10 hours when all was said and done.

once back we ate kebabs. there are kebab stand all over. only the kebabs here are basically a gyro, not meat on a stick. we had some gross Czech beer and headed to bed.

Day 3

gabe departed to prague this morning, so we got up pretty early. we then went out and got our tickets for the salt mine tour, this seemed like a better option than trying to be cheap and sitting on a bus for 5 hours. we went to the meeting spot for the tour and sat on the bus for 15 minutes and it was really hot. we got to the salt mines and took an english speaking tour that lasted about 2 hours or so. we went down about 135 meters underground. it was pretty impressive. everything, basically, is made of rock salt. the floors, the walls and the ceilings. there were statues that the miners carved out, one was of Pope John Paul II, life size. That wasn’t done by a miner though, as the mine stopped being active 11 years ago. Most of the statues were made by miners though. They had a really big chapel that was carved out of the salt, it was pretty cool. The tour guide said it took 25 years to carve the chapel. I think I took about 97 pictures in total. Jessica thinks I took too many pictures, oh well. I also bought a calling card and called home. The card lasted about 3 minutes, sorry Morris.

Now I think we are going to take a nap and then head out.

jessica here and i wanna tell about the food we ate today.  for lunch we had mexican.  the food was descent.   it was just what i was craving.  oh my bloody mary was made with tequila and not vodka.  gross.  i understand they used a mexican liquor but this is poland and i was expecting vodka.  for dinner we ate a traditional polish meal.  manuel had pirogies and i had lamb.  to drink?  beer.

we did a walking tour of the city today. learned a lot of hungarian history. this country has basically always been occupied it wasnt til the 1990s when they started to govern themselves.

rubicow! rubick was hungarian. we passed through an art park that had all these decorated plastic cows. there were these weird art school kids doing some sort of performance in the fountain. we didnt get it.

underneath the buda castle are labrynths that have been used for numerous things through out the years. while making our way thriough we found a fountain that shot out wine. the hole where it came out was a pigs mouth. it looked like bood spewing out.

today we got into budapest from venice. the train was late probably because we stopped like every hour to have our passports checked. at one stop they stamped them twice. there were some croatian hipster by us on the train. one had a hot snakes shirt on. anyway, our hostel is nice. it only has about 12 beds, so its small. but it has clean big showers. yay! our shower in rome was so small that when manuel turn he bumped the knob to scolding hot water.

when spent the day walking up and down the street our hostel is on. its very busy but only had a few bars. it was during this walk that we realized budapest is not inexpensive like we had planned on. its actually kind of expensive. we stopped in a bar to have our first shot of absinthe. the bar waitress did they whole presentation with the sugar and fire and warned us of its effects. we felt nothing. so we had some schnapps and beer and still nothing. we were disappointed. we headed back to the hostel. we met our two female roommates who are from belgium and very interested in talking to us. they told us that they hate americans except for manuel and me. oh and also they like chuck norison, walker, texas ranger.

we went to a very cool bar that a hostel staff member recommended. it was huge. it was in the courtyard of a building but it also occupied the first two floors of the building. it wasnt clubby at all. their were lots of locals just chatting with friends over beer. we did the same. but we learned that drinking hard alcohol will be better because its so cold outside.

we arrived in venice last night around 10.  unfortunately it took about 40 minutes for our bus to pick us up and then when we did get to our hotel it was really far out of the city so we couldn’t really go anywhere.  when we got to our hotel to check in there were two people in front of us.  when the guy in front of us had his turn suddenly walked in like 20 people, he was a brazilian tour guide, and the people were waiting for there rooms.  which turned out to be like 12 rooms.  so instead of letting us go and waiting 5 minutes, the italian clerk made us wait an hour till he was done.  thanks marian.  we woke up today and went to venice.  we are staying about 5 miles from venice,that’s including the water crossing.   we have been walking around the city looking at shops and waiting to go to a square in a little bit. 

Manuel

while we were waiting at the bus stop we met some aussies who told us about their travels so far.  they have basically been everywhere we are still going.  they said we cant miss aushwitz (?) and some salt mines near by.  also at the stop waiting with us was a brazilian guy who told us about a good hostel to stay at while in krakow.  now i am twice as excited for krakow. 

i really like venice so far.  it seems like it was made just to entertain, like disneyland, but that obviously isnt true.  its so pretty.   the winding streets are like a maze.  its probably my favorite so far. 

jessica

we are headed to venice in a few hours. rome is so dirty!  there is tagging everywhere and trash on the sidewalks.  even though its so horribly gross,  at every corner there is an amazing piece of history.  its weird you can walk down a trashy alley and when you round the corner at the end of the alley there will be an amazing church or fountain.  though its extremely dirty here it doesnt smell at all.  unlike paris which was pretty clean but stinky. the highlights were the colosseum and the vatican. the day we went to the vatican my friend from drama camp joined us.  claire is here for a few months studying.  we also spend one very drunken night spending hours looking for her home.  anyway i am sure more details are to come.  i just wanted to post a short one.

jessica

we started the day by going to the catacombs and seeing the dead bodies.  that was pleasant.  jessica kissed one.  it wasnt so sexy.  we then went to the eiffel tower.  i went to the bathroom and when i came out jessica was sitting with her arms around her bag looking like a refuge.  i guess while i was in the bathroom she got swarmed by gypsies and they tried to rob her with their nimble fingers.  bastards.  after that we watched some french rap group making a rap video at the tower.  they were dressed up like waldo.  only in black and purple.  we also watched two guys from india doing some pretty sexy poses and photographing each other.  after that excitement we went to the arc du triumph, where the french military was celebrating their glories during world war two.  i thought it was funy,  jessica got mad cause i laughed at them.  we then walked down the champs elyssee (?) to the Louvre.  we tried renting bikes to ride, but the machines dont take american credit cards.  so we were forced to walk.  we went to some plaza,  the concord plaza, in front of the louvre were 1,300 people were headed during the revolution.  the louvre was huge.  so much bigger than either of us thought.  pretty impressive.  it used to be a palace, but now is a museum as we all know.  we really enjoy watching euro mtv.  they have good videos.  although they get a bit repetitive.  if i hear anymore bushido i might kill myself.  on the way to the louvre, we stopped and had a beer, well i had beer, jessica had wine.  i keep wanting to try new beers, but keep getting the nastiest ones.  i tried one called desperado this day.  it was tequila flavored beer.   of course i didnt  know that till it showed up.  pretty gross.

we arrived at 7:30 and found our hotel so esily.  it is by the bastille which happens to be a kinda hip neighborhood.  once we showered we walked qround the latin quarter and saw notre dame.  on our way home we walked by this street with amazing shops so we have to go back when they are open.  we have noticed that there are tons of dogs and bikes everywhere.  the sidewalks are filled with parked bikes.  it smells like hot farts all over the city of gay pari.

woke up and headed to notting hill, which wasnt far from, our hostel. this is of portebllo road. we stopped at a cool record store called rough trade; saw but did not taste amazing paella, and drank the worst coconut milk in the world.

manuel liked these directions on the floor of intersections becquse he feels they saved his life. the english drive on the wrong side of the road so he didnt know which way to look.

this is jessica sleeping on the train to paris. when we were sleeping and would accidently put out feet on the seats an attendent would come by and hit our feet with a stick. also, take not there are not many pics of manuel because i cannot take a decent picture.

we just strolled around soho and oxford circus. we tried to find carnaby street because jessica likes mods but we missed it. we spent the evening out with bob fintland who took us on one of his famous pub crawls. Picture to come once we have bobs permission.