Easter break (part I)

**This was meant to be posted before I left for Morocco, but the internet wasn't working, so I posted it after we got back**

So, Easter Break! The trip started by Hana, Sarah and I catching a train to Paris, where we then got our overnight bus to Prague. I thought the bus ride would be kind of brutal but we each had two seats to ourselves, so it was really comfy, and they played movies and gave you as much tea and hot chocolate as you wanted! So it was actually quite an enjoyable trip. We got into Prague at about 5AM the next day, and immediately took the tram to Hana’s grandma’s apartment. Her grandma spoke no English but was so sweet! Once there we went right to bed, to get a few hours of sleep. We had a really nice breakfast of fresh bread, some kind of delicious homemade cake as well as homemade jams. Her grandma also had these amazing ½ liter mugs for tea (which turned out to be something that all of Hana’s relatives had – a Czech trend perhaps?). After breakfast we set out for day 1 of Prague sightseeing. We:
- Went to a park that gave us a great view of the city.
- Had lunch at a cool little vegetarian cafeteria slash restaurant
- Saw the main square, which has the very famous astronomical clock, and which also had an Easter market, where we petted baby goats and tasted a delicious Czech pastry called “Trdlo” (same idea as an American churro)
- Visited an old Jewish cemetery, where all the graves are stacked on top of each other and are super crowded together because there wasn’t much room – it was really cool!
- Saw a kind of monument made of keys that says “Revolution”, which was recently built in honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism
- Saw some creepy modern art, ie. yellow lit-up penguins and giant babies with no faces…
- Had pizza at a really cool place Hana suggested, where I also tried some Czech beer
That night we took it easy because we were realllly tired so we headed back to Hana’s grandma’s apartment after dinner. The next day we had another delicious breakfast and set out for some more sightseeing:
- We saw a cool memorial for victims of communism – it was maybe 6 of the same statue of just a random man but every time more of the man’s face/body disappeared – hard to explain but it looked really cool
- We went to the Prague version of the Eiffel Tower, where we got an amazing view of the city
- Went to Prague castle
- Saw the St. Vitrus Cathedral
That night we went to a modern ballet of “Othello” which was in a gorgeous old theater. I don’t know much about ballet but it was a good show! I think I would prefer classical ballet though, but the modern one was still cool, and it was totally worth it to see the theater. That night we stayed at Hana’s OTHER grandma’s apartment; the apartment AND the grandmother were amazing, haha. Her grandma is 90 and speaks I think 5 (or more?) languages, so we spoke in French to her the whole time, and her and her husband have travelled all over the world and thus had tons of neat knick knacks (deer’s heads, oriental rugs, a little bit of everything…) it was so cool. And her grandpa was really sweet too!
So after two days in Prague, Hana’s brother and his girlfriend came to pick us up the next morning to take us to Hana’s aunt’s cabin for the Easter weekend. On the way, we stopped in a town about an hour outside of Prague called Terezin. It was just a normal town before the war that had less than 10,000 inhabitants. Once Czech Republic became occupied by Nazi Germany, everyone had to move out and the town was turned into a Jewish ghetto where just under 60,000 people were forced to live in awful conditions. People were crammed into tiny quarters, there were tons of diseases and people didn’t have enough to eat. However, the Jews in the town managed to keep their culture alive by putting on plays, painting, and writing poems – we went to a museum filled with the artistic work they produced while they were living in the Ghetto. Terezin also had a Small Fortress, an old military fort that was used a prison during the war for Jewish people and enemies of the Reich (political prisoners, etc.) It also served as a transit camp, as for many it was simply a a stop-over before being deported to concentration camps. The prison itself had conditions not unlike those of a concentration camp: disease and hunger were widespread, tons of people were crammed into tiny rooms, and many people were executed within the prison – 1/4 of the inmates died in the prison itself. There were walls where you could see bullet holes from where they’d executed people. We also saw a mass grave dedicated to all the people who died in Terezin. It was spooky to be there but SO interesting and very worth the visit.
After seeing Terezin we hopped back in the car and continued the journey to Hana’s aunt’s cabin in a small village (can’t remember the name). The village was really cute and the cabin was rustic (not to mention full to the brim – there were 14 of us!) but it was very cozy. The next day we went to this amazing park with a beautiful lake (that was still partly frozen!) and these amazing, HUGE rock formations. It was really stunning, especially since it was nice (although a bit cold!) outside. We also took a little boat ride down a little river in the park. It was so pretty! And the forest reminded me a bit of the park right behind my house back at home :) That night we decorated eggs (“we” being just the girls, as the boys have a different Easter task, which I will mention in a minute) and by decorated I don’t just mean dying them like we do at home; we colored them and then added little sticker tattoo things. The next morning (Easter!) we woke up and were hit by sticks (no, I’m not joking) why you ask? Well, a very important Czech Easter tradition is boys make these Easter sticks, by taking bendable twigs and braiding them together and then adding some ribbon (they’re actually very pretty, I took one home with me!) and then hitting the girls with them come Easter morning! It’s apparently supposed to make us younger and wiser. As a reward, they get the eggs the girls decorated the night before! It still seems like a bit of a sexist tradition to me but it was fun all the same. That day we also went on a nice walk in the village. We had such a nice time at Hana’s aunt’s cabin, they were very welcoming and all very friendly.
That day we set off for Hana’s apartment. On the way we stopped in Poland! Well, we went to the first town across the border for about 20 minutes – it’s a spa town, and is known for having special mineral water. Hana’s dad bought Sarah and I some just so we could say we drank special mineral water in Poland (honestly it didn’t taste very good but it was cool all the same!) Once at Hana’s we just had dinner and watched a movie – are you ready for it – ON AN ACTUAL COUCH AND ON AN ACTUAL TELEVISION (movies in our residence normally consist of 4 of us squished on someone’s bed watching a laptop screen) so it was quite a treat. The next day we had a look around Hana’s town (which is pretty small) and went to another town close by to see this really pretty Renaissance castle that is also a UNESCO site! We were quite tired by this point in the trip as we had been moving around a lot, so we didn’t go into the castle, but the outside was really something. That night we headed over to Hana’s cabin, where they go at Christmas and in the summer, because her parents were doing some yardwork over there. We had a DELICIOUS dinner there, of these plum dumpling kind of things (kinda reminded me of perogies!) they were soooo good. That night we just watched a movie again (the prospect of having a couch was just too appealing) because we had to get up really early to take a train to Vienna the next day.
Czech Republic was great – Prague was a beautiful and very interesting city, much more so than I expected! A lot of the buildings have been re-done or re-painted in bright colors so it’s hard to tell it was under rule of such an oppressive regime for so long. The Charles bridge and Prague Castle, as well as the views of the city from the “Eiffel Tower”, were especially impressive. And it was cool to see Terezin and other cities outside of Prague that we might not have had the chance to see had we not been with Hana! What made Czech Republic really special though was the experience of staying with Hana’s family, AKA real Czech people, and taking part in their Easter traditions. And as I said before they were all so friendly and welcoming to Sarah and I! It was also really interesting to ask Hana’s parents some questions about what it was like to live in the country while it was communist.
So, after a lovely week in Czech Republic, Hana drove us to the train station (at 5.30 in the morning!) and bid us farewell, as Sarah and I were off to Vienna to visit our Austrian friend Christine. After a 3 hour train ride we were greeted at the station by Christine. We first went to her apartment (her family lives outside Vienna but she and her sister share a GORGEOUS apartment in the city) to drop off our stuff and have breakfast. Then Christine toured us around that day, and we:
- Saw the University of Vienna, which was beautiful.
- Saw the “Hofburg”, the Castle where the Royal family used to live (now it’s used as a library, a museum and other things)
- Went to the Nachmarkt, a market with all kinds of food, where we picked up some delicious Turkish/Greek food for lunch which we ate outside in front of a beautiful Cathedral because the weather was SO nice.
- Saw St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the most famous one in Vienna, as well as the main downtown area surrounding it, which was really nice!
- Got ice cream and then went to this cool outdoor bar, which is right on the river, and which they fill with sand and put out tons of beach chairs, so it feels like you’re at the beach. It was so warm outside we just laid there for like, 3 hours. Sarah and I even fell asleep, ha!
That night we were going to go meet Christine’s friends for drinks (one of whom we’d already met in Brussels) but Sarah and I were SO tired so we stayed in and watched a movie (on a laptop… but we did have a couch again!)
The next day Christine made us a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and then we went out and saw:
- Schonbrunn Palace, which was like a summer castle for the royal family. It was stunning, so beautiful! The gardens, the fountain… just wow. And the perfect weather made it even more lovely. From the hill you could also get a nice view of the city. This was definitely one of my favorite sights I’ve seen this year.
- the City Park of Vienna, which had beautiful trees and tulips! Just so spring-y and pretty!
- Belvedere Palace, which again had just amazing gardens and fountains.
We also went back to the market to buy more Turkish and Greek goodness for lunch, which we ate by an impressive memorial for the Russian victims of the war.
That night we went out to this cool lounge for a drink where we finally met Christine’s boyfriend who we’d heard so much about!
Vienna was amazing! Again, it was so great to be showed around by someone who actually lives there (and, as was the case in Czech Republic, it was great to have someone with us that spoke the language) and the city itself was just so beautiful. I loved the architecture – most of the buildings were white and just had a very classic, timeless style – and the palaces we saw were just stunning! I think I was also influenced a little bit by the fact that “Vienna” by Billy Joel has always been one of my favorite songs (it was even the song my figure skating program was set to) so it was so cool to finally get to see the city that is the title of my favorite song.
Our last stop was Nice (the easiest way to get back to Aix from Vienna was to go through Nice, so we thought why not spend two nights there). The first evening we grabbed some pizza and ate it on the beach, walked around “Vieux Nice”, which was BEAUTIFUL, it was a perfect mix of French and Italy, and filled with adorable little restaurants and shops. We grabbed a drink at a cool little bar with a bunch of art from the Dominican Republic and headed back to the hostel. The next day I woke up early and went for a run along the “Promenade des Anglais”, the main boardwalk. Since it was early, there weren’t that many people out, and it wasn’t too hot yet so it was just perfect! Such an enjoyable run. Later we met up with Sarah’s sister, who is studying in Nice, and with her we saw the Lascaris Palace which dates back to the 17th century – small but beautiful. After that we headed up to the park that overlooks all of Nice and got some AMAZING views of the “Côte d’Azur” – it was just gorgeous, and again the weather was perfect. We grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then headed down to the beach where Sarah and I tanned (and even swam… a little bit anyway) for a few hours. Later that night we went out for dinner and just walked around on the Promenade. The next day we were planning on heading back to Aix on the 8.30 train… well, it wouldn’t be France if SOMEONE wasn’t on strike, so thanks to the SNCF general strike our train was cancelled, and we had to wait an hour to take a different one that would take us into Marseille. Well, other people’s trains had been cancelled too, so this train was PACKED with people – Sarah didn’t even get a seat and had to sit on the floor by the bathroom! And the aisle was packed with people which is normally not the case at all. It was insane! But, all part of “la vie française”. Anyway, we finally got into Aix by around 1 that afternoon – so nice to be home after almost 2 weeks of travel!
Nice was nice (no pun intended), especially the center which was very charming, and the views with the pristine water were just amazing, but outside the center the city wasn’t so charming – a lot of homeless people and aggressive guys trying to talk to you, which kind of detracts from the city a bit. It was also RIDICULOUSLY expensive, more so than Aix, which I didn’t even know was possible. I’m glad we took a day to see it though!
So the last two days I’ve just been catching up on some things, doing laundry, unpacking and RE-packing as tomorrow we are off to… MOROCCO for 6 days! And we will have our trusty tour guide Sarah which we’re excited about. We’re very excited to meet her pet camel…