Prague, Czech Republic!

Well I’m down to my last few hours in Europe, so I figured I’d try to get this done before I leave otherwise it probably won’t get written. I’ll try to keep it short.

Last weekend a bunch of went to Prague for two nights and it was quite the weekend. My luck of everything going according to plan with public transportation finally ran out. What was supposed to be an 8 hour travel day on Friday turned into a 12 hour travel day. It was a long day that began shortly after 5am. I was travelling with Marc and Sean, we took many trains followed by a 5 hour bus ride from Munich to Prague. On the plus side I was able to pick up a shot glass in Munich since I forgot to do so when I was there before.

We finally arrived in Prague shortly after 6pm and met Breagh, her friend Jean from back home, and Carolann. We got some Czech money and found the apartment that I had booked. It was a pretty nice spot with beds in 4 different rooms, 2 full bathrooms, a full kitchen (with a dishwasher), and a living room. I wish we had more time to enjoy the place, but we had a lot to see in a short amount of time. After getting ready five of us headed out to do a pub crawl while Sean waited to meet Laura and Sara who had done a tour of a former concentration camp. The pub crawl began with an hour of unlimited beer, wine, and shots, including absinthe. This led to a very fun night, although some details are a little hazy. We even met a couple who also live in Fredericton; it really is a small world.

The next morning, we all went on the free walking tour of the city. The guide was a little too enthusiastic to start off the tour, but it got better as it went on. We had over 40 people in our group which was really too many, but we learned a lot about the history of the city and the country. Here are some of the pictures from the tour.

 

After the tour we walked across Charles Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world, to the side of the river where Prague Castle sits. We stopped at a great medieval pub on the way up the hill for a beer (I think I ended up with two), and the continued making our way up to the castle. We were able to walk though the courtyards and the church for free, it seems more like a small town than a castle it’s so expansive.

We headed back to the apartment where we got to sample the free beer, it was nicht so gute, as they say in German, so we went across the street to the St. Christopher’s hostel where we had supper. We decided to do the Clock Tower Bar Crawl that night. There were 7 of us that went out, the night started out with 2 and half hours of unlimited drinks which took their toll on some, but I think a good night was had by all. We met lots of interesting people and a couple crazy people.

The next morning we picked up some souvenirs before trying to get to the train/bus station to get the bus. We ended up having to full out run to get there in time, but we made it! It was a great final weekend with the other Canadians, Prague is a beautiful city and I definitely plan to return someday, there is much more to see.

That was very brief, but it’s after midnight and I don’t want to miss my flight tomorrow. I missed my train this morning, but that was okay, missing my flight isn't really an option. I think I’ll try to write one more blog once I get back home to wrap up this incredible summer!

One Last German Weekend

I was the last one to leave the office on Friday, it's difficult to stay when there is absolutely no one else there, so I left around 2pm. I took the bus into the center of town in Donaueschingen, the place I'm working, and went to the Furstenberg brewery to buy a beer glass as a souvenir and a stopped at the souvenir shop and bought a couple magnets and a shot glass as it was probably the last chance to do so. I've come to realize that nearly all the souvenirs I've bought are beverage related: countless shot glasses, beer glasses, a small beer stein, coffee mugs, beer coasters, actual booze, and a few magnets, which go on fridges to hold drinks. These things are also quite breakable, I really hope I can make it back with all things intact.

After posting my Switzerland blog Friday evening, I downloaded 3 episodes of Breaking Bad and had a relaxing night watching that, something I haven't done all summer. I was able to sleep in until about 7:45am Saturday morning, I just can't sleep later, it's terrible. Although if I can keep getting up early when I'm back at school I might be able to get to the gym before class, something I desperately need to do. This beer, bread, and bratwurst diet, combined with copious amounts of ice cream, gelato, and starchy German delicacies, has really taken its toll. I might have to try to go back and do the gluten free thing again!

I caught the train around 9:30am, switched trains in Neustadt, and arrived at my destination, Seebrugg, around 11:30am. Seebrugg is a 'town' on the end of the Schluchsee, the largest lake in the Black Forrest and the highest lake in Germany with an elevation of 930m above sea level. I had originally tried to stay in the town of Schluchsee, but the hostel there was fully booked. Seebrugg ended up consisting of a hotel, the train station, a beach, and the hostel. It was a tiny place, perfect for a relaxing day in the Black Forest.  I was too early to check into the hostel, so a walked along the lake for about a kilometer until I reached the dam that was built to create the lake in the 1930's. I had a very German lunch of a beer and 'grillwurst mit pommes' at a beer garden next to the dam. I headed back to the hostel and was able to check in when I arrived around 1:00pm. I ended up getting a lot more than I thought I would at this hostel. For 27.50 Euro I got a bed in a 6 bed dorm that I ended up having all to myself, supper, breakfast, and a pass that allowed me to take the trains in the Black Forest for free on Saturday and Sunday, it also gives you discounts at many places in the region. I didn't have to buy a ticket home because my town is included, that would have been another 10-15 Euro alone!

 I spent the afternoon at the beach, got mildly burnt, but not as near as bad as I thought. I did manage to bring, and apply, sunscreen and it actually worked. The water was extremely refreshing due to the altitude, but it was scorching hot out, it had to be in the mid to high 30's. I saw a sign on the way there at 10:30am that said it was 30 degrees already. After I determined I was sufficiently cooked, I headed back to the hostel, a 2 minute walk next door, grabbed a beer and relaxed on the patio. I had supper at 6, all great German food, I ate way too much as usual, the cheese spetzle is just so good. After dinner I went for a walk in woods, having no idea where the trail headed so I turned around before I got lost as the sun was going down. I grabbed my pass from the hostel and took the train over to the town of Schluchsee, walked around the town a bit and grabbed an ice cream before heading back to the hostel. I was tired enough to go to bed at 9 o'clock, but the hostel room was like an oven, I laid there for an hour with this knot looking like a face staring down at me. I went back outside an walked along the lake for a while trying to cool down. I ended up throwing a mattress on the floor and sleeping under the window, the beds were too short anyways. I woke up around 3am freezing, but at least I had lots of blankets. 

I got up around 7:45am again since breakfast was only served from 7:30-9am and check out was at 9am. Sounds like a really early check out but this hostel was full of youth groups and families with young children, such a change from the typical party hostel full of English-speaking people. There was only the owner and one family that could speak English at this place, I tried to ask the other staff a question and they couldn't answer at all, and they were about my age, it was even a change from here in Schwenningen. I checked out of the hostel and caught the train at 8:40am. I wasn't sure where I'd go since I had this pass but I ended up going all the way to Freiburg, I slept most of the way. Since it was Sunday everything was closed so I went for a bit of hike in the hills looking for the observation tower. It was getting very hot, Freiburg is the sunniest city in the country, and having my backpack on wasn't helping. I was going to give up but I saw this tower so I headed towards it.

This bridge had a sign on it but I couldn't read it, and the barricades were a little off-putting, but it wasn't that far of a fall if I did fall though. I ventured across and survived. 

The door to the tower was open, I expected to come across a homeless person at this point, but I didn't, so I kept going.

There was a ladder to climb the tower, so up I went.

It was about 3/4 of the way up the ladder that the though crossed my mind that no one in the world knows where I am at the moment, I hope this ladder is sturdy.  I was treated to this great view once I climbed through the hatch at the top.

I made my way down without falling, and I discovered that the tower was accessible without having to cross the derelict bridge. I also passed by the little cave under the tower where the homeless likely sleep. Glad I didn't run into any, there is a particularly crazy one in Freiburg we came across on our last visit.

On my way back down the hill I took a few more pictures and stopped at an awesome beer garden on the side of the hill for lunch. My lunch consisted of a beer and a pretzel, not much of a meal, but it was delicious after walking up and down the hill. I took the elevator from the beer garden the rest of the way down and headed back into the city center. I stopped at the tourist bureau where I got a 5 Euro city guide for free because of that pass. It was nearly 1pm at this point so I headed to the Munster, the biggest church in Freiburg, where the tower was open at 1pm. I paid 1.50 Euro to climb to the top and got another great view of the city. It was one of the narrowest stairways I've encountered to climb a tower, passing people on the way down was really fun.

 The terrible bar we got dragged into on a previous visit

 Not sure what happened on the second line

After climbing the tower I headed back to the train station where I caught the train heading back to Neustadt. I got off the train at Titisee, where I decided to go for another swim. It was the most packed I've ever seen the place, and this was my third time there. I went to the place we had been to twice before, getting a discount because of the card which was nice, but it was so packed. The great thing is the most Germans, in my experience, prefer to lay on the grass than the beach so I was able to put my stuff on the beach and be able to keep an eye on it while in the water. Always a plus when travelling with your phone, camera, passport, and all access to your money, but I've found  this part of Germany very safe, similar to the Maritimes in that sense.

I got back to Schwenningen shortly after 6:30pm and immediately did the laundry that desperately needed to be done. I have to work on the production line this week for three days, and didn't know that you can wear shorts when it's ridiculously hot, so I wore black jeans and thought I was going to die. Monday was one of the most difficult days so far, and doing the exact same thing for nearly 9 hours doesn't help. Thankfully they gave us ice cream bars in the middle of the afternoon so I got a bit of a break then. Because I follow the same hours as when I work in the office which are really flex hours, I overlap two of the shifts in the factory so I get to meet lots of people who don't speak English, it's great haha! But the woman in charge of the second shift made my day when she told me she was very glad to see me back in the factory because she loves the opportunity to speak English and hasn't been able to since she was an au pair in the states for a year. She was still confused as to why I would come to Germany because 'there are so many much nicer places to go.' I think Germany is pretty nice though. Today I worked with a woman who spoke no English at all, but she was probably one of the friendliest people I've met since getting here. She gave me Russian candy on the break, and kept giving me other candy during the day, she realized my back was killing me from being hunched over so she told me to go outside a couple of times to stretch, it was a life saver. I could understand a bit of the German she spoke to me and she knew Canada better than most, she knew of a few "lesser known" cities including Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Halifax.

Less than two weeks to go, and only 7 work days left!

I think all this writing is due to the fact that the only conversation I've had with a native English speaker in the last week was with my mom on Skype. Hard to believe I've now written over 25,000 words this summer, I really thought this wouldn't survive a month.