Praha, Okay I Love Ya

Day 13: Prague, Czech Republic

The last day of the Central Europe tour. Wah?

After discovering that Prague was actually much nicer on the western side of the Vltava River (Mala Strana) vs. the eastern side (Old Town and shopping areas), my mom and I spent our entire last day meandering through some of the most beautiful gardens that we've ever seen... a big thank you to the weather gods for the abundant sunshine! It was the most relaxing day out of the entire trip.

The Wallenstein Palace gardens had these tall shrubs that were a bit labyrinth-like, which then opened up to the Senate building and this pond that included a nice view of the Royal Palace on the hill. It looked like it had good feng shui, haha. My mom and I trailed this albino peacock for a good 15 minutes, only to find that he was trailing an albino peahen.

Then, I took my mom to a park named Petrin Hill, which was so steeply sloped that most people had to take a cable car up to the very top. As we clunked along, I noticed that there was a cafe that sat on the middle of the hill... apparently (according to Let's Go travel guide), that cafe is the most scenic spot to relax in Prague. Noted!

We stepped off the cable car and entered the most breathtaking rose garden. It was like the fragrance wafting from the flowers were continuously punching you in the face, making you delirious. Instead fields of gold, you could see fields of red, orange, yellow, pink, purple, white... for at least 100 yards each way. I have never seen roses in so many colors/shapes/types EVER. We sat there for a good hour, munching on tea and biscuits. It was no wonder that people were totally making out like animals in heat on the benches.

After we were done soaking up all the vibrant colors, my mom and I decided to walk down Petrin Hill instead of taking the cable car. It was a good idea, because the park was very well-maintained and you could see the Prague skyline easily through the tree boughs. We got to the cafe in the park, ordered a Pilsner and cappuccino, and fully accepted the fact that unlike the day before... we were having a grand ole time in Prague. :)

That was pretty much all there was left to see in Mala Strana, so we decided to cross over to the eastern side again and do some mindless shopping before our official farewell dinner with our tour group.

A thought-evoking tank/bulldozer mobius strip mural.

The farewell dinner was freaking off the hook, plus I got to play an instrument! Okay, it was only a clothes washer board + wooden spoon, but percussions are important in a band!!! My mom was a total show-off as usual and danced with all the old men. What a minx. The food was amazing, or at least I thought it was by the Nth glass of wine. A happy buzzed swirly way to cap off the tour -- I was truly sorry to say goodbye to all my 30 new adopted grandparents.

THANK YOU MOM

I had a blast!

And I'm so glad I did it with you.

:)

Praha, Dunno If I Love Ya

Day 11: Insufferable bus ride from Budapest to Prague, stopping briefly through Bratislava, Slovakia

Day 12, 13: Prague, Czech Republic

Let me just lay it out: I have a bipolar love-hate relationship with Prague. Firstly, I should have known better than to drink the Koolaid before even getting there. I was SO hyped up about the last leg of my Central Europe trip that I probably had some unreasonably high expectations (just like watching Despicable Me a few days ago). After pretty much everyone told me that "Prague is, like... the most gorgeous city in the world," what else was I supposed to believe?

Hellooooo, Emerald City!!!

Um, I should have kept my green-tinted glasses on.

Prague, also known as Praha, is the capital of the Czech Republic and has been a economic, social, and cultural hub of the Central European region for around a 1000 years. Although only 1.3 million people live in Prague, the city receives over 4 million tourists a year. Formerly part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia, and a Nazi German protectorate, the region changed hands and rulers countless times over the years. Since the city suffered relatively little damage during WWII, it has maintained its historic architecture and boasts an impressive collection of pieces from various art movements across the years (i.e. Art Nouveau, Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical).

Okay, so with that brief history synopsis out of the way, I'm going to first tell you what I disliked about Prague (and then move onto the stuff I enjoyed so we can end on a good note!). I know that I'm in the minority though, so you should take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Prague is beautiful... if you can overlook the ridiculous foot and vehicular traffic (both unsympathetically willing to mow you over), tacky kitchy crystal shops, immoral waiters, usurious money exchangers, giant billboards, and garbage cans with trash spilling over. It's unfortunate really, since the cobblestone streets are all lined with beautiful stucco buildings with ornate facades, and gorgeous bridges link both banks of Prague across the winding Vltava River. Personally, the citizens of the city make 40% of the experience for me, and I found them to not so friendly, even deceitful.

Crystal blobs, random scaffolding, metal fences, irregularly parked cars.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most overrated Old Town of them all?

I tried my best to take a good picture of the Old Town square, and since I couldn't, I decided to go in the opposite direction.

Just one of many ugly paperweight shops, oops... I mean "100% Viennese Crystal Boutiques".

Regardless, my mother finds these things irresistible... like a moth drawn to a flame.

And aren't we in Prague, not Vienna?

A standard currency exchange stand.

Come right up, get ripped off unless you exchange $3,451 USD with us!

I had a few defining experiences with the people of Prague that left a bad taste in my mouth. Tour books will tell you NEVER exchange money in Prague unless you're at a bank. Unlike Germany, Poland, and Hungary, you will never get a truly fair rate here and will always leave the exchange counter at least 15% poorer. My mom and I shopped for a decent currency rate, but the absolute worst was the one pictured above. At that time, 1 USD = ~20 CZK (kourna). 19.88 CZK was a really good rate, so it'd normally be an automatic no-brainer decision, except they often have this extra rule that if you exchange an "under limit" amount of money, your rate was reduced to 14.49 CZK per dollar. That's what happened when my mom asked to exchange 100 USD. Are you kidding me, a 27% commission?!! The woman pretended to do some fancy click-clack fingerwork on her calculator (taking a good 30 seconds) and then spat out the lower exchange rate. I mean seriously, what is 100 x 14.49? Would it take a mentally-impaired monkey more than 5 seconds to figure out? So while verifying a nice round number like 100 was easy for us, I could see many an unsavvy tourist falling into this trap and not realizing until much later. We walked away with the woman running after us, yelling and throwing out higher rates. At this point, I was so disgusted at this blatant attempt to rip us off, partially blaming the government for not imposing some sort of tourist-protection regulation.

My other crappy moment in Prague happened while my mom and I rested at a cafe that sat on one of the major squares. I'm always very careful to remember the price and total of the items I order when I travel abroad. When we were ready to leave, I asked for the check but the waiter came by quoting "100 CZK". Now I know that my Pilsner was 40 CZK and my mother's cappuccino was 55 CZK, which totals 95 CZK. I know that it's only 5 CZK difference but I would appreciate it if I actually got the physical receipt instead of a verbal quote. I brush this off as an innocent mistake on the waiter's part and when I get the receipt it says 95 CZK. I give him 100 CZK, but after a few minutes, I realize that he has absolutely no intent on giving me back my change. At this point I'm getting really angry, because there's a certain order of restaurant service that he's arbitrarily changed up to take advantage of me. As a customer, it's my right to decide how much to allocate to your service, unless your menu says "service charge included" (it didn't, in fact it said "service charge NOT included"). My mom told me to let it go, but I'm never one to let someone get away with shit like this unless my safety is in question. I asked him for the change again and then he rolled his eyes and loudly started complaining in Czech to his fellow waiters, which was highly disrespectful and pretty much indicative that he had intended to keep the money for himself. THIEF. I got my 5 CZK back and left with nothing on the table. Stupid move for him, since I would have tipped at least 10 CZK if he didn't try to steal my money.

Here is something pretty: the Astronomical Clock.

Photographed nicely here, but after waiting around openly panting in 95 degree heat, I expected more than some anti-climatic 5 second merry-go-round action when it struck the hour. Plus notice the scaffolding on the left? Just one of many scattered all over the area.

So as you can see, I really disliked Prague's Old Town area. It was just gross, overrun, and congested compared to all the other Central European Old Towns that I visited. However, that doesn't mean that Prague as a whole is ugly... in fact, it's a breath-taking city once you leave the Old Town section. So here officially ends my "Prague sucks" rant.

On the Vltava shore.

Things started picking up once we left the Old Town and traveled west towards the river. The riverbank is really peaceful and scenic, even though the famous Charles Bridge was overrun with tourists and vendors. Standing on the Charles Bridge itself was kind of nice even though it looked nothing like THIS (click link), but the real treat was the view of the river and the shore. As we kept on walking and ended up in the Mala Strana area (Lesser Town), I felt like I could finally enjoy Prague. Sigh of relief.

Over the Charles Bridge and onto Mala Strana, the promised land.

Time to go home and actually enjoy Prague tomorrow!

To Be Continued... (no more complaining, I promise!)

Shopping Spree in Hungaree

Day 10: The Danube Bend, Esztergom, Szentendre

Instead of spending another day in Budapest, my mom and I chose to take a daytrip to the Danube Bend. It was nice to take a break from seeing another 10 churches (although we did visit Hungary's most important church in Esztergom, which I'm going to skip over) and just have some silly light-hearted fun. :)

Firstly, here is the Danube Bend, where the river turns east-west to south-north. Not to sound like a downer, but I didn't find this natural phenomenon to be all that magical. It was scenic and all, but where's my pot of gold? Will someone tell me what's the big deal about a bendy river?

The Danube Bend.

You only need to look at it for 10 seconds, even though it took you an hour to get there.

Afterwards, the tour brought us to a Renaissance period-themed restaurant where people serve you in velvet flouncy outfits, call you Milady, and twang on lutes in the background. Think Medieval Times, but without the jousting. I was like, no way... seriously?! I LOVE THIS SHIT. :)

Each of us wore a Burger King-like paper crown. We had venison, potatoes, and endless refills of local wine. So. Freaking. Awesome.

I decree that everyday shall be Me Day.

Wait, where did everyone go? :(

After having our fill with fake Renaissance food and photo ops, we headed towards Szentendre, a small "artists' colony" just 30 minutes outside Budapest. It was basically an opportunity for the ladies to shop for really terrific souvenirs. If you walked down the street, you would see small groups of men shifting uncomfortably outside each store entrance, haha... suckers.

This was my favorite -- a handmade toy shop!!!

The artist is showing us a "secret box" that he made that has several hidden compartments. He supposedly crafted most of the wooden toys in this store.

I like how my mom is going "Oooooh..." in the back.

Fur hat!

Fuzzy pom-poms!

Wanted to get this so badly.

Settled for practicality and a picture instead.

:(

Hungarian Rhapsody

Day 9: Budapest, Hungary

As I briefly touched on before, Budapest is divided into two parts by the Danube River: Buda and Pest. They were actually two separate towns that eventually merged together into the capital of Hungary. The Buda side is considered the historic area where the Romans first settled in ~100 AD. The Pest side is considered the "modern" area where most of the current commercial and governmental activities take place. Interestingly, Buda is super hilly, but once you cross over the Danube River, the land flattens out like a pancake (Pest-side and across the rest of eastern Hungary).

I really enjoyed walking through Budapest because I think I got a decent feel of the city in just a day. It's a wee bit more grungy than Krakow (which makes it look less like Disneyland), but there's much more to see than the traditional Old Town area. Don't get me wrong, the "Old Town section" is still the prettiest and most historical area of any European city, but at this point I was getting tired of seeing the usual Cobblestone Roads + Castle + Church + Black Plague Monument = Old Town equation.

Heroes' Square.

One of the defining landmarks of Budapest, which shows the 7 Magyar chieftains that led the Hungarian people into latter-day Hungary in the 9th Century, as well as other prominent Hungarian leaders. It was built in celebration of Budapest's millennium anniversary in 1896.

We spent most of the morning wandering through the Castle District, which was located on the highest peak in Buda. Unfortunately there was a lot of scaffolding going on and I wasn't able to take many good photos of the actual Old Town area, but the view across the Danube River over to Pest was clear and beautiful.

The view of Pest from the Fishermen's Bastion.

The red dome in the distance is the Hungarian Parliament, seriously one of the most gorgeous buildings I've ever seen.

Matyas Church.

I've never seen patterned tiles on the roof of a church before -- have you?

After WWII, most of the buildings in the Castle District were destroyed if not severely damaged. This is really the running theme of Central Europe... the Hungarians rebuilt their city, but left this former Ministry of Defense building in its bullet-ridden condition as a stark reminder of the war. If you looked closely you could still see blobs of molten lead in the center of each hole.

Hungary cat.

I found this little guy snarfing down food behind the building's boarded up window. It was a lucky shot, since I had to stick my camera blindly under the metal bars.

After the brief morning tour, my mom and I decided to wander Budapest by ourselves, starting along the main Pest river bank and then up Andrassy Avenue, where all the fancy shops, museums, and Opera House were located.

Inside St. Stephen's Basilica.

So unlike Poland where 90% of the country is Roman Catholic, only ~50% of all Hungarians consider themselves Catholic. St. Stephen, who was the first King of Hungary, introduced Christianity to his pagan country in 1000AD, and is actually one of the few saints recognized by both the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

St. Stephen's Basilica was ornate, decorated with marble of all colors. Guess what... this marble is FAKE. Fake fake fake! Hungary has a lot of raw materials, but marble is not one of them. Because they only wanted to construct its buildings out of domestically harvested materials for its millennium celebration in 1896, the Hungarians devised a method to make their own "marble" out of crushed stone, paint, wax, and adhesives. Wonder how St. Stephen's Basilica manages to have over 50 marble colors? Just take out your crayon box! Funny though since "fake marble" actually costs 3x more than real marble, but that's just another example why Hungarians are considered as a whole to be a very stubborn group of people.

At Market Hall where you can load up on souvenirs for all your foodie friends!

For lunch we âté goose pâté.

I noticed a pattern while travelling through these Central European countries -- each place had a landmark or an area that they called the "Paris of [ ______ ]", "Champs-Élysées of [ ______ ]", "Venice of [ ______ ]"... it's like they have some sort of inferior complex or something. Well here we are now at Andrassy Avenue, the "Champs-Élysées of [Budapest]".

The House of Terror Museum, former headquarters of the Hungarian Nazi Party.

The Hungarian State Opera House -- models posing together right after a fashion show.

Their lips/clothes were really THAT bright! They look good together, but which one of these outfits are actually wearable?

One of many beautiful yet vacant buildings on Andrassy Avenue.

Many of these houses were still boarded up, overgrown with weeds, empty. I'm sure that Budapest has made huge steps in revamping itself since the fall of Communism, but it's clear that there's still a ways to go for the city to regain its former glory.

In front of Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park.

So THIS is the type of insanity that I had to deal with on this trip:

Mom: Ooh, look... I want to take a photo of that castle!

Me: Okay. [Looks down into purse to take out camera.]

Mom: [Already in position.] Look at me! Are you ready?!

Me: [Looks up. Feels an immediate hurling sensation.] What... are you doing?!

Mom: Yea, I look fabulous don't I? [Strikes 10 different poses.]

Me: I'm going to put an end to this.

[Snaps one and leaves the scene of the crime.]

On the Metro back to our hotel.

A lovely evening stroll across Chain-bridge, with a charming silhouette of Buda.

I soaked in thermal baths for each of the 3 nights that I was in Budapest. Apparently one of the main reasons why the Romans settled in Buda was so they could enjoy its thermal springs (how indulgent)! My hotel conveniently had a spa in its basement so I didn't have to travel to any of the public bath houses. Although the hotel bath were not nearly as fancy as the famous bath houses, it was still a fantastic way to unwind and decompress after punishing my feet for 8 hours straight. Ah, I miss Budapest...

Sloggin' Thru Slovakia

Day 8: On the road from Krakow to Budapest, via the Slovak Republic

What to say about Slovakia? Well, it used to be part of CzechoSLOVAKIA until 1993... which is why my stagnated 4th Grade brain didn't really process that the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic had a divorce until very recently. Like a few weeks ago. I'm going to hide in a corner now!

Okay, I'm back from my self-imposed time out. Driving through Slovakia was a well-needed rest day from all the walking we were doing for the week before. We saw endless fields of domesticated vegetation (beets, corn, poppies?) and lush hills and valleys. We all caught up on sleep, especially my mom who decided to burka-burka the heck out. I also learned a fair amount about the country's history, but I'm going to opt out explaining it since I don't have a good picture-to-text ratio because I was on the bus most of the time. Go Wiki!

This is actually my scarf over her face. As you know, Asian women over the age of 10 are deadly afraid of sun rays. Even if they're already in an enclosed vehicle.

The border between Poland and Slovakia.

Yes, it's really that easy...

We Americans are surprised.

When we finally arrived in Budapest (Hungary), it was starting to get dark. Our hotel was at the end of Arpad Hid on the Buda side of the city, so my mom and I decided to take a sunset stroll across the bridge through Margit Island and over to Pest.

Midway over Arpad Hid.

So pretty, no photo retouching at all here!

Sunsets are always lovely, especially when you first land in a new place.

The air was teeming with mosquitoes!!! I seriously exposed my index finger to press the camera button for 2 seconds and within that moment an enterprising mosquito landed on it and took a big chomp. I guess it was a Hungary mosquito. *ahem*

Budapest.

Czechoslovakia.

Brangelina.

Krakow (Part II)

Day 6, 7: Krakow, Poland (continued)

The best thing about Krakow was the opportunity to see slivers of non-touristy stuff (museums, churches, and the like). We were lucky enough to stumble upon a Polish Renaissance Faire, which totally made my day!! It was a weekend event along the Vistula River under Wawel Hill, and most of the people there seemed to be from the area.

This was a station where you could make those traditional Polish hair wreaths.

Now you see why lots of fashion models come from Eastern Europe...

The Old Town square was pretty fun for people-watching. As I mentioned earlier, I liked this area a lot because it was really really big and clean, lined with cafes and their brightly colored potted plants. It was a real local feel. Of course there were some touristy stuff, like...

I love the expression on my mom's face, it's like she's seeing a leprechaun or unicorn... except this is a sad old trick, commonly executed in Times Square, New York! To be fair, their costumes WERE the best I've seen on a "human statue", and my mom was so tickled that she paid to take a picture with them. Stimulating the local economy is never a bad thing. :)

Pigeons. Also known as cockroaches that fly.

I yelped while taking this photo... some guy thought it'd be hilarious to start throwing bread crumbs at me.

Here are some unavoidable jumping shots, which were fun for the first minute until I realized that my mom had nooooooooo idea how to take a picture, making me jump literally a hundred times with no air to show for it. (I seriously think that 99.99% of Asian mothers are technologically incompetent, often choosing to physically unplug the TV rather than push the on/off button on a remote control.) This is one of the less awkward ones that she took, which doesn't have me looking like I'm squatting to take a crap. My mom looks fabulous though. :)

We also went to the weekend flea market in Kazimierz, the old Jewish district. The market was at their main square called Plac Nowy, which was actually quite dirty and unkempt. If you only had one day in Krakow, I'd recommend you skip out on Kazimierz. The stalls did have a few interesting things, but New York also has some pretty kick-ass flea markets and at the end of the day, unless you know what you're looking for, your eyes start to get swirly real fast.

Knick-knacks.

FACTOID: Did you know bagels originated from Krakow?!

An obwarzanek krakowski stand with its sour-faced owner. I asked his permission to take this photo, actually. I'm also probably the nth person that day to do so (but no I didn't buy a bagel, haha).

I was tired of Polish cuisine at this point and all their pierogi Chinese dumpling business, so I decided to try some Russian fare for change since I figured this was the closest I'd get to its borders. Since I couldn't read the menu, I asked the waitress for some authentic dishes to recommend, and THIS is what she brought me:

... freaking Russian wontons. GAHHHHHH!!! After looking this up online, I think they're called pelmeni.

You like pierogi, I like pelmeni. You like tomato, I like tomahto.

Pierogi, pelmeni, tomato, tomahto... let's call the whole thing off!

But then I had a splendid dark Ukrainian beer, got tipsy, and forgot how much I disliked pierogi/pelmeni in no time. :)