Athens, Delphi and the dreaded arrival of Erin and Jo.

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. Apparently I am terrible at this blogging thing.

So anyway, I arrived in Athens on August 13th from Prague via Berlin. It was a long day. I ended up booking a flight from Berlin to Athens because it was much cheaper than booking a flight from Prague to Athens, but in the end it was probably more stress than I needed. I had to take the tram from my hostel in Prague to the train station. Silly me, I didn't check which train station, so eventhough I was pushing it close for time as it was, I had to take a twenty minute metro ride to the other train station in Prague and catch my train to Berlin from there. Luckily for me, I made it by the skin of my nose, but not before have to elbow my way past some Prague paparazzi (they weren't there for me. I assume it was some Czech athlete they were following, but I actually have no idea). Anyway, I made it and I even got a seat to boot! Unfortunately, because of my unexpected train station mix-up I had no time to eat breakfast, but the lovely woman at my hostel sent me off with a chocolate bar and an orange juice, which was so sweet of her. If you stay in Prague, The Boathouse Hostel is amazing, even if it is a ways outside the city centre. Anyway, I made it to Berlin in ample time. It was weirdly pleasant arriving at Berlin Hbf. I think it's because it was familiar, and typically when I arrive somewhere it is completely foreign.

I flew to Athens on EasyJet, which is a budget airline where they don't assign you a seat. It is a free for all when you get on the plane. It's like in kindergarten where everybody wants to be first in line. I was near the end, but I still managed to get a window seat, which was exciting. It's always nice to have something to lean against while you sleep.

Anyway I made it to my hostel after only about half an hour of thinking I was going to die trying to find my hostel. All in all, not too bad for me. The hostel was in kind of a sketchy area, but I arriived alive, so all was well. I won't bore you with the details of what I did while I awaited Jo and Erin's arrival on the 16th (here's a hint: a lot of sleeping in and walking around Plaka). Let's just get to the good stuff, shall we.

On the 16th, I changed hostels in preparation for the arrival of Erin and Jo! I was very excited to see them, but it didn’t last long. It soon dawned on me, that, as Erin so eloquently put, my time with them came when they were almost too weird for human contact. They told me they were hoping I could put back them back on the path of civilized interaction with society at large. I sadly suspected, correctly as it turns out, that it was their weirdness that would infiltrate my brain and in turn make me join the ranks of the weirdoes. But who am I kidding, I was doing pretty well at being weird all on my own.

Anyway, our first night together we decided to go down to Plakas and try one of the restaurants recommended in the LP. It was a nice time. Then we went back to our hostel and decided to partake in our free drink. It was Ouzo. I'm pretty sure I've had it before, and we set it on fire, but Erin thinks I'm thinking of Sambuca. Mom and Dad, care to weigh in on this? We got some Greek beer as chasers. I think it was called Alpha. It was pretty good. Then we headed up to our room where I blew both Jo and Erin's minds by showering! Apparently showering every day is slightly weird, and almost unheard of in the world of around the world travellers. I think I've started to come around to their way of life a bit, although I really hate the feeling of being sweaty, so maybe this philosophy works better in a colder climate (at least for me).

We decided that the next day we would do the Acropolis and some other ruins. I'm gonna go ahead and gloss over this part because Erin and Jo covered it in detail on their blog, and if you really want to read about it it's linked on the left side of this screen. Frankly I am just being a lazy bones. I think we went to the Archeological museum that afternoon. That was a fun time. Jo was especially excited for anything Zeus related, or at least that's my story.

The following day we went to Delphi. Delphi was really cool. It is the site of the Temple of Apollo, where, in antiquity, people would make treks to ask the Oracle, who sat in the Temple and had the gift of site, to prophesise about anything from political matters to personal matters. There was also an ancient track (for running) and a theatre. Further down there was a temple to Athena, so we visited that as well.

While we were venturing all around Delphi we decided to try and name all of the states in the USA. I don't even know how it came up, but I mentioned how not one, but two Americans on two separate occassions had told me that there were 52 states. You'd think they would know, seeing as this is their country they are referring to. Anyway we spent at least an hour trying to figure out the last three states, before we decided that we would wait until we got back to Athens so we could actually write the list and make sure there were no repeats. Sure enough, later that night, we sat at a cafe and ruined our dinner by dwelling on those last two states that we could just not come up with. We went back to the hostel, all of us a bit put out by the conundrum laid out before. Thank goodness for Google. It turns out there are only 50 states. I think we all felt a bit stupid. No wonder Americans are so bad at geography. Fifty states and 50 state capitals is a lot to remember. We're pretty lucky Canada only has ten provinces and three territories.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to get our ferry to Santorini. I can't speak for the girls, but I was pretty excited for some beach time. Despite a slight hold up, we made it in time. We even had time to get some street donuts. More on the ferry next time.

Prague in Pictures (mostly)

I'm going to do this blog a little bit differently. For the most part I'm just going to provide an explanation to these pictures instead of giving you a rundown of what I did, because, frankly, I think it will be really boring to read. A lot of these pictures aren't great, so I apologize. I might elaborate on things a bit here and there, especially for interesting places I visited, but was unable to photograph for whatever reason.

This is Charles Bridge. It is the most famous bridge in Prague. This picture is not the best, but it has a lot of statues along it. The most notable of these is the statue of St. John of Nepomuk, who was said to have been thrown off the bridge into the river because he refused to tell King Wenceslas what his Queen had confessed. The statue has to reliefs on either side. Touching the relief of St. John (I think it is an image of his corpse) is said to bring good luck, but be sure not to touch the relief of the dog. Some university students polished it up with steel wool as a prank, and touching it is said to bring bad luck.

Here is the bridge from a closer angle. Another notable fact about this bridge is that it is the only one in the world (at least, as far as I know) that was built using eggs. The story goes that eggs were mixed with the mortar to give the bridge strength (protein builds muscle!) A few years ago some scientists tested the mortar of the bridge and it showed that there was traces of organic matter, so this is one Prague legend that is probably true.

This is the monument to Jan Hus, leader of the Hussites, who were one of the earliest protestant groups (about a hundred years before Martin Luther). Jan Hus was burned alive for his heretical beliefs, and his execution started a period of religious unrest in Prague.


This is the Old Town Hall. It was badly damaged in WWII. This is what remains of it today. After the execution of Jan Hus, a group of his followers ran up the steps of this building, grabbed some Catholics, and threw them out the window onto spikes (just in case the fall didn't kill them).

This is one of the most famous attractions in Prague. It is the Astronimical Clock on the side of the Old Town Hall. It is not actually used to tell time. Instead it is meant to mark the phases of the moon, the seasons, and Saints days. From something like 6:00-21:00 on the hour the little doors at the top open and the twelve apostles roll past, while the four little figures just below move. They represent vanity, greed, death, and corruption. Death rings a bell and the other figures shake. Then the golden cock lets out a pathetic sound, similar to a balloon deflating. Legend has it that the creator of the clock, Master Hanus, was blinded by the city council after the clock was completed so he could not go and build an even better clock elsewhere. He was not too pleased about this, so he cursed the clock and it didn't work for 100 years.

This is me wearing my new sunglasses. I'm still not sure I like them, but at least they have the potential to leave interesting tan lines on my forehead.

I am actually not too sure what the story with this building is, but isn't it cool? I'm sure I saw a picture of it somewhere weeks before I went to Prague, so I'll try to relocate that picture, and hopefully with it will be some kind of explanation.

This is a monument to Kafke outside of his birthplace in Prage. Kafke is everywhere around the city, which is not surprising as he is probably the most famous person ever to come from Prague.

This entranceway is all that remains of the original building that Kafke was born in.

This is another monument to Kafke in the Jewish Quarter. That's him atop a headless, handless, and footless man. This sculpture is modelled after a nightmare Kafke had in which he was being chased by the aforementioned man, and instead of running away he decide to climb up the man and have a look around. This sculpture is located just outside of the Spanish synogogue, which is part of the Jewish museum.

Prague has the oldest Jewish community in all of Europe, and also one of the largest collections of artifacts relating to Jewish culture. This is, somewhat perversely, thanks to the Nazis, who hoped to open a museum to an extinct race. I went through most of the Jewish museum (I only skipped the Old New Synogogue, which was a mistake, as it is the oldest synogogue in Europe). The most moving exhibits were in Pinkas Synogogue, which has all the names of the Jews from Prague who had been exterminated in the Holocaust painted on the walls in tiny letters. There is also an exhibit of artwork created by children who were held in the Terezin concentration camp. This particular camp was used as a propaganda tool to dispel rumours of the extermination camps set up around Europe. On two separate occassions they allowed the Red Cross in to investigate and on both occassions the Red Cross was fooled. There were many children at this camp, but as the allies moved in on Prague, the Jews were sent off to Auschwitz where most of them perished in the ovens. When I visited Sachsenhausen I was surprised at how angry I felt. The exhibit at the Pinkas Synagogue had the opposite effect. I was really moved, and greatly saddened by what I saw.

The other part of the museum that really stood out for me was the Old Jewish Cemetary. I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but you can get an idea of what it looks like if you type in "Old Jewish Cemetery Prague" in Google images. You should definitely check it out. It was actually the partial inspiration for Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Berlin (which you should also google, because my pictures don't do it justice). Because the Jews were forbidden from burying there dead outside of this small cemetary, the bodies are stacked up to 15 people deep. There are approximately 15,000 gravestones in the cemetery, including that of Rabbi Loew. Rabbi Loew built a golem to protect the Jewish people of Prague. One day he forgot to take the sacred scroll from the mouth of the golem, and said golem went on a rampage, damaging anything in his path. Rabbi Loew was forced to put the golem out of commission, and he stored him in the rafters of the Old New Synogogue. The story goes that during the Nazi occupation of Prague one Nazi officer was skeptical of the golem story. He went up to the rafters of the synogogue to investigate and he was never heard from again.

This was a sign in the Jewish Quarter that struck me as funny.

This is a memorial to Jan Palach, a young philosophy student who, in 1969, set himself on fire to protest the Soviet invasion of the country. There is a cross in Wenceslas Square which marks the spot where he died.

This old guy was just hanging around.

This is a view of Prague Castle in the daytime. It is the largest castle complex in the world. I did a tour of the outside, but I did not venture in.

The same as above, but at sunset. I like this shot better.

This is a fake grotto from one of the palaces inside the castle complex. If you look at it long enough you are meant to see faces of monsters and creatures in the stalatites (that one's for you Jill).

This is a view through the trees of St. Vitus Cathedral. It took over 600 years to complete! It was only completed in 1929.

It is the only cathedral in the world that has men wearing 20th century suits on it.

These are the architects who completed the cathedral in 1929 and decided to leave a piece of themselves behind.

Okay, well that's it for Prague, unless I can think of something else at a later date. I have a video I would like to upload, but we'll have to see if Blogger allows it to happen.

Cesky Krumlov... river rafting while drunk is a bad idea... especially when you're with Australians

A view of the castle and the town.

I am a terrible updater. Jess, I am especially sorry to you for failing you in aiding and abetting your procrastination, especially in view of all the aid you gave me in my own procrastination throughout the years. I am truly contrite. Anyway, I partially blame the lateness of this post on how lame Blogger was being about letting me upload photos. Let's hope Blogger has learned its lesson and won't let this happen again. Anyway, get on with it.

I spent two nights in Cesky Krumlov, which is a tiny town in the Czech Republic. It's actually the place where the movie Hostel was (at least partially) filmed, but I didn't know that until after I'd arrived. I haven't actually watched that movie, but I have seen the clip where the girl's eyeball explodes, and that was more than enough for me. Thank you cultural studies seminar! Anyway, other than being kind of creeped out by that knowledge I actually had a lot of fun in Cesky Krumlov. I stayed in this hostel called Hostel 99. I actually booked it with out knowing anything about it, but it seemed like almost immediately after I'd booked all I heard from everyone I met was how cool the town and the hostel were, and how I had to do the river rafting trip they offer there. I guess I just have great foresight.

Just a side note: the room I stayed in at the hostel was called "The Seven Dwarfs" room. Magical.

After I arrived in CK I was not really up to doing too much. Apparently it takes a lot longer to get from Vienna to Ck than I had initially imagined, so I was actually kind of tuckered out. I had a long Skype convo with Jess, and chatted to my Japanese roommate. She was super nice and she was going to P.E.I. in September so we had much to talk about (mostly I talked, and mostly about the Maritimes and how awesome they are!). She was really cool, but she left super early the next morning so we didn't get much time to hang out.

I got up the next morning and decided to just walk around the town. It's really tiny. You can pretty much walk from one end to the other in fifteen minutes. I took a bit longer than that. I explored the outside of the castle, and the bear pits (don't know if they call them that,but that's what they were essentially). I also payed out to visit the castle cellars, which would not have been as cool as my imagination believed had it not been for this really weird art installation they had going. I have posted a picture below. Wish I could remember the name of the artist, but I know he was a local.

This was titled "Woman Guarding the Bowels"

Bear pit bear. Unlike the Bern bears, visitors are not encouraged to feed these guys. Well, at least they have vegetation down there.

Some pretty flora, a nice view, and some old people enjoying that view.

After I was through exploring the city, I headed back to the hostel. I decided to follow the advice of, well pretty much everybody I'd met, and do the river rafting. I met another girl who was also going on the boat trip and she suggested we go buy some cans of beer. Apparently alcohol was allowed, nay, encouraged on this particular river raft (before you ask, this was not in white water. More of a gentle stream). Anyway, we failed to obtain beer, but not to worry. Not only are you allowed to drink on the raft, but apparently there are also bars along the river at which we could stop. The other surprise was that we were on our own. Well, us and about six Australian dudes (who were not all travelling as a unit I might add). And then the manager of the hostel chose to tell us that only one group had ever got lost (ie: gone past the meeting point) on this trip. Oh yes, it was a group of Australians. Maybe that's why there are always so many Australians wandering around. They aren't travelling, they're just lost. Well, I'm not oone to judge, especially considering my history with directions (thanks again for the GPS mom and dad. It really gets me out of some sticky situations all involving ice cream... South Park reference? Anybody?).

Anyway, we made it to the first bar. I had one beer. I was drunk. Everyone else got a traveller. I just got back into the boat. We made it to the second bar. I had a beer. I got abused because I am Canadian. I was still drunk. I refused to get another beer for the ride, but it was to no avail I'm afraid. I was threatened, coaxed, and finally just handed a beer. I successfully drank about half, and then spilled the rest all over myself. I got yelled at. At this point someone also had the bright idea to let the girls steer the boat, which meant I was steering the boat. Alone. The boys were not even paddling. It was not really my fault that we ended up hitting a tree, and it was further not my fault that three people on the right side of the boat (myself included) were knocked into the river. Luckily it is a shallow river. And maybe it was a little bit my fault. No one was hurt, and actually the swim was pretty refreshing (though the current was a bit strong). We all got back into the boat and went to the third bar. When we got back into the boat, I was no longer allowed to paddle. Unfortunately most of the boys were not so into paddling so we just kind of slowly drifted down the river with one person attempting to steer. At this point you might imagine that a lot of people were pretty drunk. We were also all pretty soaked, and it was getting dark. We were supposed to be at the meeting point by eight and we had about 30 minutes to get there. Unfortunately the boys thought they had found another bar. They hadn't but they did find a guitar, with which they had a sing-a-long, while myself and two others tried to herd them back into the boat. Like herding cats, it was. We finally got them in the raft, and then tried to encourage them to paddle. They didn't. Two people were left paddling the boat, while the others seranaded us (if you can call it that) to the tune of Oasis, The Living End, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, and Avril Levigne (that last one was just to mock me). For the record I should say that I was demoted from being allowed to paddle, eventhough I offered. I wonder if that was some kind of commentary on my lousy steering...

After a few more delays (ie. people jumping out/being pushed off of the raft we finally made it to our meeting point. We were all alive, if a little bit cold and pretty freaking wet. The only casualties were my sunglasses, a bottle of vodka-orange juice, and one guy's (Matt, the most sober of the Australians) face, thumb, and toe. Matt chose to dive into the river without first testing the depth. This was before the drinking really started. He kind of looked like he'd been punched, but I digress. After all this we went back to the hostel to shower and then went out in search of food/beer (I was really just in it for the food. It was gnocchi and it was delicious). Somehow we got talking about the most famous people we have met (Jess's dad, ie. Iggy from Under the Umbrella Tree or Matt Farrah, depending on your perspective... after working for the ESL program this year I think he qualifies as an international celebrity) I discovered that one of the Australians had a friend who had met George Stroumboulopoulos. I was pretty impressed on several levels. Anyway, after all these adventures we were all pretty tuckered so we made our way back to the hostel to sleep. The next day I was off to Prague, and I finally finished that book about the North face of the Eiger. Huzzah!

Next time: Prague, or how I bought new sunglasses just to escape an uncomfortable situation.

A view of the upper part of the river we rafted. Note, we started much lower down on the river.

Apparently Canadians really are everywhere. This shop was near my hostel, and apparently they were having a sale.

Vienna: A bit of culture, a lot of salad

Giant crow at the Belvedere gardens. I realize you can't get a good idea of the scale of that thing from this picture, but I promise you he was huge.

If this blog has taught me one thing it's that my tendancy towards extreme procrastination extends far beyond the realm of schoolwork. Sigh... In anycase, this is a Vienna recap for all to read! Huzzah! So, let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). I arrived in Vienna late in the afternoon and went to the wrong hostel. In my own defence there are two Wombat hostels in Vienna, both within walking distance of Westbahnoff. Anyway, I arrived in my correct hostel with a little bit of help from the staff at the other Wombats hostel and all was well. Let me just say that the room was awesome, the beds were comfy, and the bathroom was ensuite. And there were only four beds in the room, which meant competition for the bathroom was minimal (people who were with me in Amsterdam know how unpleasant a 10 to 1 girl to bathroom ration can be, especially when all you need to do is pee). Anyway, I lucked out because all of my roommates were awesome as well. I was pretty tuckered out when I arrived because I had had something of a late night/early morning in Salzburg, so I just went into my room, met two of my roommates (Maggie and Steph) and read some more about mountaineering disasters. I actually fell asleep, but luckily I was awakened by the third roommate (Anna) arriving. She and I decided to go get a bite so we went to this cool place called Centimetres where you order your bread by the centimetre (get it?). We both got salads, and they were giant!

The next day Anna and I had breakfast and then we went out to explore the city. It was rainy, but I didn't mind. It was really nice to have someone to explore with because I am usually on my own (I always meet people in the hostels, but the majority of the time we do our own thing during the day and maybe hang out at night). We actually got lost, as is typical of me, and ended up in City Hall. Oops. Anyway, we eventually got sorted out and we decided to go to the Sisi Museum (which was suggested by LonelyPlanet). It was actually really cool and probably one of the best museums I've been to. It is a museum dedicated to the life of a nineteenth century Empress of the Hapsburg dynasty. She was quite unconventional, and even ahead of her time in some ways (she excercised everyday, which was not only uncommon at that time, but also frowned upon, especially for women). Anywa, I recommend that museum to anyone who has plans to visit Vienna in the near future. You won't be bored.

After the museum we went for lunch at this all organic restaurant. It was great! I had hummus and tzaziki and some falafel and... mmm. It was really good. Then we went back to the hostel and met our other roommate, Steph, for supper. We had sushi, and that was also delicious (although I was boring as always and got vegetable sushi and miso soup). We all went home after.

I got a bit of a late start the next day. Anna left early, so it was just Steph and me. We both did our own thing during the day time. I walked around the city and visited numerous churches. I don't remember a single name. Then I headed back to the dorm to meet Steph, because we were going to see the Weiner Hofburg Orchestra. It was great! There were five opera singers, as well as the orchestra and it was all very entertaining. There was also a running gag between the conductor and one of the percussionists, that was hilarious. Check out the video below.

Opera singers performing their encore.

Exterior of one of the many churches I visited. This one had full skeletons of martyrs taken from the catacombs in Rome on display in giant reliqueries.

On my last full day in Vienna I was on my own, because Steph left for Salzburg. I was pretty happy because there was no rain, so I decided to go to the Belvere palace and see the gardens and to see Klimpt's "The Kiss". The Upper Belvedere actually has a lot more art than I had anticipated, so I spent a while in there looking around. I also spent some time out in the gardens, which were beutiful. Then I went to get some supper. I ended up getting a salad, which was a little excessive, because I had been eating excessive amounts of salad for about a week, but it really hit the spot. I didn't even have room for desert, which was kind of a bummer because the tiramisu looked really good. Then I took the train to the English theatre to see if I could catch a showing of Harry Potter. I was about two and a half hours too late, so I went back to my room, showered, met my new roommates, who were all lovely, and read more about mountain disasters. The next morning I was off on another excessively long journey (with plenty of transfers, ie. no relaxation time) to Cesky Krumlov. More on that later.

The Upper Belvedere Palace.

Cheese dumplings for lunch. They tasted pretty good, but they really don't look very appetizing here. I think I only managed to eat half of this.

Some pics while I wait for my laundry

Here, as promised, are my pics from The Sound of Music tour. Prepare to be dazzled (and please overlook the shoddy photography).

This was the lake used during the scene where all the children and Maria fall out of the boat. Gretel couldn't swim, and she almost drowned! Anyway, the house here was not used as the exterior, but the veranda scenes were all filmed here as well until they moved the veranda to the building that was used for the exterior front and back of Von Trapp house.

The famous veranda where they filmed exterior shots for "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and the love scene between Maria and Captain Von Trapp. The interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage in Hollywood.

The tree lined street Maria ran up when she sang "I Have Confidence". The skippers are my tour mates from the hostel.

Me at the lake district near the church used for the wedding scene.

A nice view from the lake district.

The fountain they marched around during "Doe a Deer".

Me in front of a different fountain in the park where they sang "Doe a Deer".

I actually have a few more pics, and there were some locations that I didn't or couldn't take pictures, but this is a fairly good sampling of what we saw. I'll try to update about my Vienna adventures tonight, if it's not too crazy here.

Pictures of the Lütschine

Random train shot.

I tried to get some pics from the train of the river I rafted. They will just give you an idea of what it was like.
Not the best shots in the world. None of these shots are of the actual rapids, so they aren't that exciting.

The hills are alive, with the sound of muuuuuuuuuuusic

Gack! I have been terrible at updating lately! To think I haven't updated since Grindelwald! Shocking. Anyway, I am in Vienna at the moment. Terrible weather, but the city is lovely. But before I go on about that, Salzburg!

I arrived in Salzburg at around 10 p.m. after ten (!) hours on the train, and five transfers. I don't know what it is about travelling, but it takes more out of me than a day of hiking did. I arrived at my hostel (the Yoho International Hostel) and I was tuckered out, so I took a shower and went to bed. I also finished my book (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha) and started the one I bought in Grindelwald. It's called The White Spider and it was the only English book I had seen in a while. I was also trying to use up my Swiss francs. Anyway, it is about the history of mountaineering on the North face of the Eiger mountain, and it's pretty intense. A lot of people have died trying to climb that part of the mountain, some of them in really agonizing ways. Not a typical Kristi book, but I'm getting quite into it.

Anyway, back to Salzburg. I really only had one full day there, but that was fine because I basically had one main objective in going there in the first place: The Sound of Music tour. I was warned of the kitsch and the cheese, and frankly I didn't care. I had my heart set on it and I wasn't disappointed. They took us to all the locations in and around Salzburg where the film was set. We saw the palace they used as the exterior front and back of the Von Trapp estate, as well as the exterior they used for the back yard of the estate (you remember, with the lake). We saw the park and bridge where they sang "Doe a Deer" and the church where they got married in the film. We also had a singalong on the bus. I think I can safely say it was the cheesiest thing I have done on this trip, but also one of the most magical. I also met three girls from my hostel on the tour, and we hung out for supper and then agreed to get together the next morning to go to the Mozart residence and the Mozart museum. Two of the girls were Australian flutists who were having a lesson with the lead flutist for the Vienna Philharmonic. Pretty cool. Anyway, I left that afternoon for Vienna and arrived (exhausted) in the rain.

More on Vienna later. I'm going to publish this now, but I will come back and edit once I have the pictures from the tour uploaded onto the computer.