Puking All the Way to Prague

My first day in Bratislava was as bad as my last night in Budapest. Far from the three wild nights of clubbing I had envisioned in one of Eastern Europe's party meccas, I wanted to die as we trudged accross the city towards our hostel. I couldn't throw my things on the floor fast enough to get in bed and slide into a fevered sleep. Except for frequent trips to the bathroom I didn't move until I was persuaded to wake up at 10:00 p.m. to get some food. To be fair, it seemed like a good idea - I hadn't eaten anything since that fateful hamburger on the Vaci Utca. Let me repeat that: it seemed like a good idea... A cup of chicken noodle soup later, I was back in the bathroom puking. If I hadn't felt so awful I would have found some humor in the fact that anyone who heard me outside the stall would think I'd drank too much, considering we were at a pub. Despite spending my senior year of high school in Germany, and a year of college at UGA, that was my first time ever being sick away from home, and for the first time since I'd been traveling, I wished I was back in Davidson. It was especially hard for me to be sick in Europe because I didn't feel completely at liberty to rest and get healthy. I couldn't shake the thought that I might only be in Bratislava once, and I was missing out so I kept pushing my strength until I started to feel sick again. I still managed to snap a few pictures, mostly on the last day, before we hopped back on the Hydrofoil to head to Vienna.

I hadn't expected how "at home" it would make me feel to be back in a German speaking country. I had gotten so used to being baffled by the local language in Hungary and Slovakia that it was weird to be able to understand advertisements, television, and ask directions without the use of sign language. Being sick in Slokavia made me extremely uncomfortable but I felt much more at ease somewhere where I could look after myself better.

Another huge advantage of being in Vienna at that time was that Austria was co-hosting of the 2008 Euro Cup! We spent 3 nights in Vienna and every single evening from 6:00 to 10:45 we were in the Eurocup fan zone watching soccer with thousands and thousands of rabid fans. Alex and I would literally wake up and think god... what are we going to do until 6:00? Vienna is chock full of museums and culture but I honestly had no interest in them. I spent my mornings and afternoons trying to rest up and get healthy before watching the games. As a rule, I don't take my camera anywhere I think it might get damaged or lost (i.e. clubs, surging seas of drunk fans) so I don't have any pictures of the madness but it was quite an experience. We were lucky enough to get to see the Austrian national team play Poland while we were there. Sadly our prayers for an Austrian victory were not answered, starting a disappointing trend of watching home team after home team lose as we were poised to party with the locals.

The only "cultural outing" I did attend was a trip out to Schonberg Palace, the historical seat of the Hapsburg empire. I got a few nice shots out there, but the highlight of the day was watching Sheena hopelessly lost in the hedge maze. Everyone on the trip already knew that Sheeners is "directionally challenged" but this was truly hilarious because I was in a perfect position to look on and laugh as she kept walking into the same dead ends.

You can see the frustration on her face.

We rode the first train of the trip to Prague after our time in Vienna was zu ende. Even without reservations, we managed to score a booth all to ourselves and Sabrina proclaimed that this was in fact a real train unlike the other trains we rode during our stint in England. Her justification for this was that it reminded her of the Hogwarts train and therefore making it "real" in her world.

These two pictures were taken in Prague's main square, where the viewing screens were set up for the Eurocup. We turned up there on the night of the Czech Republic vs. Turkey game to watch the Czech Republic jump out to a 2-0 lead only to watch Turkey come back in the final 20 minutes to score 3 goals, once again thwarting my dream of celebrating a Eurocup win in the victorious country. At least I got to watch a hobo fight that broke out right next to us in the crowd...

This set of pictures was taken from the Charles Bridge connecting the old town to Prague Castle. Finished in the beginning of the 15th century, this bridge helped to cement Prague as an important trading outpost between eastern and western Europe. Prague lives up to its name as an incredibly beautiful city. Just walking through the streets is like taking a step into the past.

Pubcrawl was such a success in Budapest that we decided to do another one in Prague. Now I'm not going to try to give a recap of the night but I will say that it started with a power hour at a bagel shop and that Sabrina met a "special friend" along the way. Alright!

Special friend stage left.

We had 4 nights in Prague and we decided to use some of the extra time to make a day trip. We decided to head out to Kutna Hora (a town an hour outside of Prague), the site of the Sedlec Ossuary. I honestly was not excited to go considering how early we had to wake up, but it turned out to be one of the most unique and memorable days of the trip. The church stands on what was once a medieval cemetery. When construction started on a Gothic church in the 15th century, the exhumed skeletons of those buried below were then arranged in the lower chapel. It is believed that 40,000 to 70,000 human skeletons were used to decorate the church.

The Ossuary stands approximately 3 km. from the center of town, and we made the hike to the city center. Kutna Hora is also famous for a cathedral but at this point in the trip, I was ready for something new. We had been in cities for the past month and a half, and Alex and I manage to conscript Sheena for a trek into the dense woods that surround Kutna Hora. It turned out to be quite the adventure. We walked up this path we found near the edge of the city and decided to veer left and take the path less traveled. The trail was overgrown and it seemed like hardly anyone ever came this way. WRONG! I turned a corner and I kid you not, right in front of me was a naked young Czech couple going at it under a tree. Lets just say she was getting a massage... I stopped in my tracks and burst out laughing as I tried to turn around. As soon as they saw me, they flipped out and ran off down the trail, pulling their underwear up as they scrambled away. We gave them a few minutes to clear out before continuing down the trail where we came up on a huge rundown mill in the middle of the woods. It was the sort of place that would have long been fenced off or condemned had it been in the U.S. The photo directly below was contributed by Alex and depicts me inching across the ledge of death. About seven feet into that pit was an ominous looking man sized black whole leading down to god knows where. We later figured out that it spilled into a dark dank room in the basement after a ten foot fall. Thank god I didn't have to find that out the hard way.

After exploring the mill's basement we continued on deeper into the woods. It was so welcome to walk in a lush forest after being in cities so long, and we ate it up. I could not help but wonder how in the world I ended up in this place. That is one of the things I love so much about traveling - you find yourself in the most unexpected places.

Before we knew it, it was our final night. It was a sobering experience to be confronted with the realization that after about 40 days together at Oxford and in Eastern Europe, we would have to say our goodbyes. Stephanie flew back to London to meet her mother. Sabrina, Alex, and Sheena headed off to Greece. For me the next stop was Krakow, where I kicked off a week of solo travel in Poland.