Czech-ing out Prague

Is there any better way to relax on a Friday afternoon than putting your feet up and enjoying a cold German beer? Thankfully, the fabulous train system here allows you to do just that en route to any European destination. This Friday, Patrick and I packed our dinner and drinks and hopped over to Prague for a quick getaway to see the the largest city in the Czech Republic.

There is so much to see in the city that it is a bit overwhelming for a weekend trip. Patrick and I decided to take a walking tour to soak in as much as we could and revisit the highlights the next day. The mood in the city  was a little down since the Czech Republic had just been eliminated by Portugal in the EuroCup, but the weather was fabulous for walking and taking in the picturesque city. 

Below are 8 facts about Prague we found particularly interesting: 

#1: This city is old. The oldest building in the humongous Prague Castle (above) was built in 870. The country had its own university in 1348 - before Columbus even discovered the US!

#2: Prague still shows signs of its roots in astronomy, magic, and alchemy. The Prague Orloj is the world's 3rd oldest astronomical clock and it still works 602 years later. At the top of every hour, the clock comes to life with a automated figures, which brings me to...

#3: Puppets are huge in Prague - I expected to see several musicians on the streets of Prague, but I was pleasantly surprised by the puppet street performers and marvelous puppet shops with intricate, wooden puppets that looked like they came out of a child's dream.

#4: There is a sign on the Vlata river warning people of sharks. Patrick pointed it out - interesting since the river is only 9ft deep?? It turns out one of the tour boat captains found a small dead shark in the river, and though he believes it was a carcass thrown out by a restaurant, he put the sign up anyway.

#5: St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle was actually not completed until 1929, though construction began in 1344 (almost 600 years!!).

#6: You can buy Absinthe fro-yo in Prague (although I'm sure this is true of other European cities, this was our first encounter). 

#7: The real Iron Man lives in Prague - he is a ghost that haunts the city every 100 years looking for someone to kiss him to free him from his spell (he killed his wife when he thought she cheated on him while he was at war). There is a statue of him in the Old Town.

#8: The Beatles inspired students in the 1980s to rebel against the communist regime by writing Beatles lyrics on a certain wall in Prague. Now, the "Lennon Wall" changes every day as citizens and tourists write all sorts of messages on it, painting over those of the people before them. I like to think that this "(I wanna) hold your hand" written on the cobblestones has been there since the beginning!

Just a typical festival

This weekend, we were strolling through our new city of Amberg and happened upon the city's annual Old Town Fest! In case you haven't noticed by now, Germans love any excuse to get together and drink beer - in fact, we still are not quite sure what the origins are of this particular fest.
All we know is:
80° weather + good friends + American music + oversized pretzels + Bier = recipe for a fabulous German fest!

Dachau

While we are in Germany, we truly want to experience the history of the country, which includes the Nazi's reign during WWII. This weekend, Patrick, Kyle, Caitlin and I took a trip to Dachau concentration camp just outside of Munich. They offer daily, 2.5 hour tours for €3 in several languages - our tour guide was well worth the money. 

Dachau is actually the first concentration camp. The head of the SS/Gestapo, Heinrich Himmler, was from Munich, which is a big reason why he set it up nearby.  It was originally set up to hold Germans who opposed Hitler - political prisoners - but by the end of the war it held over 10x the capacity of the camp and prisoners of all types were living in the barracks shown above. 

To the right is a chart that shows the Nazi's classification system. The different colors indicate different types of prisoners - red for political prisoners, green for criminals, pink for homosexuals, purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, and black for 'asocials' (basically the catch-all for the Nazis to imprison anyone). The bar above the triangle (2nd row) represented repeat offenders, and the two-triangles (4th and 5th rows) were worn by the Jewish prisoners. Probably the most disturbing patch worn by the prisoners was the 3rd row - the black circle was worn over the heart and over several other "kill spots" so the SS had a target to shoot in case the prisoner tried to escape.

We all know a huge piece of the Nazi foundation was built with propaganda. A perfect example - after the public caught wind of what was happening at the concentration camps, one of the senior Nazis tried to portray them as work camps, and added the words on the left to the main gate - Arbeit Macht Frei - or 'work will make you free.' Of course that was not true. No one was ever released from Dachau over the course of the war. 

There was a fabulous exhibit of sketches done by a prisoner whose assignment at Dachau was to make books. He would scribble sketches of what was happening while no one was looking and stick them within the books he was printing. This one portrays how the Nazis punished prisoners who tried to escape. Instead of killing them, them would make them stand in the main square of the camp with signs on them saying "I'm back again" (the name of the sketch). 

Probably the best part of the camp's history is after the American's liberated the camp, they used it to hold the SS and other Nazi offenders while they were awaiting their trials - the tables turned and the guards became the prisoners. Many of the original buildings have since been renovated or torn down, but it is still very easy to visualize the camp during its most disturbing times. There are several wonderful monuments including this one - the inscription says "Den Toten zur Ehr, den Lebenden zur Mahnung" which is translated to "to honor the dead, to warn the living."  This was undoubtedly a very sobering but important experience for us, and we highly recommend a visit to this camp if you are in Munich.  

Let me look into my crystal ball....

Today, Patrick and I partook in a tradition that transcends all cultures - a warehouse sale. Nachtmann Crystal is headquartered right out side of Weiden, and every Friday they have a huge sale of their crystal products, which include Waterford, Kate Spade, and Riedel. People rave about the Friday sales, but they get really jazzed about the annual warehouse sale where the crystal is sold by the kilo!
This is the type of sale where people steal your parking place and race you in the door... after a fun night with our friends Catilin and Kyle, we didn't make it early enough to see the shoppers who slept in the cars in the parking lot the night before, but the 10am crowd was still a little rough around the edges. Women were briskly walking into the store, lining their husbands up in the 1 hr + line, then maneuvering the small aisles with shark-like intensity looking for that one vase that someone put in the wrong spot. After over an hour in line, the women in front of us caved to their children's basic needs of a clean diaper and were forced to abandon a full cart of 'steals.' I also enjoyed the universal group gasp after a loud shatter - though it happened only twice during our two hour ordeal!
I know we haven't even moved into the house, but we couldn't help but indulge ourselves in the fabulous cut crystal vases for €7.50 and glasses for €2. We also took advantage of the German food trucks (bratwurst sandwich anyone?) and enjoyed being outside for the first day over 60 degrees in a week. What's best about the trip? We received a set of six Kate Spade wine glasses FO FREE!
Bottom line - crystal is overpriced in the states, and for those of you planning to visit us, I recommend including a Friday in the mix for a stop of your own!

Spaghetti Eis

Ice cream creations

Last Friday, our sponsors took us out for a delicious steak dinner. Since my German is still a little weak, I always look for picture menus to help me translate. Sadly, there weren't any at dinner (though it was delicious), but dessert was another matter! Everyone knows gelato stands are a dime a dozen in Europe, but we were introduced to a special kind of gelato that I pray will make it over to the US before our return. It's called Spaghetti Eis (pronounced and translates to "ice"). Several gelato shops literally make the ice cream look like spaghetti, and it is a-m-a-z-i-n-g! I also snapped a video on how it's made in case you want to do-it-yourself - check out the machine in the background. Nom nom nom...

Nürnberg!

Nürnberg!
On Saturday, Patrick and I took a leap of faith and navigated the train system over to Nürnberg. After about 10 minutes of messing with the system, we realized there was an English option and from there we had no issue. There is a "Bayern Pass" that allows up to 5 people to travel anywhere in Bavaria (aka Bayern in German) for the day. Sweet deal, huh?

Our main goal of the trip was to make it to a conveyor belt, all you can eat sushi restaurant, but I did some researching before hand and had a wish-list of a few sights to see. The first was the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) built in 1396 that looks essentially like the top of a church sitting in the middle of the main town square. There are figurines everywhere that depict the world view of the Holy Roman Empire during that time. We stopped here for some luck though - there are two small brass rings on the gate surrounding the fountain that apparently bring good luck/a wish to whomever turns them three times. Patrick and I did so, then had several tourists ask what we were doing and why - hopefully they followed suit and we brought some luck to them??

Tugendbrunnen (Fountain of the Virtues)

I know a lot of the churches and fountains start to look alike, but there is something different about this one.... All of these ladies represent the seven virtues: Faith, Love, Hope, Courage, Moderation, Patience, and Justice. We are looking at Patience with the lamb on the left and Faith with a cross and chalice on the right.

After we learned that stretching people up to 30 cms was run-of-the-mill torture in the 14th century at the Lochgefängnisse (Medieval Dungeons), we stopped by the last fountain of the day, the Ehekarussell or Marriage Carousel. This one was another unusual one - apparently it caused quite a stir when completed in 1981. It depicts the six phases of married life. Here, Patrick and I are posing next to "Till Death Do us Part" where skeletal figures are strangling each other. My second favorite of the scenes was where the man was wallowing because his wife had 

gained 100 lbs. The scene showed her 

stuffing her face with plenty of food!

Around 3:00 we made it to our final destination - an all you can eat, conveyor belt sushi restaurant. We couldn't fully understand the rules, but it may or may not have said 10 plates max. This picture is of Patrick about 7 minutes in... good thing no one noticed!

Overall we had a very successful trip to the lovely town of Nürnberg. Given that it is the closest Ikea location, I know we will be back, but we highly recommend seeing the sites in the old city!

Morning Cannon in Action

Guten Morgen!!
Although I mentioned the "morning call" before, a video is always priceless. This was shot at 6:30:00 am this morning from our hotel room window. If you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, I recommend recording this and setting it as your alarm clock. Works 100% of the time!
The cannons will come in handy tomorrow - Patrick and I are headed out early to try the Germany trains for the first time in order to experience Nürnberg, the second largest city in Bavaria. The city is just 45 minutes from base and, due to its significance to the Nazi party during WWII, was the site of the Nürnberg Trials after WWII. Today, Nürnberg is particularly popular during Christmas time for their Chriskindlesmarkt (Christmas market) and Lebkuchen, a special type of gingerbread biscuit. Since it is June, we are going to aim for a tour of Lochgefängnisse (the medieval dungeons), some long-overdue sushi, and most likely some Lebkuchen (we're just a few months from Christmas, right??).
Until then we will enjoy a night on the town in Amberg with our friends Katie and Morgan - we are going to our first German steak dinner, but at a restaurant called Frenchy's? Sounds perfect!

Ein Haus!

Ein Haus!

It's official! Patrick and I signed a lease! We will be moving to Amberg just in time for their annual Maria-Hilf-Bergfest (or Mountain Festival) during which the whole city celebrates with music, traditional food, and of course Bier and Wein. Further, since Germany has almost zero-tolerance drinking and driving laws, we are thrilled to be a short walk from the city center.
Next on our to-do list: get a car so we can actually get to and from our new place!

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Feliz cumpleanos a mi!

Neuschwanstein Castle

Somethings just sound better in Spanish... As we rang in the quarter century of my life, we enjoyed our first German wine thanks to our fabulous sponsors! As a sweet wine lover, this Riesling from Neuschwanstein Castle was perfection.
On the left is a picture of the castle - look familiar? Probably because this castle was the inspiration behind Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland! We will definitely be taking a trip there sometime soon. In the meantime, happy June 4th and 'tschüss' (pronounced choos - Bavarian Germans' farewell)!

München in June?

OKTOBERFEST: when you ask any study abroad student their impressions of Germany, they almost always include hazy memories of Oktoberfest. This weekend, some great friends took us down to Munich to check out the city during the "off-season". As you can see - Patrick was thrilled that our first stop was Hofbrauhaus, one of Munich's oldest breweries and also a famous Biergarten (another easy translation!). 

Hofbrauhaus is over 400 years old and is deeply rooted in German tradition and history. Apparently, during the Thirty Year's War, the King of Sweden spared the city of Munich only if they agreed to a short list of political requests and handing over several hundred thousand barrels of the famous 'Bier.' 

Like wine, Bier snobs believe that the type of glass used to serve the beer is essential. While the rest of the table came with their game-faces on and ordered the 1 Liter hallmark steins, I settled for a 0.5 Liter of wheat beer, which came in a tall, thin glass. Pretzel ladies wandered the Garten with enormous pretzels for 2 Euros - a-m-a-z-i-n-g. 

Pretzel lady with GIANT pretzels!

So - after this post, how many can I expect between September 22nd and October 7th for a Stein of Hofbrauhaus Bier at the world's largest fair? First round is on me!

Getting our feet wet

Day one has passed, and I have learned that the cannon + music happens twice daily, and it is directly across the street! Definitely helps with jet-lag - keeps us awake past 5:30 pm and makes sure we are up at 6:30 am!
Yesterday, Patrick and I discovered part of the Army base. We received information on phone  plans: word of the wise - if you are moving overseas, go to you wireless provider and have them "unlock" your phone from their plan so you can use it with another provider overseas.
We also took our first stab at housing. We are focusing on a city call Amberg. It is a 13th century town that is surrounded by a large wall. Apparently, there used to be a significant mote and, if you were not within the city walls by 10:00 pm, they would throw tar at people trying to enter the city for protection. Amberg has a great train station that would make trips across Europe quite convenient!
Some great friends set us up with a couple "pay as you go" phones so at least we do not have to communicate via notes left in the hotel room, but other than that our to-do list is quite long: 1) pass the German driver's license test, 2) buy a car, 3) get a cell phone plan, 4) find a place to live! 5) get a job.
We are looking forward to travelling with friends this weekend. I am looking forward to getting off of the base for a few days and enjoying the perfect German weather.
Some very easy German for y'all. All of these words are pronounced the same in English so they are easy to learn:
Bed = Bett
Beer = Bier
Wine = Wein