Prague (Misc)

I'm not sure about what this statue symbolizes, but it looks pretty funny from a side angle :)


Yep, Prague also had public viewing areas for the Eurocup


On Saturday, it was the only day of the year that the Prague museums were open for free. We went to the National Museum of Prague (click on the link for cool pictures of it). The place was packed, it was difficult to move around so we were in there only briefly. Here was one of the more interesting features: This foot is actually a doorway to an exhibit.

They had a nice assortment of rocks in the museum. Of course, I couldn't help myself from taking a picture of some dolomite.

This is one of my favorite statues. It stands outside one of the Jewish Synagogues in the northern part of Prague. We had a nice lunch across the street.


Prague has a very rich night life. A popular activity is pub crawling, where a group of thirsty revelers head out to try their limits on all sorts of partying. We opted to venture out on our own. We found this interesting place next to the hostel. The bartenders performed this flame-throwing act for the patrons.


There were many fun clubs with great music and dance floors. Here was one we found on Saturday night. My favorite club was "Central Europe's Largest Dance Club" that had 5 floors, each floor had a different DJ and style of music. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera to capture any of the craziness.

Prague Castle

We headed up to the castle on our first full day, lead by Alison, a CESRI Fellow who is staying in Prague for the summer. The castle isn't like the Disney castle, but a series of buildings and walls. Here you can see the gate. The guy on the left is stabbing somebody with a dagger and the guy on the right is about to club someone. Life must have been pretty tough back then.

The biggest feature of the castle is the St. Vitus Cathedral.

It was very difficult to get a picture capturing most of the cathedral. Here's my best attempt.

Here are the front doors.

The detail was astonishing. As can be seen with these gargoyles jetting out of the cathedral walls.

Another angle of the gargoyles.

On the outside of the building is painted a brief summary of the Catholic religion: people going to heaven on the left, people praying in the middle, and people going to hell on the right. At least this is what we thought it meant.

This cathedral is massive, and like all I've seen, are decked-out with amazing detail inside.

Here are the organ pipes.

The stained glass inside was magnificent. There were so many of these windows inside, each telling a different story.

More stained glass.

And more.

The windows in the cathedral really add an intense feeling.

I think this is where the Pope sits during his visits.

And here's the altar.

The tomb of John of Nepomuk resides inside. It was pretty creepy as you had to walk around, very close to it, to exit. I always felt it to be a little bizarre to keep bodies around.


Here's another tomb.

The Prague castle

Prague

Most of the buildings in Prague have detailed artwork, whether statues or paint, like on this pizzeria.



The Charles Bridge, spanning the River Vltava, is very impressive. Along the bridge are several statues lining the edges. During the day it is packed full of vendors and tourists.


Here is one of the statues along the bridge. The black thing in the background is a bird that was flying around when I was taking the picture--what a ham.



The astronomical clock was a big attraction. On every hour, some figures around the clock, such as the skeleton, become animated.


Here is a video of the clock in action. Try to focus on the skeleton on the top right of the frame.

Salzburg

After 3 1/2 hours on the train from Vienna I made it Salzburg. The next train to take me back to Tubingen leaves in 4 hours, so I start running from the train station into the city center.



Salzburg sits in the middle of several large mountains in the Alps along the Salzach river. There are great bike trails along the river and most of the streets are small and filled with shops and markets. Well my time is ticking, so I must run along.



There is a huge fortess on top of one of the mountains. You can hike up to it or take a cable car. Unfortunately I had time to do neither and was forced to appreciate it from below.



Next to the house where Mozart was born there is this incredible garden.



Of course, there were some flowers.



There were so many statues, fountains, and bridges that you could spend an entire day exploring all the details.



There was even this awesome stage in the garden where some performances are put on during the summer.



I found this really cool cathedral and decided to spend some time there.



The inside was amazing, but the lighting was poor for photographs. Wow, I've been inside 2 churches withing 2 days, this is a record for me!



Since I had limited time and I'm not the best photographer, I took a little video of the inside.



On the backside of the cathedral there was a soccer fanzone setup. Soccer is very important, especially during the Eurocup.



Time was running out. I was very disappointed that I didn't have enough time to up to the fortress, so I found this 7-story hotel with a cafe on top. The views were spectacular and I enjoyed them with a fine cold beer from the local brewery.



A nice view of the river and the surrounding mountains.



There was a great view of the fortress as well.



I decided to take the stairs down from the cafe and encountered this Buddhist display on one of the hotel floors. On the wall are some good words of wisdom.

Last Day in Vienna

On the last day, we took the metro over to see the Riesenrad, the largest ferris wheel in Vienna. For 8 euros, you can go for a ride once around and it lasts about 20 minutes.



It was a very large ferris wheel with big wooden gondolas. The floors creaked when you walked across them, which added to the suspense.



The ride was pretty smooth and the views were spectacular.



The ferris wheel is located in a big amusement park. Some of these rides looked pretty insane.



Jay, our CESRI fellow who is staying in Vienna for the summer, seems to be enjoying the ride.



Here's a small video for your viewing pleasure.



Well, on the train and heading home, but first, I'll hop off in Salzburg.

Vienna

So three of us went to Vienna one weekend and had a blast. It was much more modern then Budapest, but some of the buildings had a similar style. The metro was great and we had nice hostel next to the main train station. One of the CESRI fellows who came knew somebody who lives in Vienna and she and her friends took us out to some awesome clubs. We had back-to-back, 5-in-the-morn type of nights. By the end of the visit I was very raw, yet felt well-cultured.



The main attraction in Vienna was St Stephen's Cathedral ( Stephansdom ).



This place is huge. It is impossible to capture it's amazing-ness with a single picture.



I thought it was kind of weird that there was a mass service going on. I guess some people actually go to these churches for their intended purpose, not just for photo opportunities.



Even the back of the cathedral was interesting.



I really liked the national library. It had a lot of detail and a cool shape.



Of course, I thought it looked best at night.



The Euro Cup was going on when were in Vienna, in fact, one of the stadiums that the games actually played in is located in the city. So there were fans everywhere. In fact, they had this "fan zone" set up where you could watch the game outside on one of a dozen or so giant televisions. You can look at a live webcam here.

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This video was taken just down the street from St. Stephen's Cathedral



They had this huge flag that they paraded down the street, again craziness.

The Aftermath
The place was literally trashed after the rally.


One of the museums had the mummy of Tutankhamun (King Tut) on display, but they decided that the statue out front needed to be outfitted with an Austrian soccer jersey.


I decided to take it easy and enjoyed a fine Austrian beer