Approaching Third

You: Approaching third? Third what?
Me: Third base.
You: Third base?
Me: Ya, you know. Like in baseball.
You: You don't play baseball.
Me: Ya, I know, but it's the last stop before home.
You: Lila, I don't understand, are you making sports references?
Me: Ya, I'm sporty now.

Jk. Still not sporty. But I am on the train to Vienna, which is my last stop before California (with the exception of some day trips. Can you say, "Sound of Music set"???). So that's quite exciting. Hurray for California.

But equally exciting is what I've been doing! I apologize for not writing more consistently (I don't know who I'm apologizing too. . . I can't picture people coming on here and being super upset that I don't have another rambling update, but I guess apologizing is the American thing to do - unless we're talking politics. But we're not talking politics, so I'm sorry!). Anyways, here's what I've been up to. I'm not in much of a rush, due to my long train ride, so this may turn out rather long. On the other hand, I have a lot to write about, so it may not be very detailed.  Or maybe it'll be long and detailed. . . we'll see.

KRAKOW
Krakow was splendid. It felt a bit touristy, but that's probably just because it was. But I ended up staying in the world's best hostel. Seriously, I would go back to Krakow just to stay at the Mosquito again. Huzzah for good hostels! Speaking of the hostel, on Sunday while washing my hands in the ladies room there, someone approached the sink next to me and I about  choked. I managed to sputter out, "Oh my gosh, Semester at Sea?" and she replied, "The best place to be!" (That's our secret code to show we were both on SAS. You're in on it now. Please don't abuse that power.)

Haley, me, & her bros.

It was Haley Pricket! We had been on the same SAS ship 3 years ago. I don't think we ever even spoke on the boat (sorry, ship), but it wasn't large boat (woops, ship), so we still kinda knew each other. Instant best friends! Turns out she was there with here fambam on a "let's go on a family vacation before all the kids go their separate ways and get jobs" vacation. So I got to meet the whole family, and they invited me out to dinner with them that night. It was so much fun to be at a family dinner! I felt so honored that they would invite me into their family for a night, much less treat me! We went to this delicious restaurant near the Old Town, and I had some really, really good chicken. Half a roasted chicken. I didn't eat it all - nobody would be able to eat it all. But it was delicious. Then we headed back to the hostel, and the parents went to bed and us kids stayed up playing games with the other hostel-ers.

salt mines

On Monday I went to the Salt Mines near Krakow. They are supposed to be super cool. And they were. It was like mines with salt (duh). I was impressed with the size and detail of them. They were huge with lots of salt statues and salt stuff everywhere. They even had a chapel down there. I licked the walls. Moving on.

Monday night, I packed up my stuff and said sad goodbyes at the Mosquito, and then I headed to the train station to go to Prague.

This ended up being one of my favorite train rides of all time. I had only bought my ticket the day before, so all the sleepers were taken. Instead, I got but in this little cuby (cabin? booth? compartment? compartment!) with 6 seats, three on each side facing each other. This is always awkward, especially for sleeping. Because the person right across from you can see you sleeping, and if you stretch out your legs you hit theirs, and it's all together sup-awks. (Super awkward).

Me, Clem, & Moneau

BUT I ended up with some great people. Hammed & Ellie, two Texans about my parents' age, were there when I got there, and they ended up being super nice. Then Clem & Moneau joined our compartment and I liked them instantly. Why? Clem was carrying a jar with a goldfish in it. I love traveling. I learned that Clem & Moneau are two French guys about my age who are doing a mad dash through Europe of about two weeks, seeing as much as they can in as short a period as possible. George is their fish, who they either won or bought in Prague. Their goal is to get him back home to France alive. Anyways, hanging out with this compartment full of people could not have been more enjoyable. We all talked and goofed around for a couple hours - the boys tried to teach me French (I failed miserably, but I can count to ten now), Hammed, Ellie, and I talked a bit about traveling and the different ways to do it (hostel v. hotel, train v. plane, etc.). I had such a fun time! Eventually we all fell asleep, and it was great because by the time we were ready to sleep, we were all great friends. So we could put our feet on each others' seats or laps, or ask people to scoot over, or close a curtain, or whatever we needed to make it comfortable for everyone. It's always awkward when it's strangers, but we weren't strangers anymore. So everyone slept comfortably! (That's not entirely true - some people just don't have the gift of sleeping on moving vehicles. But I slept quite comfortably!) Cleam & Moneau left in the middle of the night to transfer to their train to Budapest and we all said sad goodbyes. Then I went back to sleep. At some point in the night, I decided that I didn't want to sleep on the seat anymore and I slept on the floor. That was a weird decision. Kind of gross. Wouldn't have done it if I was thinking clearly, but whatever. I was tired and it was available. Slept great and then woke up in Prague!

PRAGUE
Yes, so, moving right along, Tuesday I woke up in Prague and found my way to the hostel. Bit of an adventure - it always is. I took the metro fine, but then I was supposed to take a tram. Either the 4 or the 22. I decided to average it out and take the 10 instead. (Yes, I know average would technically be 13, but stop being such a ninny). So I took the 10 to the end of the line, realized it wasn't where I wanted to be, walked back the original stop, and got on the 22. Got off the 22, walked in the wrong direction, ended up in a neighborhood, asked a police officer where the Czech Inn was (Czech Inn, get it? 'Cause it's in the Czech Republic. Get it?), and he directed me the right way. Finally got there. Rolled in around 9am. Ya, all that before 9am.

So I got checked in, but I wasn't allowed to technically check in at the Czech Inn (ha!) until 3pm. So I stored my stuff, washed my face, and joined the 10am walking tour. If you ever go somewhere, go on the walking tour. They're great. Awesome was to get your bearings in a city! So I was able to see a lot of the important parts of the city and learn some history. Watched the astrological clock, saw the palace up on a hill, took a picture of the mummified hand (gross), and learned some of the myths of Prague. One bit of history that is interesting/sickening is that Prague's Jewish quarters remained untouched during WWII (the buildings, not the people) because Hitler wanted to keep it as a memorial to an extinct people. Doesn't that just make you sick to your stomach?

On a different note,  I ended up grabbing lunch with some cool people from the tour, including the tour guide. We went to this AWESOME vegetarian restaurant. Dad, you would have loved it.

Then I went home and took a nap.

When I woke up, I met the Claires. Claire & Claire, two English girls traveling together that I shared a room with. They were awesome. Hilarious. I really enjoyed the time that I spent with them, and I can't wait to go visit them in England!!!! We ended up going out to dinner just at a little restaurant down the street from our hostel. Then we went back to the hostel and hung out downstairs for a bit. And then I went to sleep for reals.

(We're leaning towards long and detailed, aren't we?).

view from the top

Wednesday was my second day in Prague, and it started lazily. Sleeping in, leisurely breakfast. Eventually we - the Claires, an Australian girl named Kate who lives in Canada, and myself - set out to climb the fake Eiffel Tower. The fake Eiffel Tower, or Faffel (Fake + Eiffel) as we called it is the same size as Paris' Eiffel Tower. . . if you count the giant hill that it's on. So we trammed over to the base of the hill, and then blazed our way through the forest because we didn't want to follow the detours of the footpath, and then we climbed it. Great fun! Awesome view of the city. Then our plan was to cut across and go visit the palace, but we ended up getting super lost and somehow passed the (giant!) palace and were wandering around near a construction site on the other side of the hill. Some construction workers eventually pointed us in the right direction. I think they were entertained. So we finally got to see the palace! I keep calling it a palace, but it may be a castle. It doesn't look like I feel like a castle should (Hogwarts), but it doesn't look like a palace either (Cinderella/Jasmine/Disney Princess), so. . . not too sure. Whatever. Moving on.

found my note!

THEN we went down to Charles Bridge for my personal highlight of the day - trying to recover a note that Brian left for me when he was in Prague. The only problem was that Brian is much stronger than me, and he put the note under quite a heavy bin (trash can. I say "bin" now because I'm cultured). It took a couple of us to get it out: tilting the trash can, seeing if it was there, pulling it out. Thank goodness I was traveling in a pack. But we got it! Victory!

Then we split up because the Claires had their segway tour booked. Kate and I headed over to what is probably tied with the Charles Bridge for my favorite part of Prague - the Lennon Wall. (Side note - it's just beautiful out the window right now. Super green. Plus a river. And trees. And fields. I feel like this is where frolicking happens). I really, really loved the Lennon Wall. It's a wall of graffiti, lots of it peace themed, lots of Beatles quotes. And it was just so. . . cool. I loved how many layers there were and that so many people had contributed. And most of it looked really great. So I took a whole bunch of pictures. Poor Kate, she was so patient with me.

That night, we were thinking of doing this cool boat party thing, but then I realized that i didn't want to spend money, so instead we (Sarah, Kate, & I) went to a karaoke bar! Exponentially better. James & Dawson ended up there too. We did a very bad rendition of Can't Touch This, which I quickly realized wasn't Ice Ice Baby, a song that I do know the words to. There were some crazy Dutch guys that sang West Virgina. . .  it was a very strange, but fun, night.

excercise

Next day - Thursday - another lazy start. Slept in, ate breakfast, and then I was supposed to meet Shanley (Aussie girl) and Kate after their walking tour. I decided to walk there instead of taking the tram, so I went on a very long walk through a lot of the city. It was really fun. Saw quite a bit. Then I met up with the girls and we grabbed lunch - delicious again. Goulash. Cheap & filling & yummy. Then Shanley went and did something, and Kate and I rented a paddle boat! It was awesome. Super fun to see everything from the river. As you can tell from the picture, I paddled really hard. Quite a strenuous day.

Then we went home and got cleaned up, because we had a big night that night. Pub crawl? Nope. Bar hopping? Nope. Sarah, Kate, and I were going to the ballet! It was great! We went and saw The Best of Swan Lake. The lead girl what phenomenal. Oh my gosh. I don't know a lot about ballet, but even I could tell that she was about 6.32 million times better than everyone else on stage. Every time she left, I was just waiting for her to come back. You never heard her land no matter how hard she jumped, you never saw her leg shake no matter how long she was standing on it, you never saw any strain in her face. Everyone else was. . .ehhh. But she was so good!!!

(Something smells like overripe fruit)


Then we did a little walking tour of Prague by night. By which I mean we walked around Prague at night. Sarah hadn't been to the Charles Bridge yet, so we went there and walked across it. You could see the palace, which was lit up and super beautiful. Then we went to the Lennon Wall, which is just on the other side of the bridge, and I was surprised at how much it had changed in just one day. And then we took the tram home.



Which brings us to Friday. Friday was quite an expedition. Shanley (the Aussie, remember?) and Rosie (new girl from London) and I ventured out to the Bone Church. (You: The what?) The Bone Church. It's a church about an hour outside of Prague that ran out of space in the cemetery so they used the bones from the shared graves to decorate the church. (You: Human bones?). Ya, human bones. (You: That's kind of strange, isn't it?). Ya, it was strange.

So it's supposed to take about an hour to get out there, but we got to the train station right after a train had left, so we waited an hour, and then got on the hour train, and then walked fifteen minutes from the train station to the Bone Church. I don't know what to say about the church except that I can't get over how strange it was. . . how desensitized the artist must have become while constructing everything. I have to wonder if he sorted out all the bones into piles, breaking all of these skeletons that used to be real people into their most basic and long lasting components, heaping all the leg bones together and all the skulls together. It was just so strange. Made me queezy. We didn't stay long.

After we felt satisfied with our Bone Church visit, we hurried back to cath the 4pm train, which we realized around 4pm, didn't exist. So we waited an hour for the 5pm train, rode the train for an hour (I slept), and then ate delicious Thai food. I love Thai food. Then we went home.

Girls with our flowers

That night, we were supposed to go out with seemingly the whole hostel to celebrate Sammi (a Belgium guy) because it was his 20th birthday. However, while walking to wherever we were going (it was a long walk), we got a bit sperated because we were walking too slow, and we eventually lost the party. How you lose 30 people just around a corner, I don't really know. But we did it. But it was okay, because I was with my favorite people who were currently staying at the hostel: James & Dawson (American cousins), Rosie (the Bone Church girl from London), and Nikki and Maeve (awesome Irish girls). Plus two other random guys from somewhere. . . who knows. Not my favorite. Whatever. But we ended up going into this little underground bar that turned out to be pretty cool. I like having something to do with my hands, so I was fiddling with the napkins and made a flower. The girls really like it, so when the boys were off drinking and playing foosball, we had arts and crafts time and I taught them all how to make napkin flowers. We ended up making flowers out of the coasters too.

Us girls called it a night early and went home and slept.

The next day is today, Saturday. Woke up, ate breakfast, packed, bought a sandwich, went to the train station with Nikki and Maeve, played cards, almost missed my train, didn't missed my train, got on my train, started writing this, wrote this, now I'm writing this.

And, ya. Now you're caught up. This train brings me to Vienna, where I'll be for the next 5 nights. I'm planning a day trip to Bratislava and another to Saulsburg (SOUND OF MUSIC LAND!!!!). Then on the 16th I board a plane and head back to the good ol' USA to be picked up by one Stuart Austin Sapia.

Man, my future is so bright I should wear shades at night.

Love you all.

Peace.