5 days. 4 cities. 3 countries.

Bon jour! This week marks the halfway point of our summer in France. Looking back, I’ve grown quite accustomed to life in another country, conquering trains, language barriers, and chewy baguettes. Nonetheless, the prospect of the triumphant return home is always on the back of my mind. That being said, another milestone was reached this week: the completion of our 5 day weekend trip. As I think I explained in a previous post, the 5 day weekend is the longest at GTL, on which most students make their way through Italy, catching a glimpse of the classic cities. After we were unsuccessful with booking train tickets to Rome, we decided to scratch the Italian tour and do something a little bit more adventurous.

June 20 (Cushion Train):

We gathered our things quickly after class, loading our bags to the brim with the necessities for a 5 day trip. I’ve become MUCH better at travelling lightly, a long way from the days of an overloaded duffle bag for a beach vacation where there would be washers and dryers. Our train left at around 6, headed to Strasbourg, France. We were a bit late getting into the station, which caused us to miss our “cushion train” to Offenburg, Germany, from where our overnight train was leaving. Chris and Jeff’s Travel Tip # 61: If a train route gives you a short window to make a connection for an important train, reroute your trip with a “cushion train” so that you have plenty of time, just in case you happen to miss one along the way. Although our cushion train didn’t exactly work out, our original plan did and we made it to Offenburg with a good 15 minutes to spare. We boarded the train and found our couchettes, where we laid our heads and slept the whole way to the Czech Republic.

June 21 (Prague Drunken Monkey):

We were awoken by the chatter of the conductor over the intercom, alerting us in a very unfamiliar language that we had in fact reached our final destination in Prague. We exited the train, and navigated our way through the station. Czech Republic is one of the countries in the European Union that still uses its own currency (abbreviated CZK, and pronounced “crown”). We found an ATM and got out about 1000 CZK, which is effectively $50. It was pretty easy tabulating costs because of the simple ratio. We bought a 24 hour pass for the metro, and navigated using my homemade map to find our hostel. Located pretty centrally, the Advantage Hostel looked like a sweet deal for our 2 person room. It was too early to check in at that point, so we locked up our bags in the security room and set out to explore the city. Chris and Jeff’s Travel Tip #73: always make a plan beforehand. Bring a little notebook with scribblings of things to see, brief descriptions of how to get there, and place you might want to get a beer. When you’ve only got a short amount of time to see a city as dense as Prague, you have to be as efficient as possible. We hopped back on the metro, en route to our first stop, the Prague Castle. It was about 10:30 when we took our first step on our way to exploring the Eastern European tourist hub. We shuffled up a steep street, lined with shops and restaurants, towards the castle which we could see perched atop the hill. Once far enough, we stopped to take in the panoramic view of overlooking the city of “1000 spires.” Really gorgeous. 

Park on the way up

As we reached the gates of the castle we notice a crowd starting to form. Just then, a blast of music started to play. In the windows of the castle stood a small band, armed with a brass section and a snare drum. As we looked down the road, there was a path cleared by guards, and small group of men in uniform marching in toward the gates. I’m still not really sure what the ceremony was. My guess would be some sort of equivalent to the changing of the guards in Great Britain. Anyhow, we moved away from the mob people to the towering point that is the cathedral within the walls of the castle. 

It seems that every city in Europe has a breathtaking church, even in the tiny little hillside villages. However this was the first one in which we ventured inside. Tall and beautiful stained glass windows lined the walls, twisting sunlight into a holy artistic rendering. We walked around as far as the ropes would allow, then made our way out of the doors into the courtyard. We circled the monstrous cathedral, taken back by each side of its construction: flying buttresses and tall spires, all symbols of classic Eastern European architecture. We continued down the road which eventually led us to a hill side vineyard, another great overlook of the city, and the downhill back into town. 

Back down the hill

Heading South East, we came upon Charles Bridge, a popular pedestrian river crossing littered with vendors and tourists snapping pictures. Jeff did his good deed for the day and offered a hand to another group of Americans, who looked desperate to get a family photo. After crossing the bridge, we explored the streets of the Jewish quarter and Old Town, admiring the buildings and city life. I thought maybe we’d run into Vin Diesel, revisiting the set of Triple X, but no luck. We made it into Old Town Square where they were setting up to broadcast the Czech vs. Portugal Euro Cup game that night. It looked like a good place to stop for lunch, after not having eaten all day. We were drawn in by the aroma of a finely smoked pork butt to a little stand that served “Old Prague Ham.” A quick glance at the menu yielded a definite yes for a taste of meat, which has become delicacy in everyday GTL life. We ordered two plates, not realizing that it was 100 CZK per gram, not per plate. With our 200 CZK in hand, we quickly gathered another 425 to meet the price the clerk demanded. It all happened so fast that we didn’t realize that we had just paid $15 per person for a big ole plate of ham. Seeing as it was some pretty damn good pork, we shoveled it down happily, made note of our error, and moved on. 

People gather on Charles Bridge

View of the castle from the bridge

Old Town

The damn ham

We headed back to the hostel, as it was after 2 pm and they would be ready for us to officially check in. We got our key, grabbed our packs from the locker, and headed up stairs. Our room was of decent size with two twin beds and a large wardrobe. I took a shower in the bathroom down the hall and then made use of the free WIFI as we planned the remainder of our day. 

We were back to the streets, this time with a little less of a plan. The National Museum of Prague was just down the street, so we pointed our feet in that direction. The big old building that was once home to the main attractions of the museum was under construction. However, next door was an additional building that was an extension of some of the exhibits. After having thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Louvre and Centre Pompidou in Paris, we decided to check it out. We made our way through the gift shop, into the first level of exhibits. It was mostly history of Czech scientists, only one of which we knew: Gregor Mendel, the father of heredity and genetics.  They had one of his journals on display which was pretty neat. That was about it on the first floor. The second floor was just a small room with old Czech weapons from the medieval period to the early 1900’s, which were all crossbows. It wasn’t anything too exciting, but I’m sure we were already a bit spoiled from having seen the greatest museum in the world just a month prior. 

View from the museum

Some of the worlds great minds

400 years of weapon evolution

Back on the streets

After leaving the museum, it was getting to be around dinner time. A bit reluctant from our ham mishap, we wandered the streets for a while until we found the perfect deal. We decided on a small restaurant for some beef goulash in a bread bowl and a cheap liter of beer. The food was absolutely delicious and the golden Pilsner Urquell wasn’t too bad either. After we were fully satisfied, we paid for our dinner, only 288 CZK for the two of us! A much better deal than our lunch. With our bellies full, we strolled through a market street, wandering souvenir stands and cigar shops.

So good

For the next part of the story, I’ll brief you on the Drunken Monkey. Passed down through generations of Phi Delt European travelers, it is legend that there exists a bar in the North of the city owned by one of our own. Sure enough through some googling, we found the Drunken Monkey. They advertised fun, friendly, and English speaking staff, as well as hosting a bar crawl through Prague. It probably wasn’t the most authentic place to spend our evening, but it was highly recommended by previous Phi Delt visitors. When we finally found it, the place was pretty empty. It was still kind of early, so we got some cheap beers and chatted with the bar staff. The two main bartenders were originally from the U.S., Los Angeles and Boston respectively. We commenced in playing some beer pong, which was a bit awkward as Jeff and I were pretty rusty after being absent the fraternity house for a solid month. After that, we took a seat on the couch and watched the Czech Republic take on Portugal in the first elimination round of the Euro Cup. The bar started to fill up, and the scene was lively as travelers from all over cheered on the home team. Much to our dismay, Ronaldo scored a beautiful header late in the game to beat Czech 1-0. Most of the people there were gearing up for the bar crawl that started at 11:30. Jeff had been trying to convince me all day to do it, but I was a little hesitant as I knew that it would be hard waking up for our 7:30 train the next morning. Nevertheless, I was swayed as we talked to Will, the Phi Delt owner of the bar, and he knocked our price in half. So we gathered with the group, and were led into the city by a few young guides, most of them previous study abroaders who decided to settle in Prague. We hopped around to 3 different clubs, spending an hour at each one. It ended up being really fun to get a taste of the European underground club scene, dark cavern like rooms with black light bars and thundering DJ’s. We finished our night off with a little Chris and Jeff tradition of KFC.

Playing for keeps

Watching the game

Club city

Jeff wanders the streets

June 22 (Biking Salzburg):

We woke up a bit later than planned and scurried to the train station just in time to grab a bottle of water and the nastiest sandwich ever assembled on planet Earth. Our next destination was Salzburg, Austria, home of the Sound Of Music and Mozart. The six hour train ride started off pretty rough, but once we got into the rolling hills and tiny farms, I was once again optimistic about the day.

 We got into Salzburg at around 1:30 pm and had twelve hours to explore until our night train. We locked up our bags in the luggage lockers at the station and headed through the city towards the river, where there was the most to see. 

After having enjoyed the Brussels bike tour so much, I thought Salzburg would be a perfect place to try that again. However, the only one I could find online was heavily Sound Of Music themed and we figured we would have more fun renting a bike and doing our own tour. We followed my trusty map to a stand right on the riverside, and saddled up on our mechanical tour guides of the city. Salzburg was made for biking, many of the roads having a separate path bikes, as well as a bike lane on the road side. We rode along the river for about a mile and then cut inland in search of Hellbrunn Allee, a pedestrian, bike, and horse only road that dead ends at a gorgeous park. 

We took a wrong turn somewhere thanks to my not so trusty map, and ended up about 3 miles in the wrong direction. We stopped at what looked like some sort of monument to turn around and figure out where we went wrong. We thought we might as well check out wherever it was that we had stopped, so we locked our bikes and proceeded through the mysterious archway. We had stumbled upon an incredible cemetery, a beautiful plot of land with huge elaborate gravestones decorated in all sorts of flowers and shrubbery. We walked around for a bit, and then made our way to the edge where there was a bathroom. We noticed some watering cans near a basin of rain water, filled one up, and headed out into the cemetery to water some of the graves’ decorations. After we returned the can, we got back on our bikes to find Hellbrunn Allee. 

Stupid map

We finally made it and proceeded to pedal down the long straight gravel road, lined on each side by tall trees, and open fields stretching into the foot hills of rolling mountains. Truly spectacular. We made it to the park at the end of the road and slowly cruised around the ponds and up a hill where there was a small zoo. After finding our way back to the main road, Jeff said he wanted to find a little “Edelweiss Café”. So we cruised for a while, and found a small pastry shop that sold local “radlers” (the beer lemonade mix) and big ole bottles of water. We sat on a bench at the bus stop and enjoyed our beverages, then headed back into town. 

Trying to keep up with Jeff

Field right off the road

On the way, we were going down a hill when all of a sudden Jeff’s back tire completely popped. He kept on riding like a champ, while I laughed at the farting noise the wheel made as it revolved around and around. We had to take a few breaks along the way because pedaling with no back tire on the gravel road was no easy feat. Nevertheless, we made it back to the river and swapped the bike out for a new one with two inflated tires. Just around the block, there was a street lined with shops, so we locked up our bikes and headed in. There was nothing that really caught our eye, so we just sort of wandered. We did go in the Swarovski crystal store to see if there was a little summum-summum I could bring home for my ladies. Sorry ladies, still out of my price range even in Austria. Our stomachs were growling at this point, so we consulted our friend the map to find the Augustiner beer garden. We each got a liter of hearty beer and half of a roast chicken.

Shopping road

Tore that chicken apart

 Dark clouds started to roll in, so we needed to figure out a plan for the rest of the 6 hours we had until our train left. We rode back to the station to take advantage of some free WIFI at McDonalds, and see what was left to do since we had already biked through most of the city. We decided to ride back to the river and return our bikes, then find somewhere to watch the Germany vs. Greece game. Right as the rain started, we darted into a little restaurant just in time for kick off. We sat there for a while, had a coffee, and watched Germany tear Greece a new one. After the game, the rain had let up so we walked back to the station to collect our bags from the locker and wait on the train. Jeff refers to himself as the “train master” which he certainly is, because boarding this train would have been quite tricky without his train wisdom. There were cars arriving from all different places, connecting to each other, forming a super train that would later split up in the middle of the night while we were asleep. Needless to say, it was imperative that we fall asleep in the right place or we would wake up in Budapest or wherever else the train was going. Some poor woman from Columbia was on her way to Rome and had missed two trains already, clueless as to what to do with this one. Jeff and I looked over her itinerary and helped her find the right car to Venice. The train was real late getting off the platform, so we didn’t end up falling asleep until around 3 am, finally resting our tired legs.

June 23 (Pizza Kayak):

No, we didn’t ride in a kayak made of pizza, but if someone knows where I can do that please let me know. We arrived in Rijeka, Croatia at around 9 am that Saturday, the last country on our travel list for the trip. The city lies on the country’s northern border with the Adriatic Sea. The coast was more of a cargo port, fitting for industry rather than two travelers seeking a sunny beach. Having done my research, I planned on us taking a short bus trip around the bay to a more welcoming location. We changed into our bathing suits and locked up our bags at the train station. Croatia also operates in its own currency because it is not yet part of the EU. The Kuna is worth about one sixth of a dollar. We got some operating cash from the ATM and headed down the road to the bus station. 

Got some Kuna!

We got a ticket just in time to catch our bus as the doors were closing. The weather couldn’t have been much better as we cruised along the coastal road in a charter bus, passing town after town of inviting beach scenery. The landscape reminded me a lot of the northern California coast, mountains that sloped down into the ocean where waves were crashing onto the rocky shore. We made it to our destination, Mošćenička Draga, at about 11 am where we walked down the straight road until it opened up onto a nice little village on the sea. The cut out beach was lined with people, as I’m sure most of them were just down for a little sun on a Saturday.

 We looked around for a bit and eventually found our kayak rental. The double kayak cost 45 KN for one hour, which if you did you’re math right is about $7.50. It was a major selling point for Croatia that everything was dirt cheap. The surf was very rough as we paddled out of the waves breaking on the beach. Once we made it to open water, we just sort of hung out, occasionally battling the waves to stay upright. We would drift inland and then paddle back out again, rinse and repeat. The splash of salty sea, warmth of the sun, and coziness of the little town made for one hell of an afternoon on the water. 

Triumph

We brought the kayak back safely to shore, then walked along the beach to see what was for lunch. We decided on a pizza place, and split the large Mošćenička Draga Special. This guy ranked on the Chris’s top 10 pizza list, pretty big deal. We downed a half liter of the Croatian equivalent of Budweiser and went back to hit the beach. 

Prosciutto, Mushrooms, olives, and a cream spread.

Sad to leave, we caught our bus back to Rijeka where our train for the capital city, Zagreb, was leaving at 5:00. After we changed back into normal clothes, we filled up our water bottles and boarded the train. Unlike all of the trains we have ridden thus far, we were being pulled by a diesel engine, which I guess has more power to tow a big passenger car up a mountain. A few minutes after we left the station, I was already starting to notice how pretty the scenery was from the train. So I grabbed my IPod, and went to stand and look out the window. I stood there for the whole 4 hour trip, gazing onto the mountains, valleys, and farmland, past locals tending their trackside gardens, abandoned rail stations, and eager onlookers smiling and waving. Accompanied by the wonderful tunes of the legendary fall break compilation playlist, the trip was the best yet, a truly introspective moment. 

As we neared our destination, I went back to sit in the car and prepare for arrival. The man that been asleep in our compartment for the whole ride finally woke up and struck up a conversation.  He was a native of Zagreb, working two jobs to fund his family’s ski trips to Austria. He was very interested in forestry, and held a position in that department for the state. He told us of his proud tradition of planting a tree for each of his children that resembled their character, how we should stick with our studies, and how this will be the time of our lives. After having a truly inspirational conversation, we exited the train in Zagreb, so thrilled with how the day had gone. We found our hostel just down the road, checked in, and dropped our bags. We found a restaurant around the corner, and watched the final moments of France’s run in the Euro tournament. Back at the hostel, I took a much needed shower, not having done so since our first day in Prague. Afterwards, I climbed in bed and whipped out the old iPhone to do some research on Plitvice Lakes National Park, our destination for the next day and climax of the trip.

June 24 (Plitvice):

We got up early to gather our things and make it to the bus station in time to get a bus to the park. I had planned on taking the 7:30 bus, which was in fact available when we got to the ticket counter. Unfortunately there was no way to reserve a return trip from the park, you had to just hop on a bus headed back in the direction of Zagreb and hope there was room. This made me a bit nervous because our train out of town left at 9:00 that night, and I didn’t want to get stranded and miss it. Before we got on the bus, we stopped and got a coffee and little to go sandwich to eat for lunch when we arrived. We had to take our packs down to a baggage lockup, which was kind of a weird experience. I said hello to the guy at the window and asked him how much it would be to store our packs for the day. He let out this crazy cackle and said, “Too much for you!” I was thinking, “I do not want to leave my stuff with this guy.” But he wasn’t kidding, he said it would be 42.50 kn per bag which seemed a little expensive compared to the rest of our luggage storage, especially since we were in Croatia. He asked me where I was from and the second I finished saying, “United States”, he just starts going on and on about Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam, and Faith No More, and Pearl Jam. We talked about Eddie Vetter, Kurt Cobain, and  I shared my Pearl Jam concert story. After a few minutes, he said, “Ok, you like Pearl Jam. For you, 30 kn for both.” Even though he was probably trying to rip us off in the first place, it was cool that our little connection saved us 55 kn.  You know never what you might have in common with someone halfway across the world. Even something as simple as rock and roll goes a long way. The bus ride there was about 2 and a half hours long, getting us to the park around 10:00. I was jittering with excitement when we stopped. After looking into a ton of places to go this summer, I never thought that we would have time to go all the way down into Croatia to see the Plivtice Lakes, but here we were. In my excitement, I started walking the wrong direction, unintentionally leading a group of followers the same way. One of them was a younger guy who seemed to be traveling alone. He tagged along with us as we walked down into the park. We gathered around the map before we bought our tickets to discuss which route we were going to take. The three of us agreed on a path and decided to join forces to take on the park. We bought our tickets, and sat down on a bench to wait on the tram that would take us to our first leg of the hike. At this point we formerly introduced ourselves to Guilherme, our new Brazilian friend. He was on the first part of his two and half week trip through Croatia and Montenegro, up into Budapest, Hungary. He was only 29, having received a degree in computer engineering, now works in finance and hedge funds. He spent a year in New Jersey doing some sort of programming for Johnson and Johnson, and now resides in his hometown of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, traveling every chance he gets. Having already been to 55 countries, and every continent except for Oceania, the man is a true world traveler. As we wandered the park, we listened to his endless tales of travel, made jokes with each other, talked of home, and soaked in the phenomenal beauty of the park. The weather was perfect, the company was perfect, and this pristine landscape looked handcrafted by God himself. It was truly one of the best days of my life. I’ll give you the quick rundown of what we did and then let you get to the pictures. We got off of the tram and started the trail, which began with a winding boardwalk through collection of small lakes and streams. Once we got farther in, the landscape began to unfold into gushing waterfalls and crystal clear turquoise water. Every step we took, the three of us were saying “This is F&#$# amazing.” We reached the halfway point at the big lake where we were to take a ferry across. While we waited, we watched jealously as couples paddled little row boats across the water. The biggest rule in the park is no swimming in order to preserve the beauty of the lakes, far more tempting than apple that Adam and Eve ate. Plus it didn’t help that all the ducks swimming around were saying, “Quack, come on in, quack, the water’s great!” We crossed the lake and had lunch from an old fire roasted rotisserie stand. Afterwards, the 3 of us set out for the second leg, which had the most famous views in the park. A giant waterfall and a few breathtaking overlooks later, we were done. Still trying to digest what we just saw, we realized we still had about an hour to kill before the next bus was supposed to come. So we headed back down through the entrance and ended up at the point across the lake where people were renting the row boats. It was 50 kn for an hour and we decided that it was too perfect of an offer to pass up. Guilherme and I, knowing little about rowing, handed over the reins to ole eagle scout Jeff. We probably looked pretty goofy, 3 men paddling around this little romantic rowboat, but we laughed at ourselves and enjoyed our last little piece of the Plitvice Lakes. We switched spots, Guilherme and I both trying our hand with the oars, not nearly as skilled as Jeff. After having all the fun we could in one hour, we brought the boat back to the dock. Here are some highlight photos from our day at the Plivtice Lakes. 

Small town we passed on the bus ride in

Jeff and Guilherme walking the beginning of the trail, along the boardwalk. 

First view of the park

The fish looked like they were floating, the water was so clear.

Just wait, the water gets even better

Using the camera through the lens of my sunglasses, you could see better through the surface of the water. 

Jeff and I at one of the smaller waterfalls.

Big falls.

Literally every turn was unbelievable.

Waiting for ferry.

Fishes

Our lunch, roasting.

Back on the trail. Guilherme was joking that the Croatian government must have just dumped Listerine into the lakes.

Great overlook

Triumph at the big waterfall

After we climbed up a ways, we looked back at the boardwalk we crossed earlier

Best overlook in the park

The 3 amigos as we neared the end of the trail

Guilherme peeking out from behind Jeff as he rowed us away from the dock

Taking it all in

Trying his hand with the oars. 

Last picture before we took the boat back, and went to catch the bus.

We went up to the bus stop, where there was a girl already waiting. We started talking and quickly picked up another traveler for our group. She was from Finland, heading back into Zagreb to rejoin her friend who had opted out of the Lakes (biggest mistake of his life). Shortly after, two English blokes joined us at the bus stop. We all introduced ourselves and commenced in reveling over the astonishing beauty of the park. Not long after, a man showed up with big van taxi and offered us a ride for 100 kn. All six of us thought it would be a good deal, for the sake of AC and shorter travel time, so we piled in. Jeff and the English guys sat in the back, while Ilona, Guilherme, and I sat in the middle row. We had a wonderful, deep and fun, conversation the whole way back. It was funny looking back: 2 Americans, 2 Brits, a Brazilian, and a Fin chattering like some sort of mini UN crammed in a Croatian taxicab. When we made it back to the bus station, we said goodbye to English fellows (never got their name). 

Ilona, Jeff, Guilherme, Me, and 2 English mates

The remaining 4 of us returned to the bus station to reclaim our bags. Afterwards, we headed to the train station to meet up with Ilona’s friend who ditched on Plitvice. His name was Joni and was just as cool as the rest of our friends we had made that day. Well… not Guilherme because he is the second greatest South American man of all time, right behind Barthalo. The, now, 5 of us wandered into Zagreb to have a drink and some dinner. The city was much cooler than I expected, having only seen the road that runs along the train tracks. 

Hanging in the park.

We found a good restaurant outside on a street that Guilherme led us to. We had dinner, a beer, and a wonderful conversation. We found out that Ilona and Joni were actually on our train that was leaving soon, so we didn’t have to say goodbye to them just yet. But once we finished dinner and were nearing the train station, it was time to part ways with Guilherme. It was pretty sad, after spending the entire day together, so we gave him a big American hug. Don’t worry though, we are Facebook friends now. The remaining 4 of us got on the train and found our couchettes. Our overnight train was to Munich where we would then find our way back to Metz.

Conclusion: Best weekend yet. 5 days, 4 cities, 3 countries. We saw, did, and experienced so much. We made friends with folks from other parts of the globe. We conquered a very strict and complex schedule of trains without missing a single one. Most importantly, I got to see the world in a new perspective. From the eyes of people scattered across the world, you can see pretty clearly into human values and realize that a global perspective can enlighten your own ideals.