7 September 2007 · Comment [4]
The first Eastern European update!
Hey everyone! Jovanna and I are going to a church that’s decorated with the bones of 40,000 people in a minute (yes, I realize that I’m coming across and really freakily morbid here, but it’s supposed to be awesome), so I’m just going to talk about the latest pictures because that’s the laziest way to make an update! Plus I have internet ADD so I can appreciate the value of a blog full of pictures. Oh curses! First a little story: yesterday I got my first thing stolen on this trip, which was my battery recharger and four batteries, but it was only worth about $30 altogether so I’m not too sad about it, just even more distrustful of strangers than I was before. But there’s a happy ending to this woeful tale of treachery and deceit! I left my camera memory and USB adaptor in the hostel’s computer last night because they booted us all out in a rush and when I realized they were missing this morning, I was 100% certain that they were going to be stolen but they were still here! And those are worth sooo much more to me than a silly replaceable battery charger setup, so I totally won that round. Okay, pictures! Captions might have to be finished later tonight because we have to leave in a minute.
Okay, back! A day later because it took us literally forever to get from Prague to Budapest because we kept getting stranded in these tiny train stations in the middle of nowhere and as soon as we’re allowed into the hostel this afternoon I’m going to sleep for hours. But now we’re in Budapest! I’m really excited to go exploring just as soon as I’ve slept for twenty-six hours straight. Okay, pictures, awesome.
These are some old buildings in Prague. It’s chock full of beautiful old buildings. This was taken from the Charles Bridge, which just celebrated its 650th anniversary this summer.
This is a tunnel in the Prague Castle complex. Umm yep, that’s it.
This is for Duncan! Because he used to be obsessed with Swarovski Crystal things when he was little and this is from the Swarovski Crystal store near Wenceslas Square.
Eastern European Engrish! Spectacular.
Czech glass beads! Yay sparkly things.
Some swans and ducks! When we first saw these, Jovanna said “Hey, look at the geese!” and then I was like “But there are no geese,” and then it turned out she’s forgetting English words at an astonishing rate. Probably because of all the Czech she’s learning. Ha ha, that’s a laugh. Czech words all look like “mrzlátšké.” Not even exaggerating. That’s probably a word.
Some soldiers walking around Prague Castle, which is cool because it’s a working castle from whence the government rules the country but you can still walk around it!
Sad queen! ;..(
Happy queen! At first I was worried Duncan would be aghast at how I was disrespecting the queen but then I remembered that we saw a picture of her coronation in Westminster Abbey and he said she was quite fit for a queen, hee.
A freaky little rambutan! It looks like a little alien creature and when you peel the skin off it squirts out this gross yellow juice so it looks like it’s defending itself. It’s a pretty good fruit that’s a lot like lychee but I think lychee taste better.
More freaky little rambutans! I want to give them haircuts.
The weather in Prague kept changing so suddenly. It went from perfectly sunny to overcast and pouring rain in like, less than a minute. So weird. What does that have to do with this picture again? Oh, it was sunny on the bush a split second before I took this and then it became overcast and then it started raining just as I got to the hostel, so neat.
Ha ha, nur. I wonder what it means. My money’s on “cancer stick.”
Creepy statue! From the dreams and trauma art museum. So creepy and nightmare-inducing.
Shadow sculpture! Yeah, sorry about the peeing but it’s still too awesome to not post.
Another peeing sculpture! This one is used in all the advertisements I think because it looks like she’s sitting on a rickety little chair until you see the guy and it becomes apparent that she is also peeing. Also there’s an animatronic peeing fountain outside the Franz Kafka museum in Prague? I just don’t get what’s with all these artists and their obsessions with peeing but the fountain looks pretty awesome as well. Maybe pictures later but I don’t want this to become the peeing sculpture picture blog.
Another creepy exhibit from the dreams and trauma museum. It’s a bunch of baby carriages. Also there was creepy music playing.
A painting by Hundertwasser! That’s his whole name, I’m not being pretentious. Oh he’s so awesome. Also the picture’s shadow is wavey because the walls are wavey! Such an awesome idea for an art museum.
The lobby of the Hundertwasser museum. Awesome.
The outside of the Hundertwasser museum.
The water treatment facility that he designed that I happened upon while lost on the subway and then thought it was the Willy Wonka chocolate factory.
A statue outside the museum in Vienna with all the Gustav Klimt paintings whose name I forget because I didn’t post this picture quickly enough!
“The Kiss!” This picture sucks so much because it was a covert operation, which I know I should feel bad about but I don’t really. It’s not like I damaged it with a camera flash and it’s also not like I disrespected it so what’s the problem? I guess because I’m disrespecting the museum’s wishes but I still can’t work up very much guilt over it.
(This is from yesterday morning:) Okay! Have a look at those and I’ll come back later tonight to caption them. Also I’ve accrued a disgusting number of books to read (like six of them!) but right now I’m on Memoirs of a Geisha and it’s so amazing and makes me want to go back to Japan already. Alright, later everyone!
Oh and quickly, one little story: so at one of the tiny train stations where we transferred, we couldn’t see if we were on the right train and the only guy around was looking at us as if he understood what he was saying so we had the following exchange:
Me: “Do you speak English?”
Him: “Umm…sprechen zie deutsch?”
Jovanna: “Uhh…hablas español?”
Him: “Err…parlez-vous français?”
It was so ridiculous. No overlap whatsoever. Fortunately the correct train didn’t leave for 15 minutes so we caught it just fine, but still, you’d think we could have communitaed somehow with knowing four languages between us. Okay, now to sleep for the next three days! Awesome, can’t wait.
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That anime-eyed Queen money thing is awesome. Did you figure that out yourself?
— Mike · Sep 7, 09:48 AM · #
I saw someone on the internet do it with some CHinese money and then when I pulled the five pound note out of my bag it was already smiling a little bit and it really cracked me up so I thought I should share.
— Sarah Beth · Sep 8, 03:06 AM · #
hey.. sweet blog. awesome pictures too. I don’t know if its possible overseas, but I found that while traveling around the US, nearly every public library has free internet (at least for 30 minutes), which could probably save you some $$, and you always get to meet some sweet people too.
— stephen jayanathan · Sep 9, 11:47 AM · #
nur means ‘only’
so the cigarettes are only 3.30 euros
ps come home!!!
— KP · Sep 13, 02:29 PM · #