Clownin' Around at Venice Carnival

So Sunday of our weekend to Slovenia we made a pit stop in Venice to catch the tail end of Carnival. Carnival has been happening for hundreds of years, and people dress in OUT OF THIS WORLD mascarade outfits and walk through out the town and celebrate before Ash Wednesday. It's 2 weeks long, basically a giant block party with music, people, masks, and food. Besides walking around and seeing all of the bridges, gondolas, restaurants, and precious Italian families, it had seemed to be quite the long weekend. A lot of the people in costumes would pose for photos, and we got to see a costume contest on the main stage of best couples. In the main piazza, San Marco, there is the Basilica of Saint Mark (hence being named San Marco for Saint Mark), and my friend Maddie told me that is the church he is buried in. We walked inside the church, but were not allowed in the chapel, and up on the ceiling are thousands, maybe millions of gold and painted tiles, each apart of a mosaic that represents a book in the Bible, all books in the New and Old Testaments. Googled some info and theres over 800 square meters of mosaics. Wowzers!The outside of the church has gold painted statues and is another great example of Greek architecture- absolutely beautiful! Took over 400 years to create.

There is also the main bell tower, city hall, and cafes with tables outside to enjoy being around the piazza. I also learned that Venice originated to be a safe haven during wars, and having to cross the massive body of water surrounding it made it hard to enemies to attack. Also learned that Venice is sinking, and hope to visit it again with my parents before that happens!

 The hard thing about maneuvering around Venice was that there were over 300,000 people on the islands of Venice the day we were there. It was also cold, and raining. Still didn't kill my time in the magical city! We got lost a few times, stopped to have some pizza, and on the main bridge bought my first very touristy article of clothing: a stripped hoodie sweatshirt that matched the stripes of the gondola drivers.

 I didn't go on a gondola, but I did walk on countless amounts of bridges over canals. Didn't fall in at all but we did get lost a lot! So many dead ends, and without a map, it was hard to rejoin our group when it came time to leave. As we were heading back to our bus I ran into one of my friends from high school. Carl Tveite was in my grade at Jefferson, goes to St. Thomas but is studying abroad in Barcelona. First run in from Jefferson and was so awesome!! We left early because of the rain, and we were all tired from the weekend it was plenty of time to get to know Venice. Might go visit when it's a little warmer, but if not it was still a wonderful time!! Next stop: Siena! Much Love, AF

Castles and Ski weekend in Bled, Slovenia!!

Such an eaiser bus ride to Slovenia- only 7 hours this time around! Left Thursday night and arrived at Lake Bled around 2AM to Hotel Krim... it wasn't nearly as gloomy as the name sounds. My roomies for the weekend were Caroline and Jessie Muntz, my new hiking pal (I'll tell you about that later). The slovenian language is very similar to Czech, so some words from last weekend worked for this weekend- thank you "dobreeden" was one of them. Anyways, Slovenia is the country just north east of Italy and East of Germany so we still got to drive through the mountains.

We woke up, ate breakfast, and tried to meet the shuttle to go to the mountains. What we didn't know is that there was only one shuttle out there that left at 8:30AM, so missed that ride! Our travel group went on a tour at 10 through the city of Bled. Bled is a small town that almost reminded me of Stillwater, MN- one main street and there was a recreation/outdoor equipment store on every corner. There is a huge lake with people ice skating/walking on and around it, and on the only island there is a small church from the 1700's. Snowcapped mountains are every way you turn, and there's also a castle high up on the only cliff near the town. In a lot of the shops we went into there were hocket teams, hocket jerseys, hockey ANYTHING- reminded me so much of home! The weather was in the 40s and there wasn't any snow on the ground, just way up on the mountains. Perfect weather for an outdoor tour!

There were a lot of hot air balloons (little dot in the middle) everyday! And that's the castle up on the right

The Gang

First stop was going up a few hundred stairs and about 600 meters up to the Bled Castle, built in the 14th century.That was a great butt-burner to climb up all those stairs but once we passed through the main gate, over the moat and to the main common area, it was such a breathtaking view! The little town below, the view of the entire lake and church on the island and probably could see a couple hundred miles of mountains was so amazing!

At one point we stood up on top of a ledge and took pictures, and we also went inside the castle where they had a museum of artifacts and even some crown jewels! Pretty sweet knowing that over 600 years of kings got to hang out where I was standing. Ther was also a skeleton of a Slovenian princess popping out of a dirt slab, and we could see the jewels she was buried with.

After leaving the inside of the castle, we went around the corner to where the castle's monk lived- he also was the only person that knew the secret recipe to the castle's famous wine and champaign! Traditionally back in medieval times, somehow bottles of wine and champaign were opened with a swift slice of a sword going up the bottles neck and nicking the cork off! So of course, we had to have some friends try it and we got to enjoy a glass of champaign with a monk in a castle. Who can say they've done that??

The monk with a few sliced off bottles (ours was the little one in the middle)

So we headed back to the main part of Bled and as we were walking along the lake, there were a lot of open water areas where the ducks and swans liked to hang out. Here's a picture of two swans enjoying their day!

We finished off our tour with stopping at the famous Bled Bakery where they have this cake that is almost as good as french silk pie. Nothing close to it, but it was really light and fluffy, with a crispy bottom and flaky top (powdered sugar as well). Caroline and I split a piece because they were HUGE! Here's my friend Maddie, me, and my other friend Kelcie posing with our cakes before they were eaten.




Even though the cake was nice, it wasn't very filling and since it was midafternoon and only eaten breakfast and cake, Caroline, Maddie, Kelcie and I found a big open area with a little sandwich shop and ate some food. Such a sunny day outside we sat and talked, looking over the lake and people watching. It's so easy to just sit and talk, as well as window shop at all the little boutiques. By the time we were done, it was dinner time! And went to a classic Slovenian restaurant. I ate goulosh (which is just beef stew and potatoes). Here is my friend Paige and I waiting for our (VERY) filling dinners. Yum!

After that we went to Pub Bled, a little bar at the end of town to finish off the night. What was really interesting to me is that there were unattended teens there: not your typical sight in a bar. So my friend Dan, John, and I went to go talk to them. Turns out they were 14-16 years old, and it was normal for them to come hang out at the bar late at night. No way would this ever be okay at home! So we took a photo with them, but another part of the Slovenian culture that shocked me big time.

Woke up Saturday morning very early to make sure we caught the bus to go skiing/snowboarding. There was a group of 18 people that went, all friends from Florence or Iowa State and was probably one of the best times I've ever had being up on a mountain. It was 50 degrees, sunny, and got to hang out with all my friends that are as big of goofballs as I am! In order to get up to the ski resort, we had to take a gondola 1200 feet up so we were on the snow-capped part of the mountain and could be at the base of all the chair lifts. Just that freaked me out, but it was definitely worth it! Here's a view from the gondola without any zoom in/out. Oh, and that blob in the middle-right is a lake bigger than lake Bled. Goes to show how high up we were!

When we arrived at the top, it took a while to get gear (Some people forgot snowpants/hats/gloves), and we all had to get fitted for our snowboards/ski's. I went snowboarding, and surprisingly there were a lot of people that snowboarded, too. Thank goodness for that trip out to Colorado with my family, and little trips out to Afton Alps with Ricky or else I probably would have stuck to the bunny hills. Once we got to the midpoint cafe, we split off into an advanced group and a group that hadn't skied or snowboarded ever... I went with the first group. We did so many runs and only stopped 2 times to go to the bathroom/eat/drink. The chalet had "smurfs" working inside, and because it was so warm out I only needed my flannel and rain coat to keep me warm all day!

Here are all the girls that went!!

After conquering the middle part of the mountain, we decided to go to the highest point in the entire resort and finish off the only run left to do. To get to the top, you take a single person chair lift for about 20 minutes, going over huge bowls (dips in the mountains covered in snow), cliffs, and groves of trees. I almost peed my pants, but instead of doing that I took a lot of pictures!!!

Once we got to the top, I just about cried: it was the clearest day I could ask for, and saw (no joke) for HUNDREDS of miles. I'm being serious this time, it was that amazing. The sun was still out, and we still had a run to do. After sitting in awe for 15 minutes, we went down the mountain, and then did it two more times. Great way to end the day!

Paige, Jana, and I

Funny how snowboarding all day works up an appetite. We met up with the rest of our travel group and you will never guess where we went for dinner... so I will tell you: MEXICAN! Oh have I been missing out on eating that food. It was such a great place, called Pepper Chile's and it was actually very authentic for being in the middle of Slovenia. 

We had a family style dinner, and I sat at the end of the table with caroline, Kelcie, Maddie, Liz, Abbey and Kate. Between the 7 of us, we went from seeing this platter of food:

to it being devoured in 20 minutes. 7 girls can eat a lot after a day up on a mountain!

After being stuffed, we ended up going to a local bar for 15 minutes, but thanks to us having a "food coma", I was ready for bed. It had been such a long day, and plus my roommate Jessie and I were planning on waking up at 6AM to see the sunrise. Slept for 8 hours still! I was pooped. 

At first, we were just going to go across the lake and watch it, but since we slept so good, we climbed all the way back up to the castle to see it! Got another great workout in, saw the sun over the town of Bled, and made it back to have another great breakfast.

We watched the sunrise Sunday morning, and our group was leaving at 9AM to make a really fun and AWESOME pit stop: Venice Carnival. That will be in my next blog post. So to end this part of my blog, Slovenia was an awesome choice to get my snowboarding bug out of my system, and had a fabulous time with all of my friends! Geared up and ready for Venice... after a 3 hour nap on a bus. Much love, AF

Czech it Out in Prague

Sorry it's been a while since I updated my blog! After coming back from Prague last weekend, I had 4 days to go to school/do homework and then left right away for Slovenia. I actually had a lot of homework to do this week so finally I am able to get a few words in about the past 2 weeks. First I'll start out with Prague.

So, again I went to Prague with all of my roommates (Caroline, Kate, Emma, Kelcie, Liz, Kristin, and my other friend Ashley) and it was a great time. Prague is in the Czech Republic, formerly apart of Czechoslovikia (I can't spell), and Prague is the capital city. There are a lot of interesting people there, they claim to be better than the Germans at making beer, and have so much religious/communistic/territorial history I don't even know where to start! Below is where the Czech Republic is on a map (the red area):

After a 12 hour bus ride through the Swiss Alps and Germany, we finally made it! Went with a travel agency/group called Bus2Alps and they take care of all the accommodations. It was nice to have them help with everything for our first trip outside of Italy! Funny though, because most of our rest stops had McDonalds or some form of American fast food. My ears popped so many times I lost track of counting because we went through/over/under so many mountains, but the actual city of Prague is fairly flat and there aren't many mountains to be seen. We stayed in a hostel that had better security than most hotels I've been in, and you can only access your floor with your door key on the elevator. Besides that and the lobby, we didn't spend too much time at our hostel. They did have a wonderful free breakfast buffet every morning with fruit, pancakes, hot dogs (a delicacy in Prague... so healthy) eggs, and cereal.

From breakfast, we took a trolley and then the underground subway to the center of the city. We went on a guided tour for 3 hours. First stop was the oldest part of Prague, called Old Town, where the first church is, the town square, and part of the city hall. Out tour started with explaining how the two towers on the Church of Our Lady Tyn were built to be different sizes, the bigger one representing Adam and the smaller Eve. The church was built in the 14th century (pic below)

In the square, there is also a HUGE statue of Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake after arguing to the church that everyone should be able to attend church for free, and read the Bible in one's own language. Before Jan Hus, people would pay priests in order for their sins to be forgiven; Hus saw how people were abusing the system and sinning all the time, and began an uprising against that idea, saying God doesn't need payment in gold to forgive people. He argued a lot of other things, but this was the main point our guide told us. On the 500th year anniversary of his death, the city of Prague erected a statue (below) in 1915, which reads, "Love each other and wish the truth to everyone". Hus was also great influence on Luther.

Another big part of Old Town was the area the city hall used to be, which actually was burned to the ground during WWII. Today there is a large grass area with trees and a memorial. Next to the city hall is the world's 3rd Astronomical clock and the only one that still works! Operated by a clock man, every hour on the hour there is a mechanical rooster that crows, the 12 disciples rotating through the two windows to say hello, and a trumpeter at the top of the tower. The clock's dial has all of the astrological signs, as well as 366 names around the outer edge. The names were called "day names"one for each day of the year, and if you were given a name that's the same as a day name, you were able to celebrate another birthday on that date. Confusing, but basically it's another way to celebrate oneself if you're from  the Czech Republic.

After this, we went to one of the original 7 city gates: again, same bohemian style of architecture as the church, these were put up to help protect the common area's people, as well as they were the only entrances into the city. During WWI, 3 of the gates were used to hold hundreds of barrels of gunpowder. You could probably guess why there are only 4 still standing today, but they are still really cool and quite massive to be "gates".

From here, we went to the Estates Theatre, which was one of the last places Mozart performed. Outside of the theatre, there is a hollow copper/green metal statue that reminds me of a Death Eater from Harry Potter. There is a myth that the hollow face of the demon is a portal straight down to Hell, and if you want to wish something badly on an enemy, you write it on a piece of paper, throw it into the Demon, and Satan himself will get the note and grant your wish if he sees fit. Kind of creepy stuff!

After here, we went to the Jewish Quarters, which not only used to be where Hitler corralled up the Jews during WWII, as well as the peasant area to which they were summoned to during the 17th century, but today is actually one of the richest parts of Prague. We went to the Jewish Synagogue Museum, which has original children's art from during WWII, all of the history of the Prague Jewish population during WWII, as well as a golden wall with the names of over 80,000 jews that died in concentration camps. The interesting/very sad thing about WWII is that there were over 130,000 jews living in Prague during the war: 20,000 immigrated, 80,000 were known to have died in camps, which leaves around 30,000 to be unclaimed for; no one knows what happened to them. A happy part of this story is that there Nicholas Winton, a rich tradesman who traveled around Europe, knew that the Jews were going to be sent out to concentration camps. He was able to put together 9 trains of Jewish children and send them to London for safety. Unfortunately since the trains went through Germany, the last train was overtaken and all of those children were sent straight to Auschwitz, the same place where nearly all of their parents died. But Winton's efforts still saved nearly 700 Jewish children. Google Nicholas Winton to learn more; brought me to tears.

From here was our last stop on our tour: the Prague Castle. Nestled on top of a hill and where the Czech crown jewels are held, this is the oldest bohemian-styled building in Europe. We didn't go inside, but saw it from the distance. 

We went back to the bridge at night to see it, and the Rolling Stones donated their stage lights back in the 70's to make it much more visible at night. Here are my two friends, Ashley and Emma with me at the base of the castle.

On saturday, we did a lot more sightseeing! Not even the 10 degree weather could stop us; one thing that we did to keep ourselves warm was got some hot wine. Never had heard of that before but it reminds me of apple cider almost, but was always red wine with a hint of cinnamon. If we ever have a girls weekend up at the cabin, might have to bring this idea with! Started our morning again riding the trolley, then the subway, across the river to the side where the castle is. The famous St. Charles bridge was our first stop, which at one point was the only way to get from the castle to the common area. We went to the bottom of the bridge first, and then went to the top and walked across.

Mom would be proud I'm making so many friends! I tried to take a picture by myself (below), but we had met these guys at The Pub the night before, and decided to photo-bomb my picture. They were from Holland and were very nice!

JESUS!

View of all the statues along the bridge. On both sides, they were the size of the Jesus statue above, and the one below. All dark stone with hints of gold, they were famous leaders, kings, or religious men protecting the people on the bridge.

A statue that if you rub the right side, it brings you 7 years of good luck!

After walking across the big bridge, we also saw a lot of monuments that represented the Czech rule under communism. There was the Franz Kafka Museum that was created in honor of a socialist writer who helped fight communism. In front of the museum is a humorous statue of two men with rotating hips literally peeing on the country of the Czech Republic. It was a way for the Czech to represent how they felt under communistic rule.

There is also a GIANT metronome that can be seen from a mile away on the top of a hill where a giant statue of Joseph Stalin once stood (it was torn down after the fall of communism), and the metronome is a ticking reminder of the time wasted under communistic rule. 

On Saturday, we also went and saw the John Lennon wall, a huge wall with graffiti and 

was a famous area for teens to protest the war and be artistic. This wall was painted/spray painted on by thousands of people and demanding peace. At first the city kept trying to paint over it, but the teens kept doing it! John Lennon liked it when he visited Prague on tour, so with his support they named it after him. Even today kids can go and paint on it, and there are lots of inspiring quotes, art, and of course art about the Beetles and John Lennon.

small section of the wall

Emma and I posing in front of our favorite part! "All these places have their moments of lovers and friends. I still can recall some are dead and some are alive. All my life I loved you all. Know I'll never lose affection for people and things that went before. I know I'll often stop and think about them. In my life I loved you more."

As I mentioned before meeting that huge group of guys, our favorite bar we went to was called The Pub. At the tables there were the beer taps and a touch screen to monitor how much each person has had. There's also a giant screen that they'd play soccer/hocket games, but it would pop up a tally of how many beers each table has had. Our tour guide had done beer races with other tables when he came here, but we went there twice to warm up, eat lunch, and have some world-famous Czech pilsner beer! 

Caroline and I standing next to the room with all the beer kegs. 

On Saturday night we went to the Beer Museum, another Czech bar that has 30 kinds of Czech beer, all different tastes and flavors. Such as grapefruit, blueberry, chocolate, raspberry, and Demon- a spicy beer. I split a taster platter with Emma and Ashley and was able to try 5. 

My favorite was the chocolate kind! We also went out to dinner and had a Czech bratwurst and fries. What a great meal to end the night and weekend. So much fun and learned a LOT! We had a 12 hour bus ride all day on sunday, so that was a nice way to end the weekend. Next stop: Slovenia and Venice!! Much love, AF