Hiking in Česky Raj!

First, let me apologize for the lack of updates on this here blog-thing. Wifi in the apartment is less reliable than ever, so we've had a tough time doing much of anything internet-related. That being said, KC and I have been doing a lot of fun things here and Prague is great!

Earlier this week, we took a train out to the small town of Turnov to go hiking in the region of Česky Raj (the name means "Bohemian Paradise"). After a rainy start and some serious difficulties finding the hiking trail, or "rambling path," we had a wonderful time exploring the countryside and taking lots of pictures. The region is characterized by verdant forest and striking limestone geomorphology: karst, sinkholes, caves, etc. Here are just a few photos - this place is gorgeous!

Interesting building we saw from the train. I really liked the contrast of the pretty flowers and the decaying structure.

This is the old Jewish cemetery in Turnov. Like most Jewish cemeteries we've seen in Europe, the graves are crammed together in a very small area due to lack of space. This cemetery is particularly interesting, though, because about half of it is covered by a small highway overpass.

The view from the beginning of the trail, which goes through a lovely residential neighborhood in Turnov.

Beautiful forest.

KC at an overlook on the top of a karst formation. There was a small spiral staircase attached to this towering rock feature, and the view from the top was amazing.

Me, at the same overlook.

LIMESTONE.

After hiking for a while, we came upon the Valdštejn Castle, which was first built about 1,000 years ago and added on to over the centuries. The structure was built right into some amazing limestone karst towers, which made it even more spectacular.

Statue in the gardens of Valdštejn.

The view of the valley, as seen from Valdštejn Castle.

Since Valdštejn is so ancient, there are also a fair amount of ruins there, like this one.

This whole country is absolutely gorgeous. Everything looks like a painting.

KC on the trail.

These are the limestone karst I was talking about.

Absolutely spectacular, right?

"Rock towns" in the Hruba Skala region. 

While walking to the bus station in Sedmihorky (near Turnov), we saw a lot of beautiful agricultural lands as well. This part of the world is so gorgeous in every way, and I feel incredibly lucky to experience it.

A few photos from Budapest

Since KC is writing about our travels to Budapest, I figured I would post some of our photos from the excursion.

Also, if you click on a picture it will become gigantic. Enjoy!

One of the really interesting things about Budapest is its lack of reconstruction post-WWII and -1956. I don't mean to imply that the whole city is in disrepair, it actually looks quite nice, but there are definitely places where you can still see the damage from these now-old conflicts. Our hotel was in the Jewish Quarter, which was once a ghetto but is now pretty bohemian-hip. This photo doesn't show it too clearly, but in that neighborhood especially there were many memorials and bits of evidence from WWII and the 1956 uprising. 

The exterior of St. Stephen's Basilica. This place is absolutely massive, and its chapel houses the mummified right hand of St. Stephen who died in the 11th Century. I found this a bit strange, but apparently it's a very important religious object.

See? We really did eat ice cream shaped like roses! And it was delicious!

KC took this photo at the top of an immense staircase leading up to the Buda Castle District. Great view, but SO many stairs! Later that day we found out that there is a funicular going straight up the hill, but walking up was actually rather neat (albeit tiring).

View of Budapest and the Danube River from Buda Castle. Buda is on the left side of the picture, and Pest is on the right. Beautiful city, right?

Fisherman's Bastion, in the Castle District. This structure is incredibly gorgeous and fascinating, but a large portion of it was fenced off due to construction. There is a ton of restoration and construction going on in Budapest, and we predict that the city will continue to become a more popular tourist destination as the years pass. I'm glad we got to see it before the rush!

Photo of KC and I, taken at Fisherman's Bastion. Budapest is really spectacular from all angles.

St. Matthew's Cathedral in the Buda Castle district. This building is also under construction for stone restoration and the like, but still looked quite nice on the outside (we didn't go in). I really love the patterned roof tiles - a lot of roofs in Budapest have bright, stunning mosaic patterns. It's too bad more cities haven't adopted this roofing style, as it's immensely pleasing. 

This is the Dohany Street Synagogue, built around 1850 only a few blocks from our hotel in Pest. According to the tour guide, who had a NY accent and was named Reuben, this is "the first and second largest synagogue in the world." It seats fewer people than Temple Emmanuel in New York City, but has more physical space. The building is really ornate for a synagogue, and actually looks kind of like a church (except for the stars of David, Holocaust Memorial, lack of angel/biblical frescoes, large number of Jews, etc.). It was quite interesting to see this place, as Hungary's Jewish community appears to be thriving today but was decimated during the Holocaust (Hungary was a German ally, and was also rather anti-Semitic to begin with). The cemetery outside of the synagogue is probably about one-fourth of an acre, but has over 8,000 people buried there in mass graves. During WWII, the small but populous Jewish district was walled off as a ghetto and no supplies were allowed in, meaning many people died from starvation and otherwise-curable illnesses. Visiting this place was yet another reminder of the realities of 20th-century conflicts in Central Europe. Although the cemetery and memorial were quite sobering, it was nice to see that the Jewish community in Budapest is thriving once again.

I guess this is a good place to add that Budapest is quite multicultural, which is cool. There is more ethnic variation than in Prague, which I think might be a product of Hungary's shifting rulers over the past millenia - Turkish, Magyar, Hapsburg, they've seen it all.

The Hungarian Parliament, as seen from the tower of St. Stephen's Basilica. The Parliament building is gorgeous, and looks like a cross between a gothic castle and a gothic church. It's spectacularly gothic and incredibly ornate.

KC and I on the tower of St. Stephen's Basilica.

On Saturday we went to Esceri, a flea market on the southern edge of town. They had a ton of interesting antiques for pretty reasonable prices, and we had a blast. However, we  forgot to eat lunch before leaving, so we had to buy this delicious fried potato dough topped with grated cheese. I don't remember what it was called, but holy cow was it greasy and delicious.

KC  has a million cameras. Ok, one of them is mine, but still - what a gangsta.

While we were in Budapest, KC and I visited a supremely strange place called Memento Park. After the fall of Communism, no one wanted Soviet statues or monuments anymore, so the founders of Memento Park collected a bunch of surviving one's from Central Europe and put them on a few acres outside of Budapest. Seeing these statues was bizarre and kind of depressing; I actually felt a bit guilty for paying money to see the imposed-idols that tyrannized this part of the world for so many years. Interesting, sure, but also quite sobering.

Silhouette of a Soviet statue.

Outside the park they had an old Soviet Trabant, which was apparently a notoriously unreliable automobile. This one was in particularly bad shape thanks to tourists breaking off pieces, but there was still enough of the car left for KC to squeeze inside and look ridiculous.

A Soviet-era radio.

I don't know what this building is, but the roof is absolutely gorgeous. This picture doesn't do it justice - the roof is a mosaic of green and yellow tiles that shine in the sun. KC was absolutely fascinated by it when we passed it on the tram, and we went back later so he could photograph it.

I really love Budapest, and I'm so glad we went. It's pretty different from  Prague, but comparing the two cannot convey the true nature of either city. I am so unbelievably fortunate to travel the way I am right now, and I plan to savor every moment of it. Everything we have done and seen so far has been amazing, and as cliche as it sounds, we'll remember this forever.

The Czech word for ice cream is zmrzlina.

Today we started a bit later than usual (slept til 9:30), but still managed to see a ton of great sites around the city. We wandered around Mala Strana for a bit, which was nice but quite crowded. Turns out this city is a big tourist destination - who knew? After lunch we took the tram to Vysehrad, an old castle/fortress resting on some quite impressive cliffs along the Vlatava River. It's a very nice place, and the views from the top of the castle walls are absolutely incredible - we could see quite far down the river and into the lovely countryside. According to an exhibit there, the archaeological record for the region dates back to prehistoric times (around 3800 BC, I think), and there are a number of myths surrounding the area's history. Unfortunately, I do not remember the details of said myths, but suffice to say they were quite fascinating indeed.

While KC was in class yesterday I took a walk in Stromovka Park, which is only a few blocks from our apartment. I went just as the sun was peeking out after a big rainstorm, and it was absolutely gorgeous. This park might just be the most fairytale-like public place in existence. Stromovka used to be a royal hunting ground, and it is filled with tall leafy trees, lovely grass, and paths winding up and down the hillside. I had a great time just wandering around, and made sure to bring KC back later in the day.

The weather here can be pretty volatile, it seems. Yesterday especially. It rained until 8:30, was sunny from 8:30 to 10:00, stormed rather nastily from 10 to 11 (a storm which I was caught in), was sunny, stormed, was sunny, etc. etc. etc. I might even venture to say that the weather in Prague is crazier than the weather in Colorado!

After seeing some of the major tourist spots on the weekend I am very very glad to be living in Holesovice, which is much quieter and more residential. I feel like we're getting a bit more of the local flavour this way. We are slowly learning more Czech, and I recently purchased a phrasebook to help us along the way.

I've noticed a few interesting things about Prague fashion, the most striking of which is the women's propensity to wear stockings. While in America sheer nude-color stockings are not particularly fashionable, here they are worn with skirts, shorts, and even open-toed shoes. A lot of older women also have really brightly dyed hair. We've seen a number of ladies sporting red, purple, or pink tresses.

There are so many places here that I'm just dying to explore! Everything is absolutely gorgeous and fascinating, and the history is wonderful. I wish that we could post pictures and share these great places! Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon - I might have to take it to an Apple Store, but the closest one is in Munich. Weekend trip, perhaps?

Actually, we're thinking about visiting Budapest next weekend. I've heard great things about it, so I'm excited to see it.