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.

The day we arrived in Budapest, we were very disoriented. The East train station was a bunch of rails, a roof, and not much else. We couldn't find a map anywhere. We ended up navigating using google maps over Lauren's phone. After a false start in completely the wrong direction, we finally started heading towards our hotel.

It was a long walk, and a very hot day. The walk was really fascinating, walking through a city we've never seen before without anyone to show us the way. But the incident that sticks out most in my mind is something that happened pretty close to the beginning of the trek. We were walking alongside one of the many construction sites in Budapest, and a man in front of us walking towards us starts laughing. He came toward me, announced in very broken English that I am a good man, hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, then resumed walking past us. I was kind of shocked into speechlessness for a few moments, before Lauren suggested I check my pockets. I did, and nothing was missing, even though I did have some spare change in one of my open pockets. I guess he was just really friendly.

And that kind of set a tone for the whole excursion. Budapest was a place filled with the unexpected. Whether it was the gorgeous tiled roofs on so many of the buildings, or the giant cliffs right next to the river on the Buda side of town, or the insanely-gorgeous Parliament building.

Of course, not all was good. It was pretty plain that Hungary was hit really hard by Communism. Much more so in Prague, Budapest showed signs of just how bad things got. There were still buildings on the street that were damaged back during the revolt in 1956. We visited a Communist statue park outside of town, which was full of cool old statues, but also put into perspective just how controlled Hungary was by the Russians. There were fresh flowers on most of the memorials around town to those who stood against Communism, even the little monuments on the side of buildings in back streets. It was much more dramatic than anything I could have expected.

I really want to go back. I don't understand the language at all and the public transit system is much more confusing than Prague's, but still I was just so taken with the city and I want to spend more time exploring every corner and learning more about everything. So much of what's there is really really depressing, but the more I saw the more I was glad I went.

First Impressions, Part II

I'm not sure how many hours it's been since we arrived in Prague, but I can say with certainty that each one has been filled with excitement, adventure, and various levels of exhaustion. Everywhere we've gone thus far has been absolutely amazing - I can't wait to explore more!

We started today with a trip to a nearby hypermarket, which is essentially like an American supermarket but smaller and more Czech. It took a while to find it in the winding streets of Holesovice, but the walk was quite nice. A good deal of people have dogs here, and we got to see a lot of them on the walk, as well as admire the multitude of old buildings. At the hypermarket, we picked up a few items, but had to squeeze everything in a tiny basket since carts cost Kč5. Aside from that, the biggest difference I noticed between Czech and American markets is the bread section. KC bought a baguette for breakfast, and it was just sitting on a shelf with oter baguettes, we did not have to put it in a bag, and the clerk just put it on the conveyor with everything else. The lack of germ-based paranoia was pretty refreshing, actually.

After breakfast and grocery shopping, we headed to KC's school in Vinohrady for his registration and such. It looks pretty far away on the map, but when we took the metro the commute wasn't bad at all. The neighborhood was pretty neat, and rather different from Holesovice and Old Town - there was a lot more Soviet-style architecture, and a few of the older buildings were being renovated. From the people on the streets and the storefronts, you could tell pretty easily that it was a student area. While KC was doing school things, I met up with Veronika for coffee in the school's cafe (turns out Sodexho does their food, too! Urgh...) It was really great to just sit and chat with her for a while; I learned a lot more about Czech culture and got to know her a bit better. She is an International Relations major and lives in a small town about an hour outside of Prague, which sounds like a pretty intense commute. I'm really impressed by her language s kills, too - in addition to very good English, she also speaks Czech (of course), Italian, German, and a bit of Russian. Veronika still seems a bit shy, but I really like her and hope we can be friends! The three of us went to lunch at a pizza place after, and according to KC Czech pizza is surprisingly delicious (I had to opt out and go for a quiche in order to avoid the glutenzz).

After lunch, KC and I explored Vinohrady a bit more, and found a really incredible train station from 1918 called Praha hlavní nádraží. It is an absolutely incredible place - the train depot is a sweeping building made of metal, glass, and exposed old-style industrial beams, and the inside of the station is very grandiose and majestic. It's currently undergoing renovation and was in quite the state of disrepair, but that made it more interesting. I would love to post some photos of this place (and everywhere else), but my computer decided to break and KC's can't connect to my camera, so no pictures for now. You'll just have to use your imagination, I guess.

We then went to buy metro passes, which was difficult because not a lot of the ticket people spoke English (and I still don't have one because I couldn't convince them to give me a student discount). This afternoon, however, I was able to complete a full transaction without using any English - I was quite proud. We're slowly picking up bits pof Czech, but it seems to be a rather difficult language. I'm hoping that by the end of the trip we'll at least have some "survival Czech" down, or perhaps even a basic understanding of the language (my hopes aren't high for that, though).

So far, this trip has been quite the adventure. We've had a few difficulties, like the lack of hot water on Sunday and perpetually sore feet, but I'm having a fantastic time. I can't wait to learn more about the culture and history of this place - it is so fascinating! We're also thinking of making some trips to the countryside (I hear the Moravian Karst is spectacular), as well as the surrounding countries. I've never been to a place where so few people speak a language I can understand, and it's both terrifying and fun. This is my first trip outside of the U.S., and thus far it seems like Prague was a great (albeit somewhat difficult) place to start. It is so gorgeous and amazing here, with something new around every corner, and I can't wait to explore it more.