Good King Wencelas

While looking at a map Dad pointed out that Prague is actually fairly close to Berlin. So here I am. I took a few days out of my Germany trip to skip across the border to the Czech Republic to Prague. I'm so glad I did. Prague lives up to all expectations.

So, first some pictures to just show how beautiful it is. Even with 2 feet of snow covering everything.

The Vlata River

Tyn Cathedral
Random beauty on random buildings.
There is a small Jewish quarter that still exists with the oldest working synagogue. Even though the Nazi controlled the area the some Jewish buildings survived because Hitler had plans to create a "Museum of an Extinct Peoples".
Of course all three days it was snowing. But despite the gray colors and general mess on the ground (icy mud w/salt) the city was still beautiful. Here is the end of Charles Bridge named for their great king. Another famous king as you might have guessed was Wencelas I, who became a saint and subject of a christmas carol after his death. And yes I had the carol stuck in my head the whole time. The snow didn't help with the Christmas theme.

So, these kings must live somewhere and so Prague Castle was built. I like to think I've seen alot of castles but I've never seen one this big. This was is huge and sprawling. It takes up and entire hill top and there are not one but two full sized cathedrals inside the castle. An interesting fact is when the people here weren't happy with their rulers they might storm the castle and throw them out the window. This happened twice. And I always thought defenestration was just a fun word.

The most famous of the cathedrals in St. Vitus. I'm not sure who he was but is church was nice.

So was his grave.
And finally a look out over Prague. The famous red roofs are hidden under the snow though, as were some of the graveyards.

2010 in Germany!

Yay 2010! I was thinking last year at this time I was in Hong Kong. Now, I'm in Germany, Hamburg to be exact. A nice port city. So far it's my favorite. Big, cool, old and has water. Met up with my friend Mi-yeon here (right) she's a police woman and that's so cool!
But the highlight of this part of the trip was a visit to Ikea (a Swedish chain of cheap/ completely awesome things). Almost everything student's have comes from here because it's so cheap and easy to put together and match. And they have great ideas and meatballs. Mmmm.... I might have to find an Ikea in NC and buy lots of things.

I may not have complained to you already about this but let me do it now. It is cold, there is a lot of snow (more than most people have seen in 10-15 years) and I am not adequately prepared to spend long hours outside. Brr... But still having fun.

The main point of coming to Germany was to visit friends I met in Korea. All five of us met up in Hannover and had an awesome Korean dinner.
I stayed in a fraternity house (Frat Haus) in Hannover, I knew one of the brothers. I feel (this one at least) was a lot nicer than their American counter-parts. So, there are still stereotypes about them, mainly they're Nazis (racist/conservative) this really isn't true. They're nice guys, lots of foreigners actually, and kind of dorky (in a good way). I'm not saying that some of the stereotypes aren't true though. They drink.... alot. They may or may not have a walk in refrigerator only for alcohol and a basin in the bathroom reserved for puking. But this fraternity was founded in 1404 ("Our fraternity is older than your country" my friend liked to tell me) and actually is based around fencing, which all members participate in. It was a fun time.

BEER FRIDGE! AHHHHHH!

The Tiergarten, a huge park (former hunting ground) in the middle of Berlin. The streets next to it were modeled after the Champs-Elysee.
The Reichstag (German Parliament) was also scenic with a huge glass dome on top for passive solar heating and a nice view of the city. Take the free tour; it was informative.

So, this was supposed to be a picture of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe but ended up looking more like a poster for some alien movie. The memorial was kind of boring and I think totally missed the effect it was going for. I didn't feel somber and intent on remembering at all but more like playing an awesome game of hide and go seek in the field of 2,711 stone cubes. If they were a lighter color it'd be an awesome playground or park. The museum underneath got the message across much better though. Much less giddy after walking through that.

And last, because it was so cold and that makes everything take longer because of the constant hot chocolate breaks. Mi-yeon and I did 5 min tours of the Berlin Dome (very impressive) which turned off the lights and kicked us out because it was late and Checkpoint Charlie. Here is the guardhouse (original) between the American and Soviet Zones. Kind of cool. You can still see a difference in wealth between East and West Berlin.

Tomorrow, I leave Germany for a bit to hop over to Prague. I have high expectations for the city.