Winter Sketch Trip: Berlin, Fussen, Prague, Budapest

11/12 February

A VERY interesting start to my travel break.  I left my house around 11 at night to get to the airport and sleep until my 6:30 flight.  I got to Gare de Lyon to catch the Noctilien (the night bus) to take it to Orly Airport.  While I was waiting, some random lady came up and started talking to me in French.  I spoke my crappy French back to her and turns out she’s  a student from St. Petersburg who has studied military engineering and now studying psychology…interesting combination haha.  I got to Orly and found a “comfy” spot to sleep.  I woke up a couple hours later to find out my flight was 5 HOURS delayed due to a stupid strike in Berlin.  Not only was it unnecessary to sleep in the airport, but that’s 5 hours out of sightseeing.  I was pretty pissed.  So I went back to sleep and waited ‘till 11:30…

Time to board.  Got on the plane and slept the entire way there.  I didn’t get to the city center until 2:30 in the afternoon, I was pretty bummed.  I walked around Alexanderplatz for a bit.  Their metro system is more confusing than Paris’ in my opinion; it took me awhile to get used to it.  On top of everything, my hostel was hard to find.  It took me about an hour to find it.   That evening, after having a pretty rough day, I treated myself to a fancy German dinner (Pork, sauerkraut, dried plums, mashed potatoes, and beer) on Unter den Linden (Berlin’s equivalent to Michigan Avenue) and afterwords I went to a jazz club called “A Trane.”  The musicians were excellent.  Absolutely excellent.  They were pretty experimental but they were still coherent and easy to enjoy.

13 February

Friday the 13th!  I got up, checked out, and ran over to the Reichstag: where Berlin’s Parliament meets.  Tourists are able to go to the top of the building and see the giant glass dome designed by Sir Norman Foster at the top.  It was really neat.  It’s lined with a spiraling ramp that goes all the way to the top.  In the middle of the dome hangs a giant funnel covered with mirrors that create numerous reflections.  Afterwords, I went to catch my train at Berlin’s main train station – Hauptbahnhof.  Turns out the train station is a modern gem itself!  The goal was to make it as transparent as possible, so people can find their trains easily.  Designing it must’ve been a challenge, as it serves the metro (U-Bahn), suburban trains (S-Bahn) and long-distance trains.  The transparency theme went as far as even using glass as structure, which is pretty rare.  While I was sitting on the ground sketching the train station, someone came up to me and gave me a couple euro…thinking I was homeless.  I’m not homeless, I’m an architecture student   I got on the train to head to Fussen to meet my cousin, Sonja.

After another 2 hour delay and nearly missing the last train to Fussen, I finally made it to meet up with Sonja at 10:45p!  I was a bit tired from 10 hours of traveling and I kind of wanted to take it easy and go to bed early.  Later on, she asked me if I wanted to go to a bar and I changed my mind   We ended up staying out until 5.  The bar was a lot of fun though.  It was a very local, low-key bar run by a guy named “Blondie.”  People call him that because he sounds like Hitler when he gets mad….and I had the pleasure of seeing him get mad haha.  We just chilled there and talked to the locals and met some of Sonja’s friends.  They were really friendly and spoke pretty well, especially for a small mountain town.

14 February

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Even though it’s pretty much non-existent in the Alps.  Sonja took me for a walk around Fussen.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  The town was surrounded by the alps and covered in snow.  It felt like I was inside a giant snowglobe.  WE went hiking up one of the mountains later that afternoon.  The trail is a sort of “pilgrimage” trail lined with small chapels.  At the top, there were three crosses paying homage to the crucifixion of Jesus.  However, the artist who sculpted Jesus on the cross abstracted him and made him very skinny and ragged…it looked like something out of a Dali paiting.  Naturally, we referred to the sculpture as “Creepy Jesus.”  Aside from Creepy Jesus, the top had a breathtaking view of the village and the Alps behind it.  We hiked back down and she showed me a little more of the town for the rest of the afternoon.

15 February

I woke up a little early to go to Hohen Schloss and sketch for awhile.  It was sunny that day, which was good.  Later that day, Sonja nad I went hiking in a different area near a lake called the Alpsee.  The water was perfect, not to cold and not snowing.  We hiked through the mountains to a small town called Vils (pronounced ‘fils) in Austria.  (Fussen is right on the boarder…about a 40 min walk from Austria.  We walked up to this old castle ruin that looked over the village.  Afterwords, we noticed it was getting dark and hurried back to the Alatsee.  We stopped in one of the Mountain Hotels and got a nice German dinner.

16 February

Neuschwanstein!!  Sonja and I got up early to head up to the castle.  As we approached it, we cold see the castle nestled high in the mountains-  it looked like something out of a fairytale.  Cheesy, I know, but there’s no other way of putting it.  However, the walk up to the castle, not so much a fairtale- it was muddy and touristy.  Great combination.  I sketched for a bit and toured the inside.  Like most European castles, the lavishness was on the inside.  The decoration was absolutely overwhelming; it blended together various architectural styles ranging from Romanesque to Gothic.  King Ludwig had a bed with the spires of 7 European churches carved on top, scenes from Wagner’s operas painted all over the castle, a throne room in the shape of a basilica, and even a man-made grotto!   Pictures weren’t allowed inside, but I snuck a few   I made my way down to the other castle, Hohenschwangau, the summer home of King Ludwig’s parents.  The inside wasn’t as impressive, but it was still designed for royalty!  I met some people from the Air Force on the tour who were serving near Frankfurt and I talked to them for awhile.  I made my way back to Sonja’s and took a much-needed hot bath!  Later that night, I walked around the city, took some pictures, and sketched a bit.  The town was so peaceful at night, I could hear the whistle of a train meandering through the Alps if I listened closely.  I looked off into the distance to see lights from campers lining the tops of the mountains.  I made my way back and started packing my things before I went to bed so I could catch another early train.

It was really nice to see Sonja for the first time in about 5 years.  It was so weird having to fill someone in on 5 years of your life and talking about random facts from my childhood that I felt like I’ve nearly forgot about!  I’m really glad I was able to stay with her and see Germany from a non-tourist point of view.  I wanna come back :D :D

17 February

I hopped on the train that headed to Munich and then took a bus from Munich to Prague.  I had a bit of culture shock when the bus stopped at the rest stop in Prague and I realized I couldn’t buy any food because I haven’t exchanged my euros for Czech krons yet; traveling within the EU has spoiled me a bit.  I got to Prague and “czeched” (heheheheheeh) into my hostel.  I went to grab some food and already experienced how cheap Prague was…a full meal and a beer was about $5.  Coming from Paris, that is lovely.  I met up with my friends from Versailles and we went on a barcrawl with the hostel.  One of the bars was featured in Eurotrip which was kinda neat.

18 February

The next day, Elyse and I walked around Prague for a bit.  We meandered through Old Town square and went to Prague castle.  We went inside St. Vitus Cathedral, a church inside the castle complex.  Afterwards, we wandered around and sketched for a bit and found Frank Gehry’s dancing house.  Frank Gehry is well-known for his sculptural architecture (i.e. Millenium Park) and the dancing house was no exception.  While I’m not a fan of some of his stuff, I really like the Dancing House.  It’s forms are very abstract and liberal, yet, it is tasteful and fits in nicely on its plot and its urban surroundings.  There, we met Wilke and we headed over to the communist museum.  It was pretty neat.  I didn’t know a lot about communism in Czechoslovakia…but after an hour in the museum, I knew plenty  We met up with Cara, Annette, and Drew – more people from Versailles – and went out to dinner.  Wilke recommended that I get this plate called the “Bohemian delight” – basically a huge platter with a bunch of meats and potato pancakes – and I was glad I did haha.

19 February

Today was a good day.  Today was music nerd day.  I started by visiting the Dvorak Museum, it was small, but legit…they had a lot of original stuff, no facsimile bullshit; I saw his glasses, his cufflinks, his piano, his top hat, even his graduation outfit.  In the museum, I learned that he was buried in Vysriad cemetery, two metro stops away from the museum.  Being the music nerd that I am, I went to go hunt his grave down.  Vysriad itself was pretty.  It’s comprised of a park, a small foot market, and a church.  It wasn’t overpopulated with tourists and it was very peaceful.   I wandered through Vysriad until I found the cemetery.  I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to find his grave, but it was marked conveniently on a map.  The cemetery had a very unique type of silence.  People reverently walked from grave to grave admiring the cemetery’s simple beauty and complex history.  I found Dvorak’s grave.  It was just there…among the others; it wasn’t larger or more elaborate than the ones next to it.  I made my way back to the city center and wandered around for a bit more.  I found the national theater with an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s film work.  I didn’t know he did film, but it was pretty interesting; they were basically “living” portraits.  His play with emotion, framing, contrast, and lighting was pretty inspiring.  I was impressed.  I wandered a little more and found a nice restaurant.  I had trout and potatoes for about $10 and they gave me a free plum schnopps for dessert which was delish!  Afterwards, I wandered for a bit more and found a musical instrument museum!  It was pretty neat.  One floor was devoted to pianos and stringed instruments and percussion and wind instruments were upstairs.  Their collection of instruments was stunning!  I wanted to play them :D  In the atrium, a band was rehearsing.  I liked their sound a lot; they played a unique mix of folk music and jazz.  Unfortunately, I had to rush through the museum to see an opera later that night.  I went with Wilke and Cara, a couple of my friends from Versailles.  We had center seats from the equivalent of 30 euro…not bad!  Tosca- the opera- was pretty good!  The vocalists did a good job (to me at least, I dunno about Gabby) but I heard the pit mess up a few times.  It was pretty easy to follow because they had translations in Czech and English on a screen above the stage.  The opera hose was absolutely gorgeous…neo baroque.  I’m really glad I was able to make it.  Later that night, Wilke, Drew, Elyse, and I went out with some people to a couple of bars in Prague with some people from the hostel.  Got back at around 4 and got up at 5:30 to catch yet another early bus….

20 February

The bus ride to Budapest was 8 hours long.  I wished it was longer so I could sleep more!  I got off the bus and I was kind of crabby.  I was sick of the cold, tired, and didn’t feel like exploring a whole other city.  Yes, I know I sound jaded, but I was exhausted!  Once again, I had trouble finding my hostel because the sign was literally 2 inches high and 6 inches wide.  I was wandering the street for a good 30 minutes, it started snowing, and I really was starting to get annoyed.  I finally found it, demarked by a very small sign with the hostel’s name: “Bubble.”  I arrived at the door just as the hostel owner, Olga, was getting back from her lunch break.  She greeted me with a warm smile and introduced herself.  She showed me around the hostel which was awesome!  It was more like living in a house rather than a hostel because it had such a cozy and friendly atmosphere.  It only had two rooms – eight beds each – and no locks on the interior doors.  I was basically in the “Allen Hall” of hostels.  I walked around Budapest for a bit while I waited for my friends to arrive.  Turns out it’s not that bad of a city- a lot of traditional architecture citing various styles from gothic to baropue.  I was pretty impressed.  I met John, Carolyn, Evan, and Mark back at the hostel.  We went out for Hungarian food…which is basically all-things-fried.  I was really hungry…I finished all my food, got a dessert, and helped Carolyn finish hers.  We went back to the hostel where Olga basically mapped out an itinerary of things to do during the night.  She recommended a good bar to hear some live music and then a bathhouse that is open until 4 in the morning!  Something unheard of in France haha.  The live music was very good and the bathhouse was incredible.  It was a 500 year old bathhouse built into the mountains that got its hot water directly from the springs.  It had a giant hot pool underneath a dome and various small pools of varying temperatures on the side.  It also had dry and wet saunas.  And the best part was…it was only 2,000 to get in.  2,000 Hungarian Forints…about $13 :D  Gotta love exchange rates.  (It would be about $45 in France or Spain).  We also got massages for an extra $13.  Overall, a pretty relaxing night…which left us pretty rested for the next day…

21 February

We got up early to go on a Free Tour.  Free Tours is a company situated in all major cities in Europe that does – take a wild guess – tours for free.  The tour guides are very knowledgeable and work only on tips.  Our tour guide for Budapest, Gabor, was awesome!  He knew everything you needed to know about Budapest.  He gave us a political, economic, and architectural history of the city (because a good portion of the tour consisted of us architecture majors :D)  Budapest is divided by the Danube River "Great Gatsby" style between the “old rich” (Buda) and the “new rich” (Pest).  My favorite part of the tour was the Fisherman’s Bastion – located in Buda – which had a marvelous view of the rest of the city.  At the end of the tour – which lasted over four hours – Gabor recommended a lot of good places to go out (since most of us were students).  One place that stood out in particular was a bar called Szimpla.  Someone in Prague recommended it, Olga recommended it, and now he did too.  Afterwards, we went to a good Hungarian restaurant that Gabor recommended.  The food, again, was pretty much all deep-fried.  If there’s one thing that doesn’t change from country to country, it’s the American hip-hop.  While we were in the restaurant, we heard “Sensual Seduction,” “Disturbia,” and “So What.”  We went to a park (I forgot the name) in Pest to see some castles and then headed back to the hostel to chill for awhile.  We met a some people:  Alexis from Boston- who came here to teach English and Laurent- from France- who was on vacation.  We chatted with Olga for awhile and she gave some more recommendations of things to do tonight.  Olga was so nice.  She made our stay in Budapest so enjoyable, it was one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at ever.  She legitimately sad that she wasn’t going to be there in the morning to say good bye to us when we left!  Laurent, Alexis, Evan, Mark, John, and I decided later to go out to Szimpla and see what all the hype was about.  The entrance was pretty shady-looking, it was on a dark side street and you entered through plastic flaps, something like a loading dock…but the inside was incredible.  It was basically a giant warehouse divided into a bunch of rooms with a “junk” theme…random paraphernalia all over the walls.  The bar was enormous.  It had multiple levels and rooms that extended far back into the plot of land.  One of the bars had an old gutted out grand piano hung on the wall with shelves installed on the inside for the liquor bottles.  It was pretty neat!  Cheap beers, unique atmosphere…overall a pretty good time.

22 February

We bid our farewell Bubble and made our way to the airport.  I really enjoyed Budapest, a great part of awesome time there I owe to Olga, who helped us immensely.  I really got to experience how the place you stay at really influences your perception of a city.  If we stayed in a different hostel, I could almost guarantee we wouldn’t have had as great as experience as we did.  We got on our plane and landed in Beauvais…a village 90 minutes outside of Paris.  Evan, Mark, and I decided to make a day of it and go into town to see St. Peter’s Cathedral in Beauvais.  The Cathedral was unfinished, but has the tallest Gothic Choir in the world!  Also the oldest chiming clock in the world.  The church was overwhelming, but it was a good opportunity to get some sketching done.

Even with the rocky start in Berlin, I had an awesome winter break.  I honestly was a little worried of how it was going to turn out because I knew Eastern Europe was going to be so cold in February, but I had a great time…between getting reunited with my cousin and by getting completely blown away by Budapest’s awesomeness.  I had a great time, but now, it’s time for schoolwork!