Vienna

Last weekend we visited Austria's capital, Vienna. We went on a quick weekend trip with some friends of ours just to get a taste of the city.
We travelled by train which was fantastic! I had wanted to travel by train ever since moving to Europe but it was always more practical to take the bus. I wasn't disappointed. There is so much to see out to window of the train. We passed small cities, little towns and quaint villages and even a castle in southern Bohemia! The trip took about 5 hours, which was a little lengthy for a one night trip.

Vienna is a beautiful city with heaps of history and interesting things to see. Unfortunately we only had two days in the city so we didn't get to see a lot of what we wanted to. The city is so much bigger than Prague with a lot of 'must do's' on the travelers itinerary. Whilst there we hired bikes from the 'City Bike' bays. The idea of these bikes is that, once you register (which is 1 euro), you can hire any of the bikes for under an hour for free! Over one hour is one euro, two hours two euro etc. It was a great way to get around the big city as it meant we could see much more than we would've seen on the metro. We had a few minor bike glitches such as gear-less bikes constantly in something like 5th gear, bikes that wouldn't come out of their holders and, in my case, not putting my bike back properly and having to pay for extended use of the bike! Annoying, but definitely a recommended experience. Thanks Jon for riding in gale force winds to fix my bike! What a hero...? :)

We visited a lot of the main sights in Vienna which are breathtaking. The architecture is really amazing - heaps of art deco buildings (I only learnt about this recently) dotted around the city. Much of the city was destroyed in WWII, so there is an interesting mix of old and 'new' buildings.

We visited the Schonbrunn palace, the summer residence of the Habsburg Monarchs. The last time we visited the palace was in the middle of summer and the immaculate garden estate was in full bloom. This time the first touch of Spring was just making itself known in the garden, with some of the trees full of blossoms but others still bare from winter. It was nice to see that Spring is finally here in Europe.

Schonbrunn Palace and some of it's gardens

The Gloriette Structure at the highest point of the palace gardens

Out the front of the palace were some markets for Easter. They were typical European markets with a beautiful backdrop of the palace. There were stalls selling street food, traditional Easter things such as painted eggs as well other stall selling homemade products. We tried some speatzle which was nice but Jon said wasn't quite as good as Oma's.

Traditional hand painted eggs for Easter

One of the things we were most looking forward to was sampling some Austrian food, and we weren't disappointed. We visited the Naschmarkt, which is Vienna's most popular market, stretching over 1.5km. You can get all sort of produce here, from fresh fruits and vegetables from around the world, exotic herbs, cheese, baked goods, meats and seafoods. There are heaps of small restaurants where you can have traditional Viennese food, seafood, kebabs, wieners etc. We opted for a bratwurst and a beer for lunch which was amazing! I didn't eat sausages before I left Australia, now I am eating them from a small 'hole in the wall' store, served by a grumpy middle aged lady. After lunch we tried some turkish delight and caramel fudge which was equally as delicious (and messy). 

We also sampled some fresh wine from a local seller. You could have the wine in small bottles, which we of course bought to drink as we walked around the remainder of the market. Attached to the end of the permanent market was a flea market full of people selling bits and bobs. Most of it was antique/ vintage goods, with the majority of that being very kitsch and as Jon put it 'just plain old crap'. I'm sure there were some real gems hidden in there and I would have loved to have poked around for longer.

Bratwurst and Beer for lunch

With our wine and seasonal flowers

Some of the produce

When we were in Vienna in 2009, we went to a place for dinner where you could order 1m of ribs! After telling our travel companions about this place, we were on a mission to locate and eat there. The restaurant was called, appropriately, "Ribs of Vienna". You could get ribs of all flavours and combinations and our companions were in Heaven. Jon and I can't go past a good Schnitzel and, when tempted with a 'plate sized wiener schnitzel' we just couldn't resist. We literally had to roll ourselves back to the hostel after dinner we were so full. Combined with an early start, a long day and way too much food, we were all about to slip into a food coma.

We also visited the Belvedere, which is a historical building complex with two baroque palaces, the Upper and Lower Belvedere. The Belvedere museum has a Gustav Klimt exhibiton, which was fantastic - we even got to see his most famous painting, The Kiss. The rest of the gallery was equally as amazing with lots of different artists and styles on display. The grounds of the palace were incredible, a 'baroque park landscape' which was full of beautiful statues and cascades, decorative tiered fountains and majestic wrought iron gates. The palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Meanwhile, Jon went to see the Austrian Military Museum which he said was interesting despite the lack of English descriptions. He saw the clothes Archduke Franz Ferdinand was wearing and the car he was in when he was assassinated, which initiated WWI.

Upper Belvedere housing the main exhibition

We caught the train home on Sunday afternoon after a whirlwind trip to Austria's capital, feeling extremely exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep. No rest for the wicked (again), back to work bright and early Monday morning.
It was a fantastic weekend, but I think Vienna needs a good week to be explored and to get the most out of this city.

Breakfast 

There and Back Again (without the Hobbits)

At the beginning of March I made the long trip home to Perth, Australia for a family wedding. After a while away without seeing family or friends back home, it was very emotional for me. I had been looking forward to the trip ever since booking it, back in November! It's amazing that when you get to hold someone after so long apart, you realise how much you have missed them.

Mum, Dad, Emma and the Cooper clan met me at the airport and it was with blessed relief that I breathed in the sweet clean Australian air. It was the first thing I noticed as I stepped out of the airport terminal - what a difference it makes! Not that Czech air is dirty, but living in a big city in a valley really does have its respiratory downfalls.

The Family wedding was down in Margaret River, for my cousin Russell and his, now wife, Sarah. It was a beautiful wedding and a great weekend spent with the family in a gorgeous location. Sun, sand, family and wine - the perfect combination!

Bunker Bay - Dunsborough, Western Australia

Australia in March is really unpredictable, but the weather was perfect; 38/39 degrees most days while I was home, with cloudless skies and cool seabreezes. Walking along the beach with my dog Romeo, having lunch with friends, dinner with family and shopping with Mum are all things I have missed dearly, so it was great to be able to do them again.

Warnbro Beach with Romeo

I was also able to be home for the engagement party of my friends, Emma and Jordan. They got engaged recently and organised the party for the week I was home! I am so happy that I was able to share the night with them, it was a very special evening for everyone.

I had been forewarned by some friends in Prague, that visits back home are never relaxing and to expect to be kept busy for the entire time; they weren't wrong! Even with running around everyday, I still didn't do everything I wanted to do or see everyone I wanted to see.

By the time I left Perth, I was feeling more exhausted than when I arrived. No rest for the wicked though, flew into Prague Sunday night and back to work 7:15am Monday morning! My students now all know the meaning of the word 'jet-lagged'.

It was just a quick visit home but definitely worth it and as the saying goes, you don't know what you've got until it's gone. When I was in Perth I missed Jon and Prague, and now I am home in Prague, I miss my family and friends in Perth.

Rockingham Foreshore

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

Sitting here, thinking about all that has happened this year, I find myself thinking, 'not much!' But that can't be right...We have both been busy with working and just living life. Over the last few months, we have made some really great friends here in Prague, which ultimately leads to less sightseeing and more pub visiting! Not a bad trade though in my opinion. Living in a foreign country is always made easier when you have a group of friends you can turn to.

Our Christmas and New Years guests all left on January 4th, to much displeasure from Jon and I. It would be an understatement to say that going back to work after the break was hard! But we got there in the end, and we had some more friends, Karen and Mase, visit in the middle of January which was really nice. We met Karen on our Europe TopDeck tour in 2010 and her and her boyfriend Mase are making their way back to New Zealand after a long 3 years abroad. Having people visit the place where you live is wonderful, you get to play the tour guide and take them to all the best sights and best restaurants and pubs too. It is also nice to reconnect with people after a long time apart - a connection to memories or experiences shared with those people who are visiting. Having Karen here felt like we were back on our Euro trip all over again! We had lots of laughs with them and made some new memories too.

It was a few weeks after this that we got hit with the big freeze - literally. The weather had been sitting around 0 degrees (give or take 5 degrees) for the majority of winter, which is considered quite warm for Prague. Then we had about 3 weeks of temperatures averaging -15/20 degrees! I have never felt anything like it and I don't want to live through it again. It kind of feels like your skin is being scraped from your face alongside the feeling you get when you shove too much icecream in your mouth at once. You could only be outside for short periods of time - there were health warnings on the radio reminding people to keep their outdoor business to a minimum. Although, as all good things come to an end, so does freezing weather, and as the temperatures crept back up to the 0 mark, we finally got our snow in Prague! If ever you are asked the question "what is the most magical city when covered in snow?" your answer should be Prague! It was simply breath taking and totally romantic. It was a pity that it only snowed for a few days in Prague this winter, but any more and we probably would have been sick of it! Here are a few pictures we took on an excursion to capture the city in white:

Prague Castle and a slightly frozen Vltava!

On our way up to Prague Castle

Sugar dusted Prague

And more snow!

We also got to have our play in the snow too; tobogganing, making snow angels, snowball fights and snowmen all crammed into one day of blissful childhood fun! We were definitely the least experienced of all the people in the park that day when it came to 'snow activities' but I think we were having the most fun :)

Snow Angels!

The river near our apartment, frozen solid!

Smallest snowman and snowsheep ever

We managed to squeeze in another ski trip in February too. We went back to Herlikovice with a group of friends, just for the one day of skiing. The bus ride to the mountains is only 1 hour and 40 minutes, and including hire of equipment, the whole day costs less that $50! We had a great time going up and down the slopes all day, with the more than occasional pit-stop at the many bars along the slopes. I'm not sure that we are getting any better at skiing, but we certainly enjoy it!

Herlikovice slope

So, although it doesn't feel like we have done much over the last few months, we have really been living the 'overseas experience'. Making friends, working to pay the bills, enjoying the change of seasons and generally living life is what we set out to do here, and we are enjoying every minute of it. 

New Years Eve

There was much anticipation leading up to New Years Eve here in Prague, for two reasons. Firstly, we were really looking forward to seeing in the new year with Nik, Lina and Tom and secondly, for the crazy firework demonstrations which go on all over the city. Fireworks are legal here and come Christmas/New Years you can find these little beauties in the front window of every shop. Little ones which just make a loud noise, single crackers and big boxes with just one fuse to light the whole lot at once! If you can think of it, then you can probably find it here. Jon and Nik were, of course, very excited by all of this and as soon as Nik arrived in Prague they were down buying out the nearest store of their fireworks supply.

Fireworks

New Years Eve day we decided to do some sight seeing. Up to Prague Castle, Mala Strana, Charles Bridge and the Jewish Quarter. It was a very cold but clear day, and needless to say, I have never seen so many tourists in one place! Walking through the Castle grounds was like pushing your way to the front of a crowd at a music festival - lots of pushing, shoving and getting lost. It was great to be able to show Nik Prague Castle though, and St Vitus Cathedral never fails to get an "ooooh" and an "ahhhh" from visitors.

Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral

St Vitus Cathedral 

Feeling very hungry by this time, we decided to check out a place called 'Yes Burger' for lunch. We had read about this particular burger place and Lina and Tom had been wanting to try it ever since their first time in Prague (back in August!). I am not really sure what to say here to be honest and I think the best way for me to express this lunch is to show pictures.

Nik's was the 'Golem' burger, the huge one on the end...he finished it too

So, feeling extremely full and ready for a nap, we headed home to get ready for the night ahead. We decided that we should have a special 'family' dinner and all get dressed up. We called it Family Pie Night, as I had made a pie for dinner. We all put on our best clothes and drank Moet, which Nik had bought for us from Dubai. It was a wonderful dinner and probably a little strange, but thats the way we like it.
We whiled away the hours before heading out for the celebrations by playing card games and drinking sweet Italian wine, courtesy of Lina and Tom. They also bought these special biscuits from Italy which you dip into the wine before eating. They were amazing and the perfect dessert.

Sweet Italian dessert wine with biscotti - Yum!

When we eventually headed into the city centre we were blown away by the ridiculousness of the celebrations. Sure, there were firefighters, police and medical emergency crews everywhere, but not surprisingly, in Prague, this doesn't make one feel safe. People were setting of fireworks everywhere. There were no regulations or rules, no designated launching area and certainly no person trained in pyrotechnics to be seen! At the stroke of midnight things really became insane. It seemed as though most people had been saving their crackers for this moment. The noise was deafening, the smoke in the air was so thick you couldn't breath properly and fireworks were actually going off in crowds of people! We decided it was probably time to leave, and after setting off one last firework, we headed for the tram.

Fireworks in Wenceslas Square

Exploding just above the building! 

All in all it was the weirdest New Years Eve I have ever had, and certainly the most dangerous. No one lost any appendages and we all made it back to the apartment safely, even if we didn't arrive back together! For me, this is one of those things which I can say I have done, and (thankfully) I don't have to do again.

Skiing Herlikovice

One of the conditions of Nik's visit to the Czech Republic, was that we had to think of somewhere fun to go for a quick trip while he was here. We thought of lots of different places but eventually decided that skiing was the best and probably the most exciting idea. Each having little to no skiing experience we decided that it would be a good opportunity to learn together as well as a bit of fun.
Jon booked and organised everything, all we had to do was make it to the bus station by 6:30am on the 26th December - thats right, the day after Christmas. We were feeling a little worse for wear but luckily we made it to the station without too much difficulty.
We went to a ski 'resort' called Herlikovice, which is located in the Krkonose (Giant) Mountains about 120km north-east of Prague. This particular mountain range is very popular for families as there are plenty of ski lifts and slopes of all levels. As far as amenities go there were none, or very little, but we found we didn't need any. Most people come to Herlikovice for just one or two days. Being so close to Prague, it is possible to go there for just the day.
Once we arrived, had checked in to our room in the hotel and had been fitted with our skis, we headed off for our first skiing lesson with our instructor Eve. We all struggled at first and found it difficult to get the hang of things, but after a few hours we were definitely improving - that is, we spent more time standing up and moving than on our backsides.

Eve, our instructor 

After a bite to eat we then headed out for our first go on the ski slope, with Eve in toe to help us out. She helped us to work out the T-bars ("Don't sit down!") and showed us to the nice beginners slope we could practice on. Setting off down the slope for the first time was magnificent, as long as you didn't run into anyone or get in anyone else's way. We called it a day a few hours later and headed out for an early dinner at one of the local restaurants. We were all so tired we were asleep by 8:30 pm, dreading the delayed onset muscle soreness that would inevitably come in the morning.
The second day of skiing was interesting as we were all very sore from the day before and we were still very shaky on our skis. By about lunch time we had kind of got the hang of things, managing to get to the bottom of a slope which was a little bit harder. The prize of getting to the bottom of this slope was the chairlift, which was a lot more comfortable that the T-bars.

Using the Chairlift

Pizza and Becherovka for lunch then back out for an afternoon of skiing. We had dinner at the same local restaurant, which was actually really delicious, then sat out and watched some of the night skiers fly down the mountain. It is really amazing watching people who have been skiing their whole lives; they look amazingly graceful and make skiing look like a walk in the park!

Night Skiing 

So the third day dawned with us feeling even more sore but still with no serious injuries and high spirits. We decided today was the day to tackle the bigger slopes. As we found out, the Herlikovice slope has a very tricky little section right in the middle of it which we weren't expecting! There was nothing to do but go down it, as we certainly couldn't go back. It is scary how quickly you find yourself at the bottom of the slope, especially as I didn't feel like I was going very fast. We spent the whole day going up and down the different slopes until we were so exhausted that we literally couldn't stand up on our skis anymore. We could tell when we were getting tired as skiing became harder and we would spend equal amounts of time on the floor as we did actually skiing.
We hopped on the bus home in the afternoon and all fell asleep for the ride home.
It was a really wonderful trip and I am glad that we were able to experience it all with Nik. Now we can show up Dave on the next New Zealand ski trip!

Nik on the Ski Slope

Herlikovice slope

Christmas in Prague

Christmas was a very different experience for us this year - no big family dinners, no Mothers cooking our amazing Christmas lunch and no Church! I'm not sure that I would always want Christmas' to be like this, but this year was definitely an experience to remember.
Jon's brother Nik was able to come over for the Christmas and New Year period and it has been really nice having him here. He is representing the 'Family' part of Christmas for us. Lina and Tom, our Kiwi friends who we met on our TELF course, came back to Prague to spend Christmas and New Year with us too. So our apartment is full to the brim right now and we are loving every minute of it. It is so nice to have special friends around at Christmas time.
We spent Christmas Eve running around getting the last minute things ready for Christmas; food, drinks and fireworks of course! Lina and Tom arrived in the afternoon and we spent the night catching up on what we have all been doing over the last few months. Long after the sun had gone down we decided to head out to the local park and try out some of the fireworks we bought. We were like children with new toys. It was loud, exciting and probably dangerous too, but we didn't care. Only after we were asked to move on by a local resident did we decided to call it a night. No damage done and we all still have all of our fingers so we considered it a success.
Christmas morning was full of Skype calls to family back in Australia and opening the presents that our families sent over to us. We said we didn't want any presents, but everyone knows that it's nice to have something to open on Christmas morning. We were successfully spoilt, even on the other side of the world!
We had a big 'fry up' for breakfast which consisted of croissants, eggs, bacon, baked beans and bramborak (Czech potato pancakes which we had as hash-browns). Tom and Lina had made some sloe berry gin while they were in Italy and had brought it with them as a Christmas present for us to share. Sloe berry gin is basically gin with sloe berries in it to give it a delicious berry flavour and colour. It has to steep for three months, and they had prepared it exactly three months ago. Prefect timing! So after breakfast we all shared a few glasses of gin and decided that it was one of the best things we have ever tasted.

Sloe Berry Gin

A trip into Old Town was next on the agenda for our Christmas day as we wanted to get a board game as well as check out the markets. The Christmas markets were full of people drinking, eating and being merry. It was a really nice atmosphere and definitely something different for us! Nik brought us Czech Monopoly as a Christmas present and we all shared some Prague Ham in the markets. The ham is smoked over burning coals and has the most delicious flavour to it. I'm not sure we will be happy with ordinary Christmas Ham again!

Prague Christmas Ham

Old Town Square Christmas markets at night

Looking back, we probably shouldn't have had the ham, as we had the biggest Christmas dinner prepared and we were all feeling full already. We cooked it all up anyway; roast chicken, veggies and all the rest of the usual food. We were all so full after dinner that a quiet game of monopoly was in order. Anyone who has ever played a board game with me knows that there is not such thing as a quiet game of anything - I play for sheep stations and this game was not going to be any different. The game was made even more interesting, due to the fact that we couldn't read the "chance" or "community chest" cards! We had google translate up and running for the entire game. At least we had the chance to improve our Czech.

Czech Monopoly

Christmas Dinner

So now we can say we have had a European Christmas, even if we didn't have the traditional Czech meal of Carp and Potato salad for dinner. Things were different and it certainly didn't have the same 'Christmassy' feel, but it was a great day and we enjoyed spending the day with Nik, Lina and Tom.
We had also been hoping for a white Christmas but that unfortunately didn't happen. Oh well, there is always next year!

The 'Family' 

Ginger Bread House

Sad Times and Happy Times

We have had a roller coaster of a week last week as Jon's brother Nik arrived and our house mate Josiah had to leave. It was very sad to see Josiah go, after all of the hard work he put in to being here and getting a good job. It was just not meant to be for him and he left the Czech Republic with his head held high. We will miss him very much in our apartment and the Czech life already feels very different without him here. So the process begins for us of looking for a new room mate! This could be interesting...

On the other hand, Nik arrived the day before Josiah left and it is so wonderful to have him here with us over Christmas and New Year. He has taken up residence on the couch and is enjoying his time here so far. We have already tested out the Czech fireworks and are looking forward to the New Years tradition of setting off fireworks in the centre of town! Lets hope none of us lose an eye.

On Nik's first night and Josiah's last night here we had a big family dinner. It was a "Hello Nik" and "Goodbye Josiah" with a little bit of "Merry Christmas" thrown in too. It was a really nice night and a great way to spend Josiah's last night in Prague.