blog. (by vanessa)

Český Krumlov. This past weekend, NYU took a group of us to the beatuifully preserved Renaissance town called Český Krumlov. It is located about 3 hours south of Prague and it is often referred to as “the pearl of Central Europe”. The small town is surrounded by a big bend in the Vltava River (which is the same river that runs through Prague). Český Krumlov is so well preserved because it was basically forgotten after the medieval and Renaissance periods in Bohemia and thus experienced no damages due to wars.

This is the town of Český Krumlov: (Click on the Image to See Full Size)

No Czech town would be complete without a Castle (“Hrad” in Czech):

NYU put us up in the Traveller’s Hostel there, but somehow we ended up with the Apartment Suite complete with kitchen, 2 bathrooms, loft area, fireplace and 2 couches. Pretty fancy for a hostel room. As my mom would say, I am incredibly lucky. (click to see larger)

Myself, suitemate Amanda and Czech RA Lenka below the Castle Complex:

Playing around in the Castle Gardens (Did I mention that Fall is absolutely gorgeous here in Central Europe?):

Bozkovske Caves. Two weeks ago we went on an NYU day trip which included a tour of the Bozkovske caves of Northern Bohemia and a 3 hour hike through the woods. Sadly, the caves were a pretty big let down. They had paved paths and installed lighting which took away from the whole caving experience. The stalagmite (stalactite? i can never remember which one it is) formations were still very cool.

Pretty, pretty fall leaves (click to see larger)

We passed some pretty neat old farm houses on our hike:

Our NYU group (click to see larger):

Next Thursday we are off on our big trip: Fall Break! My ten days will be spent between Milan, Madrid and finishing it off with Halloween in Amsterdam. We have all of our hostels booked and  I will get to see a few familiar faces along the way: Meghan in Madrid and Christian in Amsterdam. Although, before I embark I have 4 midterms and 2 papers to get through. Yuck!

I will leave you with this great picture Dave took of (left to right) me, my roommate Becky, suitemate Amanda and friend Krista who lives upstairs (click to see larger):

Weekend Trips. It is strange to be able to hop over to another country just for a weekend getaway. But that luxury comes with our “Central European” location (Side note: we learned in one of my classes that it is actually really offensive to the Czech people to say that the Czech Republic is in Eastern Europe. They would much prefer to be called Central Europeans). This past weekend found Dave and me in Venice, Italy. I have been waiting to visit the city of canals since The Venetian Hotel opened in Las Vegas and our family trip 4 years ago brought me as close as Florence… what a tease! We took a budget airline from Prague to Venice-Treviso (only a 70 minute flight) early Friday morning and hopped on a bus straight onto the island where we were promptly greeted by the glorious Grand Canal.

We immediately started exploring- hoping to eventually end up at our hotel. Of course, we headed in exactly the wrong direction. Every corner we turned took us to a dead end or water.

We eventually made it to our little hotel, which happened to be only steps from where we got off the bus. After dropping off our stuff, we sat down for a Cappuccino … the best in the world (but almost as good as my dad’s).

We eventually found our way to San Marco Square and to the southern side of the island

Apparently, Venice is sinking, so all of structures with any height are leaning as you can see in this next picture.

We decided to pick up a litre of wine from one of the many wine shops, where they serve the wine from big jugs into a bottle of your choice.

Our self-portrait:

Pretty sunset over the canal:

Venice at night, still gorgeous:

Self-portrait #2:

We then had an amazing pasta dinner and got brutally destroyed by the euro-us dollar exchange rate (about $1.50 = 1 EURO), it was still delicious regardless.

After dinner we were faced with the task of again finding our way to our hotel. A lot easier said than done. 40 minutes later we found ourselves at the complete opposite side of the island. This next picture sums up our evening experience: lost with a litre of wine and a map.

Day two we decided to explore the farther reaches of Venice. We happened upon the more residential areas which was really neat. The streets (or canals) were lined with clothing lines and the boats were of a more useful type than the gondola.

We happened upon a really neat architecture exhibit. I would tell you more about it, but the sign was in Italian.

We made it all the way to the eastern-most tip of the island where there was another leaning tower.

We flew home Sunday morning over the Alps and they were spectacular! I am so excited to be visiting the Swiss Alps in November. Someone told me a while ago that Venice was overrated and I entirely disagree! This is a city that everyone should visit at least once- there is no other place like it. It is so amazing to me that all of these amazing places are so close to me, here in Prague. As far as travel is concerned, the sky is the limit… or maybe my bank account is.