I hear Krakow is the new Prague

Memorial outside the main church for the President

Proof that we were all three there.

Auschuwitz

The Avocado..MMMM

The watchtower at Birkenau

Krackow has the largest square in Europe, here I am in it!

Top of the Birkenau Watchtower, I swear I don't mean to look quite so jolly.

Barbed wire fences at Auschuwitz

Castle casually in the middle of Krackow

Krackow, Poland.

I had never even heard of Krackow until one fine Saturday.

In early March, the gals and I were at a cafe on the Cours Mirabeau with some friends from our program, and a mutual friend from another program, Ben.

Ben is from Maine, and has been in our lives since the Fall when he was in Sarah and Nikki's language classes, and he moved to my language class in the Spring. He is a little quiet, but once you get to know him, quite funny and rather charming.

Back to Saturday. We were discussing spring break plans, and Ben casually mentioned he was going to Poland, and embarking on a tour of Auschwitz, like the concentration camp. I happened to turn and look at Sarah as the words left his lips, and all was lost as I saw her eyes light up.

It's really hard to talk Sarah out of anything. She can be talked into almost anything, but try to get her NOT to do something, and you're likely outta luck.

So, she dragged me and Nikki to Poland, which was no small feat, I tell you.

I tried to get out of it...twice. I tried to stay in Vienna by myself (too expensive), then considered dropping spring break altogether to save money (too lame).

The evening we were set to leave for Krackow we arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to spare, and waited for 9:30pm to come to we could board our bus and settle in for a night of peaceful travel slumber.

Like all traveling adventures, this was not what was in store for us. We should have figured out that an overnight coach bus to a fairly obscure central European nation would not be without its...obstacles.

After some confusion about what bus to climb on, we were instructed to take the bus bound for Warsaw, and we would have to change to a different bus around 3 am that would take us to Krackow.

Is that fun?

As we boarded the vehicle, we realized this bus was no German luxury Lufthansa-partnered bus, as was our bus to Vienna a few days prior. It was hot and stuffy, and there were only three seats left together, in a row of 5 in the very back.

We were wedged in between these these two seemingly regular looking guys about our age. I was in the middle, and Nikki and Sarah were on either side of me, with the men on either side of them. It was going to be a long 8 hours.

After a little bit of small talk, we were horrified to learn the two 19 year old men were Polish cage fighters.

That's right, cage fighters.

Nikki discovered this when she began smelling some sort of strange antiseptic-type smell, and being the curious cat she is, she asked the nice cage fighter (though we were un aware of his identity then) next to her what was up.

He proceeded to show her his elbow wound, which was oozing a little and the smell of wound cleaner and skin washed over both of us.

It was straight out of a horror film. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, Mr. Bleeding Wound smiled to reveal the fact that he likely had not seen a dentist in years.

I practically passed out.

I turned to my right, only to discover Sarah leaning as far away as she could from our other friend (as he screamed in Polish to his pal over all three of us) because she claimed his breath smelled like rotting cheese.

The whole time, I kept thinking, this is going to make for great blog material...if I survive.

The night shockingly passed without much incident. We stopped at a small rest stop around 1:30, and the cage fighters picked up some chicken ( complete with bones ) and bread-type materials to munch on and make sure that if we weren't nauseous yet, we were sure to be after that.

We arrived in Krackow around 5am, and trekked to our hostel...to sleep for the 3 hours until our tour of Auschuwitz.

I wouldn't say I was excited to see Auschuwitz, but I was certainly intrigued to see the deserted camp that was now a memorial and museum. I have always been really interested in World War 2, and was eager to see such an important part of human history.

We boarded a small but comfortable bus for the hour ride outside of the city.

Upon our arrival to the camp, our tour guide ( a lovely Polish girl, about my age), announced to our group that there had been a plane crash, and the Polish President, his wife, and about 100 members of the Polish government were dead.

The three of us looked at each other and all had the same thought.

If Barack Obama was dead (heaven forbid), we would be totally beside ourselves. We could not keep it together, much less continue a tour to a bunch of foreigners. To be fair, we LOVE Barack Obama maybe more than some, but STILL. What a huge tragedy.

Our tour of both Auschuwitz 1 and Birkenau passed without further event, but as we drove back into Krackow, it was evident that news had spread to the greater population of Poland.

There were parades through the streets and the stores were closing left and right. Candles were being lit all over the city (fire hazard?), and things were not looking good.

The best part of the Krakow trip was the night we went out to dinner. I had researched restaurants, and found one called The Avocado. The gals and I dressed up, headed to the Jewish quarter (always) and stumbled upon our darling bistrot that served wonderful soups and salads, and was so cheap we got three courses and it was like 8 euro. It was candlelit, and the perfect end to a totally nutty day.

We had to stay an extra day in Krackow because of a poorly planned train situation, so we booked our 3rd night a new hostel (The Dizzy Daisy Downtown was so unreal it could be a blog in and of itself)...so we moved to the Deco Hostel.

BEST HOSTEL EVER.

I had the best nap of my life, and since it was Sunday and the day after the President DIED everything was closed. We spent the whole grey, rainy day on huge, plush, CLEAN couches watching movies and drinking tea. We had the place to ourselves.

...and you know the funny thing? Ben didn't end up going to Krackow, and I never forgave him.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things (Vienna, Austria)

The famous "crisp apple strudel"!

Julie Andrews has nothing on my "hills are alive" twirl.

You DO NOT want to know what's stuffed inside that bread (a viennese sausage...GROSS)

Enjoying one of the many parks

Ferris Wheel at Prater Park!

Creepy clown at Prater Park

Schonberg Palace

Walking like an Egyptian at Belvedere Palace

Belvedere

Viennese Blend!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

The gals and I embarked on our voyage to Vienna via coach bus...but when we arrived at the bus station the day we were to depart, we got much more than we bargained for.

Our bus was not ordinary vehicle. It was an owned by a company who partners with Lufthansa, the German airline. As we mounted the stairs to find our seats, we caught sight of a cappuccino machine, and knew we were in for an interesting ride.

This should have been my first clue that I love Germany and the Germans, but that's another tale to tell when we get to Berlin...on the way to Vienna, I ended up sitting next to a complete stranger (which, if you know me, you know I hate sharing close quarters with people I don't know...GERMS).

Sarah had to sit next to a little man (child, they are sometimes called), because his mother and sister wanted to be next to him across the aisle, so we had to sacrifice our lovely ride, and Sarah spent 5 hours smiling at the little Czech child while his mother yelled at him for dunking his stuffed bear in his grape juice. Good times.

We finally arrived in Wien (German for Vienna), and set off to find our hostel. As we hurried down the stairs into the metro station, we noticed that there were bakeries lining the walls.

Bakeries filled with every kind of pastry you can IMAGINE. Huge cinnamon rolls, sweet apricot croissants, chocolate cookies and cakes, piled high behind glass counters.

Why weren't these people obese?

Some people say that about the French, but the Austrians take it to a whole.new.level.

After discussing our love/hate relationship with pastries, we jumped on the metro and headed to the hostel.

Our hostel in Vienna was again a rousing success. It was really lovely, and our bunkmates were some interesting Italians who weren't afraid to be in their underwear, which made for some awkward moments...but they were really considerate over all.

The city of Vienna is very, very spread out. Sarah is an excellent cartographer (which I'm sure I've mentioned) but even she couldn't predict how far away things would be!

We got to visit Belvedere Palace and Schonburg Palace, and weather was absolutely gorgeous, which was such a blessing!

Sarah is quite a researcher and also found us a darling, wonderful cafe to go to right in the center of town, it was the perfect spot to rest for a few minutes and re-juvinate with an delicious apple strudel (crisp,mind you!)

If you know anything about Vienna, you know the city is covered in and littered with parks. Big parks, small parks, green parks, brown parks, parks with fountains...you get the idea. We had picnic lunches nearly every day!

Our last day in Vienna was spent going to Prater Park, a large amusement situation with a giant ferris wheel that's like a million years old. It was actually my favorite part of Vienna! We paid 3 euro to ride the wheel, and walked around the park the whole morning. We got an awesome view of the entire city.

While we were in Prague, we met a group of NYU London students who had just come from Vienna, they told us what was worth seeing and what wasn't. One thing they mentioned was the Opera House Ballet.

The famous Vienna Opera House (think Mozart) has a show every night, and for 3 euro you can get standing room tickets. I wanted to go so bad!

As we were touring the city, we stumbled across the Opera House, and at noon there was a line wrapped around the building...I was so disappointed, we weren't going to see the ballet. Someday I will go back to Vienna and go to the Opera and sit in very expensive seats!

Czech It Out (Prague, Czech Republic)

See what I mean about the banana seats?

Petrin Hill, on the way down

I want to swim naked in the Daube! - Mandy Moore in her early 2000's movie "Chasing Liberty", in which she plays the wayward daughter of the current US president and incorrectly identifies the river Vlitava as the Danube during her trip to Prague.

No matter which river it REALLY is, the gorgeous and majestic waterway that runs through the entire city and separates the new town from the old town is one of the most famous Prague landmarks, along with the Prague Castle that sits atop the city, watching over the residents.

Getting to Prague was no easy feat. It took us almost 18 hours to complete the entire journey, including a 10 hour overnight train from Manheim, Germany.

Overnight trains are really interesting, especially if you are on a student budget and can't afford to book a sleeper car, which clearly we are, and couldn't.

The seats are about twice the size of regular train seats, and look like giant blue bananas that lean back into an angle that seems conducive to sleeping...but it is not.

It was around 3 am on our night train, and I was going to lose it.

All around me there were other passengers, leaned back in their chairs, blissfully un- aware of the fact that their body was emitting odors one hopes to only find near garbage cans and snoring that could wake the dead.

Reaching a certain breaking point, I shook Sarah awake and told her I couldn't handle it anymore, which sent us both into a fit of terrible, delirious giggles, to which she replied, just put on some Colbie and relax a little.

I took her advice and was soothed into a shallow slumber, only waking up as the sun rose with our train gliding east through the Czech Republic.

Those morning hours railing through the rural countryside are fairly fuzzy due to serious delirium, but as the scenery flew by, images of green rolling hills and a large, brown and murky river met my eyes, and as the buildings began to speed by, I noticed the striking difference in architecture from the west...everything was pointy and looked like a castle.

Our arrival in the city was flawless, as was our trek to the hostel.

We had heard the notorious stories of the dangerous cab drivers in Prague, so we opted to walk, and with Sarah leading the way, we found our way to the Riverbank Hostel...which was located directly on, you guessed it, the riverbank.

Our hostel was an absolute dream come true. It was made up of like 6 rooms, all of which were practically private apartments that had been converted into dorms for students like ourselves. The wood floors were as clean as could be, and pillows did not smell like feet.

The first order of business was, of course, to head to Starbucks to pick up our beloved city mugs. We had learned a few cities ago that it's best to pick them up at the end of a day, when you are less likely to be carrying them around in your purse all day.

We made our way blissfully onto the crowded street that lines the river, headed in the direction of the Charles Bridge, where old meets new, and crossed over the famous cobblestone platform to our favorite coffee shop.

It was around 3pm (exactly 12 hours after my train meltdown) that I began to fade. Our restless night had begun to take its toll, but we reluctantly agreed that we couldn't go to sleep until at least 9, and naps were out of the question.

We were in serious need of a pick me up. Luckily, Sarah had done her research, and found a delightful English bookstore called The Globe.

She located it on the map and we set out to find it and have a beverage....assuming of of course that it would remind us of our dear Book In Bar.

This bookstore blew Book In Bar right out of the water. It was two stories of English book bliss, and had a cafe that served food and offered free re-fills of their iced tea and lemonade.

I got hummus with veggies and Sarah got the mozzarella sticks (who's surprised?), and we relaxed until it was time to make dinner and finally hit the sack.

The next day dawned sunny and warm, which was a perfect representation of the spring break we had always imagined. We spent the morning climbing the famous Petrin Hill, which sits over 1000 ft above sea level, and has a watchtower modeled after my own Eiffel Tower.

We took an alternative route down the hill, which led us through winding Czech neighborhoods and we even passed the US Embassy ( you know how I love to spot an Embassy)...and finally wound our way to Prague Castle, where we spent all of five minutes looking at the copper and sea-foam green palace before the hoards of tourists drove is away.

Lunch was spent in the Jewish Quarter, because you know we can't help but find our way to the Jews. Along with the usually amazing shopping ( Gucci, Prada, Burberry), there were delicious restaurants left and right.

We finally settled on an Italian place, where the salads were huge and the bread was served with garlic butter. It was like living in luxury for us, because we never go out to eat, much less opt for soup and soda, but this was Prague, and it was cheap.

Honorable mention must go out to the afternoon spent wandering around new town, going into shops and the chocolate museum, where all the wrappers were pink and brown and looked like Juicy Couture.

All in all, Prague was a total success.

No South Padre

Amsterdam, Holland

Berlin, Germany

Vienna, Austria

Prague, Czech Republic

The long and honorable tradition of an exciting spring break is a college ritual that mustn’t be ignored. Most college students spend their school breaks getting plastered south of the border, and come back to classes with nothing but a hangover and a good solid sunburn.

I, being a cultured and classy French study abroad student, spent my spring break streaming through the European Union by railway with two great gal pals, all determined to get the most out of our "Vacances des Paques" (Easter Break).

We took five countries by absolute storm, never staying in one place for more than 3 days. We went through a series of 3 different currencies, and ate cuisines from 5 different cultures. Weaving in and out of Eastern and Western Europe, it was the adventre of lifetime.