Osterferien Update Prague: A Worthwhile Stopover

Even though I had already been to Prague during my study abroad program in Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, I couldn't in good conscience pass through Prague in transit from Vienna to Plzeň without at least a quick layover in the beautiful capital of the Czech Republic.  It was definitely worth it.

Knowing that it was Easter Sunday, I really didn't expect anything to be going on in Prague since many European cities practically shut down during Easter weekend.  Ha!  Little did I know that I would stumble upon an awesome Easter Festival in the middle of historic Prague.  Painted eggs, sugary baked goods and Easter streamers were plentiful and Czech beer was flowing!  Even though I was only in town for about five hours, it was one of those spontaneous decisions that made the trip.  I even managed to fit in a walk across Charles Bridge to Prague Castle--one of my favorite places in Europe ever!

Osterferien Update Vienna: Kulturhauptstadt

OK, I know what you're probably thinking, "Gee, wasn't his Osterferien Eastern European Extravaganza (E^3®) like two months ago or something?"  Well, you're right, but I never finished with my last few posts, so be glad I'm catching up now instead of never.  Actually, I don't think anyone follows this blog closely enough to notice, so I probably could have gotten away with it if it weren't for my conscience, my belief in full disclosure and you meddling kids.

Vienna is truly a Kulturhauptstadt in every since of the word.  The city was founded sometime around 500 BC, and over the next 2,500 years would serve as the seat of the Habsburg Dynasty (1440), Holy Roman Empire (1448), Austrian Empire (1804) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867).  It was truly a world capital and one of the great centers of art and learning with its connections and influence on classical music, architecture, psychology and visual arts.  Vienna is one of those cities where you can't turn your head without seeing something beautiful and historic from royal castles, modern museums, huge gardens or the Danube River (which really isn't nearly as blue as Johann Strauss made it out to be).

I took some time in Vienna to check out some awesome art museums like the Leopold Museum in the amazing Museumsquartier and the Albertina Museum.  A nighttime walk around downtown Vienna is an awesome time to see some of the massive, impressive buildings light up.  I also went up to the top of Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) for more amazing views of the city.  Two more worthwhile trips were to Schlöss Schönbrunn and Hofburg, the summer and winter residences of the Habsburgs, respectively.  My three day stay was rounded out by some great food at the Naschmarkt and a trip to see Hundertwasserhaus.  

All in all, Vienna is just an incredible city--I mean, I'm running out of synonyms here for amazing here.

Eurovision 2010--Hannover Win!

Eurovision is an annual music competition where each country in Europe submits one song to be performed live and then vote for a winner.  It's been around since 1956 and is one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world.  It's launched European groups into stardom like ABBA (Sweden, 1974) and helped strengthen the international career for artists like Celine Dion (Switzerland, 1988).
 

In Germany, the national contestant was selected in an American Idol-esque TV show called Unser Star for Oslo (Our Star for Oslo) where Lena Meyer-Landurt from Hannover won.  As she got further and further into the competition, the interest in Hannover grew and grew.  When she won, her leading song "Satellite" became an overnight hit in Hannover and throughout Germany.
 

Tonight was the final round of Eurovision, hosted this year in Oslo, and there was a public viewing in Hannover on Trammplatz in front of the Neues Rathaus.  After watching the competition at a friend's house, I was lucky enough to make it to the huge event for the tallying of the last few votes.  Needless to say, when it was announced that Lena won, everyone went crazy and I definitely got hugged and high-fived by a few strangers (what is this, a Hannover 96 Bundesliga game?)!  It was definitely a cool experience and something I wish we had in the US!

See the official video for "Sattelite" by Lena here on YouTube.com.

Spargelzeit!!!!!!!!!

There are some things Germans take really seriously: bread, beer, Christmas markets, closing up shop early on random days at random times and asparagus or Spargel as it's known in German.

Every year around late April/early May and ends official on June 24th on Johannistag (Nativity Day of John the Baptist).  During this time, German Spargel, white asparagus, dominates grocery stores, farmers markets and restaurant menus.  This time is known as Spargelzeit or Spargelsaison (asparagus season).

A few weeks ago I ventured to the twice-a-week farmers market on Lindener Marktplatz right around the corner from my house where Spargelzeit was in full swing.  Just about every single stand was full of huge, white German Spargel.  I decided to buy half of a kilogram of Spargel (about a pound) which was more than enough for two meals for me.  The first night I prepared the Spargel in a fairly traditional way but instead of opting for the usual heavy Hollandaise sauce I made a "lighter" garlic butter sauce for the steamed Spargel.

The second night I decided to grill the Spargel with olive oil, fresh ground black pepper and garlic and serve over goat cheese tortellini (also from this awesome stand at the farmers market) and a spicy tomato cream sauce.

Guten Appetit!

Cracked Out in Krakow

The weekend before last was the first of two four-day weekends in May thanks to Christi Himmelfahrt (Ascension Day) when I trekked to Krakow, Poland with Jordan and Jackie.  I decided that the theme of our trip, and also a good t-shirt idea, would be "Cracked Out in Krakow."

After my Wednesday morning seminar, I packed up and headed to Berlin to spend the afternoon with Jackie and Jordan before we left for Poland early the next morning.  Even though the distance from Berlin to Krakow is roughly the same as Berlin to Munich, trains are a bit slower in Poland and the journey takes twice as long (or about ten hours).  That's a heck of a train ride.

Krakow was really a blast though and even though it rained almost the entire time we were there, it has now firmly cemented itself near the top of the list of my favorite cities in Europe.  Our trip to Krakow can really be summarized in a few bullet points:

1) Old Krakow (Old Market Square and Wawel Castle) is beautiful mix of structures from the middle ages to the present.

2) Auschwitz was one of the largest groups of concentration/death camps created by the Nazis about 60 km west of Krakow.  Approximately 1.3 million people were believed to have been killed here including about 1.1 million people of Jewish descent.

3) Polish food is hearty fare and nothing washes down pierogies better than a huge mug of surprisingly good Polish beer.

4) The Wieliczka Salt Mine was first opened in the 13th Century and now is over 300 km long though our tour was only about 3 km long.  This was probably the kitchiest and funniest tour I've done in Europe and includes huge carved statues of people from Goethe to Pope John Paul II (from Krakow) to gnomes to Copernicus to Jesus.

5) Nightlife in Krakow is pretty awesome--we managed to find a few cool student bars in the old Jewish Quarter and some pretty rockin' clubs and parties closer to the center of Krakow (did I mention the Polish beer?).

Anyone pope here?  Do you think when the pope was a little kid he fantasized about being the pope?

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Jim Gaffigan - The Pope
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Wolfsburg & Minden

They say that sometimes the best things come in small packages, so I guess it goes to say that sometimes that best trips are short and sweet.  The past few weeks I've been on a couple of day trips to places near Hannover.  

Not too long ago, I made plans to visit another assistant Abby in Wolfsburg a.k.a. VW-City!  Wolfsburg is about an hour east of Hannover by regional train and almost on the former East/West German border.  The city was actually originally founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagens and of course is known today as the base of Volkswagen.  True to its reputation, the first thing you see when you exit Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof is the giant VW factory and campus.  The first factory is a pretty old looking red brick building and kind of what you expect a factory to look like.  This makes the rest of the VW headquarters that much better--once you start crossing this cool walking bridge across the Mittellandkanal, the new museum quarter opens up and is truly gorgeous.  Good job, VW!

 

Sadly, I didn't have quite enough time to do Autostadt (the main VW museum), but Abby showed me around a lot of the grounds--don't worry, I'll definitely be back before I leave!  Another cool feature is the test-drive track where you can pay a little extra to drive a VW SUV over an obstacle of sorts with water pits, concrete tubes and steps.  Other not quite as exciting options include safety and economy training (learn how to save gas)!

About a week after Wolfsburg, I traveled to Minden (about 45 minutes west of Hannover by regional train) to do some sightseeing and catch up with Sarah, another assistant I met at the Berlin Conference.  Minden was founded over 1,200 years ago and lies on the border between Nordrhein-Westfalen and Niedersachsen n the Weser River.  Minden wasn't particularly exciting, but across the Weser was a small Frühlingsfest, and we also made it to Wasserkreuzstrasse where the Mittellandkanal (remember it from before!) is actually carried over the Weser River by a set of two aqueducts.  Pretty Cool!