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July 28, 2012

Travel-Free Weekend

This weekend is the first weekend since March that I have absolutely nothing planned. Initially I had planned to visit the castles in Cesky Krumlov, but due to a lack of interest, that trip got cancelled! Although I feel somewhat guilty that I’m not on the go, I really think it was God’s message telling me that I need to chill. Bruno Mars’ “Lazy Song” is my theme for the weekend. I am worn out! Recouping will be my most productive weekend since my intensive travel began.

Keeping with my “Travel More” inspiration for the year, this is what I’ve done:

January

Paris
Munich

February

Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest

March

Albania

April

Paris
Disney Paris
Amsterdam & other Holland cities during tulip season
Polish Pottery girl’s weekend

May

Me @ Keukenhof. with over 7K tulips

Bolzano, Italy
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Normandy, France

June (My family is here!)

Paris
Montenegro
Neuschwanstein
Ulm
Munich

July (My Family is STILL here)

Belgium
Zurich, Switzerland
Poland
Czech Republic
Triberg in The Black Forest
Garmisch, Germany

ME & BABY BELLE IN THE BLACK FOREST

What I still want to do (in no particular order of priority):

Oslo (I have not visited my friend there yet).
Scandinavia Tour
Med Cruise to Santorini, Croatia, Turkey
Revisit Prague and visit to Cesky Krumlov
Revisit Switzerland (I wasn’t impressed the first time)
Beach: Ibiza, Monte Carlo, French Riviera somewhere
Scotland
Russia
Poland: Krakow maybe Warsaw
Portugal
Italy: Roma, Venice, Pisa, Florance, Milan, Vatican

Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Malaga, Ibiza, Granada, Cordva, Gibraltar (it’s really GB I know), Canary Islands, Having A Coke With You tour (Check out Frank O’Hara’s poem)
Germany: Oktoberfest!, Romantik Road, Koln, Berlin, Dresden
Africa: Ferry from Gibraltar into Africa, Seychelles (Even though It’s not Europe, I’m thinking it must be cheaper
from Europe than the U.S. and I’ve never been south of the Equator)
France: Versailles, Paris Catacombs, Moulin Rouge, French cooking school, Nancy, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Seine River boat Ride, Jim Morrison’s grave site, Saint Tropez, Marseilles

Then of course there are the activities like skiing, white water rafting, marathons, concerts, girls get-a-ways, and romantic retreats that I also want to experience. Then I can say I came, I saw, I conquered all in Europe. Still very ambitious. When I graduate in May, I’ll return to The States. I can’t help but to feel my time for touring, exploring, and pilgrimage-ing is running out. Even Stuttgart is a holiday. I am still wandering into new neighborhoods and discoveries with every new turn in this fabulous hometown. There is still much in Germany that I have yet to see and explore.

All those trips will have to wait. This weekend, I’ll just enjoy summertime in Stuttgart. I’ll be finding my balance, getting my life back in order, and recharging from a whirlwind of a year thus far. Besides…I have books to read and papers to write…coming upon my final semester as a grad student! Although it’s bitter sweet, I can see the light at the end of the graduation tunnel!

admin

Prague Is The New Paris

Praha je nový Paříž, Y’all!

OMG why didn’t I go sooner! Western Europe is so overdone. Boring (OK, Europe is never quite trite to a Southern Belle). I went on a cross-European road adventure with my family while they visited me for the summer and on the final leg of the trip, made it to Prague and WOW! What an amazing European city! It’s the east meshed with western niceties; Ancient dances with modern. It’s hip, chic, active, lively and a whole lot of wonderful melted together!

As an undergrad I decided to study history abroad in China. To me, everyone who studied abroad did so in Western Europe. Western Europe is what we studied in books every year since fourth grade. China was the great unknown that I wanted to chisel at unearthing. I went before the Olympics and before China got popular. Eastern Europe, like China, is a mysterious place. Both are often overlooked in history classrooms in the U.S. and both have layers and layers to disrobe.

In high school we had an exchange student, Marky, from the Czech Republic. Although she had to correct us for still referring to her as Czechoslovakian, I never took time to learn all that I didn’t know about her country. I was just so eager to tell her all about America! The school year ended with me never learning the capital, or find it on a map, or anything about it.

Fast forward a few years. I’m living, working, going to school and loving in Germany. I have my list of things to must visit in Europe. But this list is “the old list” of to-dos…The big three: Paris, London, Rome… A French or Italian Riviera, Western Med Cruise., maybe Amsterdam, Ireland for St. Pat’s Day. I hear a small buzz about Prague for new years. I’m thinking, No way, when there’s New Year’s in Paris (that was a bust). There’s still a buzz about this city. But it’s still unknown to me. It least with China I knew there was a wall and rice and tea and silks. What is in Prague? I still hadn’t taken the time to find out.

This Awesome Prague Pic was taken from fellow Southern Bloggers (and the
arch enemy of my Alma Mater) at the University of North Carolina.
http://tarheel-blog.blogspot.de/2010/10/czech-me-out.html

While coloring my map of places I’ve traveled in Europe there was a very obvious iron curtain of the colored and non-colored portion. With The Czech Republic being a Germany border country, there was really no excuse not to visit. And it was only about 4 hours away from Stuttgart…lucky me, I’m halfway between Prague and Paris! I planned a road trip for my family’s visit and just visited as a stop on the itinerary not knowing Prague’s fabulosity. I loved this place! It’s almost a known but ignored gem. Everyone’s too busy looking at the models of Paris and Rome to recognize Miss America (Prague). Yes, as you drive from Western Europe to the East you can see and feel the change: Inflated currency, medieval architecture, shift in economic and living standards. You know you’re not in Eastern Europe anymore…actually, after living in Germany, I can cross the border into France and see the lack of German structure that I’ve grown to appreciate and think, “We’re not in Deutschland Anymore.”

Anyway Prague is an active, bustling, charming, wonder filled international city all at once. Right at the cross roads of Eastern and Western Europe you can listen to street entertainers singing the blues in English on the Charles Bridge while dozens of other languages pass you by. My five-year-old niece even said, out of all the cities in the 11 countries she had visited, Prague was her favorite.

Everyone has their favorite cities in Europe. I have a few but after this weekend Prague tops the list. I’m already plotting another visit. You just have to go and when you do, buying a souvenir that says “Czech me out!” is a must.

Praha je nový Paříž, Y’all!

admin