From this point on, the trip included just the girls: Sophia, Gillian, and me. After a short flight from Zurich, the three of us ended up in the beautiful city of Prague. Prague was probably my favorite urban destination of the trip. It’s full of history, intrigue, and culture, but it hasn’t quite hit its touristy peak, meaning 1) it was significantly cheaper than our other destinations and 2) it still has a little bit of grit to it.
Our hostel in Prague–the Charles Bridge Economic Hostel–was absolutely amazing. It was right on the Charles Bridge and had a really friendly and helpful staff. We were greeted with a free guidebook to use during our stay and given free coffee every morning. I’m not usually a big coffee drinker, but when Euro-tripping, which usually entails being sleep-deprived, it is an absolute necessity.
The Charles Bridge is a great symbol of Prague. It’s clearly stunning and gives the impression of belonging to an important and historic city, but it’s also incredibly sooty. The statues along the side of the bridge are almost black from pollution and time, creating a gothic and mysterious atmosphere. From the bridge, you can see the spires of one of Prague’s main cathedrals, as well as the fairytale-esque outline of the Prague Castle up on a hill overlooking the city. When walking across the bridge late at night (as we did multiple times), you could get lost in the dark, surreal atmosphere surrounding you. The Vltlava River is also surprisingly wide, making the bridge feel expansive and never-ending.
Prague’s status as an alchemy hotspot during the medieval ages adds to its intrigue. The chemical experiments and “magic” of the time led to plenty of urban legends and ghost stories that the three of us learned about on a nighttime ghost tour of the city. Our tour guide was an adorable student, which took away from the potential spookiness of the tour, but we were nevertheless enthralled by the city’s back-alleys, full of tragic love stories and mental hospitals whose patients’ screams echoed through the streets. That night, we decided to continue our exploration of Czech mysteries by going to a traditional absinthe bar. Admittedly a bit of a tourist trap, the bar nevertheless had a really cool atmosphere, bathed almost completely in an eerie green light. There are two ways of drinking absinthe. The Bohemian way involves caramelizing some sugar and putting it in the liquor, making it warm, toasty, and sweet, while the French way involves a large vessel of water which slowly drips onto a sugar cube perched above the glass of absinthe. The sugar in the absinthe makes it appear cloudy. The French way allows you to really taste the liquor itself, which tastes (unfortunately, for me) like liquorice. I much preferred the Bohemian method. While we were a little loopier than usual, alas, no crazy hallucinations were had.
Another fascinating part of Prague’s history is, of course, its time under Communist reign. We spent our first day at the Museum of Communism, which was a delightfully sassy specialist museum that delves in-depth into the complicated history of the Czech Republic post-WWII. The coolest part of the museum was all the paraphernalia from the Cold War days. I bought a souvenir from the gift shop–a postcard that depicts women from the USSR with the caption, “Like our sisters in the west, we would have also burnt our bras…if there were any bras in the shops to burn.”
Gillian and I had the honor of spending 2 of our 3 nights there at Karlovy Lazne, the legendary 6-story club at Prague known as the largest club in Eastern Europe. Sophia came with us one night, but stayed in on the other. While there, we explored the ice bar in the basement, but my poor choice of attire (shorts and sandals) made the experience less than pleasurable. Those coats really do very little to keep you warm!
Another of my favorite sites in Prague was the Kafka museum. An immersive experience, the museum is completely dark on the inside and really tries to embody the eerie yet mundane sensation that pervades Kafka’s works. It was simultaneously disturbing and engaging and one of the best and most unique museums I’ve ever been to.
The Prague Castle was also a fantastic landmark. The castle’s cathedral took centuries to build, and is stunning as a result. The castle itself doesn’t even seem real because it’s so medieval and almost seems like a caricature of itself until you realize that our idea of medieval castles comes from actual castles like this one.
I could go on and on about Prague, which was such a fascinating city, but I must continue on to the rest of our travels. One last tip for anyone wanting to venture to Prague’s landmarks: don’t try to make it up the stairs to the Castle after a late, sleep-deprived, boozy night. Just don’t do it. It will be massively unpleasant.
To get to Vienna, we took a train from Prague. While trekking to the Prague train station, I, of course, fell on my face and bust open my knee. The scar is still there, just so you know. Despite emergency treatment in the Prague train station bathroom, we managed to catch our train and arrived in Vienna. Our hostel in Vienna was in the Naschmarkt, a long street with a diverse and delicious market running right down the middle. In the morning, we explored the stalls and ate some of the food available there, like baklava and dried fruit of every variety. The stalls are managed by some rather large personalities. One of the attendants, after I said “No, thank you” and walked away, started screaming after me “India! India, come back! Try this, India!” Gotta love Europe.
Vienna’s general atmosphere reminds me of a wedding cake. The buildings are mostly pastel in color and elaborately decorated. Art and music is on every street corner, and it certainly lives up to its reputation as the classical music capital of the Western world. We spent some time at a museum in the house where Mozart lived for 2 years–surprisingly enough, this was the house where he spent the most amount of time consecutively as an adult. He was constantly moving around and always in some kind of financial trouble. The museum also had an intriguing analysis of his opera The Magic Flute as some kind of Illuminati manifesto, which is always fun to consider.
In Vienna, we went to the Kunsthistoriches museum, a giant art gallery that was truly impressive. It had some of my favorites, including some Klimt adorning the walls of the gallery, and Bruegel’s The Tower of Babel. The building itself could be considered a piece of art. It was elaborate and rich, as you would expect of Vienna. We also spent a day at Schonbrunn Palace, learning about the fascinating relations of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, particularly of the mysterious and rebellious Princess Sissi. Schonbrunn was absolutely stunning, and its gardens even more so. It exemplified the city’s lavishness.
Our visit to Vienna also coincided with Vienna Pride, part of which consisted of a series of food and drink stalls outside the Rathaus, Vienna’s city hall. We spent a lovely afternoon hanging out at Pride and enjoying the atmosphere. At this point on the trip, we were looking for relaxation and appreciation of the city’s ambience rather than checking tourist attractions off a list. We also went to one of Vienna’s famous coffeehouses and had some sachertorte. I found the cake not to be of my taste in desserts but thoroughly enjoyed Viennese coffee.
On our last day in Austria, we went to Salzburg for the day before heading to Munich that night. Salzburg struck me as a combination of Vienna and Prague–beautiful and elegant, but also intriguing and a little dark. In Salzburg, we visited the birthplaces of Doppler and Mozart, as well as Mirabell Gardens, where the “Do Re Mi” song from Sound of Music was filmed. We also popped our heads into a (really expensive) restaurant that is reputed to be the oldest restaurant in the Western world, and the site where Faust sold his soul to the devil. A particularly beautiful and haunting monastery also exists in Salzburg, and we did some walking around the nearby hills and mountains, taking in views of the city from up above. Some of our afternoon was spent chatting and drinking (what else?) beer in a beautiful beer garden. It was such a memorable and ideal time, chatting with some of my closest friends about everything under the sun.
That evening, we bid adieu to the beautiful Salzburg and headed to the rather more industrial Munich. Gillian said goodbye to us that night as she was heading back to the States the next morning. Sophia and I are both naturally laid-back people, and, as it was nearing the end of our adventure, we were more conscious of both our wallets and exhaustion. We spent a lot of time wandering around Munich but didn’t join in on all the touristy activities.
Besides the old city, the historic center of Munich, Munich doesn’t really feel too much like a European city. The streets are wide, and it feels far more residential than you’d expect, almost like an American city. Sophia and I paid a visit to Hofbrauhaus, the very famous brewery and beer house in the center of Munich. It’s not only one of the oldest beer houses in Munich but also apparently the site of a famous speech Hitler gave during his rise to power. But Hofbrauhaus was far too crowded and chaotic, so after poking our heads around a little bit, we left. We both share a passion for Indian food and after 2 weeks of–let’s be real–relatively bland European fare, we desperately searched for an Indian restaurant, which we succeeded in finding. It actually was pretty good!
I had been to Munich about 11 years ago on a Eurotrip with some middle school friends and teachers. It was so strange to be back there, in Marienplatz, watching the same (rather disappointing, but still must-see) clocktower show. So much has changed in my life and in me since then. I was just a child and completely overwhelmed by the world I was seeing. I’m pretty sure 12-year-old Gargi would be flabbergasted to know that a future self would spend a year living in and gallivanting around Europe.
Sophia and I spent some time wandering around the massive English Gardens. It’s an absolutely gorgeous park. The greenery is intersected by lots of rivers and tributaries. In one river, there’s a current that creates what’s called a “Surfer’s Wave,” and yep, people in wetsuits actually go there to surf. It takes a certain amount of skill and courage, however, because large crowds of people gather around the river to watch the surfers. We also decided to spend a little bit of time at a real beer garden. There’s one in the Gardens called Chinesischer Turm, which is centered around what looks like a giant pagoda. On Sophia’s suggestion, I got something called a “currywurst,” which is essentially a sausage with spicy ketchup, a bit of a German junk food specialty. It was actually delicious, although massively overpriced, as touristy beer gardens can be.
Finally, our last night had come. Sophia and I said goodbye to each other and after nearly 2 and a half weeks of travelling, I headed back to Messina, where I spent 1 whole day before taking the bus back to the airport. But this time, I left for good, taking a connection to Istanbul before a gruelingly long 12-hour flight to Houston.
I’ve been home for over a month right now, and it has been so nice to spend time around family and familiar things. But it is undeniable that this experience has changed me for good. Even while sitting at home, flashes of the sunny, windy port of Messina will cross my mind. I sometimes am amazed at myself and the things I managed to figure out and deal with in a strange land. I’ll hear something about Italian food and culture or Sicilian eccentricities and quietly laugh to myself. It’s certainly been a life-changing year, and I look forward to noticing how it will continue to impact my life.
For now, I’m preparing for a completely different kind of adventure altogether this fall: law school!
No Beef Please 