Contending for the Florentine Title

Now, twelve hours on a bus may seem a bit excessive when trying to travel from country to country in Europe.  I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy to handle, especially being prone to motion-sickness very easily.  Thankfully, my friend Brittany gave me something for the nausea and I found myself in Prague, Czech Republic soon enough.  And the bus ride was totally worth it.  Being the first Eastern-European country I’d ever been to, the architecture and atmosphere of the city was quite different.  It almost had a darker, more sinister feeling.  Oh, the people were perfectly nice and the city was beautiful.  Perhaps it was the Tyn Church that looked like lightening was going to strike right above it as menacing, dramatic organ music played in the background and it looked like gargoyles were going to fly out of the towers.  Anyway, I digress.  

Prague, especially the Old Town Square, was stunning.  Bustling with people from all over the world, we walked around and arrived at the Astronomical Clock right as it struck noon.  Every hour, on the hour, people crowd beneath it to watch the little puppets around the somewhat unreadable clock dance around, playing music.  It is really not anything super dramatic or anything, but we all definitely got sucked into its charm.  We even decided to visit the Old Jewish Cemetery, which completely blew my mind.  For each gravestone, there was an estimated 8 people buried beneath each tombstone, raising the ground to almost eye-level at some points.  And when I say there were a ton of tombstones - just look at my pictures to have an idea.  Like I had seen in Munich at the memorial for the White Rose Movement, many of the gravestones were piled with little rocks, a Jewish tradition of memorial on graves to leave a small stone, one on top of the other.  Incredibly beautiful, though being pretty disturbing and sad.  

Later that night, we made our way to the Alphonse Mucha and Salvador Dali exhibits that were right in the center.  Mucha’s designs reminded me strongly of tarot cards, and Dali…I’m not even going to try to describe his work.  Google if you’re curious, but that guy was crazy.  The Persistence of Memory (you know, the melting clocks painting) was probably his most tame piece.  There were a few things that he did that I liked, but others either grossed me out or I just plain didn’t get.  At least in this exhibit, anyway.  

We even went to a traditional Czech restaurant for dinner, where I proceeded to order some sort of pork loin with ricotta cheese, grilled vegetables, and potato pancakes all with a (surprisingly delicious) dark Czech beer.  Scrumptious, to say the least.

The next day, we had a chance to make our way over to the Prague Castle, located on the other side of the Charles Bridge (where we perused the locals artist stands and listened to a blind accordion player).  We made a quick stop at the John Lennon Wall, which is constantly changing and I even wrote my name on it, as I had nothing profound to add.  Prague Castle was amazing, and we were told it was the biggest castle complex in Europe.  The St. Vitus Cathedral was gorgeous, along with St. George’s Chapel, and got an awesome panoramic view of the city from the high point we were at.  We decided not to stay too long, as we wanted to make it back in time for the classical music concert we wanted to see, but not before stopping for an almond delicas (essentially rolled, baked dough)!  If you couldn’t already tell, I’m all about eating food related to the area I’m in.  Food’s such a huge part of culture guys!  The concert was lovely.  Pretty intimate, we had relatively good seats and the music brought me back to the classical music concerts my dad and grandmother used to take my brother and me to see, so it was very nostalgic.  For those of you who care, they played “A Little Night Music” by Mozart, “Air” by Bach, “Allegro” and “Passacaglia” by Handel, “Kanon” by Pachelbel, “Ave Maria” by Schubert, “My Country - Vlatava” by Smetana, “Waltz in A” by Dvorak, and Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”.  I was in bliss for the whole 60 minutes that quartet played.  

Now, a night in Prague would not be complete without going to the Five-Level Discotech.  Each level plays a different kind of music, such as Oldies, electronica, pop, R&B, and rock.  And man, did we dance.  

Lucky for me, everybody spoke English, because I had not a single idea of what Czech is or what it sounds like, and learning to pronounce anything would have been disastrous.

Perhaps my favorite thing about Prague?   You couldn’t walk ten steps without there being live music right on the street.  The Czech love their classical music and are willing to share it with everyone.  

I want to say the first day I ever met my good friend, Stephanie, we were discussing all the places we wanted to travel to while we were over here in Europe, the first thing both of us said was “Ireland”.  So about 2 months later, we were flying together, on our way to Dublin.  After checking into our hostel (by the way, if you are a younger person traveling to Dublin, definitely check out the Generator Hostel, it was absolutely incredible), we decided to go into the Temple Bar area to grab some food and ended up eating at a place called The Porter House.  Here, I proceeded to order fish and chips and some random Irish stout.  Stephanie, who was much smarter than me, asked the waitress for recommendations on beer and got one that tasted much better than mine.  To this day, I follow Stephanie’s lead and always ask the waiter.  Since we had gotten in on the later side, we decided to head back to the hostel for the night.  It was probably the most terrifying 20 minutes of my life, as we saw the aftermath of a man getting smashed in the head with a bottle and bleeding profusely on the sidewalk just seconds after the incident happened, and later had two other drunken guys follow and calling out to us until we started to run and we saw other people.  So girls, be careful walking around Dublin, even if it is 9:30 at night.

The next day, we got a tour of the city of Dublin and had a very amusing tour guide named Eoghan, pronounced “Owen”.  He said that he would beat the living hell out of anyone that pronounced his name wrong, and though we all laughed, we knew that he was most likely serious.  He took us all over, from Dublin Castle to Temple Bar, and from Stephen’s Green to Trinity College.  I was actually surprised how much Dublin reminded me of Boston, and I absolutely loved it.  The people were incredibly friendly and the food was delicious.  Later on, we took a tour of the Guinness factory, which was really well set up and fascinating.  It was about 7 levels high and each floor took you through the process of making the beer.  At the very top, you get a spectacular view of the city, along with a complementary Guinness on tap.  For anyone who actually likes Guinness, this is the place to get it.  However, not being much of a fan, I don’t see myself ever getting one again if this was the best place to have it.  Later that night, we met Stephanie’s friend from school, who is actually from Ireland and lives just outside of Dublin, as did some bar hopping.  We finally ended in a bar with some amazing live music and some Bulmers, or Irish cider (which was seriously delicious).  It was the quintessential Irish experience, I do believe.

That Saturday, we took a day trip over to the Cliffs of Moher, which are on the western part of the island.  The ride on our way there magnificent with some astounding views of the country.  There is a reason Ireland is called “the Emerald Isle” - because it is probably the greenest scenery you will ever behold, where the grass almost looks like it’s glowing neon.  We finally got to the Cliffs…and OH MY GOODNESS.  It was one of the most glorious sights I had ever seen.  The Cliffs of Moher looked majestic, strong with a backdrop of bright blue water where you could hear the distant crashing of the waves from what seemed like leagues below.  We stayed for hours and took countless pictures, which almost looked pathetic on our camera screens compared to the real deal.  The Cliffs of Moher are giving Capri a run for its money for the number one most beautiful place I’ve ever been to on Earth.  We then went to the city of Galway, not too far from the Cliffs and had a super quick tour before we had to jump back on the bus.  My number one regret from Ireland is not being able to spend more time in Galway, because it was absolutely charming.  

On Sunday, we had a traditional Irish breakfast in the Temple Bar area before heading to St. Patrick’s Church for mass.  A beautifully lit church, St. Patrick’s was not as crowded as I thought it would be, but I had to say, it was nice to have a mass in English for once (they don’t really offer English masses in Florence).  The rest of the day, Stephanie and I spent walking around Dublin shopping, eating food, and never wanting to leave.

I will say that I feel like I’ve missed out on a big part of Ireland, and that is the fact that it did not rain once in our entire weekend there, not to mention that it remained almost completely clear with blue skies.  But hey, I’m not complaining.  

If I thought learning another language was enough of a challenge, imagine my distress when I landed in the Larnaca Airport in Cyprus over Fall Break in October.  Not only is it another language, but it is also another alphabet.  I had no idea how to even go about pronouncing some of these characters, and chose to take the safe bet and follow everyone in front of me until I made it to baggage claim.  Luckily, I didn’t have to walk to much further before I saw the smiling faces of Thadd and Savvas.  I couldn’t think how lucky I was to see my cousin Thadd, not just once, but twice in one year (when he surprised us all by showing up Christmas Day in Trinidad.  Plus, how lucky I was to have a cousin who lived in Cyprus.  As we walked out of the airport and drove our way back to the house, I was amazed by the landscape.  It was so…Biblical (for lack of a better term haha).  With the rocky, desert-like terrain, you could almost picture one of the dark green bushes catching fire (the Burning Bush, you guys, c’mon).  We arrived at the house, and I had the pleasure of meeting two very important members of the family - Morgana and Ambrosius (sorry if I spelt that wrong, Thadd), the two cats.  Though Thadd claimed that they would warm up to me eventually, I never seemed to be able to get close enough for some cuddling.  

That night, Savvas and Thadd took me into town to check out the sites, including the Green Line - the U.N. Patrolled Border between the Greek and Turkish sides of Cyprus.  It wasn’t as intense as my mind had pictured, but it was still pretty fascinating that there was such a division.  Later, they took me out for seafood mize (once again, ignorant of the spelling), which is essentially like Greek tapas in the sense that there are a ton of dishes that keep coming throughout the night.  Needless to say, I felt like I needed to roll myself outside of the restaurant with the amount of incredible food that filled my stomach.  I also found that I was a much more adventurous eater than I thought, and found the courage to try everything that was brought out, including cuttlefish with ink, ground fish eggs, and other things I’m not too sure of.  

The next day was a trip to the beach and walking around.  My goodness, Cyprus is simply gorgeous.  The water was one of the bluest I’ve ever seen, and it was even bluer in contrast with the desert.  Not to mention it was incredibly windy, and Savvas and Thadd informed me that usually the water looked like glass, the water was so still.  Not so when I was there though, there were actually waves!  We even made our way to the top of one of the peaks that overlooks the landscape, and it was stunning.  We also had the chance to see some of the sea caves, which looked so unnatural, except for the fact that they were totally natural.  Absolutely breathtaking.  

With one more day (I know, I simply did not have enough time!), Thadd and Savvas took me up to the mountains, where I felt like I was in a completely different country.  It reminded me very much of the Pacific Northwest.  Not to mention, it was pretty cold.  For lunch, we had meat mize, where I also ate my weight in food and red wine.  After stopping to buy some Cyprian chocolates, we walked down to the Millomeris Waterfall and took a bunch of pictures.  Once again, exceptionally lovely and calming.  

It’s kind of funny, because even though Cyprus is halfway around the world, it reminded me very much of a blend between Trinidad and Canada.  So Thadd, I see why you chose Cyprus as your new home :)