Praha!

Hello there from Prague!

We leave early tomorrow morning and it's been a lightning-fast two days. The word we probably used most often was beautiful, though it seems rather trite. But truly, I've never seen a more beautiful city, and that's saying a lot because I liked Paris a real lot too. :)

Last night we bought some fruit at the farmer's market (fresh apricots, strawberries, and cherries), some gyros, and went and sat in front of the river by the Jewish quarter, eating and hanging out. As the sun went down a loud voice singing in Hebrew echoed out over the city....it was a very ancient-feeling moment.

Today one of our many stops was a tiny postal museum we'd read about. We went there, and were the only two visitors in the place, which made the workers to visitors ratio 2:1. One elderly docent was so intent on doing his job that he insisted on showing us around personally, speaking in German, I think because I said "Ja" in answering a question. Finally, after plying us with city maps and photos of the museum, he asked where we were from. The look on his face when we told him was something like, "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that...." It's maybe the first time so far that someone was so openly disappointed to meet Americans.

So those are just a few moments of many....I'll write again from the Danube valley (tomorrow), or Salzburg (next two days after that).

Oh, and also, Czech beer is as good as promised. The average Czech drinks 80 gallons of it a year :) I drank 1 liter, but it took me quite a while....

Ciao,
Erin

Vienna, Day 2

Hello again...I wrote yesterday, but realized that it did not post, so I just re-did the whole thing. (I'm having a little trouble, since the site here is completely in German, so it's quite the trial and error experience!)

We've been going pretty non-stop except for a short break in the afternoons...last night we saw Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" performed in the beautiful St. Stephen's cathedral in the center of the old medieval part of town. Gretchen's observation afterwards was "Wow, they take a lot of time to sing each word!" Also this morning we heard the Vienna Boy's Choir sing but couldn't see them...not such a wonderful experience compared to last night.

Tonight we're having dinner in a wine garden near Beethoven's old house, and then we must pack for Prague...our train leaves at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning!

Tchuss for now!
(write to me! I miss you guys!)
Erin

Guten Tag!

Hello from Vienna....after 17 hours of travel, we arrived yesterday and have been very busy ever since...I will write more later, but just wanted to say a quick hello!

simple summary so far:
temperature: 80 degrees
number of times Erin has gotten lost while jogging: 1
number of museums/palaces viewed by Erin and Gretchen: 3
number of blisters we have between us: 2
number of seconds left before I am kicked off this machine: 43

bye!

Just a few more days...

Hello! I've invited a few of you who I thought might be interested to read this little blog while I'm gone....I'll update as often as possible, but please don't feel obligated to read and/or post comments. That said, I'd love to hear from you if you get a chance! You can also e-mail me at eschweng@gmail.com.

Cheers!
Erin