PRAHA (Prague, Czech Republic)

Even though we arrived in Prague at night, the city was lit and beautiful.  The hostel was only a 10 minute walk from the train station, and was the best hostel I have stayed at so far--it was clean, had a great location, and the wifi actually worked.  

Our full day in Prague was spent spontaneously exploring the city without a map.  Prague is also among the most beautiful places I have seen; they love bright colors and unique art.  The entire town glows a golden color from the sun, especially at dusk.  The main river was also beautiful, and I found some great art pieces on the bridge from small independent stands selling authentic art.  We also walked up to the castle fortress, which is the largest in the world! Overall, my time in Prague was not long enough and I loved every second of this city!

Part of the castle 

Beautiful Praha!

Hot chocolate on the castle :)

Boat cruise tour at dusk

On the boat cruise

Atomic clock

Weird puppets that are everywhere!!!

Me, Allie, Sydney

Castle fortress in the background

local currency

Inside the castle church

View from the castle

WIEN (Vienna, Austria)

Vienna is a school sponsored trip, and is separate from the 10 day travel period throughout Europe.  The four day trip was packed with tours and lectures, some awesome and some were honestly a bit boring.  The train ride was only two hours from Salzburg, and once we arrive in Vienna we were shown to the hostel and then provided a short tour around Vienna.  There was a holiday at that time, and there were military events everywhere which I though was really cool.  After the tour some of us went to dinner and got a bit lost on the way back, but found our way eventually. The city is huge, beautiful, and packed with people.  


The second day we had an "official" tour by a local that lasted three hours and included tours in a big church and to the Habsburg burial vault.  I also saw the Jewish town center and memorial, many more buildings and great statues (with horses!)  For lunch we went to the "Naschmarkt," a local market with fresh produce and shops.  At 1 pm we met again for another tour.  This tour was on the "Vienna Ring Tram," a subway that provides audio guides with music and a narrator as we passed significant buildings and monuments.


On the third day I skipped the first lecture at the Bank Money Museum and Opera house to go see the Vienna Spanish Riding School famous LIpizzaner Stallions!"  For three hours I was able to watch the morning training with classical Austrian music, it was really beautiful.  Unfortunately they do not allow cameras so I only have a couple pictures and video's.  After the riding school I met with the group again to tour the Archives of the Austrian Resistance.


Day four was much less packed with tours... we only went to Schloß Schönbrunn, a summer palace from the royalty.  From here I let with some friends to go to Prague!

Main Church

Stained glass inside the church

Pillars and detail inside the church

Habsburb burial vault

Burial vault

Another view of the main church

Inside the Vienna Spanish Riding School!

More beautiful than I could have ever imagined!

Cooling out one of the stallions after a workout

Morning exercize

So beautiful!

At Schloß Schönbrunn

Schloß Schönbrunn

Statue in historical town center

Military helicopter at one of the events in town

and a tank!

Cart horses in town 

Jewish memorial in the Jewish town center

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen was another favorite destination along this trip.  The train ride took an entire day, about 8 hours.  At one point the train even drove onto a ferry and continued into Denmark.  An old man in our seating row kept falling asleep and snoring, that was about the extent of our entertainment for such a long ride.  Kristy Webster, a high school friend, met us at the train station and cooked us a traditional Danish meal that night.  It was SO nice to sleep in a quiet apartment room rather than the loud snoring room in Amsterdam!

The next day we explored Copenhagen! Because it is so far north, the days were already getting dark sooner and it was very windy and cold.  It was also, however, one of the most beautiful places I have seen.  There are extensive gardens we visited, many more great buildings and churches, as well as lots of sailboats and ships on the canals and ocean!

 Statue in the Gardens.

Gardens

Gardens

Cool old motorcycle I saw outside a shop entrance.

Train!!

On the ferry across from Germany to Denmark.

Historical town center.

Boat anchor! (and me!)

Canals with huge, awesome boats.

More boats :)

Restaurant seating I thought was cool!