Tour guide

This morning I arrived in Prague by a night train I took from Krakow. I accidentally took the train one station (or two) too far. As I was walking across the far parts of the city I was thinking about the scenario of me as a tour guide and it seemed funny enough to me that I thought I would share it.

If I started my own tour company it would be a little like Kramer's Peterman Reality Bus Tour. In case you aren't familiar with the television sitcom Seinfeld (probably the only show I enjoy watching), or the episode about which I am talking about I will summarize it a little. Parts of Kramer's life story are used for someone else's biography. He starts up a tour showing and partaking in mundane events of his everyday life. I was thinking I would probably be a similar tour guide and was imagining some of the complaints people might have. By the way, I often have imaginary conversations in my head. I once told my brother (this was not imagined) that I have more conversations with people I know in my head than I do in real life. Anyway, I have prefaced enough... (I may delete this post if I think later it is too strange)

Tourists: "Shouldn't we take the bus to get downtown like all the other backpackers are doing?"

Me: "No! Inner-city public transportation is a scam!"

Tourists: "Are we gonna eat anything besides kebabs and ice cream?"

Me: "No! Well... maybe some fruit."

Tourists: "Shouldn't we get a map?"

Me: "No! Lol."

More explanation: recently, I have been giving into every food craving instead of eating actual meals. I do not think it has affected the way I spend money at all, so I am happy to eat on the go and at whatever pace I choose. I really like kebabs, they are something I could see my dad making. I will try to remember to take a picture of one sometime soon. Also, ice cream is one of my biggest weaknesses, even in the states. Over here they have ice cream stands all over. I have been eating a lot of ice cream lately. When my conscious gets to me about my eating habits, I eat some fruit. And the last explanation, I enjoy getting lost.

Auschwitz

The sign is the entrance to Auschwitz and it translates to: "Work makes [you] free."

I knew this wasn't going to be an easy part of the trip, but I wanted to see Auschwitz to better understand what horrid things went on in such recent times. When I was younger, learning history never really had an impact on me. I don't know how that changed, but over the last few years everything in history seems unusually more recent than it ever did before. I guess my perspective has changed. As a product of today's communicative world, where everyone goes anywhere with a cell phone and internet is everywhere, it is hard to fathom that such a thing as Auschwitz could go on for years without the world knowing. It is scary and it is so very recent.

I think going through Auschwitz alone intensified the experience for me. There were tour groups that breezed through Auschwitz, but I took nearly 7 hours going through it all. There are many things that were disturbing in Auschwitz, the pictures of the starved, the horrible stories of the merciless nazis, the gas-chambers, the crematoriums, but one of the things that got me most was seeing a huge room full of shoes. There were tens of thousands of shoes, little kid's shoes, too. The rest of the place was just as sad. During the train ride home I still had every image fresh in my mind. Near the opening of the museum there was a sign that read, "Forgive, but never forget."

Vienna

Vienna, Austria!

I happened to land my arrival in Vienna on the beginning weekend of the big fußball tournament, Euro 2008. Not only was it the opening weekend of this big tournament, but Vienna happened to be one of two hosts for the tournament. The whole entire city was pretty chaotic. Sites that I wanted to see were blocked off and only the beer-drinking fußball fans were allowed on the other side. It was quite a party though. They had giant televisions and I think people even slept out there.

The way a large part of the world unites through fußball is really quite impressive. In the U.S. from coast to coast we have one country and one language. Coast to coast over here is very different. So many languages, and so many countries that have had a lot of trouble living next to each other for so long. It is really amazing to see how much everyone seems to get into fußball and they really seem to forget all the differences they have had in the past. I don't know for sure really, but so far it seems that way.

Large groups of fans parade through the city wearing their country colors and shouting their teams' songs. All over the city this was happening. The pride people have in their country's team is something very different from supporting a professional team in the U.S. I still don't think it would get me into sports though. Haha, I'm just teasing.



I wish I had better pictures. It looks like I have none of the enthusiastic fans. I might get another chance though. They aren't only in Vienna.

Oh, and I saw some more exotic pianos. This piano was Bösendorfer's submission for a World's Fair contest in Paris. I can't find online or remember what year it was. The piano far surpassed any of the other pianos entered in the contest, but was disqualified due to its failure to arrive to the fair on time. I think if I were to purchase a flake of paint from this piano my trips' savings would be gone.