Final Destinations: Vienna & Budapest

The last 4 days of our trip were split between two of the most beautiful cities east of Munich.

Upon arrival to Vienna, I felt very at home again. This being my second visit to Vienna, I was looking forward to using my German again, revisiting some sites, and getting to know some new ones!


Most exciting was the fact that I was able to grab the boys and show them all of the places that I had previously visited. In two days, we were able to hit some of Vienna's most beautiful sites.

We spent our first day walking the "Ring". This street is a great place to start walking if you want to see pass the Parliament building, the museums of Natural and Applied Arts, Hotel Sacher, St. Stephan's Cathedral and many other beautiful historical monuments.

The highlight of Vienna was being able to tour (*for the second time*) and attend a classical concert at the Orangerie at Castle Schönbrunn, the summer residence for the Hapsburg family.

Below are a collection of pictures from our stay in Vienna.

Inside the beautifully lit St. Stephan's Cathedral

Tony being serenaded by a viennese subway violist! 

View of the newly renovated St. Charles Church... Christmas Markets all around!

Snack Time at Hotel Sacher, before walking the Ring; Sacher Torte & Melange!

Outside of Hotel Sacher! 

Inside the Orangerie

Entrance to Castle Schönbrunn

Now Budapest:

Visiting Budapest was an eye-opener for me. As soon as our group arrived to the train station, I felt for the first time on the trip that I was in a really foreign country. Once again, as in Prague, I had to kiss the comforts of knowing the local language goodbye. No more easily navigating though restaurant menus, translating road signs, directions, etc. for our group. We had left the land of Schnitzel and Sacher Torte, and had entered into the unknown territory of Goulash and Paprika, and the most interesting language I have ever heard.
To describe Budapest here just does not do it justice. It was one of the most "majestic" cities I have ever seen.

The lion guarding the chain bridge in front of the Buda Castle

Budapest Central Market 

Dan and I outside of the breathtaking Hotel Basilica 

Yes, I know this looks fake, but this was our view from our skylight, of course we had to sit on the roof. 

(It's obvious why our place was called Hotel Basilica... Unbelievable!)

Christmas Market situated right in front of St. Stephan's Basilica. One of my favorite pictures. 

2nd Destination, Prague

Monday, November 28,

Early Monday morning, we departed from Munich and were looking forward to our train ride, and arrival into the Czech Republic. This particular train ride was very memorable, because of an attempted prank we tried to pull on our Professor...

Below is a picture of Dr. Vedder dancing with the lovely Karen Vedder, wearing his prized hat that he acquired from a past trip to Malaysia.

As he dozed off napping, we frantically tried to snap pictures of each of us sporting his hat.

We found out though, that we could never look as cool as him in it.

Dan "his majesty" Garrett

Dan

Brett

Me

Victor

On  Wednesday November 30th, our group had the opportunity to hold a conference with the President of the Cevro Institute of Political Science in Prague. Tony, the libertarian on the trip set up connections with President Sima of Cevro Institute to meet. Through this cultural exchange, the economic students of the Cevro Institute also were given the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Dr. Vedder discussing what makes nations wealthy.  What I found most interesting about this experiences was the eagerness and excitement the economic students had in studying western models of economic principles. It was hard to believe that merely 20 years ago this part of the world was still under communist control. Dr. Sima stressed his interest in hosting an international exchange of economic students from the Cervro Institute with students from Ohio University. I can't think of a more perfect reason to set up an international exchange program like this one. Looking forward to keeping in contact with the Dr. Sima and the students in Prague. 

Our group meeting with Dr. Sima, President of the Cevro Institute in Prague.

Dr. Vedder giving his lecture to Cevro's economic students

The following evening Dr. Vedder hosted a conference at the Cervo Institute for it's economic students. 

This occasion was very special for me, I was entertained by Dr. Vedder's animated lecture on what makes nations wealthy and what makes other nations poor. It was fascinating to watch the expressions on the students faces as they watched Dr. Vedder making jokes about Russians not being able to properly price cucumbers. The Cervo students were certainly not expecting a lecture like this. It was full of jokes, laughter and even though it was light-hearted all of the participants walked away with new knowledge and hopefully a great impression of Americans. For many of the students, it was the first time they had ever met a group of American students who shared the same interest in global economics. This conference made the world a smaller place for all of us. We were able to sit next to students receiving their first lecture from western economists in a nation that was part of the Soviet Bloc only 20 years ago. Definitely an irreplaceable experience. 

Now I would like to touch upon a few of the "touristy" activities our group took part in during our stay in Praha! 

Of course we could not resist the temptations of the city at night! So naturally we frequented a few dance clubs, walked in and out of a strip club in 2 seconds after the boys noticed the bouncer was a woman with a mustache! (.I mean we were in Prague!  Anything goes!..) 


Our group stayed at a fabulous K+K hotel, this was definitely the nicest, most elegant accommodation we had during the entire trip. We took advantage of the spa, some of the boys received a crash course in European spa etiquette; no shirts, no pants, ...absolutely no problem. But of course we (the Americans) stood out sitting in the sauna in our swimsuits :) 


Staying at K+K proved to be a very interesting place. It is situated just a block or two from Old Town Square and was surrounded by the most elaborate night and strip clubs I have ever seen. 


At night our street came alive with neon marques, bouncers trying to hustle people into the clubs. I was happy I had a band of guys to walk around with me. 
 It really is amazing in Prague. There is the rich history and beautiful atmosphere of the city, and then the darker side where sex, drugs and whatever else is so easily accessible. 


Below are some more pictures to help illustrate my point.

A View of Old Town Square from the Orloj: Clock tower

Beautiful picture of the gothic cathedral, Our Lady of Tyn

The two steeples are called Adam & Eve....Clever ;)

Parliamentary Building in Prague

Victor and Brian standing on Charles Bridge 

Me posing in front of the frigid Vltava River; Prague Castle in the background

People walking through Old Town Square and Christmas Markets 

Metronome over looking the Vltava. Built in 1991; represents the time lost from Stalin's rule of the Soviet Bloc. Awesome use of symbolism. 

On a less serious note: the scariest thing I have ever seen... Fish spa treatment... 

Monument in front of Our Lady of Tyn

Jan Hus Monument- built on the 500th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus, a leader of the Hussites

Architectural example of Cubism, this is the House of the Black Madonna in Prague. 

The encased statue of the Black Madonna is located on the left of the building, Statues such as these were also a way to identify streets before road signs. 

Tony and Brian; fascinated by the self cleaning bathroom...