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five places to revisit
who doesn’t have places they want to see again? for an american, living abroad in europe is often about seeing new cities and countries, but i’ve found that revisiting a place can be it’s own separate story with new activities and adventures. that said, i’ve been tagged by jessi & sara to take place in this prompt these five destinations are always rolling around the old noggin’ whenever the next foreseeable chance might be. these are all places i’ve spent time in and loved quite a bit, and of course, they all have their own special story. so without further ado, the top five places i would jump at the chance to make it…
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Glimpse of Malbork Castle, Poland
one does not travel to northern poland and miss malbork castle, an absolutely beautiful red brick (very characteristic of the area) castle built by the teutonic knights in the middle ages. i am happy to report that i am currently feeling quite cured of being castled out like i was last spring, so a visit to the giant fortress on the vistula river seemed like a fantastic day trip out of gdansk at just over an hour by train. (photo via) besides all of these beautiful ornate interiors and ballrooms, i really found this unfinished chapel quite fascinating. damaged in WWII, the chapel still does not have a roof and the…
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the lennon wall, prague
the lennon wall started in prague in a tiny little hard-to-find lane on velkopřevorské náměstí in prague’s malá strana quarter in 1980, when the world heard the news about the assassination of john lennon on december 8th of that year. the world was stunned, and those hopeful peace and freedom lovers (and john disciples) took to painting this wall as an expression of grief using it almost like an altar. although the communist government at the time didn’t like it, they mostly turned a blind eye and it became a place of art and rremembrance to commemorate john. it’s a wonderful prague landmark, enjoyed by lennon fans and other tourists who…
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ABC’s of travel: travel tuesday
happy travel tuesday! it’s a very special one for me as i have been chosen to be a co-host for the next couple months (alongside the lovely bonnie, courtney & yalanda) and i couldn’t be happier about it. so thank you! i’ll do my best to make you all proud. for my first week abroad the #traveltuesday express, i wanted to share a little about myself and travel moments, and if you’re new around here, so you could get to know this orange-haired american in czechland a little better. i present to you, the good ol’ abc’s of travel, cynthia-style. (a)ge you went on your first international trip: age 9, on a family…
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falling in love on the road
some love stories from the road involve a certain special guy or girl, but mine are with a special city. i have told many a tale here about my undying love of berlin, but while i was studying there i unexpectedly fell in love with a different city. a city that i fortunately happen to live very close to now. she’s praha, the golden city. the city of a thousand spires. and while i visited her for the first time a year before this, it wasn’t until the next year when i really opened my eyes to her and saw all her quirky brand of loveliness. i was hanging out in prague…
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Sopot, So Good: Poland’s North Coast Jewel
a real highlight of the entire three week backpacking trip to poland was getting to the coast, and one of the places i was most excited about was the small beachy resort town of sopot, only about a half-hour train ride from gdansk. but sopot isn’t exactly the sleepy little coastal town you’d think of: this place is happening. sopot’s famous for its history (both marlene dietrich and adolf hitler stayed at the famous resort hotel) and a reputation for a good party. apparently young poles (and others) flock here by the thousands in the summer time to take advantage of the clubbing atmosphere. but that’s not why i was…
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paris in the autumn
late october and the leaves are all yellow and orange… that sweet smell of fall is in the air… it really gets me reminiscing about how incredible it was to spend two weeks in paris this time of year two years ago. there was no agenda besides perusing the markets, snacking on brightly-colored macarons while people watching on boulevard st. germain, and maybe strolling through a famous garden or two. i may be closer to prague, but today i’m thinking about the other equally as historic and beautiful capital and i’m quite lucky to have sara on the blog today, an american transplant to paris who traded her new jersey bagels…
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prahably, october
we were in prague for the weekend under the pretense to take in the signalfest– a newer festival in only its second year a little bit like berlin’s festival of lights. however, the whole deal with signalfest is that it’s only over a couple days instead of a couple weeks and the projections are actually short films (around 5 minutes long), projected on famous prague landmarks and incorporating the architecture playfully into the film as well as some almost 3D effects. so, signalfest was pretty cool. except that prague was packed. i mean, to the gills. thousands of tourists descended upon the city for the weekend and it was near…
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Solidarity Movement in Gdansk, Poland
august is an extremely historic month to be visiting poland. the warsaw uprising, ghetto uprising, and solidarity movement all occurred in this month, and everywhere i went, i felt like i was visiting a sight on the exact anniversary of an important event. besides taking in the beauty of the city center, the solidarity sights were by far the most interesting and powerful of my stay in poland’s most northern metropolis. there is so much to see and lots of information to soak-up about this historic movement that got it’s start here in gdańsk. while walking away from the city center towards the harbor, you eventually come across the solidarity…
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Gdánsk Magic Gdánsk
i deeply enjoyed my time in the most northern polish metropolis on the baltic sea, gdánsk. the photo above really says more than i could: we were just getting ready to head out to catch a boat when i deeply felt that i needed a raspberry-laden gofry (waffle), like right now. so my last couple of minutes in the city was spent gazing out at the harbor and scarfing down deliciousness. gdánsk certainly has some fascinating history, which i could go on about for pages. but i won’t, and i will leave you instead with just a select few facts: it was a major hanseatic league city, was designated a “free city” after…
