When Your Brother Comes to Visit

Nothing goes as planned. And for someone who like to have a plan and stick to it, it gets stressful. But if you're lucky, like me, you'll have an amazing brother who will help you laugh it off and have an amazing time anyways.

I had been working my little butt off getting homework and studying done before John arrived so I could relax during the week and not do homework. On Monday, I woke up super early and got myself and my room ready before heading off to meet John at the airport. Now I know I blogged about this way back in April about my getting to the airport. You have to take a train and then walk a ways and the time I did it in April it was so confusing as to where to get off and so on. Well I must have been on the wrong train the first time because the one I took last Monday was great! It said the stops in English and German and even had an electronic banner that said the stops. I also discovered there are signs that point you to the airport. I was a very happy camper.

I waited for about 45 minutes (I came a tad early) and when John came out the customs doors I ran and gave him a huge hug and of course started crying. We then took a bus into town and after setting his stuff down, grabbed some pizza. I also ordered us beers and got the largest beer I could for John. He enjoyed it! I took him around to see Graz, showing him my school, my dorm, where I usually go. I also took him to the top of the Schlossburg. Now, if you ask him, he'll whine about climbing a "mountain" his first day to Europe. But really, it's just a hill, and two, he totally loved it.

Ice cream!

The cannons in the fortress at the Schlossberg

  As we made our way down to the stairs, it started to sprinkle so we opted for the elevator. When we got to the bottom, it was pouring rain! I have still yet to buy an umbrella so we were stuck. After a few minutes, we made a go for it. We had to stop again and after realizing the rain wasn't letting up any time soon, we just went for it. We got on a tram that took us as far as it could and ran back to my dorm. By the time we got there, we were both soaked! After a hot shower and putting our clothes in the dryer, we relaxed and waited until it was dinner time. I had planned dinner with my friends so John could meet them and they could meet John. We went and got schnitzel and it was a fun night. Meri, Laura, Ashley, Marco, Nikita and Juan all came. It was great to have my brother and my friends together. 

 

After dinner we were both tired and had to get up the next morning to leave for Prague so we hit the sack! We woke up at 5:30am and had to clean up my room, make sandwiches, eat breakfast, shower, and get out the door in an hour! It may sound easy but when you have a roommate and are trying to be quiet, it's not. I also woke up feeling sick to my stomach (of course) so that didn't help matters.
***WARNING***
What you are about to read could be called a "Series of Unfortunate Events" or just traveling in general, you know, same thing.

We got on the train to Vienna. All was fine until we were about an hour away from Vienna. The train stopped and here we were, sitting and waiting. Now John and I had to get to Vienna about 30 minutes (at the latest) before our bus left for Prague. We still had some time so John told me to not panic. There was a bus that they told us to get on and it would take us to Vienna. Now, I have been in this situation before (remember the bomb in the Graz train station?) so I knew we HAD to get on that bus. I pushed our way through and made sure we had two seats for ourselves.

The bus did not take us to Vienna. It took us to another random city where we then had to get on another train which took us to Vienna. By the time we got to the train station in Vienna, we had 10 minutes. Epic failure. I was still feeling sick and now I was stressed out. We found a McDonalds with free wifi and had to re-buy our tickets to Prague. Here's the thing, they didn't have anymore direct buses and we would have an hour and a half layover in Brno, Czech Republic. (I HAD NO IDEA WHERE THAT WAS). The next bus that would leave would be at 3:45 so we had almost four hours to kill. We took our time getting to the bus stop and then sat ourselves down to wait for the bus.

When the bus finally got there, the driver was so rude! I go up trying to ask him a question and he says "No English! Only Czech!" I was so tired and sick and stressed at that point I threw my hands up in the air and stormed off to get someone more helpful. We got on the bus and it was fine, and when we got to Brno I tried to see if there were any seats left for the direct bus. There wasn't so we waited in the bus's office until our scheduled bus arrived. I had a minor breakdown in the bus office, but after some cold water, some hot cocoa, and a hug from John, I was ready to go and just get to Prague! We arrived to a rainy Prague city at 9:30pm, made our way to our hostel, and finally got to sleep at 11pm. Glorious.

Prague = my favorite city
Or at least one of my favorites, I did love London. But it was so beautiful! Cobble stone everywhere, the buildings were old, and it had such a complex history. We started our day with going up the astronomical clock tower and saw the royal trumpet guy! (We later discovered how big of a deal this was) We also did a free walking tour around the city which was the best choice we could have made in Prague! We got to see all the major sights and get a history lesson on Prague and the Czech Republic.

Trumpet Guy!

The Astronomical Clock Tower

Some random square in Prague

John never wanted to turn for pictures

One of the few buildings in the world with Cubism architecture

Famous statue of writer Franz Kafka

No it's not a dementor (Harry Potter) or a nazgul (Lord of the Rings)

 After the three hour tour, we walked across the river towards the castle area. On the bridge, John saw two of his friends from school! It was pretty crazy and cool. It reminded me that even though we are halfway around the world, it's not as big as we always think. The castle area was different. It wasn't old looking or had one big, central castle area. Instead, it was several buildings devoted to senate, military, or there was an old cathedral. We did go into that and we climbed the top to look out over Prague. It was beautiful. Prague is so green and there are tons of lakes around it. There really are no words to describe how beautiful and serene Prague was. We walked back across the famous Charles Bridge and got some good pictures. It was filled with performers, artists, and street vendors. It was a really cool sight to see.

The bridge

some of the statues that lined the bridge

copyright: John Regan

 John and I were both tired and hot and sweaty from the day. We decided to go back to the hostel and shower, change, and get something to eat. Ashley and Laura had told us to go see the Beer Museum Pub where they had tons of different Czech beers we could try. We got ten different kinds to share between us and it was really neat to be able to try so many different beers from one country. I had a few favorite and I've made the decision I like lighter beers better than dark beers.

The next day we had some time before our bus left for Vienna. In the morning, we went and walked around Prague and got some gifts for people. I found these great paintings on pieces of wood to hang up in my new house next year! I loved them so much, I got two. One of the best souvenirs I have gotten myself. While we were at the souvenir shop, the man told us there was a train strike and all the public transportation was shut down.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had to get to our bus! We hurried back to the hostel and the lady told us how to walk to our bus stop. We got to the main square but were so turned around. I had pulled out money in case we needed a taxi and with my panic about not getting to the bus stop on time, John agreed to take a taxi. It was a good thing too! The lady at the hostel told us it would take 10 minutes to walk. It took 10 minutes to drive! We got to the bus stop early and was so thankful we weren't going to miss this bus, or have to wait in another random city before getting to Vienna.


And to think, this all happened within three days! Part 2 of our trip will be coming soon!


Love,
Sara