The tale of when my parents came to visit

My parents have left the building and only missed one flight to get back!! Hurray!!
I don't have too many photos from their first few days here or from when we went to Budapest. The lack of Budapest photos result from the fact that is was raining and windy pretty much alllllllllllllllllllllllll the time which wasn't the best motivation for me to want to look up at buildings or take any sort of photos. Also, my dad may or may not have documented every single place we went or every single thing we did with taking a picture (hint, he totally did) so if need be I'll just snag those from my parents.
After our return from soggy, chilly Budapest we arrived to a slightly less chilly and almost not at all rainy Vienna. So yay for that!! The first day back (Monday 17th) I couldn't really take them to see things since I had an exam so I just took them to my uni so they could see the campus. However, my prof didn't show up so me and my classmates just sat in the room for an hour before leaving a note on the board. Later we all got an e-mail from him saying that he was there, but we weren't, so the common theory is he just forgot or fell asleep or something (as he is oldish). For the rest of the week activities included showing them around the city to marvel at all the buildings with statues (there are quite a bunch), see Bepa's house, wandering through the two main markets, going to Mariahilferstrasse, Museums Quartier, a comic book store (of course, a requirement for my padre), and eating a tasty Austrian meal courtasy of Rebecca.
Oh yeah, we also went to the Museum of Natural History which turns out to be AMAZING!!! It's increadibly big and I'm definitaly going to return to view all the exhibits, maybe even this week (since my friends want to come along). An amusing anecdote, was that my mom was more impressed by how old the display cases looked than by all the lovely shiny things within (we were in the mineral display). I chuckled greatly at this.

Most importantly, there were...

Dinosaurs!!!

How some dinosaurs may have actually looked. Feathered fury

On Thursday we departed for a 5 hour train ride to Prague, but we didn't get in till like 10.00 so we just went straight to the hotel. The next day we met up with some friends of my parents (odd I know) who happened to be in Prague the same time as we were. First thing first, we journied to the castle district which has, (brace yourself this may come as a shock) a castle!! Though the thing which makes the whole area so photogenic is the church.

The drop-off led to Deer Moat, because a ruler was too lazy to leave the castle to go hunting.

After the castle we strolled over the Charles Bridge which is constantly under construction but also is where several (see many) artists sit to hawk their wares (which are all pretty awesome looking). Most of it was jewerly, but there was also things like magnets or photographs or painted pictures or just random metalwork. Oddly, the people selling the items weren't necessarily the people who made them. I could tell because each stand had a permit with a photo, and said photo did not always match up with the seller. But I guess if the stand owner is good enough, why not hire extra help?

Mom rubbing a plaque on the bridge that is supposed to bring luck. There's another plaque that's also all shiny but only because some locals buffed it up to make a joke.

After the castle area we went to this big square in the center to grab a drink and get some sitting down time (for the oldies :-P). At the square there was this fancy astronomical clock and since it was near the hour we paused to admire its intricate movements. These consisted of statues appearing in the window and then turning away. Also, a trumpeter (a real person) trumpeted at the top of the tower. Then we chilled at the Hilton (where my parent's friends were staying) before it was off to dinner. This restauraunt was ULTRA fancy. I could tell because the food was presented all pretty-like. Also, it was super tasty.

This just seems totally awesome to me

The next day we took part in a free walking tour, at which point we were supposed to meet up with my parent's friends, but we weren't able to locate them.

Our lovely guide James

The tour was actually really really good and we got to learn a lot of history about the area. Which led to my decision that my most favorite thing about Prague is, the word "defenstrate" is in great usage throughout their history. We went all throughout the main part of the city, including the Jewish Quarter which was pretty neat to see, considering there was an ultra old synogague.

Powder tower

Oldest functional synogogue in Europe.
Also, the Golem of Prague is located in the ceiling.

After the free walking tour my parents and I decided to go on the castle tour, also led by James, so we could learn a bit more about the district. We didn't actually go inside any of the buildings (but we had done that yesterday) but we got to learn more about the actual history and just how bad-ass the Czech people are (apparently it is very).

Famous pissing statue

A guard, keeping it real

Overlooking the city

The next day we were walking back along the Charle's Bridge so we could actually get something from one of the artists when we stumbled upon an extremely odd looking individual.

Aaron clone!!

On the Charle's Bridge. I totally got seperated from my folks and had a brief moment of "uh-oh"

Apparently marrionets are pretty common around here. I dub this one very pretty.

Concert in the Spanish Synagogue

View of the church and castle district

Back in Vienna we only had a day so I just took them to Naschmarkt again (they loved that place) and then to the Manner store so mom could get her pink umbrella. After going to a restaurant that is named after some kind of big black bird (but I don't think it's a crow or raven so I have no clue) I left their hotel since they were leaving at 6 in the morning and didn't want to take the last tram at 12.00 to the airport (since the trams stop running from 12.00 till 5.00) so they ordered a kind of cab. I however, am planning on kicking it student style and will probably be spending the night at the airport (since my plane leaves at 8). So, whoever wants to keep me company that night is welcome. :-D

Winter Break: Part One, Paris

So I've finally uploaded my pictures from winter break and have time to write so behold, there will be regaling of winter break activities!!
First up, I traveled to Paris via airplane to visit Carla (an exchange student who lived with us for a semester)!! In an odd councidence, her boyfriend is living in Paris as an exchange student (much like I am in Vienna) so she decided to visit him during her break, and I, having not seen her in like 5 or 6 years, decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

CCAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAA

Now, my arrival to Paris was less than wonderful. When I got in I was like an hour late and then with the train it took another hour to get into Paris, so by the time I got there Carla and JP (her boyfriend) were not at our meeting place since apparently the airline didn`t show my plane as being late so they left a message on Facebook, but I wasn´t able to see it as I had
no internet axcess. I looked around the meeting place (in the sleeting rain, yuck) and finally desided to ask a police officer where I could find a payphone. But, as it turns out, Americans shouldn´t be the only people looked down on because the only speak one language, guess who else does? And it wasn´t even a lack of English, they didn´t speak German or Spanish. Thus begain my frustrations, also, my hatred of Paris. Turns out they didn´t know where a payphone was (through my clever use of mimeing I showed them what I was looking for) so I went back towards the station and on my way there, saw a payphone!! Oh how my heart soared, only to find out that the French payphones only take a phone card, of which I had none. So I went to JP´s apartment, but I didn´t know his last name so I was stuck standing outside. At this point I was pretty much holding back many swear words and anger. Finally, I asked a wandering Parisian (and he spoke English!!) to let me use his phone, which he did, and then everything was wonderful and grand.
The next day, despite the freezing cold, JP showed Carla and I the sights of the city. We actually walked most of the time, which suprised me when I looked at a map afterwards because man, it was quite a distance!!
First up, we sauntered over to the Eiffel Tower, passing by Voltair's old house, which was pretty nifty. Once at the tower, it was too windy and icey to actually go up to the top or even the middle, but we did manage to get some lovely obligatory tourist photos.

This was really the only main thing we did this day, picture-wise. Other than that there were various university buildings, grocery shopping, and the city's best crossoints (by the name of Paul's Cafe, simple and oh so tasty). In the evening we went to a party of JP's friends and while I feared a language barrier it turned out my fears were unfounded. As it were, there were 3 Russian girls there who didn't speak French so we were able to use English as a basis (except for me telling them my name and asking how they are in Russian, thanks Kate :-P). There was also a French girl who had lived in Iowa for a year, so we bonded over the glory of the Midwest, and the rest of the evening passed quite pleasently with crepes, ultra moist and gooey cake, and fancey cheeses.
The next day JP decided to take us to a place who's name I don't remember, but it is the white building in the right upperhand corner. From what I can remember, it's the highest/northernmost part of Paris.

This is the view from JP's apartment. Man am I jealous.

After reaching the top, we chilled on the steps for a bit, admiring the view and listening to the warblings of a nearby guitar player crooning out Wonderwall. We also went inside the church, but they didn't allow pictures so instead you get this. Silly pigeons.

And by silly I mean terrifying because seconds later there was a SWARM of pigeons!!!

On the way down, oh so many stairs

I found this both amazing and a subtle reminder of the freezing cold :-D
Once we left the church place it was decided that we would take the long way back to JP's place, a.k.a we walked, which I didn't actually figure out until we arrived at his place without ever getting on a tram, much to my suprise. I have to say I was really impressed by JP's knowledge of the city, its landmarks, and his ability to just navigate. As I will eventually be playing host myself to some family members, I'm still trying to figure out a)what to do with them and b) just how I'll remember what buildings are actually interesting buildings and/or the names of said buildings.
I just realized I'm kinda sleepy, so prepare for a rapid-fire summary of the rest of the trip. Sorry about this, but I'll put up the rest of the pictures on photobucket and give a better summary on the Finland portion of the trip.
So, after the church we walked to a rather touristy part of the area that included oh so many souvigner shops as well as an Artist's Square that was just next to Picasso's house. We stopped for a quick lunch (croissonts again,mmmmmm) before visiting some huge fancy shopping center (like the largest in Europe) and the opera house, which was swankyness incarnate. Of course, as per any normal tourist, we also went to scope out the Moulin Rouge, though to get there we wandered through the red light district of Paris. As it was day, we were saved from seeing any people of dubious character, though there wer buildings a plenty, some that made for slight entertainment.

BEHOLD, THE SEXODROME!!! Possibly the most amusing name ever, I laughed from like a minute

Next was a quick walkthrough of the Lourve (not actually inside, just in the courtyard place), after which we traveled over the Seine and returned to JP's apartment for tasty dinner.

Subway enterence next to Lourve

Apparently it's a tradition for couples to put locks on the fence of the bridge over the river with both their names on it. After regaining our strength and energy we went back out into the night to walk about a bit more and admire all the fancy lights of the city.

On the street next to the Arc d' Triumph

On this street there was a Christmas market, which was fun to see but the prices were soooooo expensive that I found myself missing Vienna prices. Who knew that was possible?
Once we walked down the street (only once, remember, soooooooo cold), we all went to a student housing building where one of JP's friends lived. There I learned a) In Paris the ultra fancy beer comes in what looks like champagne bottles and

B) Brazilians get silly when drunk/bored waiting for the busThe next day, I went my seperate way to Finland while Carla and JP went to Oslo to visit a Norwegian who had been in La Crosse the same time as Carla.

Possibly the best name ever