Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (Part 3)

After eight long hours on two trains, I was back in Ceske Budejovice. I got back a little after 8pm, so most of my fellow linguists had already left the dorms and were out and about doing things. Fabrizio had left me a note saying they our group had gone out to dinner, which reminded me of how hungry I was. The last thing I had eaten was a Zwiebelmett at the train station in Berlin. Raw pork? Yes. Zwiebelmetts are basically raw ground pork with lime and onions served on a piece of bread. Not bad, actually, but certainly not enough to fill me up for the rest of the day. I was starving, and I had to find food.

I headed over to a few nearby restaurants, only to find out that they stop serving food around 9pm. My stomach was growling. I walked back, and had just decided to go to bed when Alex and Tom came to rescue me. The group was waiting downstairs to go to a pub two blocks away, called Domino Bar. I know the boys gave me something to snack on, I can’t really remember what it was. I was going to fill my stomach with cold Czech beer, hoping that it had enough nutrients for a healthy diet. Or not. It didn’t matter.

The pub itself was OK. The staff was unfriendly, but that seemed to be the norm around there. There was a couple of pool tables and foosball, nothing too fancy other than the jukebox the girls seemed so happy about. Good company made a huge difference. It was nice to be making new friends, from all parts of the globe, learning and sharing experiences.

Lucerna (Skuherského 1392/75, 370 01 České Budějovice) was our hangout spot on Wednesday and Friday night. This was a much nicer bar, with a lounge and a dance floor. It was huge too, apparently there was also a nightclub upstairs. It was there where I was first introduced to Becherovka, typical herbal Czech liquor that can very well serve as fuel for your party engines. It is smooth and sweet (and cheap), so we sipped on a few singles and doubles over ice.
Undoubtedly, the place where I had the most fun was Kulečníková Herna Metropol. This billiards bar was much like a small Czech version of Backstage Billiards in Orlando. Cheap booze and darts, pool, foosball, among other table games, and GREAT music. Classic rock galore.  There was a bit of a Western vibe to this joint (Americanized, one may say), but that mix made it a very cool place to hang out and drink some beers. On top of that, amicable competition among linguists is always nice. On that note, Czechs are better than you at throwing darts, regardless of where you’re from. They are better than anyone.

The 2011 EGG Summer School was coming to an end. I made very good friends there, some of which I got to visit again a few months later. I had a great time with them in this lovely Czech small town. I only had another two weeks left in Europe, but still lots of energy left to enjoy them to the fullest. The next post will show a bit of my fun weekend in Prague.

Berlin, Germany

In order to get to Berlin from Budweis, I had to, first, get to Prague, and then transfer to the Deutsche Bahn fast train. Trip duration: right about 8 hours. Some fellow EGGers who were going to Prague for the weekend made the first leg of that journey much more fun. I met the group from Romania at the bus stop, along with Aquiles, another Brazilian. We talked and joked around during the whole three-hour train ride, and in spite of my light hangover, I managed to stay awake. I was having fun. So was Elena, especially after she saw me take a bite of my delicious train-station sandwich and pull a long blond hair out of my mouth. Apparently it is humanly possible to laugh at someone for 45 minutes non-stop.

I had a little over an hour in Prague, but as much as I wanted to go out and do some exploring with the Romanian group, that wasn’t going to be enough time. I said my goodbyes and looked for a place to eat (hopefully hair-free). The restaurant Potrefená Husa is a type of chain with locations throughout Czech Republic and Slovakia. Not my favorite. The prices were a little high (even for Prague), and the food was just alright. The service was a bit slow too, which almost caused me to miss my connection to Berlin. I ran across the crowded station and boarded the DB train, which left less than 30 seconds after that. Phew!

Five hours later, I arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where my friend Angela was patiently waiting for me. I had met Angela in Braga a few weeks before, so since I was “in the neighborhood”, I decided to pay her a visit. We headed over to this tiny pub called Dicke Wirtin (Carmerstraße 9  10623 Berlin) for some ice cold German beer and authentic regional food.  Angela introduced me to “solei”, which is a typical appetizer in German pubs. Solei is a pickled egg served on a plate. It seems simple and bland, but Angela taught me the right way of eating it: cut it lengthwise, remove the yolk, add a bit of vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard, then place the half yolk back and eat each half with one bite. Result: surprisingly good.

After the solei, we had some Kartoffelsuppe (Berlin-style soup), which was also very tasty. I then ordered the roast pork with dumplings and cabbage, which couldn’t have been more German. Angela ordered meatballs in a white sauce, with beets and potatoes. We stuffed our faces and had a few more beers. I really enjoyed Dicke Wirtin (which means “fat landlady”). This landlady filled us up without leaving us broke.

We had a very busy Sunday. The goal was to see as much of Berlin as possible in only one day, which really isn’t much time for such a big city. We grabbed some “Coffee To Go”  and rode the U-Bahn to Berlin Hbf, which is just a short walk from Bundeskanzleramt - The German Chancellery, and the Reichstag, among a few other government buildings. We walked a few minutes south and saw the Brandenburg gate, one of the main symbols of Berlin, which is two blocks from the famous Hotel Adlon.

 

Also not very far from there was the Holocaust Memorial, which is undoubtedly a place that evokes dormant feelings. I was a bit scared and sad upon leaving. Luckily we found some decent currywurst across the street, so that helped a little. I had never heard of currywurst before, but to my surprise it was quite delectable. It’s nothing more than a good size pork sausage with curry ketchup, served with fries. Fast-food was good again.

After recharging the batteries, we headed southeast to explore what was once East Germany. We even saw some Trabis on the way there, and Angela showed me the Ampelmännchen for the first time. In East Germany, the pedestrian crossing signs were different, but remained after the reunification, as a symbol of East Germany. Parts of the Berlin Wall can be seen in different parts of town. The Berlin Wall Monument is a memorial with felt like a brief but enjoyable history lesson. From there, we visited the main former border crossing, Checkpoint Charlie, where you can still breathe a little bit of communism in the air (at least theoretically).

 

Angela and I walked headed over to Alexanderplatz for a quick beer. I wanted to visit a German Biergarten, but we couldn’t really find one that was accessible (and the lingering rain didn’t help). We ended our Berlin tour with dinner and drinks (again) at Potsdamer Platz, For a one day sightseeing experience, I felt like we accomplished quite a lot. I can’t thank Angela enough for the marvelous time I had in Berlin. We sure had great fun together there.

Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (Part 2)

Ceske Budejovice, also known as Budweis, is a charming small town located in the South Bohemia in Czech Republic. I was there for two weeks participating in the EGG Summer School, which was a very rewarding experience for several reasons. As I mentioned in the last post, I will not discuss the academic aspect of it here, but I’ll be happy to share the fun moments I had with my favorite linguists.


  
The first organized party took place on the first Monday night. We gathered everyone around 7pm and took a nice walk to the City Center, for what would be my first mingling event. Two hours and a few half-liter glasses of Pilsner Urquell later, I had talked to almost everyone in the venue. I don’t recall what the bar was called, but I do know for sure that we had a good time there. I made friends with a group of undergraduates from Turkey, who confirmed the hypothesis originated at the Wombats in Vienna: Turkish people know how to party. My boy Nihat seemed determined; if it was up to him, the parties would never end.

 
I also had the pleasure of meeting Adina, Sandra and Elena, from Romania. Much to my surprise, Elena and I hit it off right away, and what started out as an innocent conversation about linguistics was simply the beginning of what would eventually become much stronger (more on that later). Let’s just say I didn’t really know why, but I went home smiling that night.

The organizers had planned four official parties, but we wanted more. We organized our unofficial events to ensure that no linguist would be left behind. We went bowling; we drank beers; we played soccer; we drank beers; we made “sandwiches” and sandwiches; we also drank beers. The hungover faces in the earlier classes reflected how everyone was enjoying themselves. One of these unofficial spontaneous events was the bowling night, which took place at Campus Bowling, a small but well-kept bowling alley located at the nearby Čtyři Dvory shopping mall (Miroslava Chlajna 1510/45, 370 05 České Budějovice 2, Czech Republic). Like most places we went to, no English speakers worked there. Luckily,we always had someone in our group who spoke a Slavic language, generally Serbian or Polish, so we managed to get our lanes and paid a fair price for them.



The restaurants in Ceske Budejovice were much cheaper than anywhere I had been so far. We tried a few places somewhat close to the university, and the average price for a meal and a beer was 100 CZK (roughly $6 American). By meal, I mean a typical Czech meal with all the right fixings. By beer, I mean ice cold refreshing Czech brews on draft (for less than one euro). I had no reason to complain. The food did take a while everywhere we went, but that was because we’d go out to lunch in groups of at least ten. Some of the restaurants barely had room for us. Generally, we found no English speaking waiters, and rarely did we find menus in English. Christen had purchased a survival guide before going there (wise move). I learned that pork in Czech was ‘vepřový’. I was good with that.



There were also soccer matches. Gokhan, Nihat, Irek, Fabrizio and McFadden were just some of the “football” stars that showed their talent to the audience on the 6th and 8th floors. Most of us were there to have fun. After all, they were just friendly soccer matches among linguists, how bad can it be? Calf injury during game two…. won’t point fingers at anyone. Moving on.

Friday night we went to the famous Železná panna (Zátkovo nábřeží, 370 01 České Budějovice), also known as Iron Maiden Tower, for the second official party. This place is a really cool bar located right outside the City Center. The building itself dates back to the 14th century. There’s plenty of outside seating, but there were too many of us, so the place felt small. We hung out there for a little bit, had a few beers, and decided that it was too early to go to bed. What else was there to do on a Friday night? Paradox!

 We walked around Old Town Budweis trying to find a nightclub. I honestly didn’t think we were going to find anything there, since the whole town just felt quiet and silent. Sure enough, after about twenty minutes, our group (of like twenty) stumbled upon this underground dance club called Paradox (Krajinská 33/5, 370 01 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic). Entry fee: 50CZK ($3), well worth the price. I’m not really into nightclubs, but I actually had a good time there. The drinks were cheap, and the local girls were stunning. I believe we were the only foreigners there, as I don’t believe Ceske Budejovice is much of a tourist destination, so the place had a bit of a  ‘local’ vibe. That’s where we saw some of the first EGG couples being formed (no names will be mentioned here). It was definitely great fun!

After a few hours of dancing and drinking some fine absinth and good Czech beer, it was time to walk off the alcohol. The walk back to the dorms took a little over half an hour, and it was generally what we did whenever we went to Old Town. It helps you stay in shape, it helps you sober up (not really), and it helps you socialize. Most of us had decided to go to nearby Cesky Krumlov for the weekend. Some chose to travel a little further and took the Saturday morning train to Prague. I was on that train too, but I was going a little further north, to Berlin, where I was meeting up with my friend Angela. Next post: Berlin, Germany!