65. Essen

On Tuesday, Jana and I wandered until we found a new cafe to try.  We found a classy little place right off of Albertinaplatz.

We ordered heisse schokolade and apfel strudel.  It was a perfect way to warm us up after sitting in our freezing cold school all day.

After dessert we ate dinner at the Gulaschmuseum, which isn't a museum...it is just a restaurant.

They had fresh flowers at the table.  I love that all the restaurants do that here.  The food was amazing too.  I think I want to return and try some other food sometimes.

After dinner we went and sang on the streets of Vienna.  It was a very lovely day.

Prague Photos

A few more photos from my trip to Prague--sometimes five a day isn't as much as I think it is.

Below is the old-new synagogue (and Jana).  This Jewish Synagogue was preserved because Hitler was planning on using it as a museum for an extinct race.  He loved Prague. He wanted it to become the culture capital of his Third Reich.  When I heard that I almost lost it.  That man was crazy.

Here is our group after taking the walking tour.  Yeah, it's a lot of people.  

It turns out that Prague restaurants really don't like feeding large groups of American college students.  We usually had to split into smaller groups to get any kind of dinner.  It was even hard with small groups sometimes.  My favorite attempt was at a pub near old town.  The conversation went something like this.

Me: "Excuse me, we have six (hold up six fingers) people that want to eat dinner (hand on stomach).  Do you have a table?"

Restaurant Manager: "That is nice.  We have no room."

Usually, we would wander around until we found a place that would seat us, and the food was always amazing (luckily).  It might have just been amazing because we were all STARVING, but it really tasted so good, and it was cheap.  In Czech currency, one CZK is equal to $.05.  So at first everything looks like it costs 100 dollars, but really it's only 5.

The whole trip involved on lot of 'czech' jokes.  You know, like, "Visit the Castle.  Czech!" or "Oh, Czech it out!" or like our tour guide pointed out, "We are Czechsperts."  Apparently the locals have caught on to this play on words.  I'm still surprised Whitney didn't buy this shirt.

Our last night in Prague was so wonderful.  We ate at a restaurant with a nice waitress, and a fireplace, and such good food.  Afterwards we wandered around the city at night and caught a free concert on the River.  We watched from the Charles Bridge and all had warm fuzzies inside (even though we were soaking wet and freezing--it rained all day).  I talked to a German couple behind me (in German).  That was exciting.  In this photo: Ambree, Whitney (hiding), Krystle, Jana, Maria, and William's backpack cover.

And in case you were wondering if I was actually in Prague or not, here are a few photos of me at the Lennon wall.  

59. Classmates

This sandwich isn't one of my classmates, but it is from dinner with the Plummer's (our teachers). We had a great night eating these sandwiches and playing two truths and a lie. I learned a lot about everyone. Love them all.

55. Naschtmarkt

In the first district, where we have school, there is this amazing street market.  It is easily the largest in Vienna, and everything looks so interesting there.  In photo class we walked over and tried to see what we could capture on film.  This day I decided that I could never be a photographer, I just don't have what it takes.  However, it was a fun assignment anyway.  The colors were amazing, and I had such a hard time not buying every pastry I saw.  The good news was I handled a few conversations auf Deutsch rather well.  That was exciting.

At the nicer end of the market there are several cafes.  Cafes are a big deal around here.  Like a really big deal.  I'm a fan of them myself.  In this photo I can see at least five different cafes.

This photo below is probably my favorite of the whole day.  I just love how vibrant those peppers look.  I want to eat them right now.

Und heir ist frische Erdbeer.

Like I said in the last post, I LOVE orchids, and they are ALL OVER this town.  There are flower shops all over, and the Viennese always take flowers home for the weekends.  They are all GORGEOUS, and pretty cheap.  I wish this flower thing would catch on in the states.  I think Holland or Denmark is the largest flower exporter in the world, which might explain why they can sell flowers cheaper here.  Anyway, I'm a a big fan.  Unfortunately I couldn't come up with a photo of the Orchids I was really happy with, but this one will have to do.

This was probably my second favorite photo of the day.  This barrel smelled TERRIBLE, especially since it was right next to a barrel of sauerkraut.  I honestly don't know why I like this photo so much.  I promise most of the food here looks a lot better than this.

Whew!  Five photos a day is a lot!!

40. Leftovers

I seriously think we are going to be eating these mission reunion leftovers for years to come.

Anyone have subject topics beyond whatever I eat in a day?? My inability to break out of this comfort zone is pathetic.

34. Imitation

The original idea was to create a salad similar to Cafe Rio's.  Didn't even come close.

Why can't I ever take pictures of things besides food?

33. Mike

Happy Birthday.  It's got a few less candles than your age, but if you look closely from the right angle they are arranged in an 'M' orientation.  Oh, and it's a cheesecake, not a cake.  And I forgot today was your birthday, but we happened to have this in the fridge.  It isn't even homemade.

But really, Happy Birthday.  Glad you are in the family.

32. Brunch

This was the start of an amazing weekend.

29. Discarded

I made chicken enchiladas for the first time on Wednesday. This was the part of the chicken I didn't use:

I wish I could say they turned out delicious, but they didn't. I'm really not that great in the kitchen, but for some reason it's the only place I take pictures. I need to get out more.

28. Still

Life.

Usually the fruit bowls are saved for painting and stuff like that.  But we all know I'm obsessed with photographing food, and I'm trying to figure out how to rock my macro setting.

14. Casserole

Casserole is thrown togehter with whatever ingredients happen to be in the refrigerator.

Casserole doesn't look that appetizing, but it sure tastes good (well...sometimes).

Casserole is a comfort food.

This treat was made to satisfy an intense sugar craving.  Compiling what resources I had (strawberries that were supposed to be for waffles the next day, old semi-sweet chocolate chips, powdered sugar, sugar) i threw together an ugly, yet satisfying snack - my first casserole.

5. Treat

So, remember when I said I was going to stop taking pictures in my kitchen?  I lied.  I'm not so great at this photo-a-day thing, I only remember at night, when I'm eating and doing homework in the kitchen.  I'll try harder next week.

 

A few other notes:

• My sister and I decided that brownies are the best form of chocolate.  This opinion may change once I go to Europe.
• I've been taking pictures with my little sister's camera (the same one that likes brownies - you may have thought "no duh, of course it's the same sister!"  But really, I have five sisters, so it is very probable I was talking about a different sister.  Are we clear?  Ok, good.) and I'm getting a little frustrated with it (its 4+ years old, an eon in digital camera time).  The thing is, I am getting more frustrated shopping for a camera, so I'm just dealing with hers.  I can't decide what I want.  A DSLR would be nice, but I'm not THAT serious about snapping photos.  So I'm left with digital cameras - but it turns out, there are a million options.  So, any suggestions?
• I <3 iphoto.  The two finger rotate thing is AMAZING.
• I can't believe i just typed the less than sign next to a three.
• In case you didn't read the LONG bullet point, I need suggestions for camera purchases.
• I am SO excited to go to Vienna.
• I'll try to upload pictures more consistently, instead of all on Sunday night.
• I don't know why I'm typing all this stuff, there are no photo-a-day police.  Tom seems like a pretty relaxed professor.

4. Flavor

The only thing better than this combo is peanut butter and Oreos.

 

I promise I am going to stop taking photos in my kitchen one of these days.

3. Dinner

Remember learning to make this in 7th grade Home-Ec class?  Yeah, that was 10 years ago, but my cooking skills haven't really improved since then.

 

  

  

I wonder how I'm going to handle preparing dinner in my host family's home.  Considering my German is terrible, it might be an interesting experience.