Day 10: Venice

Bad news, today was our last day but good news, we got to spend it in Venice. We started the day with going on a water taxi to the main island from our hotel to meet our tour guide Cynthia. We then walked around Venice and I'm pretty sure everyone fell in love. I have probably 200 pictures of streets and houses on my phone. We then had some free time to get lunch. My group stopped at a cute pizza place and had some traditional pizza. After we all met up and had time to walk around the palace of the Venetian Duke. Then we were given options and I chose to walk around the city with Mr. Duba. It was amazing, we got lost but that only led us to finding cute side streets. After we got to go on a Gondola ride, which was a "lit" (an adjective used a lot on the trip). At dinner we were able to eat pizza and pasta in the same meal, pretty cool right? EF kindly treated everyone to gelato. I had the usual strawberry, it's a safe choice but I know it will always be good. Then was our time to head back on another water taxi. We got off the taxi and went to the hotel to pack. The whole trip was so amazing and I'm so fortunate that I went. 

-Claire H.

The nicest hotel yet, there is air conditioning. This is real, not a drill. Breakfast, homemade chocolate croissants, eggs, and orange juice. Next we take an exciting journey on a water taxi. Amazing views were in the air. Then we had a walking tour with a very nice and stylish tour guide. We saw many brides, and she commented, "oh I don't like.", and asked us what we thought about their gowns. As the temperature rose, we continued to walk around the canal full city, and all of us began to drip in sweat. Not done yet though, as the afternoon came around, lunch time was given. Off to the recommended restaurant from the tour guide. We were lost, with the restaurant not in sight. We lost hope of finding it, so we went into a small restaurant. We ordered food, and I had some of the best tortellini I have ever had. Doges palace followed, after the souvenir shopping of course, a gorgeous square as we entered. Since it was fan less and without air conditioning, walking through the building did not stop the sweat. After, Mr. Duba and five of us wondered around trying to find the arsenale(which we did find), and ended up getting granitas, seeing the water, and cooling off in some shade. Now off to the gondala tour. Relaxing and amazing views, even though our gondaliere mocked us a a little bit. Dinner is next and we get served mountains of food, but still went for gelato after. Then we waited by the port for our water taxi back to the hotel. We learn we have to leave for the airport at 3:45 am and then head up to our rooms as the day ends.

-Danielle W.

Day 9: Skocjan Caves & Venice

Today we left Ljubljana for Venice. On our way to Venice, we stopped at skocjan caves and did a cave tour which was really cool. After the cave tour we did a nature hike back to our bus, which was hard because it was really hot but we saw a waterfall so it was worth it. We had long bus rides today, but our bus driver Alfonso was really cool so the road trip wasn't that bad. There was also great scenery on our way to Venice. Once we arrived in Venice, we went to the beach and the weather was really nice. 

-Lara I.

What a day! We left Ljubljana in the morning, and visited the skocjanske jame caves right before lunch. It was a pretty steep hike back up, but almost everyone loved them! We finished up our traveling. Y arriving in Venice and heading down to the beach near our hotel. Everyone was ECSTATIC to be out of the heat and into the cold water. We went swimming, collected seashells, and got pretty sandy in the process. On the walk back to the hotel, everyone grabbed granitas (kind of like shaved ice) from a stand on the street. But the crowning moment was DINNER. A four course meal topped off with coffee tiramisu. Delicious!!! We finished off the day by chilling in the hotel's courtyard and saying goodbye to our bus driver, Alfonso. We can't wait to explore Venice!

-Colette C.

One long bus journey later, we came to the Škocjame Caves. We ventured in through the man made tunnel to a small chamber with a little lake, and finally we were able to get a break from the hot air outside. As we ventured through the caves, the chambers just grew bigger and bigger, 90 meters beneath the ground, we began to hear the rushing of the river that flowed into the cave. As we looked over the edge of the high cliff we were on, we saw the river crashing against such the stone walls. Being inside one of the biggest under ground canyons really puts a lot into perspective! My friends and I tossed a coin into the river for good luck... And to see how far the drop was. When we began to near the end of the cave, we began to hear bats, and we came upon the large opening to a wonderful view of the waterfall that lies between the mountains. With one final (hard, brutal) hike up to the main entrance, my friends and I all thought the treacherous journey was worth it. After yet another, long journey on the bus, we finally hit Venice! We took a ferry onto a separate island off of Venice to our hotel, which is beautiful. We took sometime to get ready and then we set off for the beach!! We immediately ran into the water, it was amazing! I definitely enjoyed it so much! We can now all proudly say that we have swam in a sea in Italy! 🏖 

-Sasha P.

Day 8: Ljubljana

Our arrival in Ljubljana brought us many surprises!  

The day that we traveled to Ljubljana was a very surprising day, I did not expect me to see the Croatian president, or be less than three meters away from her. Nonetheless it was a very cool experience, we will probably be in the background on the pictures taken of the President. What I did not know at the time is that she is the first female president of Croatia, another reason to respect her like even more. She came to Ljubljana because of Slovenian Independence Day. In 1991, when Yugoslavia broke apart due to tensions between the various republics, Croatia (also a former Yugoslav nation) was the first country to recognize Slovenia as a country. That day was 25th anniversary of independence, and it was great to see how another country celebrates its own Independence Day (although there weren't that many people).

After that, we walked to Ljubljana Castle, which is on a hill. That was cool, I went up to the terraces and got a really good view. I didn't want to pay 7 Euro to get a slightly better view, plus I was already really tired after literally crawling up the hill for the final stretch. Then we walked back down and the so very generous chaperones gave the group two hours to do whatever they want. Me and my group walked around and bought stuff.

After spending time in the city, we all headed back to our hotel and the park nearby. There, we played a trivia game. It mostly comprised of information learned from or is about the trip, which is bad for me because I barely remember anything besides the views. My group came in second place, only lost by one point. 

Then I retired to my room. An end to our day in Ljubljana. Tomorrow we are going to caves on our route to Venice. We will see how it goes.

-Max G.

After a long bus journey, our short day in Ljubljana began with an exciting start. As we began our journey to the castle at the top of the hill, we were stopped by a political visit. The Croatian president was coming to Slovenia, and it was looking like the only people that were in the audience were some of the parents of the large student orchestra on stage. A woman, holding a myriad of Slovenian and EU flags beckoned our group over, and handed us the flags. She directed us to the front row, where she said we would get the best view of the president. We sat in the audience, excited and confused, until the Croatian president approached. The military saluted, and the president walked towards the stage. Multiple pictures were taken in front of where our group was sitting, and then she left. Later, we were told that we were basically used as a backdrop for the pictures. Whatever the cause for us being there, it was pretty exciting. Then, we finally made the long journey up to the castle. It was a steep, vertical incline that caused us all to break into sweats, but once we made it up the view was incredible. You could see the whole city from the tower. The history about the castle and the famous town dragon was explained as well. The castle was built by or in honor of the man who slayed the great green dragon of the land. After we were done with the castle, we got to explore the main square. We did some shopping of course, but the main draw was the search for the famous dragon bridge and its green dragon statues. Armed with only a postcard of the bridge, we used the church in the backdrop of the postcard as a visual guide. By walking towards the way that would put us in the same visual spot of the church, we found the bridge and took many pictures of course. Finally, our day came to a close and we ate dinner and played a very competitive trivia game. Our short time surprisingly showcased the amazing town, and gave us a fun time to remember on our long trip to Venice.

-Ana T.

In our only day in Ljubljana, we did unexpected things. When we first arrived, a lady gave us the Slovenian and European Union flag. They had all of us sat down in the front of what looked like a mini concert. A youth choir and orchestra were playing. We were all confused at what was happening and then a lady arrived. She was the center of attention, surrounded by security guards and photographers. She came in as soon as she went out. Turns out, she was the president of Croatia. While we were processing what happened, we made our way up a steep hill that drained our energies. When we got to the top, we were standing in the entrance of a castle. The castle itself was amazing, but what I remember the most was climbing the tower and coming faced

 to face with a breathtaking view of Ljubljana. After we made our way down in a much easier path, we walked to the city center. We were given 2 hours to explore. The most memorable store to mention was this little shop were there were many chocolates. What made this shop great was not only their ice cold water but the flavors of chocolate they had. I bought a flower flavored chocolate. We then got ice cream that was very creamy. Due to the hot weather it melted faster but we did not mind because it was very good. When we got together as a group, we went to the hotel to eat dinner. After, we went to a park across the street and played a classic game of trivia. We were all very nervous about the history part because we could not remember anything. In the end, Mr. V's favorite team won. Finally, we went to the hotel again and got ready to end our amazing and unexpected day in Ljubljana.

-Dafne C.

Day 7: Bratislava & Vienna

Today was our last day in Vienna, and some of us spent the morning in Bratislava, Slovakia!

Hey everybody! On our last full day in beautiful Vienna, the shining sun and the burning heat greeted us joyously. We had the option of either staying in Vienna and going to the Schönbrunn, exploring the palace and the gardens both, or of venturing out about an hour and a half to the sister city of Vienna; Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. I chose to do this, and was super happy to discover Bratislava was a quaint, beautifully decorated medieval town. We hiked up to a palace on a hill, which was quite the trek, but the view made it worth it. After, we explored the city, got lunch, and headed back to Vienna. After, we had the option of either going to the Hofburg palace or the natural history museum, and both of them had their unique appeals to different people. Some also chose to go to the modern art museum. Finally, we rounded off our day with a delicious dinner of some schniztel, shopping, and Viennese desert. Vienna was absolutely beautiful, and I'm so excited to go on to the next city! 

-Eleina N.

Hey everybody! On our last full day in beautiful Vienna, the shining sun and the burning heat greeted us joyously. We had the option of either staying in Vienna and going to the Schönbrunn, exploring the palace and the gardens both, or of venturing out about an hour and a half to the sister city of Vienna; Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. I chose to do this, and was super happy to discover Bratislava was a quaint, beautifully decorated medieval town. We hiked up to a palace on a hill, which was quite the trek, but the view made it worth it. After, we explored the city, got lunch, and headed back to Vienna. After, we had the option of either going to the Hoffburg palace or the natural history museum, and both of them had their unique appeals to different people. Some also chose to go to the modern art museum. Finally, we rounded off our day with a delicious dinner of some schniztel, shopping, and Viennese desert. Vienna was absolutely beautiful, and I'm so excited to go on to the next city! 

-Katherine D.

Today was our last full day in Vienna, and it definitely was spent well! While the rest of the group traveled to Bratislava, my friends and I took the metro to Karlsplatz and then to the Schönbrunn Palace, a breathtakingly beautiful summer building that housed the royal Austrian Hapsburg family, complete with a garden, the Imperial Zoo, and their victory monument. Firstly, we visited the gardens, which provided much needed shade, but also included locations like the Star Pool and the Orange Garden. After that was a ten minute trek up a large hill to the palace's victory monument overlooking the city. Inside the monument, we bought some drinks and rested before we were back on our feet to meet up with our chaperone and visit the Imperial Zoo. While most animals were quite drowsy in the summer heat, exhibits like the tigers and the koalas captured our attention the most. We ate lunch at the zoo (where a bird pooped on our table!) and spent a little more of the afternoon there. We met with our chaperone once again, took the metro back the way we came, and were given time to recharge while the other group returned from Bratislava. After, we split into smaller groups, and I went to the Hofbrun Palace, the Hapsburgs' winter palace. Finally, it was time for dinner, where we ate delicious schnitzel, and then traveled to the main square near our hotel to do some shopping and eat dessert. Then, we began our journey back to the hotel and rest up for another exciting day!

-Alyssa C.

Day 6: Vienna

We had a beautiful day in Vienna!  Tommy, Dylan, and Jake will tell you all about it below.

Day 6: they haven't fed us for five days, some of us have passed out due to dehydration. Nah I'm just kidding they feed us very well here. Today we started off by going to the Schönbrunn palace, which was Maria Theresa and the rest of her Habsburg family's summer palace. We toured the inside and saw some beautiful and diverse indoor decorations. Then we went out to the gardens outside, which were stunning! Next we got a nice bus tour of Vienna, did you know, that Vienna, similarly to Berlin, was cut up into four quarters divided between the allies after WW2? After our tour we stopped at the fruit and vegetable market to grab some grub. After our bellies were full we went to the giant church of St. Stephans. We climbed up the tower, which at the time I regretted but in retrospect it was a great excuse to skip leg day. After un-jellifying our legs we moved on to the museum of Art in Vienna, we saw some pretty cool paintings, we saw some pretty beautiful paintings, and we saw some pretty weird paintings too, but hey, that's art. Then we went to dinner at a nice little restaurant where we ate some sausages and potatoes. We finished our day by going to a classical concert at the Vienna concert hall, where listened to some beautiful music and singers, and watched some amazing dancers. Halfway through the concert we stopped for some drinks on the terrace (non-alcoholic of course, or were they? Nah they were, we're good little boys and girls over here). After the concert was over we returned to our hotels and rested our little heads preparing for another awesome European adventure tomorrow <3

-Tommy D.

On our very hot sixth day of our European adventure, the group again visited and toured the wonderful city of Vienna. We woke up and ate breakfast in time to depart the hotel at 8:30, and met Alfonso (Alfredo), the bus driver, who took us to Schönbrun not meet our tour guide. She led us through an intensive tour of the Schönbrun and then around the city as we did the drove along the ring road. We took a short pit stop to visit a very cool neighborhood designed by an artist. There were also a bunch of shops there to visit. Afterwards, we went to lunch at a large market in the city and had about two hours to get some lunch and a scoop of ice cream. I went to a Middle Eastern restaurant (one of many in this market) and I had a great sea bass with some assorted veggies on the side. The people watching was also very entertaining. We then walked to St. Stephen's Cathedral in the city square and got to walk inside and view the beautiful paintings. Then, some of us decided to walk up 343 steps to get a phenomenal view out of the spire of the church. At this point, we were all ready to take a nap because of how hot it was, and how much we walked. Walking up the stairs definitely didn't make us more energetic, but the views were definitely worth it. After that, we walked to the museum square and visited the art museum and/or sat outside in the shade for the remaining 2 hours of time we had. Then we rushed to dinner at Wiener Wald and ate a great meal of Wiener schnitzel with some Sacher torte for dessert. We rushed back to the hotel to freshen up and then most of us went to see some classical music and dancing performed by a small orchestra. The music was absolutely phenomenal and the dancing was very entertaining. They played many of the very popular classics and seemed to enjoy themselves as much as we enjoyed listening to them. Afterwards, we meandered back to the hotel and proceeded to finish our day with sleep.

-Jake S.

We started off by heading to the Schönbrun which was absolutely beautiful.  It was like a smaller version of Versailles.  The whole city of Vienna has very nice architecture which makes the whole city beautiful.  We saw the city through bus tour and stopped off at this spot with a whole different form architecture that looked like modern art and really transformed the city into a whole different place for the part of the building that it took over.  For lunch we stopped by an open air market and sat down at a really cool restaurant which was a Middle Eastern and European fusion and was really good.  After that we got back on the bus and visited the St. Stephans Cathedral and climbed up this really tall tower to get a great view of the city.  Then we went to the art museum and then to dinner.  After dinner at the WienerWald in which we ate sausages and potatoes we went to the hotel to change and then we're off to the concert.  At the classical music concert there were dancers and opera singers which were really good, but the highlight was the musicians who really got the audience into the music.  It was quite the exciting day in Vienna.

-Dylan L.

Day 5: Cesky Krumlov & Vienna

Another day on the road brought us breakfast in Prague, lunch in charming Cesky Krumlov, and dinner in the imperial city of Vienna...and what a first impression!

Hello everyone back home! Today was the 5th day of the trip and we made our way through 3 places in one day. Waking up in our Prague hotel room, I made my way onto the bus this morning and for 3 or so hours I caught some sleep before we made it to our next stop, Česky Krumlov. Stopping their we were first greeted by the castle, which rose high above the ground and was built around a large moat with several dams built into it. I with some new found friends went on a journey to find some place to eat. We made a pit stop for coffee before eventually finding lunch. I ordered a chicken schnitzel with "chips" (fries). My friends and I finished our meals and soon we found ourselves out of time, so we boarded the bus once again for another 3-hour long bus ride, this time on our way to Vienna. Along the way we stopped at a McDonalds which was beautiful for a McDonald's. Their were unknown options I had never seen before in the US, and the place as very well kept. After our pit stop, we finished our journey to Vienna, arriving in time for dinner. We dropped off our bags and began a walk all the way to the restaurant, getting a taste of all the beautiful architecture along the way. Dinner started with soup, our main meal being of course: Meat and Potatoes. Desert was a pie that unfortunately I was not able to eat for allergy reasons. We left the restaurant and went to a city center for shopping. My group bought some gelato and exchanged some money before regrouping with the rest of the tour. It was time to head back to the hotel for the night, but before we did we stopped in a park to play some fun group game involving our names and things we like. That was our first night in Vienna, and our last morning in Prague. I can't wait to experience the rest of our trip! 

-M.J.

Cesky Krumlov isn't as well known as is brother Prague, but captivated my sense of wonder nonetheless. Though the city may at first seem to be small and quiet it will remain the most memorable city so far. The town is hidden among the hilly country side of the Czech Republic, and tucked away just behind a blanket of fog. Upon approaching the city via bus I immediately realized that this town could have come straight from a seven year old girl named Chelsea's imagination. The river that ran throughout the quiet town only exacerbated the fairylike whimsy that filled the streets. A 54.5 meter bell tower looked over the town, and gave the perfect view for the hungry tourist. While the food was as always tremendous in quality I have begun to grow tired of meat and potatoes for every meal. This may sound like a setting from a grim brothers' novel, but the best part has yet to come. Shortly after leaving the quant town, the bus made a short stop at a McDonald's. While some students rushed to get ice cream and fries I was more attentive to the iPads, touch screen walls, and toy horses that lay before. I was no longer in a McDonald's, but another world in itself. All in all Cesky Krumlov has been my favorite town so far even without the amazing feat of a futuristic McDonald's. I look forward to my days in Vienna and the rest of the trip.

-Jack M.

We start off in Prague and right after waking up and eating a quick breakfast our group head out to the bus for a 3 hour ride to Cesky Krumlov. After the long bus ride we all immediately ran to the bathrooms before entering the beautiful city. Once we walk through the massive aqueduct we were greeted with a beatific view and a waterfall. After this, we broke off into groups and went to search for lunch. We decided on a small cafe next to the water and I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich with ketchup. It was really good and similar to those that are in Poland. When we finished lunch we headed out to the massive castle that was filled with nice views and many tourists. The castle reminded me of the Great Wall of China because of its long walled walkways. After we toured the castle our group went to meet up with the rest and then we boarded the bus to go to Vienna. This ride was around 3 hours so we took a break at an Austrian McDonalds. Inside it was really nice and futuristic looking. We arrived at our hotel and dropped off our bags and walked over to dinner right after. The dinner this time was really good and the location was beautiful. It felt like I was in a mine as most of the restaurant was deep underground. We ate schnitzel and potatoes which were delicious. After this, we took a walk to the main part of the city where we saw a very old church. The group split up again to do some shopping and I went to a couple souvenir shops and an ice cream store. At night we went to go play some games in the park and right as we got to the hotel everyone was tired and went to sleep. 

-Michael M.

Day 4: Prague

Today was a full day in many different neighborhoods of Prague!  Here are some accounts of the day from our bloggers:

Today we went on a walking tour of Prague, and we were all able to see the beautiful city in addition to getting some exercise. We walked through the Castle Town, the Little Town, the Old Town and the New Town, and visited the Prague Palace, the St. Vitus Cathedral, the Jewish Quarter, and more. We were also able to see a variety of architectural styles in close proximity to one another, which was very cool! Later on in the day we took a funicular ride, and some of the group took the long climb up many stairs to the viewing tower, where we were able to take a lot of pictures of the city from above. Overall it was a great day, and tomorrow we're off to Česky Krumlov and Vienna!

-Alyssa M.

Today, we toured Prague starting with the Prague castle. When we first walked up to it, we were able to see the castles version of "changing of the guards". Next, we went to this place called "The Little Town" where we were able to see where people used to live. The houses were very small, but at least they were colorful. When we finished our tour we went to this giant clock tower which had many moving pieces and parts with deep meanings. After that we went to shop at the Jewish quarter. It was filled with a plethora of tiny road side sores offering many small and meaningful items. Finally, to finish up our day we went on a vernacular ride Petrin Hill where we got to observe a very scenic view at the top. Tomorrow, we have a long day ahead as we head to Česky Krumlov!

-Ethan T.