Went to Kutna Hora yesterday, a small town about an hour outside of Prague that has a church made out of bones. Figured out the train and got on, met a couple from Panama that asked directions (We must have looked like I knew what we were doing). We had to transfer one train but our first was delayed so we waited at the middle bus station for awhile. Made it to Kutna Hora and first impressions of the town were not so good. Found the church but it was creepy so took the appropriate amount of pictures, felt odd taking pictures of skeletons and it was so cold in there you could see your breathe, Creepy! made the rounds of another supposedly famous church nearby but it had been redone and had no character. We bought a beer that we thought was local but found out that Heineken had bought out the brewery. We heard about another fancy church and got a ride into the city center. It was sunny and nice and the church was beautiful on the outside but the thought of going in was less than enthusiastic so we enjoyed the sun, found a pub, drank some Budvars while overlooking a green valley and hearing the church bells ring. Sat next to what looked like some Czech hippies, found an awesome rusty bike. Made it back to the train station after meeting an odd American family in the bus. We watched our train pull away and asked some men what time the next one left, without speaking or understanding one single word we managed to communicate with them. Found a word in common and asked them where the nearest pivo was. Went to a restaurant where some hockey was on, the odd American family dumped their 18 year old son on us. (weird) but after another round we were at the train station again only to find out train had been delayed an hour to 'techinal difficulties'. while waiting we met some boys from Denmark and talked politics and life stories with them :) Got back to Prague late but in time for some dinner and to get ready for the nation to nation which was Latino themed. Meeting the Danish boys for coffee at my favorite hole in the wall shop.
Lovin life, this last week has been full of fun and unanticipated adventures.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Most Perfect Day - Happy Easter
Mikoluv Moravia,
April 4th 2010
The most perfect-us day
This day was amazing, I of course am writing it after the fact because I only ever have time to make bullet points and try to remember all the amazing things that happen to me on adventures. but this one goes down in history :)
I was in Mikoluv Moravia (which is a part of the CR but kind of thought of as its own country) with a school trip that the day before had taken us to a glass blowing factory full of men in funny outfits blowing glass for rich people. As an Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene graduate this factory would not have passed any health guidelines and standards (and the porn calendars on the walls would have gotten a thumbs down in the US as well) The bus took us about three hours from Prague southerly, once we left Prague the countryside is breathtaking and amazing and reminds me of Kansas and the land of Oz mixed together. I thought long and hard about buying the fam some glass at the store but decided it would be a travel nightmare so I just took pictures of what I would have bought you :) We did a wine tasting which was pretty in depth and we all left the cellar feeling good :) HISTORY TIDBIT: Moravia is wine country and has a high unemployment rate since they joined the EU, this is because limits were put on the agriculture once they joined. We then made it to the small town of mikoluv which is near the Austrian border, and in wine country. We stayed in a nice hotel (not a hostel for once!) which even had a ba-day (not sure how to spell that). On Saturday we were up early for some good FREE! breakfast which I'm not sure if I;ve written about yet but is very different then our typical breakfast food. Here in the Czech republic its always salami, ham, cheese, bread rolls, some yogurt and cereal and sausages. My French roommates always have chocolate and sweet thingsfor breakfast which is different but awesome! then we went to Vienna Austria. we only had 5 hours there and after experiencing some large travel group stress we broke up into smaller groups and went to a produce/flea market and had some Vienna coffee and high on caffeine and life wandered the town finding many important buildings and monuments. We saw the summer palaces of the Hapsburg family which I am learning alot about in Cultural history class beautiful fruit and sweet stands at the market, saw some amazing break dancers (I love the random things that we run into). They prayed before they dance and said "we've got to pray to make it through the day" .
Tried the so-called famous Sacher cake which was very disappointing and then we hung out in a park and played Frisbee for a bit and stumbled upon some cool graffiti. The bus took us back to Mikoluv for a fancy dinner. The week was shaping up to make me feel very dignified and mature.
But alas as cool as all of this is none of it was part of the most perfect-us day. After drinking wine for a good portion of the night with my colleagues (this is what the czech students call their class mates) I got up early to climb this little hill with a chapel on it and watch the sun rise. I made it to the chateau and took pictures of the beautiful scenery and the gardens. As a friend and i were walking back to the hotel to change for Easter mass we stopped in an antique store in a small alley way....as we were looking the older man at his desk started talking to us in czech. I responded my usual response "ne mluvime czesky" ( I don't speak Czech) and he breaks out in English with a great British sounding accent. It turns out he lived in Chicago, California and australia, so we had a good long conversation and it was great :) it made my heart smile that I could have somethings in common and things to talk about with a man in a store in a small alley way in a small town in Moravia. Made it to Ester mass which was said in Czech, an set in an amazingly beautiful church. (this is a common theme I am finding) each church i go into is so elaborately decorated with elegant paintings and statues. A little girl got baptized and I realized that the songs the sing have the same melody, which means they are the same songs and responses we have.
We left mass at 11:25, some friends and i decided to break off from the school group and figure out a way to explore Vienna for another day. It just so happens that one of my flat mates is kind of dating a boy from Moravia and he invited her to his hometown which was close to Mikoluv, my roomie and i tagged along (after asking him first of course). The train to his town left at 12:05. We literally ran up this hill and stopped in the antique store to get a quick souvenir which our new friend gave us for cheap cause he is so cool. We booked it to where we thought the train station might be wandered into a building by the tracks and the adventure begins!! In smaller town Moravia not many people speak English so we tried to communicate with the lady we wanted to go to Znojmo, we wrote it down for her and she frantically pointed outside. So we ran out and jumped on the train. With no idea whether it was the right one fr not or if we would get thrown off for not having tickets we stayed on. It was an adrenaline rush and turned out we had made it to the right one. Once in Znojmo we met Lucas's family and his mom made us a bomb-dig home made lunch, he drove us (after not riding in a car for a few moths it was cool) to a castle near his house that we toured, saw some beautiful countryside, went for a little nature hike around the castle, and to top it off he took us to his wine cellar and vineyard. That's right I am now on the prowl for a Moravian boy that has a family vineyard! His dad met us there and we tested the wine and heard the history of the cellar belonging to Germans during the occupation and how to make wine and such and such. It was like our own private tour and I loved loved loved meeting the locals and seeing a family and eating home cooked meals. These are the kind f adventures that I live for! I hate to say it but monuments and churches and castles all start to look the same after awhile. I think i smiled all day long and it kept getting bigger and bigger because of all the cool things that happened.
The monday after easter they have a tradition there that the men and boys go to girls houses and hit them with a stick that has ribbons on the end, this is to keep them young and pretty and healthy. The girls then have to give them alcohol or food. We walked around small Znojmo on monday and it was funny seeing small boys and grown men rushing around with their sticks. It was a cloudy day but we saw the rest of the city and got on a bus back to Prague. The bus was full but there were people that had no problem standing for the 3 hour bus ride in the alley. It was also cool to see the samll town buses and how at every station there were small groups of people saying hello and good bye to their loved ones. Most Czech students go home almost every weekend.
I am uploading the pictures on to picasa which I got running, let me know if you need the link!
April 4th 2010
The most perfect-us day
This day was amazing, I of course am writing it after the fact because I only ever have time to make bullet points and try to remember all the amazing things that happen to me on adventures. but this one goes down in history :)
I was in Mikoluv Moravia (which is a part of the CR but kind of thought of as its own country) with a school trip that the day before had taken us to a glass blowing factory full of men in funny outfits blowing glass for rich people. As an Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene graduate this factory would not have passed any health guidelines and standards (and the porn calendars on the walls would have gotten a thumbs down in the US as well) The bus took us about three hours from Prague southerly, once we left Prague the countryside is breathtaking and amazing and reminds me of Kansas and the land of Oz mixed together. I thought long and hard about buying the fam some glass at the store but decided it would be a travel nightmare so I just took pictures of what I would have bought you :) We did a wine tasting which was pretty in depth and we all left the cellar feeling good :) HISTORY TIDBIT: Moravia is wine country and has a high unemployment rate since they joined the EU, this is because limits were put on the agriculture once they joined. We then made it to the small town of mikoluv which is near the Austrian border, and in wine country. We stayed in a nice hotel (not a hostel for once!) which even had a ba-day (not sure how to spell that). On Saturday we were up early for some good FREE! breakfast which I'm not sure if I;ve written about yet but is very different then our typical breakfast food. Here in the Czech republic its always salami, ham, cheese, bread rolls, some yogurt and cereal and sausages. My French roommates always have chocolate and sweet thingsfor breakfast which is different but awesome! then we went to Vienna Austria. we only had 5 hours there and after experiencing some large travel group stress we broke up into smaller groups and went to a produce/flea market and had some Vienna coffee and high on caffeine and life wandered the town finding many important buildings and monuments. We saw the summer palaces of the Hapsburg family which I am learning alot about in Cultural history class beautiful fruit and sweet stands at the market, saw some amazing break dancers (I love the random things that we run into). They prayed before they dance and said "we've got to pray to make it through the day" .
Tried the so-called famous Sacher cake which was very disappointing and then we hung out in a park and played Frisbee for a bit and stumbled upon some cool graffiti. The bus took us back to Mikoluv for a fancy dinner. The week was shaping up to make me feel very dignified and mature.
But alas as cool as all of this is none of it was part of the most perfect-us day. After drinking wine for a good portion of the night with my colleagues (this is what the czech students call their class mates) I got up early to climb this little hill with a chapel on it and watch the sun rise. I made it to the chateau and took pictures of the beautiful scenery and the gardens. As a friend and i were walking back to the hotel to change for Easter mass we stopped in an antique store in a small alley way....as we were looking the older man at his desk started talking to us in czech. I responded my usual response "ne mluvime czesky" ( I don't speak Czech) and he breaks out in English with a great British sounding accent. It turns out he lived in Chicago, California and australia, so we had a good long conversation and it was great :) it made my heart smile that I could have somethings in common and things to talk about with a man in a store in a small alley way in a small town in Moravia. Made it to Ester mass which was said in Czech, an set in an amazingly beautiful church. (this is a common theme I am finding) each church i go into is so elaborately decorated with elegant paintings and statues. A little girl got baptized and I realized that the songs the sing have the same melody, which means they are the same songs and responses we have.
We left mass at 11:25, some friends and i decided to break off from the school group and figure out a way to explore Vienna for another day. It just so happens that one of my flat mates is kind of dating a boy from Moravia and he invited her to his hometown which was close to Mikoluv, my roomie and i tagged along (after asking him first of course). The train to his town left at 12:05. We literally ran up this hill and stopped in the antique store to get a quick souvenir which our new friend gave us for cheap cause he is so cool. We booked it to where we thought the train station might be wandered into a building by the tracks and the adventure begins!! In smaller town Moravia not many people speak English so we tried to communicate with the lady we wanted to go to Znojmo, we wrote it down for her and she frantically pointed outside. So we ran out and jumped on the train. With no idea whether it was the right one fr not or if we would get thrown off for not having tickets we stayed on. It was an adrenaline rush and turned out we had made it to the right one. Once in Znojmo we met Lucas's family and his mom made us a bomb-dig home made lunch, he drove us (after not riding in a car for a few moths it was cool) to a castle near his house that we toured, saw some beautiful countryside, went for a little nature hike around the castle, and to top it off he took us to his wine cellar and vineyard. That's right I am now on the prowl for a Moravian boy that has a family vineyard! His dad met us there and we tested the wine and heard the history of the cellar belonging to Germans during the occupation and how to make wine and such and such. It was like our own private tour and I loved loved loved meeting the locals and seeing a family and eating home cooked meals. These are the kind f adventures that I live for! I hate to say it but monuments and churches and castles all start to look the same after awhile. I think i smiled all day long and it kept getting bigger and bigger because of all the cool things that happened.
The monday after easter they have a tradition there that the men and boys go to girls houses and hit them with a stick that has ribbons on the end, this is to keep them young and pretty and healthy. The girls then have to give them alcohol or food. We walked around small Znojmo on monday and it was funny seeing small boys and grown men rushing around with their sticks. It was a cloudy day but we saw the rest of the city and got on a bus back to Prague. The bus was full but there were people that had no problem standing for the 3 hour bus ride in the alley. It was also cool to see the samll town buses and how at every station there were small groups of people saying hello and good bye to their loved ones. Most Czech students go home almost every weekend.
I am uploading the pictures on to picasa which I got running, let me know if you need the link!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Cyber Laundromat- sounds like an out of body experience, but it's not.
I'm on a blogging rampage this week!
At the laundromat now (Prague CYBER Laundromat to be exact) which is always a fun experience. Yesterday was cloudy and cold but we've got another nice one today, very sunny. I went out for a friends birthday at a nice thai restaurant last night. It was pretty fancy and the most I've spent on a meal here yet. 200 Kc which is about 10 dollars. But it was nice to have something a little different with some spice to it. I may have mentioned but the food here is not very flavorful and they don't provide sauces at all. You have to pay for Ketchup!!!! (ahhhhhh) One thing that does have flavor here is a dessert called Medovnik. It is a Czech dessert i guess and i finally tried it yesterday. YUMMM It's a honey cake with lot's of layers of cake and frosting-ish stuff and then this crushed cookie on top...delish! Another point for the Czech Republic.
Tonight I'm going to a music and film festival after class then will probably hang out with some freinds over a beer. I'm going on a school trip to Southern Moravia and Vienna this weekend. A lot of Czeh and Slovak students are going home for Easter weekend. We don't have school on Monday, my Czech friend Hana invited me back to her home town on Monday for Easter celebrations. A tradition here is on Easter Monday the boys knock on teh doors and have these special Easter sticks that they hit the girls with. It's supposed to keep the girls looking nice and young for the coming year (hmmmm unusual way to go about it :)) Then the girls give them candy or alcohol. I'm kind of oddly excited about seeing this play out. They are selling the sticks all over in the stores, they are just woven branches with ribbons on the end. I'm trying to figure out a bus from Vienna to her smaller town in teh Czech Republic. If that doesn't pan out I think I'm gonna leave the school group on Sunday and find a hiking place and do that on monday. Yay for spring~!
Czech words I know:
Smirzlina: Ice Cream
Dobre Den: good day
Ajoy: hi
Dekuji: Thank you
Prosime: please
Prominte: excuse me
Ne Mluvime Czesky: i don't speak czech
Sem Americanka: I am American
Potriviny: store/shop
Tabak: tobacco store where you can by tram tickets and snacks
Zen: here
Pivo: beer
Jedno Pivo Prosime: another beer please :)
At the laundromat now (Prague CYBER Laundromat to be exact) which is always a fun experience. Yesterday was cloudy and cold but we've got another nice one today, very sunny. I went out for a friends birthday at a nice thai restaurant last night. It was pretty fancy and the most I've spent on a meal here yet. 200 Kc which is about 10 dollars. But it was nice to have something a little different with some spice to it. I may have mentioned but the food here is not very flavorful and they don't provide sauces at all. You have to pay for Ketchup!!!! (ahhhhhh) One thing that does have flavor here is a dessert called Medovnik. It is a Czech dessert i guess and i finally tried it yesterday. YUMMM It's a honey cake with lot's of layers of cake and frosting-ish stuff and then this crushed cookie on top...delish! Another point for the Czech Republic.
Tonight I'm going to a music and film festival after class then will probably hang out with some freinds over a beer. I'm going on a school trip to Southern Moravia and Vienna this weekend. A lot of Czeh and Slovak students are going home for Easter weekend. We don't have school on Monday, my Czech friend Hana invited me back to her home town on Monday for Easter celebrations. A tradition here is on Easter Monday the boys knock on teh doors and have these special Easter sticks that they hit the girls with. It's supposed to keep the girls looking nice and young for the coming year (hmmmm unusual way to go about it :)) Then the girls give them candy or alcohol. I'm kind of oddly excited about seeing this play out. They are selling the sticks all over in the stores, they are just woven branches with ribbons on the end. I'm trying to figure out a bus from Vienna to her smaller town in teh Czech Republic. If that doesn't pan out I think I'm gonna leave the school group on Sunday and find a hiking place and do that on monday. Yay for spring~!
Czech words I know:
Smirzlina: Ice Cream
Dobre Den: good day
Ajoy: hi
Dekuji: Thank you
Prosime: please
Prominte: excuse me
Ne Mluvime Czesky: i don't speak czech
Sem Americanka: I am American
Potriviny: store/shop
Tabak: tobacco store where you can by tram tickets and snacks
Zen: here
Pivo: beer
Jedno Pivo Prosime: another beer please :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Up with the sun - March 31st
I'm up with the sun this morning and studying for my European Integration midterm. I did make an appearance at the Canadian nation to nation last night but pulled myself away to make tram 58 home.
I went running yesterday morning in the park with the man on the horse statue and it reminded me of a night last week that I didn't blog about. It was a pretty normal night but really had an impact on me for some reason. After my class a few friends and I decided to walk up through this park to a place that has a great view of Prague and watch the sun set. As we were walking up there we ran into a street dance band practicing a dance. It was so inner city but so cool, we found a column to sit on and watched some runners and strollers and the beautiful city of Prague. A little boy and his dad were sitting across from us and when they left he did a big jump to dismount, it was cute and we all clapped and the dad told his son to take a bow. In that moment I thought how amazing the little things are. If I didn't see another historical church or monument while I am here and could just watch the people here go through everyday life I think I would be satisfied. I feel like I keep repeating and writing about the little differences that I notice everyday but the similarities are what amaze me at the same time.
Ok so watching other ppl live their pretty normal lives would probably get boring but I guess I'm realizing that I learn so much here everyday and a ride to school on the tram or a walk around town seeing all the tourists in one neighborhood and then being in a normal neighborhood one block over is just as educational sometimes as a guided walking tour of historical places.
I love this place. I love all new places and realize everyday how all my experiences added up have allowed me to acknowledge and appreciate new places and new cultures. I find myself meeting new people, relating to them, and finding things in common by talking about my time in Austin or Chicago or Honduras and Ecuador. I'm so grateful that Jim Dad and Julie Mom and my mom and dad have fostered in me an interest in the unknown and have supported me in all that I do..........just a heads up, I may keep doing it for a bit :)
Miss ya.
mir (peace)
Grafitti in Berlin
Couples Walking in the Lustgarten in Berlin
Feeling a presence on the Charles Bridge
Playing chess in the Hungarian baths.....I want this to be me someday, hat included.
Secret Canal - Prague
I went running yesterday morning in the park with the man on the horse statue and it reminded me of a night last week that I didn't blog about. It was a pretty normal night but really had an impact on me for some reason. After my class a few friends and I decided to walk up through this park to a place that has a great view of Prague and watch the sun set. As we were walking up there we ran into a street dance band practicing a dance. It was so inner city but so cool, we found a column to sit on and watched some runners and strollers and the beautiful city of Prague. A little boy and his dad were sitting across from us and when they left he did a big jump to dismount, it was cute and we all clapped and the dad told his son to take a bow. In that moment I thought how amazing the little things are. If I didn't see another historical church or monument while I am here and could just watch the people here go through everyday life I think I would be satisfied. I feel like I keep repeating and writing about the little differences that I notice everyday but the similarities are what amaze me at the same time.
Ok so watching other ppl live their pretty normal lives would probably get boring but I guess I'm realizing that I learn so much here everyday and a ride to school on the tram or a walk around town seeing all the tourists in one neighborhood and then being in a normal neighborhood one block over is just as educational sometimes as a guided walking tour of historical places.
I love this place. I love all new places and realize everyday how all my experiences added up have allowed me to acknowledge and appreciate new places and new cultures. I find myself meeting new people, relating to them, and finding things in common by talking about my time in Austin or Chicago or Honduras and Ecuador. I'm so grateful that Jim Dad and Julie Mom and my mom and dad have fostered in me an interest in the unknown and have supported me in all that I do..........just a heads up, I may keep doing it for a bit :)
Miss ya.
mir (peace)
Grafitti in Berlin
Couples Walking in the Lustgarten in Berlin
Feeling a presence on the Charles Bridge
Playing chess in the Hungarian baths.....I want this to be me someday, hat included.
Secret Canal - Prague
Monday, March 29, 2010
Dresden Germany and cute coffee shops
I went to Dresden Germany this weekend, it was an ok trip. I think the best part was the train ride there and back that went next to a river most of the way and getting to see the beautiful German countryside.
Dresden is the city full of very gold statues, dread-locks, currywurst (yum), and lot's of buildings that are being rebuilt because they were bombed so badly in WW2.
It was a pretty sleepy weekend with a small downtown full of historical buildings and a town big enough to walk across multiple times per day :)
I went with a new group of people and they were fun but I noticed the different travel styles and the things I missed from my normal travel buddies. We spent a lot of time looking for places to eat and sitting down to do it. I like that every once in awhile but I really like bringing snacks and food and seeing as many cool things as possible. It is hard to be in Europe and not see cool things though. The train got in around 12 and we went to a nice breakfast then walked around the historical part, we wanted to see a few things one being a famous statue, another the view of the city from the bridge, and we thought we found a diamond in the rough not often seen landmark in the Mountain of Fragments. We thought it was a WW2 memorial and walked kinda far from the main part to see it. After asking a few locals who pointed us in a general direction we found it. It was a small grass covered mound in the factory district. It was cool because it was high enough to have a good view of the city but we hung out for a bit (wishing we had a frisbee) did some sound of music reenactments and then trekked back to town. We had a nap and then had a fun dinner where we found MARGARITAS!! I was so excited I miss the RIO and my dad's margaritas! Then went to a jazz club called Blue Note, we actually played cards ofr a bit and had some great beer and a blast! Sunday we went to an art museum that had works by Rembrandt and the famous little cherubs (it took me forever to find them because I didn't know they were part of a larger painting). Also one by Jan Vermeer, I saw one of his in the Louvre and like seeing them because I really liked the book 'The girl with the Pearl Earring' which is about him. We had some delicious Currywurst (sounds weird tastes delish!) I had mine with peanut sauce. We then walked around and caught our 5:00pm train home. The view from the train was incredibly beautiful. It went right down a canal that had colorful houses lining it. The pictures do it no justice. This train ride would be an amazing bike ride as well, I saw about 3 castles on hilltops along the way (not an uncommon site most places I've been). Lot's of hills and cliffs it was truly amazing and motivated me even more to get my camping trip set up.
I'm hangin at a coffee shop now sitting in Wenseclas Square with a view of the Famous national Museum outside. I love waking up here everyday and all the possibilities that lay ahead of me. I was walking around old town today and was meeting my friend at a cute coffee shop we 'discovered'. I found a whole new neighborhood that I have never been too that had cool statues and cool shops. I know there is so many more of these undiscovered streets in Prague.....love it!!
I think I am getting Picasa Photo Sharing to work .I am trying to figure out how to invite people to see it. I'll try to finish it soon and send those but I may just have to send the link in an email. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks Adela for the political update, it was very helpful! I think of you when I see really cute high heels and last weekend when I finally had a margaritas and saw chimichanga on the menu! ;)
Dresden is the city full of very gold statues, dread-locks, currywurst (yum), and lot's of buildings that are being rebuilt because they were bombed so badly in WW2.
It was a pretty sleepy weekend with a small downtown full of historical buildings and a town big enough to walk across multiple times per day :)
I went with a new group of people and they were fun but I noticed the different travel styles and the things I missed from my normal travel buddies. We spent a lot of time looking for places to eat and sitting down to do it. I like that every once in awhile but I really like bringing snacks and food and seeing as many cool things as possible. It is hard to be in Europe and not see cool things though. The train got in around 12 and we went to a nice breakfast then walked around the historical part, we wanted to see a few things one being a famous statue, another the view of the city from the bridge, and we thought we found a diamond in the rough not often seen landmark in the Mountain of Fragments. We thought it was a WW2 memorial and walked kinda far from the main part to see it. After asking a few locals who pointed us in a general direction we found it. It was a small grass covered mound in the factory district. It was cool because it was high enough to have a good view of the city but we hung out for a bit (wishing we had a frisbee) did some sound of music reenactments and then trekked back to town. We had a nap and then had a fun dinner where we found MARGARITAS!! I was so excited I miss the RIO and my dad's margaritas! Then went to a jazz club called Blue Note, we actually played cards ofr a bit and had some great beer and a blast! Sunday we went to an art museum that had works by Rembrandt and the famous little cherubs (it took me forever to find them because I didn't know they were part of a larger painting). Also one by Jan Vermeer, I saw one of his in the Louvre and like seeing them because I really liked the book 'The girl with the Pearl Earring' which is about him. We had some delicious Currywurst (sounds weird tastes delish!) I had mine with peanut sauce. We then walked around and caught our 5:00pm train home. The view from the train was incredibly beautiful. It went right down a canal that had colorful houses lining it. The pictures do it no justice. This train ride would be an amazing bike ride as well, I saw about 3 castles on hilltops along the way (not an uncommon site most places I've been). Lot's of hills and cliffs it was truly amazing and motivated me even more to get my camping trip set up.
I'm hangin at a coffee shop now sitting in Wenseclas Square with a view of the Famous national Museum outside. I love waking up here everyday and all the possibilities that lay ahead of me. I was walking around old town today and was meeting my friend at a cute coffee shop we 'discovered'. I found a whole new neighborhood that I have never been too that had cool statues and cool shops. I know there is so many more of these undiscovered streets in Prague.....love it!!
I think I am getting Picasa Photo Sharing to work .I am trying to figure out how to invite people to see it. I'll try to finish it soon and send those but I may just have to send the link in an email. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks Adela for the political update, it was very helpful! I think of you when I see really cute high heels and last weekend when I finally had a margaritas and saw chimichanga on the menu! ;)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Visit to Cezky Krumlov and Budvar Brewery
I saw the mountains today in Cesky Krumlov and it looked like Colorado. I liked it. Cesky Krumlov is the 2nd largest tourist destination in the Czech Republic after Prague. It is a tiny town (maybe the size of Wellington) that has the 2nd largest castle after Prague Castle. It was a very colorful castle, I learned about it in my Czech history class, how they found all this color and decorations under layers and layers of whitewash. It is cool to see in person the things I am learning about in class.
It was a beautiful day and As I said it was loverly to spend it driving through the country side and watching the sun set over the hills. Our first stop was the Budweiser Budvar Brewery, supposedly the one that Bud in the US stole the name from (they have been in legal battles for over 100 years). The brewery in Ceske Bodejvice brews all the beer that is sold all over the world. It looked as big as New Belgium Brewery! Last summer I worked in the Coors plant in Golden quite often and the security in that place is secure, here it is nothing! They had a fence with some barbed wire over it but everyone was on the lunch break while we were touring, no checks or gates or anything. And the workers there were straight out of a 1940's black and white film! It was classic! We got one free sample and went on our way to enjoy some Czech food in the usual 'cave' as I like to call them or the one of many restaurants/bars that is underground. It was too bad because the weather awas sooo nice outside! We had a few hours to explore the city and the castle. We could just walk around the castle because it is closed until tourist season.
BEST PART OF CASTLE: The three bears just chillin in moat like areas surrounding the castle. It was surreal...but I'm contacting Animal Rights tomorrow because the living conditions of these bears was not suitable!!
Yay! I ate ice cream today for the first time in 2 months....it was amazing!
So great day all in all. Its supposed to be rainy this weekend. I'm going to Dresden Germany with a whole new group of travel buddies (hopefully we will all become buddies)on a spontaneous trip. I've heard it's a cool place but only takes a day or two to see and has great Curry wurst ????!!?? I'll fill you in on all the deets when I get back!
Fun Facts:
- Bears, Beets, Battelstar Galactic.
- The paintings on the castle have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years but were still so colorful!
- Lot's of Asian tourists visit little cities in the Czech Republic
- They don't have sauces for food, you have to buy ketchup and mustard separately. I've been craving Cholula like I never thought I would crave a bottle of red sauce before.
- There's little shops and pubs on every corner. Kind of like the corner stores and fish and chip shops in New Zealand. I wonder sometimes how they all stay in business.
It was a beautiful day and As I said it was loverly to spend it driving through the country side and watching the sun set over the hills. Our first stop was the Budweiser Budvar Brewery, supposedly the one that Bud in the US stole the name from (they have been in legal battles for over 100 years). The brewery in Ceske Bodejvice brews all the beer that is sold all over the world. It looked as big as New Belgium Brewery! Last summer I worked in the Coors plant in Golden quite often and the security in that place is secure, here it is nothing! They had a fence with some barbed wire over it but everyone was on the lunch break while we were touring, no checks or gates or anything. And the workers there were straight out of a 1940's black and white film! It was classic! We got one free sample and went on our way to enjoy some Czech food in the usual 'cave' as I like to call them or the one of many restaurants/bars that is underground. It was too bad because the weather awas sooo nice outside! We had a few hours to explore the city and the castle. We could just walk around the castle because it is closed until tourist season.
BEST PART OF CASTLE: The three bears just chillin in moat like areas surrounding the castle. It was surreal...but I'm contacting Animal Rights tomorrow because the living conditions of these bears was not suitable!!
Yay! I ate ice cream today for the first time in 2 months....it was amazing!
So great day all in all. Its supposed to be rainy this weekend. I'm going to Dresden Germany with a whole new group of travel buddies (hopefully we will all become buddies)on a spontaneous trip. I've heard it's a cool place but only takes a day or two to see and has great Curry wurst ????!!?? I'll fill you in on all the deets when I get back!
Fun Facts:
- Bears, Beets, Battelstar Galactic.
- The paintings on the castle have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years but were still so colorful!
- Lot's of Asian tourists visit little cities in the Czech Republic
- They don't have sauces for food, you have to buy ketchup and mustard separately. I've been craving Cholula like I never thought I would crave a bottle of red sauce before.
- There's little shops and pubs on every corner. Kind of like the corner stores and fish and chip shops in New Zealand. I wonder sometimes how they all stay in business.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Post Berlin - March 24rd
Prague is erupting with people! I guess people live here! With the sun I swear thousands more people live here. They are setting up the Easter markets in the square now, it is very pretty. I went after school with a friend and we happenned upon a church and went in, they were having a service and it was again comforting to see them going through the same motions as back home. Then we sat on the church stairs overlooking the squeare full of people and watched the sun set.
I went to a friends wine and cheese party, they are roommates with lots of Czech people so it was nice to hang with a new group and meet some more locals. It is funny the questions that they ask us Americans, talked a little bit of politics which was interesting. I guess I havent been keeping up on my US politics and there is new news with the health care bill.......... anyone want to give me an update in 100 words or less :)
Tonight is my roomies (katie) birthday party, we are throwing a rager in our room then probably moving to the dorm bar. It should be fun we invited a lot of ppl but will see how many come.
Berlin was incredible. It may seem redundant because it was last weekend that I went but this is kind of a journal for me so I will probably be writing about each day to come. I learned about a Google function that will let me upload all my pictures at once. i will work on this because I would love for you guys to see them all and give you an update!
Party on People!!
PReview of the Graffitti in Berlin, an amazing city...... I want to live there!
I went to a friends wine and cheese party, they are roommates with lots of Czech people so it was nice to hang with a new group and meet some more locals. It is funny the questions that they ask us Americans, talked a little bit of politics which was interesting. I guess I havent been keeping up on my US politics and there is new news with the health care bill.......... anyone want to give me an update in 100 words or less :)
Tonight is my roomies (katie) birthday party, we are throwing a rager in our room then probably moving to the dorm bar. It should be fun we invited a lot of ppl but will see how many come.
Berlin was incredible. It may seem redundant because it was last weekend that I went but this is kind of a journal for me so I will probably be writing about each day to come. I learned about a Google function that will let me upload all my pictures at once. i will work on this because I would love for you guys to see them all and give you an update!
Party on People!!
PReview of the Graffitti in Berlin, an amazing city...... I want to live there!
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