Terazin
Moravia!
Wine Cellar
The masquerade ball
Our hotel still had Christmas decorations.....
Battle Fields
Caves!!!!!
This is just a sampling. I kinda have a lot.... : )
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Hola personas!
It has almost been 2 weeks! They have had us sooo busy. Last week I went on 2 day field trips with the college I'm attending. First I went to the Skoda car factory. This place is huuuuuge! The factory covers more than half of the town and is pretty much a town in itself with cafeterias and everything. It was really neat to see all the assembly lines working. The next day I went to Terezin home to a very large concentration camp in the Czech. I'm excited that I got to see these places but to be honest they are kind of a blur in the past with all the traveling I've done...
This weekend I went to Moravia with the program I'm here with (AIFS). I had a blast! For those of you who don't know (maybe/probably all of you) Moravia is a region of the Czech Republic known for its wine. I guess I can update you day by day:
Friday: We left the dorm around 10 for our several hour journey. On the way we stopped at a local cloister (I think that means nuns live there) in the town of Tisnov. It was a gorgeous church with a well known entry gate called "gate to heaven". We then continued to our hotel. Our program is very good about booking nice accommodations! Our room had a balcony where we could sit and admire our wonderful view of the city of Brno. On Friday evening we adventured into Brno for dinner. The streets were all cobblestone as in Prague but in Brno they were much much wider giving a more open and relaxed feel. We found a lovely cafe type place to eat at with a piano player. It was interesting because even though it was a large place in a large city no one seemed to speak English and the menu was all in Czech but we were still able to get by with pictures and gestures. We were lucky that they were patient with us.
Sat: First we visited Gregor Mendel's Garden and Museum. Mendel is known as the father of genetics. He did his work with peas. I am very aware of him from 6th grade science class but I never really thought I would find myself visiting his garden! The museum also had a gorgeous church on the same property. It was huge and amazing (at this point I thought I had fallen in love with seeing churches). Next we took a walking tour of Brno, we saw several more churches and other miscellaneous sites. In the afternoon we traveled to Slavkov, a battlefield from the Napoleonic period. The museum had shocking technology. I think some one who works there must have went to Disney World and came back excited! They kept bringing us from room to room where it would go dark and these high tech screens would come down from the ceiling or up from the ground in different ways to show a video as lights flashed in the background. It was bizarre/intense. I'm not really sure what to think of it.
Saturday evening was the best part of our trip possibly the best night so far. First we visited a wine cellar for dinner. It was in the complete middle of no where. We drove miles and miles off the highway on narrow twisty roads through fields with absolutely no sign of civilization or light at all in order to get there but I think it was worth it. We had a neat dinner in these little outlets in the cellar. Our table ordered a bottle of wine but sadly I'm just not a fan of wine, 2 sips was plenty for me. After we took a tour of a portion of the cellar, it is the largest in Czech.
All day they told us that they had a surprise for us back at the hotel after dinner. We were all very curious as to what this was. It was definitely an amazing treat! The hotel was hosting a Masquerade ball and we had a small room at it. I'm still not really sure what it was all about and to what extent we were allowed at this party, I know that we at least had a room with some tables and access to the bar however my friend and i discovered the dance floor....keep in mind the 2 of us were one of very few who had not been drinking that evening. Some middle aged costumed Czechs invited us in to dance so we excitingly did for just a couple of minutes. We then convinced a couple others to come in. More and more ended up discovering the dance floor and joined until a guy who worked there and came and kicked us out (in Czech). We danced in the bar area for awhile than one of the directors from our program guided us back onto the dance floor. We had a blast for awhile and were the ones to bring the life to the party however the band decided to play Celion Dion's song from the titanic. I don't think they realize that my generation of Americans uses this song for singing and interpretive dance, not slow dancing so the guy came back and kicked us out again. By then the ball was about over anyways and it was way past our bed times! I hope I can run into another ball some time because it was amazing although some of the pictures are a bit interesting...
Sunday: We woke up way to early considering the night we had before! We visited a church (at this point I had seen so many that I don't really remember what this one was but I know we saw one)! Then we went to Moravian Karst, it was sooooo coool. Its a huge series of underground caves. First we took a walking tour and then we took a boat ride through them. The boat ride was pretty scary because the caves were very low, narrow and dark. The driver forget to remind us to watch our heads until someone almost got their head knocked off! I highly recommend this place to anyone who visits Czech (however it is several hours from Prague). On the way home we stopped at another church! This one was very off the path and definitely the least impressive one so far however the people there were extremely excited to have tourists especially tourists from so far away. We then took our very long several hour journey home. It was an amazing weekend however I think everyone was glad to return to Prague by the end.
I think we are now going to settle down here a little bit. We started our Czech Language course yesterday and we don't have any big out of the city trips coming up. I'm excited to finally have a chance to see Prague!
It has almost been 2 weeks! They have had us sooo busy. Last week I went on 2 day field trips with the college I'm attending. First I went to the Skoda car factory. This place is huuuuuge! The factory covers more than half of the town and is pretty much a town in itself with cafeterias and everything. It was really neat to see all the assembly lines working. The next day I went to Terezin home to a very large concentration camp in the Czech. I'm excited that I got to see these places but to be honest they are kind of a blur in the past with all the traveling I've done...
This weekend I went to Moravia with the program I'm here with (AIFS). I had a blast! For those of you who don't know (maybe/probably all of you) Moravia is a region of the Czech Republic known for its wine. I guess I can update you day by day:
Friday: We left the dorm around 10 for our several hour journey. On the way we stopped at a local cloister (I think that means nuns live there) in the town of Tisnov. It was a gorgeous church with a well known entry gate called "gate to heaven". We then continued to our hotel. Our program is very good about booking nice accommodations! Our room had a balcony where we could sit and admire our wonderful view of the city of Brno. On Friday evening we adventured into Brno for dinner. The streets were all cobblestone as in Prague but in Brno they were much much wider giving a more open and relaxed feel. We found a lovely cafe type place to eat at with a piano player. It was interesting because even though it was a large place in a large city no one seemed to speak English and the menu was all in Czech but we were still able to get by with pictures and gestures. We were lucky that they were patient with us.
Sat: First we visited Gregor Mendel's Garden and Museum. Mendel is known as the father of genetics. He did his work with peas. I am very aware of him from 6th grade science class but I never really thought I would find myself visiting his garden! The museum also had a gorgeous church on the same property. It was huge and amazing (at this point I thought I had fallen in love with seeing churches). Next we took a walking tour of Brno, we saw several more churches and other miscellaneous sites. In the afternoon we traveled to Slavkov, a battlefield from the Napoleonic period. The museum had shocking technology. I think some one who works there must have went to Disney World and came back excited! They kept bringing us from room to room where it would go dark and these high tech screens would come down from the ceiling or up from the ground in different ways to show a video as lights flashed in the background. It was bizarre/intense. I'm not really sure what to think of it.
Saturday evening was the best part of our trip possibly the best night so far. First we visited a wine cellar for dinner. It was in the complete middle of no where. We drove miles and miles off the highway on narrow twisty roads through fields with absolutely no sign of civilization or light at all in order to get there but I think it was worth it. We had a neat dinner in these little outlets in the cellar. Our table ordered a bottle of wine but sadly I'm just not a fan of wine, 2 sips was plenty for me. After we took a tour of a portion of the cellar, it is the largest in Czech.
All day they told us that they had a surprise for us back at the hotel after dinner. We were all very curious as to what this was. It was definitely an amazing treat! The hotel was hosting a Masquerade ball and we had a small room at it. I'm still not really sure what it was all about and to what extent we were allowed at this party, I know that we at least had a room with some tables and access to the bar however my friend and i discovered the dance floor....keep in mind the 2 of us were one of very few who had not been drinking that evening. Some middle aged costumed Czechs invited us in to dance so we excitingly did for just a couple of minutes. We then convinced a couple others to come in. More and more ended up discovering the dance floor and joined until a guy who worked there and came and kicked us out (in Czech). We danced in the bar area for awhile than one of the directors from our program guided us back onto the dance floor. We had a blast for awhile and were the ones to bring the life to the party however the band decided to play Celion Dion's song from the titanic. I don't think they realize that my generation of Americans uses this song for singing and interpretive dance, not slow dancing so the guy came back and kicked us out again. By then the ball was about over anyways and it was way past our bed times! I hope I can run into another ball some time because it was amazing although some of the pictures are a bit interesting...
Sunday: We woke up way to early considering the night we had before! We visited a church (at this point I had seen so many that I don't really remember what this one was but I know we saw one)! Then we went to Moravian Karst, it was sooooo coool. Its a huge series of underground caves. First we took a walking tour and then we took a boat ride through them. The boat ride was pretty scary because the caves were very low, narrow and dark. The driver forget to remind us to watch our heads until someone almost got their head knocked off! I highly recommend this place to anyone who visits Czech (however it is several hours from Prague). On the way home we stopped at another church! This one was very off the path and definitely the least impressive one so far however the people there were extremely excited to have tourists especially tourists from so far away. We then took our very long several hour journey home. It was an amazing weekend however I think everyone was glad to return to Prague by the end.
I think we are now going to settle down here a little bit. We started our Czech Language course yesterday and we don't have any big out of the city trips coming up. I'm excited to finally have a chance to see Prague!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I now have a mailing address! It is:
Jessica Donovan #219A
Kolej Komenskeho, Parlerova St. 6
169 00 Praha 6
Czech Republic
I haven't really figured out the postal system here yet. The other day a couple of us tried to buy stamps at the post office for post cards but we were not successful. They didn't have machines selling them and we didn't feel comfortable talking to some one since we don't exactly speak Czech. Most people speak at least some English especially in the tourist areas but these places usually have English signs advertising that someone knows English. Everything at the post office seemed to be in Czech so I think we are going to try again next week after we have a few more phrases down.
Jessica Donovan #219A
Kolej Komenskeho, Parlerova St. 6
169 00 Praha 6
Czech Republic
I haven't really figured out the postal system here yet. The other day a couple of us tried to buy stamps at the post office for post cards but we were not successful. They didn't have machines selling them and we didn't feel comfortable talking to some one since we don't exactly speak Czech. Most people speak at least some English especially in the tourist areas but these places usually have English signs advertising that someone knows English. Everything at the post office seemed to be in Czech so I think we are going to try again next week after we have a few more phrases down.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The begining...
Dobry Den!
So I'm finally in Prague! Its more beautiful than I had imagined. So I guess I will fill you all in day by day from the begining!
Wednesday: I arrived in London at about 4:30am, London time. It was about an hour early than we expected. When we arrived at the hotel at about 5:30am our rooms were not ready yet so they sent us out into the dark rainy city. Nothing was open yet so we wandered around searching for food and coffee to wake us up. After a couple hours places finally started opening. After eating we decided to break up into smaller groups and explore the city. We walked through Hyde park and visited Harrods Department store. After, we randomly walked visitingfree museums that we passesd including V&A and the National Science Museum. By that point we were so exhausted, wet and tired, any warm dry place would entertain us.
On Wednesday evening we took the tube to London Bridge because a member of our group had a friend at Kings College and we decided to join him for a visit.
On the way we found a fantastic view of Tower Bridge.
On the way home that night we were riding the elevator to exit the tube station when I saw a familiar face. To be honest it took multiple looks, I wasn't really sure if I was making it up in my head after such little sleep. It was KEELEY DORWART! She is studying there for the semester.
I didn't think I would have time to see her but we randomly ran into each other. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life!
Thursday: We took a guided tour of London in the morning. In the afternoon we went out for fish and chips. Later we wandered around for a bit, road the London Eye, and visited the National Gallery. We had dinner at a local pub before heading to bed early in order to travel to Munich the next day.
Friday: The entire group met in the hotel Lobby around 4:15am so we could catch a plane to Munich. I think the flight was less than 3 hours but I was so exhausted that I slept the entire time. Upon arrival we took a bus/walking tour of the city. In the evening we went to a local pub and I had traditional sausage and beer, it was delicious (a large beer is about the same price as a tiny bottle of water, its sad)
Saturday: We finally made it to Prague! On the way to stopped in Pilsen, Czech to have Czech food at the Pilsen Brewery, it was delicious. When we arrived in Prague I was completely shocked by how beautiful the city is however the dorms are another story.
I probably bored you enough already so I will fill you in on Prague later! : )
So I'm finally in Prague! Its more beautiful than I had imagined. So I guess I will fill you all in day by day from the begining!
Wednesday: I arrived in London at about 4:30am, London time. It was about an hour early than we expected. When we arrived at the hotel at about 5:30am our rooms were not ready yet so they sent us out into the dark rainy city. Nothing was open yet so we wandered around searching for food and coffee to wake us up. After a couple hours places finally started opening. After eating we decided to break up into smaller groups and explore the city. We walked through Hyde park and visited Harrods Department store. After, we randomly walked visitingfree museums that we passesd including V&A and the National Science Museum. By that point we were so exhausted, wet and tired, any warm dry place would entertain us.
On Wednesday evening we took the tube to London Bridge because a member of our group had a friend at Kings College and we decided to join him for a visit.
On the way we found a fantastic view of Tower Bridge.
On the way home that night we were riding the elevator to exit the tube station when I saw a familiar face. To be honest it took multiple looks, I wasn't really sure if I was making it up in my head after such little sleep. It was KEELEY DORWART! She is studying there for the semester.
I didn't think I would have time to see her but we randomly ran into each other. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life!Thursday: We took a guided tour of London in the morning. In the afternoon we went out for fish and chips. Later we wandered around for a bit, road the London Eye, and visited the National Gallery. We had dinner at a local pub before heading to bed early in order to travel to Munich the next day.
Friday: The entire group met in the hotel Lobby around 4:15am so we could catch a plane to Munich. I think the flight was less than 3 hours but I was so exhausted that I slept the entire time. Upon arrival we took a bus/walking tour of the city. In the evening we went to a local pub and I had traditional sausage and beer, it was delicious (a large beer is about the same price as a tiny bottle of water, its sad)
Saturday: We finally made it to Prague! On the way to stopped in Pilsen, Czech to have Czech food at the Pilsen Brewery, it was delicious. When we arrived in Prague I was completely shocked by how beautiful the city is however the dorms are another story.
I probably bored you enough already so I will fill you in on Prague later! : )
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