Saturday May 19, 2012
I woke up early and took the tram to the train station. I took the 8:19 train to Prague. Around 11:30, I arrived in Prague. I really had no idea how to get to the airport, so I just started walking. I walked through a park, saw a car show and parade, and wandered around for awhile before deciding I'd better stop and ask for directions. Mustering up my best Czech speaking skills, I managed to find my way to a bus stop. I hopped on a shuttle bus and was at the airport in 20 minutes. After checking the screen to see when my parent's would land, I found that I had about 45 minutes to spare before they'd be there. I sat down in a coffee shop to get a muffin and coffee. Finally, I saw my mom and dad walk out of the gates! I was so excited they'd made it. I took mom to the ATM so they would have some Czech Crowns. Then we took the bus back to the train station. We bought tickets and got on the train for Olomouc. Our train car was a handicapped car, so there were just three seats. It worked great for us because Dad likes to stand and look out the window at the scenery. We got to Olomouc at 6:00 p.m. I got them both tram passes and brought them to Neredin. I had secured a room for them in advance. We got them checked in and settled into their flat. They had a great room with a huge balcony. I let them relax and shower before taking them to St. Wenseslaus Brewery. We had a big meal and beer, and then we went home. It felt surreal to have them here. I've been so excited to show them everything.
Sunday May 20, 2012
This morning I woke up and went to wake up Mom and Dad. They were ready for breakfast, so I took them to the square to Cafe Mahler. We had pancakes (okay, crepes) for breakfast. They were delicious, as usual. They left me to study for finals while they walked around the Upper and Lower Squares. After a couple hours they came back and got me. I walked them through the squares, by my history building, and down into the park to see the original city walls. We ate at a restaurant that Dr. Clark had taken some of us to before. It was pretty hot out and Dad got a little mad we were doing so much walking... Well. Good thing I told him to bring good shoes, right? We went back to the dorms after lunch so I could study some more. That night we booked our flights to Istanbul, Turkey and then we went to supper in the lower square. We ate at a really good Czech restaurant and I had chicken risotto and a Kozel. Then I went home and studied with Lisa for awhile before calling it a night. I felt bad for not getting to spend more time with mom and dad since my final was coming up. They were very understanding of course, but it's hard to study with company.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Kutná Hora & Cesky Krumlov = Two Beautiful Cities in the Czech Republic
Hooray, another Field Trip!!
Tuesday, May 15, we left at 9 a.m. for Kutná Hora. We arrived around 1 p.m. and went straight to the Bone Church. The Bone Church, or the Ossuary, is a spectacular church from the 13th century. It has bones decorating the inside from what is believed to be over 40,000 people! It was amazing. Afterwards, we went to our hostel and checked in. Abby and I had a room to ourselves which was nice. We had the rest of the day free. Abby didn't feel well, but I went with Alyshia, Katie and Lisa to explore Kutná Hora. We found a wine shop and chatted with the Czech owner for awhile. He gave us each a glass of wine and Lisa bought some to take home. We found St. Barbara's church and sat outside and talked for awhile. We went back to get Abby for supper, but she still didn't feel well. We went to a Czech restaurant a couple blocks off the square and it was very good. (Of course it was! You can't find bad food over here, I'm telling you...) I had salmon and it was delicious. We went home even though it wasn't even 8 yet, but we were all tired. We went to our rooms and after awhile, Katie and I decided to go out. We went to a bar and I had a smoothie and Katie had hot chocolate. We clearly weren't in the partying mood, but we were still enjoying being out.
Wednesday morning we packed up and left. We toured the St. Barbara's Church before leaving Kutná Hora. It was beautiful, of course. We walked to the bus with all our luggage and drove to Budvar to tour the Budweiser factory! It is pronounced Bood-Veets-er. The tour was really cool and we had the sweetest Czech tour guide. She was so happy, and loved her job. During the tour we were outside by all the crates of beer when we got caught in a huge downpour. We were all dripping wet in about 2 seconds, so that livened things up a bit. We got to taste the beer that was their lager, and it was pretty good. After doing some souvenir shopping in their gift shop, we drove on to Cesky Krumlov.
After arriving in Cesky Krumlov, we had to carry our luggage quite a ways into town. We walked around the castle, down several streets, over the bridge, down some side streets and we finally made it to the Traveler's hostel. The town itself was really cute with all of it's windy streets and bridges. Abby, Lisa, Katie, Alyshia and I went exploring and we had supper. Afterwards, we walked around and shopped. We found a cigar shop and figured... "When in Cesky Krumlov..." so we bought some and found a really neat lookout that was over the castle. Unfortunately, it was super cold outside, so everyone wanted to go back to the hostel. Katie and I stayed out and had a couple fancy drinks at a bar near our hostel. We had a lot of fun.
Thursday morning was chilly again. We walked and toured the castle. I was excited to finally see the bears outside the castle. I only saw one though. We had quite a long tour of the castle. Then we toured the theatre, which was also really interesting. After our tours, Jan, Martin, and Dr. Clark asked who still wanted to go rafting. Only Jed, Evan, Thea and I did.
We went to have lunch at yet another amazing Czech restaurant, and then we ran home to change into warmer clothes for our rafting adventure. We got on the raft and Jan, Martin and Dr. Clark were there to see us off. The weather actually wasn't too bad under all our layers, and we were having a great time. Eventually, our raft went under a tree and Thea yelled out, "Blackberries!!" Well, Jed thought he could stop us and pick some, so he grabbed onto a branch, but it broke off and he flew off the back of the raft into the Bohemian River. It wasn't very deep though, so he stood up with the branch around his neck. It was hilarious. He was freezing and took his jeans off to wring them out. We were going down the river awhile later when.... JED PUSHED ME IN! I grabbed his arm and pulled him in with me. I was SO mad. Thea and Evan were laughing hysterically. I climbed back in and pulled off my tennishoes and socks since they were soaking wet. A little while later, we pulled over for a pit stop. Jed told us he would hold onto the raft. Well... he accidently let it go and it got about 30 yards away. He ran after it through the water to catch it. Since it was around a bend, Thea and I had to walk through nettles to get there. They stung so bad. We got back on the boat and my feet and legs were covered in white welts from the nettles. This was turning into a disaster! About 5 minutes later, Evan suddenly tacked Thea off the raft and into the river! She was so mad. It was hilarious though. Thea and I were not too happy with the boys. We paddled to the end as fast as we could because we were so cold. We finally got a ride back into town. From the rafting center, we ran home to the hostel. I couldn't put my shoes back on because not only were they soaking wet, but my feet were all swollen and sore from the nettles. So we hobbled home barefoot across the cobblestones to the hostel.
When we got to the hostel, we had to shower fast (and there wasn't any hot water left!) and we all went to the Eggenberg Brewery for a group supper. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the brewery a lot more but I couldn't get warm and my legs from my knees down, the tops and bottoms of my feet, and my left palm all were burning from the nettles. Unfortunately it kind of kept me from enjoying myself. We all took pictures together and everyone received an "award". I was given "Captain America" because of Belmondo, and also the "Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao" award. Because you never here someone say "ciao" once... After supper, I went home to go to bed. So did Thea. We both were feeling pretty miserable.
Friday morning we woke up, got breakfast, and carried our luggage all the way back to the bus. We drove to a town that is a fishing village and took a walk through a park and hung out at a lake for awhile. We had lunch in the village and I had carp. Carp is what they are known for and it was actually really good. We had about a 4 hour trip back to Olomouc. When we made it back, I called my mom and dad. They were rushing to Omaha because their flight (to Europe!) had been moved up two hours. Abby and I went to the train station and I bought a train ticket to Prague for Saturday morning so I could pick them up there. Then we went to the Reactor Club for the Erasmus Concert. We picked up a Forty's pizza and went home. We were both exhausted from the long week.
Tuesday, May 15, we left at 9 a.m. for Kutná Hora. We arrived around 1 p.m. and went straight to the Bone Church. The Bone Church, or the Ossuary, is a spectacular church from the 13th century. It has bones decorating the inside from what is believed to be over 40,000 people! It was amazing. Afterwards, we went to our hostel and checked in. Abby and I had a room to ourselves which was nice. We had the rest of the day free. Abby didn't feel well, but I went with Alyshia, Katie and Lisa to explore Kutná Hora. We found a wine shop and chatted with the Czech owner for awhile. He gave us each a glass of wine and Lisa bought some to take home. We found St. Barbara's church and sat outside and talked for awhile. We went back to get Abby for supper, but she still didn't feel well. We went to a Czech restaurant a couple blocks off the square and it was very good. (Of course it was! You can't find bad food over here, I'm telling you...) I had salmon and it was delicious. We went home even though it wasn't even 8 yet, but we were all tired. We went to our rooms and after awhile, Katie and I decided to go out. We went to a bar and I had a smoothie and Katie had hot chocolate. We clearly weren't in the partying mood, but we were still enjoying being out.
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| Kutna Hora Bone Church |
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| Kutna Hora Bone Church |
Wednesday morning we packed up and left. We toured the St. Barbara's Church before leaving Kutná Hora. It was beautiful, of course. We walked to the bus with all our luggage and drove to Budvar to tour the Budweiser factory! It is pronounced Bood-Veets-er. The tour was really cool and we had the sweetest Czech tour guide. She was so happy, and loved her job. During the tour we were outside by all the crates of beer when we got caught in a huge downpour. We were all dripping wet in about 2 seconds, so that livened things up a bit. We got to taste the beer that was their lager, and it was pretty good. After doing some souvenir shopping in their gift shop, we drove on to Cesky Krumlov.
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| St. Barbara's Church in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic |
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| Budweiser or "Czechvar" as it's marketed in the U.S. |
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| Inside the plant |
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| Our tour guide! |
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| Cesky Krumlov's Castle at night |
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| Katie and my drinks in Cesky Krumlov |
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| View of Cesky Krumlov from the castle |
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| Cesky Krumlov and the Bohemian River |
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| Abby Rosenbaum and I :) |
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| Cesky Krumlov |
We went to have lunch at yet another amazing Czech restaurant, and then we ran home to change into warmer clothes for our rafting adventure. We got on the raft and Jan, Martin and Dr. Clark were there to see us off. The weather actually wasn't too bad under all our layers, and we were having a great time. Eventually, our raft went under a tree and Thea yelled out, "Blackberries!!" Well, Jed thought he could stop us and pick some, so he grabbed onto a branch, but it broke off and he flew off the back of the raft into the Bohemian River. It wasn't very deep though, so he stood up with the branch around his neck. It was hilarious. He was freezing and took his jeans off to wring them out. We were going down the river awhile later when.... JED PUSHED ME IN! I grabbed his arm and pulled him in with me. I was SO mad. Thea and Evan were laughing hysterically. I climbed back in and pulled off my tennishoes and socks since they were soaking wet. A little while later, we pulled over for a pit stop. Jed told us he would hold onto the raft. Well... he accidently let it go and it got about 30 yards away. He ran after it through the water to catch it. Since it was around a bend, Thea and I had to walk through nettles to get there. They stung so bad. We got back on the boat and my feet and legs were covered in white welts from the nettles. This was turning into a disaster! About 5 minutes later, Evan suddenly tacked Thea off the raft and into the river! She was so mad. It was hilarious though. Thea and I were not too happy with the boys. We paddled to the end as fast as we could because we were so cold. We finally got a ride back into town. From the rafting center, we ran home to the hostel. I couldn't put my shoes back on because not only were they soaking wet, but my feet were all swollen and sore from the nettles. So we hobbled home barefoot across the cobblestones to the hostel.
When we got to the hostel, we had to shower fast (and there wasn't any hot water left!) and we all went to the Eggenberg Brewery for a group supper. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the brewery a lot more but I couldn't get warm and my legs from my knees down, the tops and bottoms of my feet, and my left palm all were burning from the nettles. Unfortunately it kind of kept me from enjoying myself. We all took pictures together and everyone received an "award". I was given "Captain America" because of Belmondo, and also the "Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao" award. Because you never here someone say "ciao" once... After supper, I went home to go to bed. So did Thea. We both were feeling pretty miserable.
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| Thea and I rafting on the Bohemian River |
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| Evan and I rafting on the Bohemian River |
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| After being pushed in... this must have been before the nettles, since I still look happy! |
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| Group awards at the Eggenberg Brewery... can't you sense my enthusiasm? |
Friday morning we woke up, got breakfast, and carried our luggage all the way back to the bus. We drove to a town that is a fishing village and took a walk through a park and hung out at a lake for awhile. We had lunch in the village and I had carp. Carp is what they are known for and it was actually really good. We had about a 4 hour trip back to Olomouc. When we made it back, I called my mom and dad. They were rushing to Omaha because their flight (to Europe!) had been moved up two hours. Abby and I went to the train station and I bought a train ticket to Prague for Saturday morning so I could pick them up there. Then we went to the Reactor Club for the Erasmus Concert. We picked up a Forty's pizza and went home. We were both exhausted from the long week.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Poland: Krakow and Auschwitz
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| Katie, Lisa and I beginning our night out in Krakow. |
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| Enjoying Polish drinks and Bohemian home decor. |
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| Inside the salt mines. This is the chapel, that is carved entirely out of Salt! |
On Saturday, I was woken up by a whole barrage of alarms as everyone in my room set theirs for different times. Abby stayed home to rest today and after breakfast in our hostel, we walked to Krakow Castle. It was beautiful outside, and we just sat around the courtyard for quite awhile people watching.We took a couple of tours but they were pretty confusing because we didn't have any kind of a guide. For lunch Katie, Alyshia, Lisa and Thea and I went to a Polish restaurant that was near the square. We were able to sit outside in their backyard garden. It was gorgeous out, and we were in the shade, so it was perfect. We all ordered different dishes, and everyone's was really good. I had chicken and potatoes, Katie had something like couscous, and Thea had pierogies and soup. Of course, Alyshia had salad and Lisa had french fries and chicken noodle soup! :) So predictable.
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| Alyshia, Thea, Katie and I at lunch. Photography by Lisa :) |
After lunch, we walked to the square to go to the market. There were lots of little amber shops. I bough myself a ring, and several souvenirs for friends and family. We stopped at the best little Cupcake Shop on our way home. When we made it back to our hostel, we chatted with Abby for awhile before getting ready to go out. Abby, Lisa, Katie, Alyshia and I found a place to eat outside near the Jewish quarter. We all got fun drinks: Mojitos, Mai Tais, Cosmos, and Daiquiris. After supper we went to another little bar and had margaritas because it was Cinco de Mayo! Afterwards we went to another bar in the Jewish quarter and met some Polish guys celebrating a bachelor party. They invited us to join them and they had us try some of their Polish vodka. Polish vodka is honestly not bad at all! The next stop for our night out in Krakow was close-by, and we ran into Martin and everyone at that bar. We decided we should go home, but next to the hostel was the Aloha Bar. Katie, Alyshia and I went in and we ended up crashing this lady's birthday party. She was super excited we were there, though. It was pretty entertaining because they were singing Polish karaoke. We finished the night with grape mojitos at the Aloha Bar.
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| Inside Krakow's town square. This is St. Mary's Church. |
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| Inside the Market. |
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| Amazing cinnamon cupcake and chai tea. Yummm. |
Sunday morning we met outside of St. Mary's church in the square. Next we went to the Museum of Pharmacy, which was pretty neat. The six of us girls went to lunch together. We had another delicious Polish meal - this time I had salmon. The girls wanted to go to a shrine, but Abby hadn't been able to see the market yet, so I went with her to do that. We shopped around for awhile and shopped our way home. We stopped at the Cupcake Shop on our way home for coffee and cupcakes. While we were there, Tara, Ann, Caleb, Evan and Laura came in, too. That night, Thea, Alyshia, Abby, Katie and I went to eat at a Polish restaurant near our hostel. The waiter kept bringing us free shots of Polish Cherry Vodka. It was so good. It honestly tasted like juice. And when I say he kept bringing them, I mean we each had 4. We also got a free appetizer that had bread and meat in it. I ordered potato pancakes with goulash for us to share, and then I got chicken breast stuffed with tomato and mozzarella and potatoes for my meal. I also had a big beer. I've never eaten so much in my life. My total was 41 Zloty, which equals about $13. Soo cheap considering all I ate! After supper, we went to the "Alcohole" store to buy Polish vodka to take home, because really, what better souvenir is there?
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| Abby and I hiding behind our mugs at the cupcake shop.... |
Monday we left at 9 a.m. for Auschwitz. It was about an hour drive. We started our tour at Birkinau and then we finished at Auschwitz. I honestly can hardly even describe the whole experience. It was heartbreaking. The whole day was sad and serious. It was just hard to even understand or begin to fathom that literally more than hundreds of thousands of people were murdered because of their religion. I can't find strong enough words to convey how disgusted I was.
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| Birkenau. |
After the tour we drove back to Olomouc. I really loved being in Poland, and especially the city of Krakow. Of course Auschwitz wasn't "fun" but I'm so happy that I was able to experience it. I really think it's somewhere that everyone should visit in order to understand our history.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Oh, Ostrava, Czech Republic
We had a class field trip Friday, April 27th to Ostrava. We took the Student Agency train and it only cost 110 crowns, or about $5.50. Plus the train had wifi and you even got free bottles of water! Classy place!
Upon arriving in Ostrava, Ross met our group. Ross is a Nebraskan native. He studied on the same program as I have (Nebraska Semester Abroad) through Omaha ten years ago. He even had Dr. Clark as his professor! Ross moved permanently to the Czech Republic five years ago when he married a Czech woman. He now lives outside Ostrava and owns a Harley-Davidson dealership. We visited with Ross about owning a business in the Czech Republic, as well as what it was like to live permanently here. He told us it was hard for him to transfer back to English to speak to us, because he's so used to speaking Czech now.
After the Harley dealership, we visited the tower in Ostrava that looks over the city. We discussed the way communism affected the city and the coal mines. It was really interesting to learn about how the city has changed over the last twenty years.
Nine of us stayed with Thea's friend Tereza that night in Ostrava. Ostrava is known for Stoldoni Street, which hosts over bars on one street! We made it to ten bars before having to call it a night. Stoldoni Street was a blast, but it's never easy making plans and staying out with a group of more than just 3 or 4. Next time I go to Ostrava, I will not be babysitting anyone that chooses to drink vodka early in the night! :)
Upon arriving in Ostrava, Ross met our group. Ross is a Nebraskan native. He studied on the same program as I have (Nebraska Semester Abroad) through Omaha ten years ago. He even had Dr. Clark as his professor! Ross moved permanently to the Czech Republic five years ago when he married a Czech woman. He now lives outside Ostrava and owns a Harley-Davidson dealership. We visited with Ross about owning a business in the Czech Republic, as well as what it was like to live permanently here. He told us it was hard for him to transfer back to English to speak to us, because he's so used to speaking Czech now.
After the Harley dealership, we visited the tower in Ostrava that looks over the city. We discussed the way communism affected the city and the coal mines. It was really interesting to learn about how the city has changed over the last twenty years.
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| The view from the Tower in Ostrava |
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| Katie and I above the city |
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| Abby and I sampling some Czech Beer. |
Nine of us stayed with Thea's friend Tereza that night in Ostrava. Ostrava is known for Stoldoni Street, which hosts over bars on one street! We made it to ten bars before having to call it a night. Stoldoni Street was a blast, but it's never easy making plans and staying out with a group of more than just 3 or 4. Next time I go to Ostrava, I will not be babysitting anyone that chooses to drink vodka early in the night! :)
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