My LAST DAYS in the Czech Republic...

First, I'm going to back track a little on this one... This was one of our celebratory last nights together in Olomouc. The next day, we all went on our separate trips, but I'm counting this as one of the last nights :) 

On Monday, May 21, 2012:

After our Final final, Abby and I went to Cafe 87. I'm not sure if you all will remember me mentioning Cafe 87, but that's one of our very favorite places to go. Almost every morning, we would get off the tram near Cafe 87 for breakfast. They made the most delicious chocolate twists... just ask Lisa. She may or may not have cried when she realized she couldn't get them in the U.S. Cafe 87 also made the most amazing Hot Chocolate and Baileys. European hot chocolate is different than ours... it's super thick. Think heated up chocolate pudding. Add a little Baileys in the morning with some whipped cream on top, and Ohmygoodness, it's delicious. Definitely one of the things I miss, now that I'm back stateside.  So anyway, after our final, Abby and I met my parents at Cafe 87.  I had some celebratory carrot cake (yum), and then we went to the train station to buy my parents and I train tickets to Budapest.  Then we went up to Holy Hill to see the zoo. The zoo was really cool, but Mom didn't feel well so we didn't stay long. We stopped by the church on our way down Holy Hill, and it was such a beautiful view. It looks over the whole city of Olomouc.  

After getting back to the dorms, Abby and I got ready for the Bar Tour! The bar tour was extra credit, I think, from Dr. Clark.  We all got dressed up and met at the Blues Bar off the Shibenik tram stop at 5:30.  We had a drink there, and then we took the tram and then a bus to a wine bar. The wine bar was fun, and we all had a glass of really cheap wine.  After that, we went to an area by The Crack and we went into a cool basement bar. From there, we went to Moritz. Moritz is a brewery and we ate and drank there. I still had a pretty bad cough at this point (I'm pretty sure I got Polish Whooping Cough from that hospital visit!) and had taken some antibiotics so I was ready to go home after Moritz. I felt bad I wasn't able to go to more bars, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. 

Dr. Clark and Evan coming out of the Blues Bar

Lisa and I on the tram on the way to the Wine Bar.... Note Lisa's beautiful smile... 

Dr. Clark and I during the Bar Tour

Drinks at the basement bar

Lisa, Thea, Alyshia, Hayley, & Abby

Alyshia and I 

Lisa and I 

Abby, Lisa and I during the Bar Tour in Olomouc

Skipping Forward....

Monday, May 28, 2012 

When I got back from my trip with my parents, I was super anxious to see everyone. I hadn't seen Abby in a week, which was a long time for us! And I had heard that Lisa had a really bad fall while we were all gone. When I got to the dorms I went up to check on Lisa. The poor, poor girl!! She fell in the bathroom Saturday morning and broke the bone that holds her front teeth in place, cracked her eyebrow and her collarbone. I felt so bad for her. I promised her I'd make her some mashed potatoes, because she said she hadn't eaten anything since she fell. That night, Andrew had a party in his dorm and even Dr. Clark came. We all sat and chatted for awhile but we called it a night pretty early. 

Little Lisa and her mashed potatoes! 

Dr. Clark and his new Chelsea Hat :) 

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Today Abby and I went to the square for lunch. Then we had to do some last minute shopping. We wandered around and went to Glubus for some Kozel mugs, beer, Kinder Surprises, and other souvenirs, including a Czech Flag!  That night, Abby and I took her mattress down to the 2nd level to Katie and Alyshia's room and we made a tent. We had a wine night and watched Easy A. Katie and Alyshia both fell asleep early, but it was still a great sleepover. :) 

Wednesday, May 30, 2012.... My last full day in the Czech Republic. 

I got up and left at 9 with Lisa to go with her to her dentist appointment.  We took a bus and then walked to the hospital, which is where the dentist is. The doctor told her it looked pretty good so far, so that was good. Then we met everyone down at Cafe 87. Then a few of us girls went shopping in the square.  We went to St. Wenseslaus Brewery for lunch. I just got the orange beer and the grilled feta with toast. It was so amazing.  Then I went home and tried to finish packing. Packing is just terrible. 

I packed for awhile and laid around. We tried to figure out the Delta stuff for our flight and checking bags, but didn't have any luck.  

For supper we all went to Caesars. Caesars was the first meal we had together in Olomouc. It was fitting to begin and end there. A few people were a little emotional, but I just wanted to make sure we had fun on our last night. After supper, some of us went to the OSA Bar for cocktails.  Eventually, it was just Abby, Evan, Dr. Clark and I.  Then we went to the wine bar for a drink. After that we went to the Vertigo Bar. We had a great time and then of course... decided we had to go swimming in the fountains. We may or may not have ended up in the UNESCO Caesar's Fountain.  Things are a little fuzzy, but apparently, police in the Czech Republic frown upon swimming in the fountains. Who knew?

Abby and I at Caesar's 

Abby, Evan and our waitress and I at OSA Bar 

Abby and I

Katie and I at Caesar's 

Asking Jan about swimming.... 

Viri, Lisa, Katie, Hayley 

My nights in Olomouc were numbered, unfortunately. However, I know this will sound cliche, but the memories are endless. I just sit now and look through all the pictures and read my journal and it's amazing to think about all the things we did together. I can't believe I didn't know anyone in my group in the beginning of March, and in just a few short months we all became so close. Olomouc felt like home so fast to us, and I can't even believe how much I grew to love it. I want to go back so badly, and hope that I get the opportunity to spend more time in not just the Czech Republic, but all over. Having this opportunity has given me such a greater insight on traveling. Now I have found myself in wanderlust... I'm constantly day dreaming about new places to go and the people that I could meet. 

Hungary Today, Turkey Tomorrow

*Writer's Warning: This was a long trip, and therefore this will be a long blog :)

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
This morning my roommate Abby left with Alyshia to join Katie and her family in Dublin! I will miss them, but I'm SO excited for Turkey! I woke up around 7 and finished my packing... because you know me, it would have been too difficult to do it last night. Mom and Dad were ready at 8, and we left for the train station. We took the train to Breclav, then switched trains and went on to Budapest, Hungary. The train to Budapest was a nice ride and we had our own car for most of the way.  We went and got chicken wraps from the dinner cart and beer for lunch. When we got into Budapest, I knew my way around a bit from the last time I was here, so we went to the InfoCenter. We booked our hotel room (because you know us, it would have been too difficult to do this earlier) and a taxi took us to the hotel. The hotel was the BudaCastle Fashion Hotel. It was on the other side of the Danube River, so it was on the Buda side. The hotel was really nice. From the hotel we walked down to the downtown area across the chain bridge. It started raining pretty hard along the way.  I led Mom and Dad to the area for the dinner cruise, which was what we had planned for that night. We ducked into a cafe for coffee and to get out of the rain. After if finally quit raining, we went and bought our tickets for the cruise.  We walked around for awhile in the shopping district before it was time to go. We boarded the cruise and were given champagne and wine. The dinner was a buffet and it was very good. There was also a gypsy band that played, which was pretty entertaining. The cruise was beautiful. We just went up and down the Danube River and saw all the buildings including the Parliament.  Afterwards we walked across the chain bridge to the hotel.

Looking at Parliament from across the Danube

Mom and Dad in Budapest

Sunset on the Danube River

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
This morning we checked out of the hotel but left our bags in a room until it was time for our flight.  We walked through some markets and went downtown again. Of course we got caught in the rain again, so we went into another cafe for coffee. We wandered around and went into some antique stores. That afternoon, Mom and I got "fish" pedicures.  Afterwards we walked across the chain bridge for the last time and went back to our hotel.  We had a cab take us to the airport, which was about an hour long ride. We got all checked in at the airport and ate pizza in the food court. We forgot we would have a meal on the plane. But it's probably a good thing we ate, because we had accidently signed up for the Kosher meal, which consisted of weird fish balls, eggplants, and I don't know what else..  After landing in Turkey, we went and got our Visas, which cost $20 each.  Afterwards, we collected our bags, went to the InfoCenter, and found a hotel.  A guy for the company drove us to the hotel and we checked in. We were put in a very tiny hotel room, with barely a foot between the two beds.

Fish!! 

Thursday, May 24, 2012

We slept in today since we were up so late after the flight last night.  We set out to explore. We walked around the streets and found the Grand Bazaar, which is hundreds of shops in a building that is hundreds of years old.  It was really cool to see, but overwhelming. It's just shop after shop, and there are people everywhere.  The shops were full of the most beutiful bright pottery, eveil eye sculptures, and handmade rugs and lamps.  It's really amazing. We walked around for a long time before we had kebabs in the bazaar. The kebabs were really good. We set off for the Blue Mosque. We heard the call to prayer, which was really cool to hear. It sounds like a song, and everyone chants and it's played over loud speakers throughout the entire city. It was truly amazing.  We had supper near our hotel and I had an Efes Beer, which was really good. It had a "coffee aroma, dark brown flavor" that was awesome. We walked around some more and we went into Razaman's shop. We met Razaman earlier in the day. He owned one of the souvenir shops and we thought his was one of the better ones. It had lots of pottery, rugs, and lamps.  He was a lot of fun to talk to. He asked Mom and Dad, "How many camels for Hayley?" Flattering. But weird.

Looking across the Marmar Sea in Turkey

Walking to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Dad :) 

Definitely not Nebraska sweet corn!

The Blue Mosque

Spice shop!

The Bosphorus Bridge, connecting Europe and Asia

Welcome to Asia!

13+ Million People in Istanbul

Seasons and Spices

Friday, May 25, 2012
We woke up early this morning and went on the Hop On, Hop Off Bus. We got to see a lot of the highlights in Istanbul, and even drove into Asia. We got off the bus around noon near the Egyptian Bazaar. The Egyptian Bazaar was similar to the Grand Bazaar, but they had less jewelry and more tools and tin and other stuff like that, so Dad really liked it. We walked around for quite awhile. They also had a garden and pet section. It was weird because they had a lot of leeches for sale. And it was sad because they had puppies, and I wanted to take all of them!  After the Bazaar, we got back on the bus and drove around some more before we finished.  We walked home and stopped at at Turkish place for a late lunch - it was almost 4 p.m. We went back to the room because we had tickets to see Turkish dancers at 7. However, the guy at our front desk messed up and wasn't able to get tickets for tonight, so we just wandered around instead.

Inside one of the markets in Istanbul

A Turkish boy and his mom playing with pigeons. 

Mom and Dad in front of one of the mosques. 

Dad getting some tea. 

A vegetable stand in one of the markets.

Saturday, May 26, 2012
We woke up this morning and walked around for awhile before walking to the big bridge that has shops under it. On top of the bridge, there are a ton of fisherman. Underneath, they have lots of little restaurants.  We walked across and went into the fish market. We ate at a little place that seemed to be more for locals than tourists, which I think is always a good sign. There were dogs and cats and even roosters right next to us.  We all had fish, of course, and mine was really good. We walked around the fish market and that kind of went into a hardware market. It was all pretty cool.  We meandered home and got ready for our Turkish Bath experience! Meanwhile, there have been demonstrations going on all day. There is a mosque that has been turned into a museum for tourists and the Turkish men have been demonstrating because they are upset they aren't allowed to pray there anymore. We watched them march, which was pretty neat. Since there were so many people out, traffic was really messed up. There was a guy that was supposed to take us to the Baths, but it took him quite awhile to get to us. The population of Istanbul is over 13 million people, so you have to understand this is a huge place!  We finally made it to the bath house.  It was a little awkward because we didn't really know what to do.  However, we figured it out pretty fast. They had us each go into a room and undress and grab a towel. Then we were put into the sauna. Together. With my mom and dad. I was a little worried about where this was headed, but a guy eventually came and took my dad to a separate area.  Then a lady took my mom and I into a room that had a massage-table kind of block in the middle.  We were both loofahed, massaged, and washed. It was quite the experience. Definitely a cultural lesson.
That night, we went to the Whirling Dervishes.  The Whirling Dervishes is a ceremony that represents religious and cultural aspects for the Turkish. When we walked into the building, it had a super strong smell of perfume, and gave me an instant headache. The ceremony was surprisingly repetitive. We didn't really know what to expect. After the Dervishes, we wandered around, had supper and shopped in some souvenir stores. We walked around for awhile before going back to the hotel. Then I booked our hotel for tomorrow night in Budapest before bed.

Fish Market

Powders to make paint. 

Fish market and a mosque. 

People of Istanbul

Sunday, May 27, 2012
This morning we went on a bus for our tour. We had planned to do a little tour and cruise for our last day in Istanbul. The first part was on bus, and they took us to the spice market. WE had a guide that explained things along the way, and then we were dropped off at the market for a little bit.  We went back to the bus after half an hour and they drove us to the boat. When we got to the docks, there were little stands selling souvenirs. We were about to the boats when Mom spotted some jester hats that had soccer teams. There was a Chelsea hat (which is Dr. Clark's FAVORITE team) and I had to get it. I ran back to buy it and then ran back to get in line with Mom and Dad onto the boat.  The boat was big, and had had an upper deck and a lower deck. Dad went upstairs and Mom and I stayed down. Tons of people were getting on, and after awhile we finally got started. After about ten minutes, without any sign of a speaker or tour guide, Mom was nervous we had gotten on the wrong boat. We just kind of laughed... but then realized, maybe we really did. Well after awhile we noticed we were going straight down the sea and not near the shore, so we started getting pretty worried. I went up and told Dad I thought we were on the wrong boat and he came downstairs with us. So then I went up to the snack bar and tried asking the guys that were working where we were going.  And they said..... brace yourself....... we were headed for the Prince's Islands! Now, the Prince's Islands are a great destination, don't get me wrong. However, we had a flight  from Istanbul > Budapest for 6 p.m.  We were supposed to leave our hotel at 3:00, so this was a little nerve racking considering they told us the first boat to leave the islands wasn't until 2:30. Well, let me tell you, my dad was not too happy about this situation. Well, neither were my mom or I, but while in the middle of the Bosphorus Sea, there wasn't a lot we could do about it. Needless to say, this was the worst cruise of my life. Long story short, we ended up getting on a taxi ferry from one of the islands back to Istanbul at 12:30.  We FINALLY got to land around 2 and we flew off the ferry into a taxi. Well, after some confusion on our taxi driver's part (Turkish/English problems...) he stopped to ask someone to translate. We finally realized we were on the Asian side of Istanbul, not on the European side where our hotel was. Our taxi driver would be able to take us there, but he wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing. It was about a 40 minute drive and we finally made it back to the hotel. We flew upstairs, threw our luggage together, and were ready for the car to take us to the airport by 3:00. Then we found out the car wouldn't be there until 3:30, so we actually had some down time, but we were all antsy.
We finally made it to the airport, and then onto Budapest. We stayed in a hotel that night, and left for Olomouc in the morning.

Watching the seagulls on our "cruise",  AKA ferry to the Princes Islands. 

Tuesday, May 29, 2012
We finally made it back to Olomouc around 2:30 p.m. Mom and Dad left for Prague at 3:00, and I went back to the dorms for my last couple of days in the Czech Republic!!

My Parents are Here!!

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.

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.

Kutna Hora Bone Church

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.

St. Barbara's Church in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Budweiser or "Czechvar" as it's marketed in the U.S.

Inside the plant

Our tour guide!

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.

Cesky Krumlov's Castle at night

Katie and my drinks in Cesky Krumlov

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.

View of Cesky Krumlov from the castle

Cesky Krumlov and the Bohemian River

Abby Rosenbaum and I :) 

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.

Thea and I rafting on the Bohemian River

Evan and I rafting on the Bohemian River

After being pushed in... this must have been before the nettles, since I still look happy! 

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.