Czech it out!!

Another week has gone by and I cannot believe, or keep track, of all the things that we are doing! I will try my best to explain everything I have done since last week.

Last Tuesday, I traveled to the city of Plsen, which is over an hour away from Praha. There we got a tour of all the Jewish cemeteries. We also were able to climb the Plsen City Tower, which was 298 steps up. It doesn't sound like a lot of steps, but I was STRUGGLING. Once up the tower, we were able to see the best view of the city. Around lunch time we explored and found a small Italian restaurant not too far from the town square. I got broccoli and corn pizza, it sounds gross but it was actually really good. Until it made me throw up 6hrs later... :/ haha... but thats another story entirely. After lunch we went to the Plsner Brewing Factory, they produce Pilsner Beer, more familiar to us as Miller.
The city of Plsen is very pretty, however outside of the main square it was a little depressing. The buildings aren't kept in good condition both on the inside and outside.

On Wednesday I traveled to Kutna Hora UNESCO site and Cesky Sternberk Castle, it was about an hour outside of the city. Kutna Hora is a smaller city, but absolutely breathtaking! During the spring I am sure it would have been even more beautiful. While there we saw some churches, which I forgot to mention nothing is heated in the Czech Republic so all the churches, museums...etc. are absolutely freezing!!! To make a better comparison, picture a Steelers game but way colder and no alcohol to trick the brain. In Kutna Hora there was this awesome church called the Bone Church. The bone church depicts over 40,000 full skeletons. It is a little twisted thinking about how all the bones were once people, but once you get past the creepy part it is quite cool.


This past weekend we all traveled to Moravia, which is a state within the Czech Republic. We stayed in the city of Brno, yes Brno. We went to a restaurant/wine cellar for dinner. This restaurant was so unique because the where you eat is in the actual cellar.
After dinner we got a tour of the cellars and were given what we thought was free bottles of wine. SO of course we all take one and drink the entire thing... ugh. But once we were all saucy they announce that we can go purchase wine, almost all buy at least 2 bottles because "they didn't have change" so therefore we had to buy as much as our bills were. Luckily I had change! But anyways once we are done buying the bottles of wine we are informed that our "Free" bottle of wine wasn't really free. Needless to say the restaurant owners really knew how to work us Americans because we all fell for their scam. haha Oh, and did I mention that the wine was disgusting?! After spending days and days on buses, going through multiple cities, that evenings bus ride definitely topped them all!

During the day on Saturday we toured the city of Brno, which was sketchy, and we toured the countryside, which was snowy and cold. The city of Brno is the 2nd largest city in the Czech Republic, but the conditions of the city are way behind the city of Praha. The city was very depressing, with buildings that were crumbing and most of the paint chipping off. Ironically, our hotel was one of the nicest hotels we stayed at thus far. Our rooms were larger than our dorm rooms and had private balconies.

Sunday was the best day of the trip, we went to a cave in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the huge caves there is a stream, which we all got on boats and floated down through the caves. Reminded me of something straight out of Harry Potter, and those that know me, know that I am obsessed with Harry Potter.

This week was our very first week of the Czech language course. I'm not a big fan of this class, it's extremely difficult. My class we focus on everything, I wish we would just learn basic sayings that will help us get around. Unfortunately, we learn a lot of grammar, vocabulary, and how to conjugate verbs. The class is 5hours each day for two weeks straight. Week one is done... one more week to go.

This weekend has been my first weekend in Prague and it has been extremely successful! Before I left, I had heard that the nightlife in Prague is amazing, so far it is living up to its reputation. Friday night we went to a club called Lucerna. It was 80s and 90s music all night and we all had a fabulous time! Last night we wanted to go somewhere a little more relaxed so we decided to go to a wine bar called U Sudu. It is an underground cellar/bar comprised of multiple rooms. It's basically a labyrinth of different cellars, which is the actual bar.



For the first time in weeks, the sun was out for the entire day. I took advantage and I went exploring with Celia. We walked along the Charles Bridge, where I took my first fall on the ice, almost taking Celia down with me. We found the John Lennon wall, which is unbelievable. We also found the coolest fence, there were hundreds of locks with engravings on them. After taking a closer look, I realized that there were names on the locks with hearts. This fence was "you hold the key to my heart!!" This is very appropriate being that it's Valentine's Day!!!!!!!

Right now I am sitting in a cafe called Choco Cafe; it's a cute little cafe hidden amongst the busy streets in Prague. It can be difficult to find, but today I had no problem finding it. I am starting to feel not like a tourist, but like a resident in the city of Prague.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!!

Until next time...

☮