Prague

Prague: Day 1

We arrived in the central of downtown Prague at about noon on Tuesday. The first thing I did, before we even got into the apartment, was to buy a cup of mulled wine from a street vendor. It was so cold, 0 degrees Celsius, -3 with wind chill. The mulled wine was an excellent remedy, warmed me to my very bones and tasted sooooo delicious. Our apartment, which was like a mini hostel we had to ourselves, was directly above a Marks & Spencer. We went on a walking tour across Charles bridge and through old town, taking our time to marvel at the architecture. We stopped inside a pastry shop for a bite in the late afternoon. It was a hole in the wall, very cheap food, and I was trying to decide what to get. There was a pasty labeled 'Mexican Style Savory Snack'. Well, with a title like that, I could not resist. It was the best decision ever and I wish I had bought five of them. For the first time since I have come to Europe I found actual Mexican food flavors. Something that hadn't occurred to me was that the Czech Republic is not on the Euro. They use crowns, which are about 40 to one pound. The shopping was fantastic, I hardly spent anything it was so cheap. For dinner the first night we decided to make use of the kitchen in our apartment. We all chipped in and cooked together a wonderful meal of spaghetti and meat sauce with beans and olives, oh and salad as well. My contribution was to cook the minced meat. It was so much fun, we had a really good group.

Prague: Day 2

It was warmer, more like 3 degrees and less windy. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon in the Prague Castle complex. It was incredible. I was blown away by St. Vitus Cathedral. It is the only example of Neo-Gothic architecture I have ever seen, and I gotta say, I think they got it right the second time. In that one cathedral there is Gothic, Baroque, Neo-Gothic, and Art Nouveau. No, it doesn't look like patchwork either, it looks amazing, cohesive, and brilliant. I had an audio guide to take me through it, but I could have spent all day in there. There were other cool things in the castle. For instance, the great hall that was a composite style of Gothic and Renaissance, which turned out beautiful. There was a tower for torture, a golden lane for shopping, a blacksmith smithing, pretty much everything you could ever need for a castle. It was also at the top of a hill, which provided an amazing view of the city and river. For lunch we went to a pub that had a deal going on three course meals. Tasty vegetable soup, a burrito (yes a decent, actual burrito), and cinnamon chocolate cake. Plus Pilsner. There wasn't much of the evening left, daylight at least, so I went shopping in an open-air market. That night we went back to Charles bridge to see the city at night, absolutely gorgeous. On the bridge there was a man playing the water glasses! It was incredible, just like in Miss Congeniality except it was a man and he was playing to make a living. I didn't think there were people who could actually do that though.

Prague: Day 3

We had to catch our flight back to Leicester at 10:35 a.m., which meant we left the apartment at about half past seven. It was hard to leave such a wonderful city knowing that I was returning to school and essays. Ah well, thus is life. We got back to our student village around one o'clock. After dinner tonight was a comedy show at Beaumont Bar with British comedians. I only stayed long enough for one drink, but I laughed a lot when I actually understood what they were saying, which was about half the time. Heavy accents. The first comedian made a lot of jokes about the election and Sarah Palin, but I think I was the only one who found it very funny.

Big News for the University of Leicester: The Queen is coming!!! I'm not sure when, but she's coming to open the new library, and it will happen before the semester is out. I'm excited!