Monks and Books...

So Saturday came and tried to leave... but I woke up and rolled out of bed roughly around 1... that would be 7 EST but too bad I am in Prague.

Showered and ready, a group of us went to the American hangout Bohemian Bagel, maybe the only place to buy bagels in Prague. After a couple of King Charles the 4th and bottomless cokes (a hot commodity here in Europe) me and troupe 43 (all of the boys) headed toward the castle to find the monastery.

We went to Strahov Monastery which is situated near the castle. They apparently have a library that dates as far back as the 9th century...

It was beautiful and full of old, old, old books...

Mommy and Daddy need grown up time...

that translates to Grad Night Out! It had been a little while since all of the MLA kids got together, shared a meal, and some general grown up conversation... "that's what she said"

Yeah right. So Jordan made reservations at a little place up the street that we all have grown fond of.. Sudicka. Its a cozy, cave like atmosphere with awesome food and even better vegetarian cous cous.



From there we decided that we had not gotten enough of hanging out underground so we went to a local place... U Soba or something like it ... and weaved our way down winding steps, through corridors and little rooms until we were as far underground as you can get in Prague.

We ordered wine, joked with the locals, and played foos ball... it was a good time for the most part...

Prague 7 ... not so cool.

So last night I thought it would be a good idea to check out a different portion of Prague... We have this website called www.expat.cz This is where we find out about bars and restaurants in pragerland... And we found this one called Andelusion Dog.. supposedly chill, eclectic hangout, chill music, good cocktails... It all would have been fine if we wouldn't have stopped previously at the worst restaurant ever... At least the beers kept flowing...
At the end of the night when we had decided that we had enough, we hopped on Tram 51 back to Peranova (our stop). There was this awful smell on board.. something had gotten on the tram to die.... weeks ago.. this is what we were smelling... so bad. Every person that got on the tram immeadiately covered their noses and gasped... We think the source of this foul smell was a homeless fellow who was cruising around on the tram sleeping...

First PINUP!!!

So today we had our first Prosek pin up.... My group unfortunately was the last to go and had a whopping total of 9 minutes to complete our presentation....
People were chomping at the bits... grrr ready for lunch... quote "My hands are shaking I am so hungry... and hungover" - Andrew.

OK so summary: Prosek has lots of open space, no variety, prospect and refuge not apparent, and everyone likes Stare Mesto better... right?

check out some pics ---> http://picasaweb.google.com/allen.lorna/20080218_FirstPinup#

So its been awile...

I promise to get better about posting... Prague has been wonderful to get to know and explore.
The kids in the program are are vibrant and exciting to be around. I am enjoying all of them. We have done several group things since being here such as bowling night, Communist Museum, Budweiser Brewery tour, dinner in a monastery, Astronomical Clock Tower tour,
skiing in southern Bohemia, Prague Museum and Model, Czech National Museum, Charles University Botanical Garden, Kampa Modern Art Museum... just to name a few. It would be much better if I had an explanation for all of these but alas I don't have the time. So, if you are interested in any particularly, then just ask... I will share.

"Prosek is nothing like skiing"

So this is Prosek... A little portion of Praha (Prague 9) created in the 20's during the Communist era.


Complete with a vast variety of Soviet block-housing.

This semester my goal is to make Prague 9 feel as if it is in some sort of association with Prague 1,2 and 3 (Tourist areas: Old Town, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle).

Tomorrow is pin up for analysis... "What is the sense of the city?"

Cesky Krumluv

We are supposed to be awake and ready in the lobby by 6 am to catch our train... but my roommate Lindsay and I dare to roll out of bed around 1/4 till just to make things interesting.

A group of about12 students and the legendary Art Rice took the metro to the central station in Prague. That was when it was determined that Andrew decided that it would be a good idea to leave his passport back at the pension...



He made the train in record time. Our train took us through southeast Bohemia where we got off in a little town called Cesky Budejovice, the origin of the beloved American Budweiser.



So heck, let's take a tour and drink Budweiser Budejovice straight from the tank... the best and freshest Bud I will ever have.



From there we wandered around the town's centre and went back to the train station to catch a train with ONE CAR! This wound us further southeast to the town of Cesky Krumlov.

Off the train, there is snow everywhere and we walk with our packs on our backs, winding down the hillside when suddenly the largest castle in Europe is standing before us...
So we walk along a river and cross a bridge through the aqueducts of the castle. This is the entrance of the most beautiful mid evil village I could ever imagine.



All of the buildings are painted bright colors and there is snow, cobble streets and breath taking vistas back towards the castle.

We settled into our hostle called Krumlov House (awesome) and then headed to dinner in old cellars and had pretty much a medevil feast. It was amazing. From there we went to a gypsy bar and listened/danced to a gypsy band and drank the local beer.

The next day I woke feeling awesome so I went on a run with Art Rice (training for a marathon on his 60th bday), Lindsay and our new pal Bryan. We ran for about an hour, twisting and winding through all the cobble streets in the town. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. That day it snowed and covered the entire town in powder. So we headed to a cafe with our sketch books and drew the afternoon away.

Later that night we climbed the largest hill south of town and overlooked the snow sprinkling down on the village. So... we sled down the hill.. caught some major air. Then warmed and dried ourselves off and headed to dinner in the coolest restaurant ever! It was far below ground in these catacombs and our dinner was served by a wench. Awesome.

Our last day, I took the opportunity to climb up to the castle and took some amazing pictures of the city. Then we hopped on a bus for 3 hours back to Prague.

What a wonderful trip it was and I would recomend it to anyone who visits this part of the world. It was amazing!