Prague Pt. 2 and getting back to the real world...

I realized in my last blog I didn’t define “we”!  I traveled and stayed with a fellow Susquehanna alum and English teaching assistant, Shayna and was also able to meet up with a fellow Académie de Rennes assistant, Erica!  It was great to have company and see some familiar faces when we were so far away from home for Christmas.

Monday was our second to last day in Prague, and we decided to take a day trip out of town to Kutna Hora, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The main attraction there is the Ossuary, a church that is decorated with over 40,000 human bones.  The town is also known for its wine, and silver mines.  The first coins for the Austro-Hungarian Empire were coined in Kutna Hora because of the abundance of silver.  On the day that we visited Kutna Hora was like a ghost town, but it was definitely worth a visit to see the Ossuary. 

A bone-crest in the Ossuary (it was at least 5 feet tall!).

Tuesday we visited a few things that we had been meaning to see, including watching the Astronomical clock one more time.  This was the one day where we made our tourist mistake and ended up paying more for a slice of ham at the Christmas market than we paid for our delicious Christmas dinner!  To remedy this mistake we headed back to the Globe for dinner where I had peach juice (it was more like a smoothie than juice) and a burrito.  It was probably the only chance I’ll have to eat some tex-mex while in Europe and it was worth it!  We also took a piece of carrot cake to go (with real cream cheese frosting!).  The Globe is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Prague.

We started our long voyage home on Wednesday morning, and I finally arrived in Guingamp on Thursday night (it was a LONG day and a half!).  I was then able to spend New Year’s with one of the teachers that I work with at the middle school and her family, along with their friends.  It was fantastic!  We ate wonderful food and drank great wine and champagne.  This morning I learned that it is a tradition in France for the youngest people in the family to call the older family members and wish them a Happy New Year.  Although I like the idea of that tradition, I won’t be taking part in it this year, so this blog will have to suffice!  Work starts again on Tuesday so it's back to teaching until my Dad's visit in February.

Happy New Year and here’s hoping that 2012 is as amazing as (or better than) 2011!

Czech-ing In

I’m more than halfway through my Christmas vacation in Prague and so far it has been wonderful!  We flew in this past Wednesday.  After checking into our hotel, we immediately left for the center of the city to see the Christmas markets.  There are several Christmas markets in Prague and most of them have similar gifts and food.  You can easily find sausages, a Czech version of spatzel, cinnamon and sugar covered dough circles, gingerbread, wine, and grog.  Each tree has a wooden crèche below it, and there are Christmas lights everywhere.  The markets run until January 8, so we can enjoy them for our entire trip.  Christmas in the Czech Republic is celebrated on the 24^th, and families traditionally eat carp for Christmas.  Due to this tradition there were many large plastic pools around the city full of fish for people to buy. 

The Christmas Market in Old Town Square

Our trip also comes at an interesting time because it follows the death of Vaclava Havla (Havel) who was the first post-communism President here.  He is an extremely important to the Czech people and they were in mourning for the first few days of our trip.  Havel’s body was lying in state in Prague castle, so we were unable to visit until Christmas day because it would have been rude to go as a tour group while people were saying their goodbyes.  Friday the 23^rd was the funeral and national day of morning.  We were able to watch some of the funeral at the Globe, an expat hang out in Prague 2, and during that time there was also a national moment of silence.  There are memorials set up all around the city to honor Havel, including homemade signs and billboards put up by the city.  Following the funeral, there was a concert at night to honor Havel, which was projected on a giant screen in Wenceslas Square.   Many people stayed in the square to enjoy the concert and it is obvious that he was very well loved here.

Prague Castle

On a lighter note, the food here is fabulous, and cheap.  We have free breakfast at our hotel, which includes bread, cheese, cold cuts, eggs, and assorted fruits and salads.  We’ve enjoyed bagels TWICE at Bohemia Bagel (the first, and probably last time I’ve been able to have a bagel and Philadelphia cream cheese in Europe), market foods that I described above, Czech fried cheese and bacon dumplings with beer, Svickova (beef tenderloin in a carrot cream sauce with cranberries and dumplings), cheeseburgers, and apple strudel.  In Prague, beer is cheaper than water and my current favorite is a Czech beer called Staropramen.  We also visited a local microbrewery where we tasted eight beers (light, dark, wheat, banana, sour cherry, nettle, vanilla, and coffee).  Finally we had Thai food at a restaurant called the Lemon Leaf and it was delicious!  We are looking forward to more food adventures before we head back to France.

The Astrological Clock in Old Town Square

Stay tuned for more updates from Prague!