Prague Castle

Entire Prague Castle reflected off the Vltava River

Gate into the Prague Castle

The entrance into the Prague Castle.

The castle has soldier standing guards that stand outside the gate, you can go up and take pictures with them, but I felt to bad for those guys, so I just took pictures of a lock on the gate instead....ok like a 100 pictures of the lock.

The Prague Castle was built in 870 and is known as the biggest castle complex in the world. The castle is the holder of the famous the crown jewels are locked behind seven doors, that all have different keys that are all dispersed between the top seven members of the state: Czech Republic's President, Prime Minister, and the Prague Archbishop, to include a few.

Outside of St. Vitus Catherdral

Outside the St. Vitus Cathedral

(look how cool black&white and a blue sky)

some of the many beautiful stained glass

windows

The largest silver coffin in the world

ST. Vitus Cathedral

The castle itself was beautiful but you cant see it in isn't entirety until you are on the Charles bridge. It is absolutely beautiful. Picture of the whole building is above. The Cathedral was breathtaking and ENORMOUS and you literally lose your breath when you go inside. They still use the Cathedral for daily service and it is located right in the middle of the grounds of the castle. When we entered the castle grounds we got to explore around for awhile and all of a sudden as we were walking in to one of the building a mens choir group broke out in song. Since the castle is enclosed their voices carried and bounced off the walls, it was AMAZING.. like a dream. Overall the Castle tour was good and it totally reminded you of medieval times, everything is so well preserved.

Day by Day

I am a little behind on my posts so I thought I would give a run down of what I have been doing just to get you all on track. I arrived Thursday night at around 9pm.


Thursday- 
Met my roommates- Krystle and Coleen
Unpacked
Ate instant Mac and Cheese that I had packed in my carry-on


Friday- 
Went Grocery shopping 
Went on a city tour with whole group 
Ate lunch at Bohemia Bagel
Went to school and had a 2 hour Prague history lecture 
Did a little window shopping
Ate Thai food at the mall with a couple of the girls in my program and then we 
took a long walk through the square 


Saturday-
Went to the Prague Castle all morning
Took the Subway back to the apartment
Had lunch at a outdoor Italian restaurant, had apple, Gorgonzola and garlic pizza (YUM!)
Got a Czech pastry in the square called a Trdelnik
Watched some of the soccer game in the Old Town square
Made Czech Top Ramen for dinner


Sunday-
Went to Kutna Hora by train
Went to the Bone Church
Went to the Saint Barbara Cathedral
Ate to an amazing Vegetarian restaurant
Got banana gelato


Monday- 
Slept till 11am
Had a meeting at school
Went to the mall with my roommate and two girls from my program 
Went grocery shopping
Made lunch
Went with my roommates to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Had a veggie pizza
Got cherry gelato
Watch Harry Potter online!


Tuesday-
Went to class, which was great, watched a movie about the Velvet Revolution
Made lunch
Went to the communist museum
Ran errands to the store and post office ;) 
Went and had a beers with some girls in my program
Went to dinner with Coleen at that same Italian food place
Walked across the Charles Bridge and explored, ran into Sarah Beth 
Ate Ice cream (I am seeing a pattern!)


Wednesday-
Slept in and ran errands
Had a Lox sandwich for lunch
Blogging till I get caught up!


I realized this is the most boring post ever, but what was even worst is that I had to think really hard to remember all I have done, when in doubt I put ate gelato...hahahhahaha...I wish, those events are all true. 


Zůstat Intonace!

More Town Pics

A structure made of tens of thousands of keys to commemorate

the twentieth anniversary of the end of communist power in Prague.

Located at the head of Franz Kafka Street, near the Old Town Square.

In a true triumph of capitalism.

This was the old well that is located in the center

of town. It was known as the center of all the gossip

of the town happenings. The well no longer

pumps water.

This statue is of Master Jan Hus, the dean of the Charles University in Prague, criticized church practices such as selling indulgence. He used to preach in Prague and he was excommunicated by the pope for his ideas in 1410. Despite that, he continued in preaching and he had many followers in Prague, that´s why the pope interdicted the whole city of Prague in 1414. Finally, Jan Hus was invited to the Council in Constance and he was asked to renounce his ideas. He refused, and he was burnt at the stake as a heretic on 6 ^th July 1415.

The monument of Jan Hus at the Prague Old Town Square was designed by Ladislav Saloun. The foundation stone was laid down in 1903 and the monument was unofficially revealed on 6 ^thJuly 1915, the 500 ^th anniversary of Jan Hus´s death. A festive event was forbidden. Prague citizens covered the Jan Hus Monument with flowers.

The monument consists of Jan Hus statue and statues of Czech people around him.

The holes at the top of the building are

called loop-holes. They are used to hold

guns.

Magnum!!!

In all its GLORY!

First Bite I have had in 8 years!

When my Mom and I visited Prague in 2002, all I wanted to eat were the Magnum Golden Hazelnut Ice Cream bars. They are like the creamiest vanilla ice cream dipped in the most crunchy chocolate with bites of hazelnuts. Hazelnuts are big in the Czech Republic and are in a lot of chocolate and of course Nutella is huge. My roommates thought I was crazy when I made such a big deal out of them, until they took one bite! Fantastický! Sorry you missed it Mom!

Gargoyles!!

Taken at the St Barbara church.

Taken at the Basilica of St. Vitus

which is located in the Prague Castle.

Basilica of St. Vitus

Basilica of St. Vitus

Basilica of St. Vitus

Basilica of St. Vitus

Gargoyles. I have been obsessed with gargoyles since I saw them on a church in Prague in 2002. I have to admit my love of them comes straight from my Grandma Bell, her passion for creepy little things lives through me, hence my little man Tillman. On this trip, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of gargoyles on every church and thought it would be to my benefit to do some research about them.

Gargoyles:

They originated somewhere between the 11^th and 13^th century.

There are two types of Gargoyles; functional and non-functional. Non-functional, defined as a stone carving that resembles a creature but does not carry water is technically called a grotesque.

Gargoyle is defined as “a waterspout, projecting from an upper part of a building to throw water clear of walls and foundations.” The origin of the word ‘gargoyle’ is derived from a French word meaning ‘gargouille’ meaning throat.

Architecturally the only purpose of the gargoyle was to provide a method of drainage that protected the stones and the mortar of churches, cathedrals and castles from erosion.

Second purpose of the gargoyles was as ‘guardians’ to ward of evil.

No two gargoyles are exactly the same. The masons had free choice on the style and type of gargoyle to use.

Chybíš mi!

Tour of the housing

CEVRO Institute

I finally got to see where I am going to be studying for the summer. The institute is BEAUTIFUL and it was just founded 2006. They had there first graduating class in 2009. It is very small, but super quiet and serene. Out front they had a flyer talking about us studying there, like they were proud, it was super cute.

Blaho čas!

So our group took a walking tour this morning all around Prague, it was so whimsical and cute that I was taking pictures of everything.

Random Prague facts:

Czechs dont pick up after their dogs.

In the middle ages, people threw all their trash in the streets and when it became in tolerable the government would just pave over the streets. There is literally a whole world underground. We were standing on roofs of buildings at one point.

They buried 12 people deep in the Jewish cemetery.

They built the streets to curve so you couldn't get shot as easy during the war.

When you are Czech and you are named on of the possible 365 designated Czech names they celebrate your name on a certain day, that they call your "Name Day". You get gifts and wine and chocolate. Our guide is named Eva and says her name day is on Christmas Eve so she always feels gypped due to Christmas. When it is your day your name is shown on the Astrological clock (more on the clock later) in the Old Town Hall.

Overall the walking tour was super fun and a great intro to the city!

Grocery Shopping in Prague

Blaho Ráno!

So there is a grocery store about 3 min walk from the apartment. It is called Abeit and is about the size of Walgreens, its super cute and the food is a really good price. The bread section is amazing and has about 25 varieties for about 10 cents USD a roll. The food I brought today costed me about 8 USD.

Ahoj novější!

Good Morning Prague!

Its a beautiful day in Prague with a high of 74! lol I know Phoenix, that was like taking a bullet.. :)

I am HERE!!

Flight Delays

Halo!

So if you are ever in the Zurich airport this is your

forewarning....the train is very strange..here is a video I found on youtube that kinda shows the creepyness.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNtVOP5FUmM&feature=related . the whole train ride it plays cow noises, and other animals noises not to mention when Heidi flashes on the wall and blows you a kiss...just a welcome fro the good ole' Zurich airport......

I took a very small plane from Zurich to Prague and there were technical issues that held up the flight for over an hour, I should mention there was no air conditioning and ummm Switzerland is hot and humid, who KNEW! During all this time the wack-a-doodle lady in front of me was convinced that the plane was unsafe and was loudly talking on her cell phone about leaving the plane due to the fact that the people were rude, the pilot looked 12 and she thought it would crash...As if this lady couldnt get any more crazy she was having a conversation with a man from Ireland as we were waiting to exit the plane and she was telling him that she was going to convince his children that ELVES exist and they live in Cork, Ireland. Yup she believes in elves my friends and not like Buddy the Elf, because we all know I love him...like real elves...honestly....instead of her seat back turning into a floatation device in the event of a accident, hers should turn into a straight jacket.

Needless to say I had a good meal on the plane and arrived safely in Prague...where I snapped some cool pics of the city.

Tomorrow I am taking a tour of the city...so pretty pictures to come.

Blaho noc!

Chillin in Zurich

Guten Tag!

My flight left Chicago late due to weather. The sky was literally orange when we took off. Due to this delay I missed my connection in Zurich by literally 3 minutes, so I am now still waiting for my flight to Prague....I am throughly enjoying the SWISS lounge and currently enjoying a Kaffee and some quite tasty gummy bears..

Tschüs!