Falling behind on blogging, but that's nothing new! We had this week of class off before finals, I'm pretty sure it was meant to study or write my 6 page paper that is in Spanish (which I probably should be doing now too, whoops), but most everyone took the free time for one final trip instead. And we went to Prague! Praha in Spanish, or magical-Christmas-fairytale-land, as I like to think of it. We were there for 4 days and didn't know what to expect, but it was fantastic. We kept making Shrek references the whole time because it felt like Duloc with the castles and incredible views and bell tower that goes off every 3 hours and a guy pops out at the top and plays the trumpet. Prague was the only place we traveled that wasn't on the Euro, which we were half excited about because everything was cheaper and half so confused trying to figure out how much everything cost. Exhibit A- Kate goes to the atm to pull out money for the first time at the airport, 200 crowns. Which we thought, hey that sounds great to pay for our hostel and some food. Except that 200 crowns came out to be about 11 dollars. It was pretty funny and the whole trip it felt like we were using Monopoly money. There were Christmas markets set up in all of the squares with really fun booths selling all sorts of stuff. Our favorite were the ones selling these cinnamon bread rolls, kind of like those cinnamon twistys from Taco Bell except a million times better. They wrap the dough around a metal pole pretty, roll it in cinnamon sugar goodness, and then cook them over a fire.We took more than our fair share of trips to those stands.
Duloc is, Duloc is
Nom nom nom nom
One of the many Christmas markets
Our friend's sister had studied in Prague so she had a list of things to see and where to eat, which helped a bunch. First we went to see the Castle and Cathedral with the most beautiful stained glass I've ever seen. They were up on a hill pretty secluded from the rest of the city with a gorgeous view below. I took way too many pictures, no surprise. And then we trekked down to the Lennon Wall! I would have loved to see the original painting of Lennon on there, but its long since been graffitied over. There were all sorts of lyrics and drawings and quotes on there and it was really cool. Then we warmed up in a cozy little cafe with some tea.
Cheer up Charlie
It starts to get dark super early, around 4, so we had to try and get our acts together kind of early to have time to see things in the daylight. But the cool thing about Prague is that most of the things you want to see in the city are the beautiful buildings and views. I think it was Ashley who so wisely said, "the whole city is an architecture museum." So deep, she'll be a killer journalist one day. So it isn't action packed with tons of sites, but just walking around the city all day, finding different Christmas markets, and then sitting in a tea or coffee shop to warm up for a couple of hours was so fun. This one tea shop had like a dictionary of hundreds of teas and then areas with floor pillows to sit on (Juj I know how you love those floor pillows) so we spent part of our afternoon one day there. We went to the Charles Bridge, which I kept calling the Charles de Gaulle Bridge the whole time on accident. Charles de Gaulle who of course was President of the French Republic and has pretty much nothing to do with the Czech Republic... not really a history buff here. And then, oh and then, we braved the rainy weather and went to the most amazing vegetarian restaurant. None of us are vegetarians, we all like our chicken and burgers, but I really think that was the best meal I've had since being in Europe. We all got three different things and then just split them three ways and devoured every bit. I would be a vegetarian if I could eat there all the time.
Charles Bridge
Rainy and cold so we played cards
!Feliz Navidad!
Prague was a great last trip for all of us and we're all starting to get a little nostalgic about this semester. This week we have finals, Thursday night is the farewell party with everyone, and then most everyone ships out early Friday morning. I can't believe how fast it has flown by and it stinks that everyone has to rush off right literally the day after finals are over, but at least I'll have a little bit more time to love on Barce when the fam jam gets here!! First, Mamma Broussard and I take on Seville and Granada and then Pops and Broseph join the fun for a Spanish Christmas! I'M SO EXCITED! I should go work on my paper, a few more posts to come soon!
