Ryan's visit--Prague

We got back to Prague at about 2:30 on Sunday to really cold and miserable weather. I wanted to show Ryan EVERYTHING in the city that I could squeeze into two two short days so we set out right after lunch. First we went to Petrin hill which is a huge hill in the lesser quarter (below the castle). It is a very romantic park with an apple orchard, trails, gardens, a replica Eiffel tower, mirror maze, restaurants, etc. I hadn't been there yet so it was a treat for me too! We went up the Petrin tower, which is the same height as the Eiffel tower if you take the height of the hill into account. At the top there was a beautiful view of the city! it was definitely worth the climb! We then went to the mirror maze because I thought it would be a fun little activity. Boy was I wrong. It was the stupidest thing ever! Oh well.

Next I had planned on visiting my school, the Lennon wall, the love locks bridge and walk around the Lesser Quarter before getting dinner. Well, it started POURING on our way down the hill. I, of course, was upset because my idealized weekend was getting ruined by the weather, but Ryan, of course, kept a happy demeanor and said lets do everything anyways! So we did! And we had a lot of fun!

We ended up wandering around, getting Chinese food and desert. Then we headed across the Charles Bridge, into Old Town and back home.

The next morning we woke up early to catch the 8:00 bus to Terezin, a town about an hour away from Prague. Terezin used to be a concentration camp in WWII. It was originally a fort created to keep Germans out, but once the Germans came they took over. We saw the Museum, model barracks, the crematorium and cemetery. Then we went to the small fortress where all sorts of prisoners of war were held. I got very creeped out going in and out of the cells. I kept picturing the door closing and being trapped inside! Overall, it was kinda cool to see how life was in a concentration camp, albeit quite sad. This one was mainly used for Nazi propaganda so the Jews still were able to keep their culture alive with theater, music, etc. It was very different from Auschwitz in that it wasn't a death camp. It was a transport camp though, and most who passed through did not survive.

We got back home around 2 or 3 and it was raining AGAIN! So we decided to go to the Museum, a nice rainy day activity. Except once we got there there was a sign was posted on the door that said the museum was closed for cleaning for that day and the next! Those were the only days Ryan was in Prague! I could not believe it! So we decided to be troopers and tour the castle in the cold rain.

After the castle I had a surprise for Ryan, a trip to the Chocolate Museum!!! It was so much fun! We got some free samples and saw how they make chocolate. We actually saw a lot of the same stuff "live" in St. Lucia so it was kinda funny to see it in videos and photos in a museum. We ended up in the shop and watched a candy demonstration. It was really cool! Since we were in Old Town we had to get desert :) We went to a little hut that was in the middle of the square and got a deep fried cake thing covered in Nutella, it was excellent!

We then went home and had tacos for dinner. Then we went to U Sudu, my favorite bar. It's a wine bar that's underground in a huge old WWII bomb shelter. We split a liter and called it a night.

We slept in the next morning and had a nice big breakfast. Then we finished up the stuff we missed at the castle, and hit up the Jewish Quarter. We spent quite a while exploring all the museums, synagogues, and the Old cemetery. It was really cool and full of history. Afterward we bought some potato pancakes in Old Town square and walked back home, passing through Havel market (the oldest market in Europe). We passed a barber shop on the way home and decided to pop in and get Ryan a haircut because it's so expensive in Denmark!

We then got ready for the night and ate an excellent dinner at a local restaurant not too far from my house. It had a HUGE menu. Everything from Czech, Chinese, pasta, salads and vegetarian dishes. We ate a huge dinner and split a bottle of wine for 450 crowns! Then we went to the Black Light theater to catch a show called Graffiti. It was so cool! It was contemporary/modern dance with crazy choreography. There was a piece of glass in front of the dancers that acted as a mirror/screen for the projection of images, mostly colorful designs. I've never seen anything like it! After we stopped at the Kaverna Slavia, across the street, were all the intellectuals used to meet back in the day. We got cake and coffee and went home.

Ryan left at 5 a.m. the next morning and I was very sad. I had to go to class later that morning and had a hard time focusing back on school work. Overall I had a fantastic weekend, even though the weather was terrible and we didn't get everything I wanted to in because of it. I was just so happy to spend almost a week with Ryan!

This week will be FILLED with studying because I have quite a few midterms next week. But the next week my parents come, and we are going to Paris!! YAY!

Oh and did I mention the weather is still terrible here! It was actually snowing today...