Photo bomber!

Soooo I know I promised a photo dump last night and I didn't do it. I'm sorry. But you're getting it now!

Czech money! The ones that are copper-looking around the edges are 50 kč, and the silver ones are 2 kč. I have 20s too; they're gold, and look like the 2s. I saved some to bring home!

St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square, right behind our hotel. It's so pretty! And it's in the Baroque style!

Those things poking out of the top of those buildings are actually the towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn (Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem in Czech), also in Old Town Square, which is, quite frankly, the most terrifying church I've ever seen. It is tall and spiky and it literally scares me. Go to Wikipedia and look at it and see if it doesn't scare you too. Of course, because it is ancient and huge and impressive looking/generally imposing, I also love it with all my heart.

Old Town city hall, also in Old Town Square

The Prague astronomical clock (Pražský orloj in Czech) on the side of Old Town city hall! The astrological clock on the bottom supposedly has a lot of cult symbols in it.

One of the statues on the Charles Bridge (Karlův most in Czech)! 30 statues decorate the sides of the bridge, and they're all really intense looking and full of religious imagery (2 of my favorite characteristics in art/architecture).

THE PALACE. The two main statues on the gate (the ones in the center) were intense and murderous: homeboy on the right has a bat and is about to bludgeon someone; dude on the left has a dagger and is about to stab the other guy in the neck. INTENSE. Don't mess with the Czechs, man.





That, my friends, is Saint Vitus Cathedral, Katedrála svatého Víta in Czech. Yes, it's the one that took 600 years to build. The original architects died, leaving the building unfinished, and it wasn't until the 19th century that the Czechs hired new architects to finish it. The 2 guys who finished the cathedral actually had themselves sculpted into it; there are 2 statues hiding out over the front door of 2 men in 19th century clothes!

Inside of St. Vitus Cathedral! I walked in and just sort of stared with my mouth open. I repeat: old, impressive church = love it.

I assume this was a minor altar in the cathedral.

This was just in the middle of the street. I'm not joking. Look at that blue sky! O Sunlight, how I miss thee.

Coolest synagogue ever! THE ROSE WINDOW IS THE STAR OF DAVID. We found this on accident, trying to get to... I don't even know where we were trying to go. It was on a street called "Jeruzalémská". Prague has a huge Jewish quarter; I think this may have been on the fringes of it.

The National Museum!

The main staircase in the National Museum! It looks JUST LIKE the opera house in the Disney version of Anastasia.

My favorite building was hands down Saint Vitus Cathedral. Old gothic/Baroque churches make my life, and it was done in BOTH styles because of the gap in construction. Plus (this is completely superficial), I just like to see the church glorified.

I should have been an architect so I could make important looking churches. I have realized this, and am coming to terms with it.

In other (good) news, I FOUND A BLACK HAIR SALON IN LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE ON THE WAY TO CLASS TODAY AND I THINK THEY SELL MY BRAND OF HAIR CARE PRODUCT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME OR MAYBE YOU DO.

Okay. I'm gonna go calm down now.

PRAHA

GUYS. I love Prague. Seriously. I love it. It's cold, and it snowed for 2 days (blegh, says the Southerner), but it's a beautiful place (albeit a little sketchy looking in some parts) and the people are friendly and everything is so impressive! I love it.

First and foremost, I must gush about today. Lately, I've been all grumbly and depressed acting because of the lack of sunlight in Louvain-la-Neuve (it seriously rains EVERYDAY), and today... IT WAS SUNNY IN PRAGUE. We walked out of the hotel and I felt like a kid on Christmas with too many presents. I hope tomorrow is gorgeous as well!

Today, we toured the castle panorama, which is on top of this MONSTROUS mountain/hill. I swear, if I don't have the best legs/bum in America by the time this is over I will eat the large furry hat I bought from a souvenir shop today. There was a church that took 600 years to build, and galleries, and so much grandeur I didn't know what to do with myself!

Y'all know how cheap I am. Seriously. I could get blood out of the metaphorical turnip, which is why I must reiterate that the Czech koruna is worth absolutely nothing. It's fallen 2 ck against the US dollar in the 3 days since we've been here, so I'm in cheap stuff heaven, unlike in Louvain-la-Neuve. Right now, $1 US is worth almost 18 ck. It kills me though, because there's very good stuff in the Czech Republic, but it's not priced accordingly. Food around here, for example, is therefore very cheap: tonight is the first night I've spent more than $7 US on dinner, and that was just because we splurged a bit and went to this nice Italian place we found the other night. I had spicy spaghetti, and it was delicious. Speaking of the food, I'm glad y'all asked about it because I was going to tell you.

I have discovered that I like Czech food. It's got much more of a German influence than I expected it to, what with all the sauerkraut and sausages, but it's also Slavic food, like dumplings and grog (yes, grog) and garlic soup. Garlic soup is supposed to be a big thing around here, or so Karen said, but we only found it at 3 places. We had it today at lunch while we were touring the castle and I liked it. Garlic is one of my favorite things ever, so that was pretty much a guarantee.

The Czech Republic is also famous for its apple strudel, so I tried it. Hated it. Absolutely hated it. To be fair, I knew I would hate it when I ordered it. I don't like cooked fruit; never have, never will, but it's a big deal around here according to Karen, so I thought I'd try it for the cultural experience. THERE WERE RAISINS. I HATE RAISINS. I was honestly grimacing the entire time I was eating it. It was a well made apple strudel, sure, and the drizzling of chocolate sauce helped, but it's just not something I would eat ever again. Ever.

All in all, there's a varied food scene in Prague. Apart from traditional Czech food, there are lots of Italian restaurants and Chinese places, and there's a Parisian cafe down the street from our hotel. There's also KFC and McDonald's. I've actually seen more KFCs than McDonald's, which is very random/odd.

We've been to every souvenir shop in the general vicinity of our hotel, and even some in the Jewish quarter. There are Swarovski crystal shops EVERYWHERE, and nearly every souvenir shop sells crystal and glass figurines. They're very cute, but can get a bit pricey.

I was standing around in the souvenir shop the other night, waiting on either Karen or Annie to finish buying stuff, and one of the shop owners came over and talked to me. He was a nice Arab man, and he must have heard me say something in my funny accent to one of the other girls (we've been running around Prague pretending to be British) and asked me if I spoke French. I answered him, in French of course, and he started asking me other things, also in French. He asked me if I was African, and I said, "No, I'm from America, but I guess that counts as being of African origin, yeah?" We had a laugh over it, and it turns out that he was from Tunisia, where the first in this latest series of Arab uprisings was. We chatted a bit more; he said he assumed I was African because lots of African countries speak French as their official language (which is true). I told him that all of my professors think I'm Haitian (which they seriously do), and we had a laugh over it. When the other girls were finished, we said goodbye. He really was a very nice man.

You guessed it. I'm about to get introspective/political.

I find it much less offensive when people here assume I'm anything other than American. One, they don't run into very many Americans, not as many as other English speaking Europeans anyway, so it's just not the first thing they assume. Also, to be frank, there's not very many black people in Europe, as evidenced by the fact that I can't even find freaking hair grease in Louvain-la-Neuve, and most of the ones that are here came from (gasp) Africa, seeing as it's so close. I guess it seems more like a natural train of thought that when a European (or African/Arab immigrant, as in this case) sees me that they assume I'm African, and not insulting like it is when my American professors (and high school teachers) say to me everyday "Are you Haitian?" or "Is there any French in your family?" No. If they want to get technical, if I can for sure claim any European country as my heritage, it is Germany (hoorah for the Subers out of Clinton!). In America, it just seems like they look at me and go, "Oh, she's ethnic (I hate that word) and can speak another language; obviously she's not a regular black person and that language is in her heritage." It's demeaning to me, and I take it very personally.

I've also taken a bajillion pictures, but you'll have to wait until Sunday to see them. Know why? I'm a complete and total boob and left my camera cable back in Louvain-la-Neuve. Who's brilliant? I am!

Srsly though. Tune in Sunday for a photo dump.

Things I have learned:
1. They do not split tabs in Europe. It is therefore best to carry around bills.
2. Grog is real. It is a drink. No, I did not try it.
3. In the Czech Republic, beer is cheaper than water (surprise)
4. It is the Czech Republic. Not Czechoslovakia.
5. I like sauerkraut.

Les vacances!

First things first: RAFA NADAL LOST TO DAVID FERRER IN THE AUSTRALIA CUP WHAT KIND OF WORLD EVEN IS THIS I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Admittedly, Ferrer is a good player, but REALLY?!! REALLY?!! At least Rafa's been a gentleman about it and isn't whining about his hurt leg. HE'S SO CLASSY. I'm still upset though; I really wanted him to get that 4th title. (I'm sorry, but tennis is my football)

Now, the stuff y'all actually care about! After pretty much a 24 hour journey, I have made it in one piece along with Karen G. and Annie to Prague! We're sort of all zombies right about now, but I'll start from the beginning.

We took the train from Louvain-la-Neuve back to Brussels, only instead of being at the Grande Place we had to get off at the Midi stop, also known as the business part of town. BORING. And we had like 6 hours to kill. It was looking pretty wretched, but we wandered around until we found interesting things!



Impressive, right? You have no idea. But that's not the coolest thing we found. Not by any means. THIS is:

THERE IS A REAL LIVE CASTLE TOWER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY FOR NO REASON DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME I DON'T THINK YOU DO. Seriously, I live for this kind of stuff. Old churches and castles? Sign me up; why is this not 1456. It was just there on the other side of this random park in the middle of the street and I had a small heart attack over it (sort of like the one you just read). We wanted to tour it, but we're going to save that for another day (one where we're not toting backpacks full of junk). BUT THERE WAS EVEN EVIDENCE OF A MOAT. AH.

We flew out of Brussels South Charleroi airport on WizzAir, which is this super cheap Euro airline. It was only an hour and fifteen minutes, AND I DID IT WITHOUT TAKING ANY SEDATIVES THAT IS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. Granted, I was flipping out the whole time, BUT I DID IT. It helped that we stayed awake in the airport all night so I was dead tired and only wanted to pass out, but the point is I did it! I hate planes, guys. Seriously I do.

We're staying at the Hotel Atlantic. It's in a really nifty location pretty much in the center of town near a lot of really important buildings. It's a really cool hotel, and this is probably the biggest Euro hotel room I've ever seen. We didn't do much exploring today because we're zombies, but we did see a few impressive buildings!









Woo pretty things! I have no idea what any of these buildings are except the first one which is something akin the an opera/concert house, but I will find out and tell you.

Things I've learned:
1. Prague is not really full of gypsies. I feel like I've been lied to.
2. The Czech Republic was supposed to switch over to the Euro a year or two ago, but no one really has. Most places still only take the Czech crown, but, unlike Belgium, most places also take American bank cards!
3. Czech money is worth NOTHING. 1 US dollar is 15 Czech crown, and 1 Euro is 25 Czech crown.
4. Czech money is really pretty so I hope they don't get rid of it