Zmrzlina and Stalagtites

This weekend, I went with a group of about 20 to the towns of Telc and Brno in Southern Moravia. This was a trip planned and paid for by NYU and turned out to be a really wonderful weekend in the Czech Republic. 

After meeting at Namesti Miru in Prague at 7:30 (!!!), we first headed by bus to the tiny town of Telc. The trip was supposed to take roughly 2.5 hours, but instead took an extra hour, since our bus driver got very, very lost! In any event, it was a good chance to see the "real Czech Republic" via a few typical towns we found ourselves in on our detour. The hour delay caused us to miss our tour at Telc castle, so instead we were able to walk around a bit and grab lunch or zmrzlina (ice cream) before the next scheduled tour. Telc is a beautiful town, consisting pretty much of one large square comprised of small shops and restaurants. The town is so picturesque and quaint that fairy tales are filmed there quite frequently! In any event, a few 

friends and I  decided to go to a pizzeria (it was early and one of the few restaurants open). When we saw the pizzas on the menu, all of them contained "ketchup," which we assumed to be an incorrect translation of "tomato sauce." Wrong assumption. After eating our mushroom/ketchup or ham/ketchup pizzas (not quite as gross as they sound, but still pretty gross), we continued on to Telc Castle, a wonderfully European medieval castle that was every bit as lavish as you would expect!

Next, we boarded the bus for our main destination, Brno. Brno is the 2nd largest city in the Czech Republic, though much of it was bombed in the war, making it much less picturesque than Prague. Brno and Moravia are known for their Burcak, or "young wine," and it just happens to now be prime Burcak season. Once we got to Brno, we immediately saw many Burcak stands set up in the street and got to taste the sweet juice-like drink (which can sneak up on you if you're not careful!). In Brno, we also toured the Spilberk Castle, a prison/fortification at the top of the hill. That evening, we were treated to dinner at what our guides called the "Czech version of Applebee's" - we call it Czechlebee's. At Czechlebee's they have an odd assortment of Americanized food (think buffalo wings and burgers) alongside traditional Czech cuisine (goulash and pork neck). Of course, Czechlebee's is actually a chain restaurant owned by Staropramen, a beer company popular in the Czech Republic!

On day 2 of our Southern Bohemia adventure, we were treated to a tour of Villa Tugendhat, the first house employing modern architectural techniques, most notably functionalism. Built in 1930, the house employs simplistic use of lines and curves. Everything in Villa Tugendhat has a use (nothing was built for aesthetic purposes) - it is also the first house to utilize air conditioning! Tugendhat is a stark contrast from the beautiful architecture we've been seeing in Prague, but it was really cool to see some modern history for a change! In my opinion, Villa Tugendhat has a fantastic aesthetic in its own right. Another interesting fact - Villa Tugendhat is where the document separating Czechoslovakia was signed.

Our final stop was a visit to the Macocha abyss and Punkva caves. I don't recall having ever stood at the top of an abyss before, but it was really awesome (not to mention a bit frightening) to look so far down! After viewing the abyss, we took a cable car down to the cave entrance, where we, along with a group of older Polish tourists (an interesting combo) walked through the caves and eventually boarded a boat - yes, a boat IN the cave! Many in our group likened the boat ride to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney, but MUCH more awesome! It was truly spectacular to be surrounded by such awesome natural wonders and a great way to end the trip.

Our trip was on Friday-Saturday, and today (Sunday) I was able to go to the world-famous Prague zoo! Not as impressive as I was hoping, but I still got to see some pretty cool animals - polar bears, tigers, giraffes, giselles, and more! The porcupine, of course, made me think of my brother Josh. For those of you who don't know the story - when Josh was little and people used to ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would always say "a porcupine!" Now that I've thoroughly embarrassed him, I think it's time for me to get to sleep.... sometimes I forget that I'm actually in school and have classes to attend!