Olomouc and Berlin....

Dobry Den! Sorry I haven't been good about updating...too much traveling (and studying, of course) to have a chance to catch my breath!

Last weekend we made a trip to Olomouc, a small town in Moravia about 2 and a half hours from Prague. I missed the train my friends were on, so ended up on the next train by myself, which should have been fine....except it broke down in the middle of nowhere and I had to hike to the next station and catch another train! As soon as I left Prague the percentage of English-speaking Czechs dropped dramatically, so finding my way around was a bit of a hassle! I somehow managed to make it to the town, meet up with friends at the hostel, and had a lovely dinner at an awesome restaurant (for four dollars :) ) The next day we did some sightseeing...saw a couple of cathedrals, museums, and the Communmist created clocktower--celebrating the proletariat workers every day at noon--before heading back to Prague. It was a nice break from the busy city!

This past weekend was our school overnight trip to Berlin, and I have to say that I am glad to be back in Prague! German cities are so large and impersonal compared to the other European cities I have visited, and the people are far less friendly and willing to help out lost tourists. We did a great walking tour of the city on Friday and then visited the Jewish history museum on Saturday. I also went to a good modern art museum and this very cool archeology museum where they had reconstructed the ruins of ancient Greek, Roman, and Babylonian cities. Sunday we stopped in Potsdam on our way home to visit the site of the famous Potsdam conferences from the end of World War II. It was a very pretty ride home through the German and Czech countryside and a relief to get back to our apartment late Sunday evening :)

This week has been midterms and entertaining visiting friends. I don't think I have mentioned that I have a very cool "class" that is basically a walking tour around Prague once a week with Czech grad students. We have discovered some very interested, unknown sites of the city through this class--for example, a hidden network of tunnels under the city used for "modern satanic worship." I also have done some exploring on the other side of the river, in Mala Strana, around the castle and old fortresses. The views of Prague are really extraordinary, but elusive, and I continue my quest to catch them on film.

I leave for London to visit my Columbia roommate Paige and other friends from school, but I will try to put up pictures before then! I have also booked spring break tickets and will be visiting Rome, Venice, and Barcelona April 10th-April 20th. Getting back to real life in September is going to be a struggle after this!

na schledanou!