Prague

5/29/2006

Today was mostly spent traveling on the Bus to Prague. We all woke up and had breakfast from 7-8 as usual. Then we loaded up the bus and headed toward the Czech Republic. On the way we passed through Dresden. In Dresden we saw a great royal Saxon Palace, the Dresden Opera House, and a beautiful church rebuilt after the bombings in WWII. We had a quick lunch in a little walk in mall, and jumped back on the bus. We then proceeded to the Czech boarder. It took two hours to get us through the boarder because of a bus of Japanese tourists without proper papers. After we passed through we headed to Prague. The Czech Republic country side is amazingly beautiful. Lush hills and mountains with beautiful pristine valleys spotted with little villages and hamlets. Prague itself is quite an old city. Its hard to communicate sense noone knows Czech. We had an excellent welcome dinner with our group leaders and professors, and here we learned about the subway and other necessary information for navigating the city.

5/30/2006

Today we started with an art and a history lecture in the morning. We then went as a group to a restaurant in the basement of an elegant old building in downtown Prague. The meal was excellent. I had roasted pork chops with very sweet sauerkraut and some kind of potato cakes. It was so good! Next Dr. Lewcock took us on a walking tour of the city of Prague. We visited the Charles Bridge which is an old bridge with a huge tower gate house on one side, and lined with statues of saints throughout the rest. Then we walked up to the Prague Castle. Here we visited a great Cathedral within the castle, and went through a museum chronicling the history of the castle since the 9^th century AD. After the walking tour I went back to the hotel to rest for a while, but afterwards we headed out to find a Jazz club we heard about. Unfortunately when we got there it was sold out. So instead we went to a Cuban restaurant and listened some Latin music, and enjoyed some food and drinks.

5/31/2006

Today we started with a music lecture in the morning and then headed to another modern art museum. This museum was very interesting. It had many very interesting pieces. It also had pieces from famous artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso. I really enjoyed this museum. After the museum we visited Terezin. Terezin translates to the “Small Fortress”. It was one of the smaller concentration camps under the Nazi regime. Political prisoners and Jews were taken here for check in, held, and then shipped to other camps. It was a somber tour, but I think its important people realize what happened there. After Terezin we went back to the hotel and rested for a while. We then got dressed up and headed out to see the Opera Carmen. Unfortunately there was a timing mix up and we missed the overture and the first act. The rest of the Opera was amazing! What a wonderful experience. I plan to see more when we get to Vienna. After the concert a group of us stopped at a small bar for drinks on the way back to our hotel. It was a great night.