Enjoying the wine tasting...
My roommate, Kiera, and me at the wine tasting...
Villa Vino Raca...
Vino, Vino, Vino, Vino!!!!
My friends Quinn and Kiera along with myself at the wine tasting...
Statue in Hustopeče town square...
Pig blood soup...
Pig legs hanging in Hustopeče...
Just so you can get an idea of how large the paintings in Moravsky Krumlov were...
A girl in one of the paintings that I really liked...
A woman and her child in my favorite of the Art Nouveau paintings...
Memorial statue in the Terezín Gestapo Prison...
Entrance to the Terezín Gestapo Prison...
Jewish Memorial in the cemetery in front of the Terezín Gestapo Prison...
Christian Memorial in the cemetery in front of the Terezín Gestapo Prison...
Door to the Christian church on the square in the Terezín concentration camp...
Hidden Synagogue in Terezín...
Lidice Memorial Museum...
Memorial statue for the children of Lidice...
Memorial statue for the children of Lidice...
Okay, so I suppose I should start this post with a gigantic apology for my extended leave of absence... I got consumed with school, leisurely reading (I've finished New Moon and Dear John and just picked up Eclipse today,) Kenny's visit, etc. With all excuses aside, this particular set of weekend trips was not too exciting. I am not trying to be a complainer or anything like that because I am of course extremely lucky to be here, but it was just kind of miserable. (This may also be the reason it took me so long too post... Not wanting to bore you all!) The first trip was to Terezín and Lidice... we got up bright and early on Friday morning and headed to meet everyone else in our program. We had to wait for nearly an hour for our bus to show up outside in the cold. Once the bus finally showed up we were headed for Lidice, which is a very small town, here in the Czech Republic. During WWII, Hitler invaded the town and had it burned to the ground. Nearly all of the male citizens were lined up and shot, the women were sent to an internment camp, and the children were sent to orphanages or Germanized. Many of the children died, so upon liberation women were set free only to find out that their husbands had been murdered and their children were dead. We were able to tour a memorial museum dedicated to the citizens of Lidice; it was very interesting and moving. From this point forward however the day was not so great. Upon arriving to Terezín we walked to a restaurant and had lunch... It was roughly 5° F outside and the ground was covered in snow. After lunch we seemed to be wandering aimlessly through the town. Our instructor was taking us to the most random places that seemed to be extremely insignificant. We were shown the concentration camp which was not what I had imagined at all. It was basically just 4 large buildings on a main square and the people there lived a fairly normal life; aside from the fact that they were sent there after being pulled from their homes. Terezín was the place people wanted to be sent because it was the least horrible camp. After seeing the town we went to the Gestapo prison which was what I had pictured the concentration camp looking like. We went on an hour long tour and it was so freezing I had a hard time paying attention. The conditions for the prisoners were absolutely horrifying. After touring the prison we headed home to Prague...
Saturday morning we met up with the group again and headed to Moravia. Basically, the Czech Republic is divided into two regions, one being Bohemia and the other Moravia. Moravia is farther to the east and considered wine country. We were on the bus for what seemed like eternity. Our first stop was in some extremely small town called Moravsky Krumlov to see these gigantic Art Nouveau paintings. The paintings were amazing, the building that housed them was however not so amazing. The building is not heated in the winter and it is even colder inside than it is outside... we checked a thermometer in the building and it was -1° F... FREEZING. Kendyll and I decided to do jumping jacks and race eachother... kind of childish but it kept the blood flowing. We were then headed for Hustopeče which is a small town in northern Moravia. We were told we were going to a Mardi Gras festival... What a shock it was when we arrived to the the smallest town I have ever seen and there was pig's blood covering the snow lined streets. Apparently we were at a pre-Lent celebration that involved the slaughtering of a pig. There was literally a pool of blood on the main street and by the time we arrived all that was left of the pig was its 2 hind legs. It is also a tradition to make a soup from the pig's blood. Surprisingly, it was very tasty. You all know me, I'll try anything once! We found a small pizzeria that had a bowling alley inside, so we ate some pizza and bowled a game. Afterwards we headed towards our final destination, Němčičky. Had the weather been nicer I am sure the town would have been beautiful, but it was gray and snowy. I kind of just feel like visiting wine country is more of a spring and summer thing than a winter thing. The wine cellar we visited was very quaint. It was a small family owned vineyard. After we were done wine tasting in the cellar we headed upstairs and had dinner and did some more tasting... I am not the biggest fan of wine I realized. It kind of made me sick. The dinner was traditional Czech food, including fried pig fat... Yummy, NOT!!! Pickles are also a big deal here in the Czech Republic and the dinner included them as well... they were delicious and I probably ate 20 (not even exaggerating.) While everyone around me seemed to get extremely drunk... I spent my time building card houses. The next morning we woke up and had a long bus ride home. We were supposed to get in at 13:00 but didn't get back until 16:00. That can only be attributed to our bus driver taking us on a secret shortcut on a dirt road that seemed to follow the highway the whole time. I don't know what he was thinking.
I know the trip doesn't sound that bad, it wasn't really. It was just far too much time spent on a bus and honestly way too cold. On a lighter note... I have finalized my plans for Spring Break--Switzerland and Italy. I have also booked flights to Marrakesh, Morroco; Madrid, Spain; Amsterdam, Netherlands; London, England; and Edinburgh, Scotland. I am getting ready for my field study that is going to take me to Bratislava, Slovakia; Budapest, Hungary; and Vienna, Austria. When the semester concludes in May I am looking into flying from Prague to Barcelona, Spain and staying on the beach for a few days. Then heading to Malta for a week or so... We'll just have to see! I love you all and miss you so much!
XOXO,
Sarah
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