Castles, Birthdays and the World Cup!!
This is the first bit of downtime I've had in a few days so I'll try to play some catch up about my time in Prague. Let me just say that this city is fantastic! :-) I love the pace of the city and even though I fail miserably at the Czech language, the people here are so nice. Much different than Paris, ha! Anyway the last couple of days have been incredibly busy with venue visits and taking in the city. I'll try and catch you up on where we have visited.
On Thursday we went to visit the Prague Castle. The castle looks like it is out of a old storybook, situated way up on top of a hill looking out over the entire city. We met with the Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic which was incredibly cool. The Czech government is so interesting because it is such a new government for them and the Foreign Minister had a lot to say about the innerworkings of the republic and the EU which the Czech Republic just joined a couple of years ago. It was fascinating to be able to speak with such a high ranking government official. After our meeting, we were given a private tour of the castle (which no one else is allowed to do!). We saw all the old offices of officials and beautiful sitting rooms with ornate and priceless decorations. On the day we were there the President was meeting with the Prime Minister so there was a lot of press outside waiting for their arrival, very exciting. It was cool to be in a place with so much history all around. After the venue visit, we went to lunch at what was apparently the oldest pub in Prague so that was cool. After lunch we all rested for a bit and then a group of us went to the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The quarter is filled with old temples (including the oldest synagogue in Europe) and a famous Jewish cemetary. Many Jewish areas in Europe were compeltely destroyed during World War II, but the Jewish ghetto in Prague remains entirely the way it was. Sadly, the reason for its preservation is because Hitler planned to preserve the buildlings and cemetary as a sort of "museum" of what the Jews used to be like after his extermination of them was complete. Now, instead the buildings remain as memorial to the loss of the Holocaust.
The visit to the memorial, the temples and the cemetary was quite moving and kind of put a somber mood on the afternoon. However, once it was dinner time we had all lightened up again. :-) Thursday night none of us really had the energy to go out anywhere crazy because we had gotten up so early and had to be up really early the next day for our meeting with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The meeting with RFE/RL was one of the coolest we have had so far, in my opinion. We met with the President of the company and were able to sit in on the daily editorial meeting where representatives from each of the countries where the radio station is broadcast go over their local news of the day. It was extremely informative and really cool to see the behind-the-scenes aspect of the company. After our venue we had a review session to go over some of the material we've gotten from all of our venues throughout the trip and then...we went out for the start of the WORLD CUP!!!
It has been so insane to be here for the World Cup! The center of town is completely transformed with the addition of a huge screen tv and sausage vendors and beer stands, etc. Our whole group got together to watch the first game (Germany vs Costa Rica) at a pub. The place was completely filled with rowdy men rooting for their teams. It was a crazy experience. So we all chose sides and cheered along with everyone else and learned their songs, etc. It was great. Haha. After the first game we switched a different bar/pub to watch the Poland vs Ecuador game. Also, it is two of the guys on the trips birthday today so we waited until midnight to help them celebrate their 21sts. Lots of fun :-)
Today everyone is pretty tired. We had an amazing brunch at this restaurant called Bohemia Bagel and then pretty much just came back to rest up for tonight (we're going out again for the birthdays). There are more World Cup games tonight and lots of clubs to check out so it should be a fun night. We only have a few more days in Prague which makes me kind of sad but I definitely see myself coming back here sometime soon!
On Thursday we went to visit the Prague Castle. The castle looks like it is out of a old storybook, situated way up on top of a hill looking out over the entire city. We met with the Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic which was incredibly cool. The Czech government is so interesting because it is such a new government for them and the Foreign Minister had a lot to say about the innerworkings of the republic and the EU which the Czech Republic just joined a couple of years ago. It was fascinating to be able to speak with such a high ranking government official. After our meeting, we were given a private tour of the castle (which no one else is allowed to do!). We saw all the old offices of officials and beautiful sitting rooms with ornate and priceless decorations. On the day we were there the President was meeting with the Prime Minister so there was a lot of press outside waiting for their arrival, very exciting. It was cool to be in a place with so much history all around. After the venue visit, we went to lunch at what was apparently the oldest pub in Prague so that was cool. After lunch we all rested for a bit and then a group of us went to the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The quarter is filled with old temples (including the oldest synagogue in Europe) and a famous Jewish cemetary. Many Jewish areas in Europe were compeltely destroyed during World War II, but the Jewish ghetto in Prague remains entirely the way it was. Sadly, the reason for its preservation is because Hitler planned to preserve the buildlings and cemetary as a sort of "museum" of what the Jews used to be like after his extermination of them was complete. Now, instead the buildings remain as memorial to the loss of the Holocaust.
The visit to the memorial, the temples and the cemetary was quite moving and kind of put a somber mood on the afternoon. However, once it was dinner time we had all lightened up again. :-) Thursday night none of us really had the energy to go out anywhere crazy because we had gotten up so early and had to be up really early the next day for our meeting with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The meeting with RFE/RL was one of the coolest we have had so far, in my opinion. We met with the President of the company and were able to sit in on the daily editorial meeting where representatives from each of the countries where the radio station is broadcast go over their local news of the day. It was extremely informative and really cool to see the behind-the-scenes aspect of the company. After our venue we had a review session to go over some of the material we've gotten from all of our venues throughout the trip and then...we went out for the start of the WORLD CUP!!!
It has been so insane to be here for the World Cup! The center of town is completely transformed with the addition of a huge screen tv and sausage vendors and beer stands, etc. Our whole group got together to watch the first game (Germany vs Costa Rica) at a pub. The place was completely filled with rowdy men rooting for their teams. It was a crazy experience. So we all chose sides and cheered along with everyone else and learned their songs, etc. It was great. Haha. After the first game we switched a different bar/pub to watch the Poland vs Ecuador game. Also, it is two of the guys on the trips birthday today so we waited until midnight to help them celebrate their 21sts. Lots of fun :-)
Today everyone is pretty tired. We had an amazing brunch at this restaurant called Bohemia Bagel and then pretty much just came back to rest up for tonight (we're going out again for the birthdays). There are more World Cup games tonight and lots of clubs to check out so it should be a fun night. We only have a few more days in Prague which makes me kind of sad but I definitely see myself coming back here sometime soon!
posted by Carly at 7:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home