Cesky Krumlov...aka the Dirty K

So this weekend our entire group took a trip to Cesky Krumlov, a small town about three hours outside of Praha proper. The town is pretty picturesque and is home to a huge castle and lots of tourist-y type attractions.

We drove there on a big bus, pretty uneventful, lots of sleeping as we had to wake up at about 7AM (always a bummer). When we got there we immediately checked into our pensions (small, bed and breakfast type hotels, except unlike the B&Bs in New England, these buildings are older than our country) and got lunch. Then we took a long (long, long) tour of the castle and the village, which would have been amazing, save for the fact that it was snowing. Really, really snowing. And because our program is so amazing we got to take a private tour of the castle, when normally the castle isn't open in the winter. It isn't open because its cold. Very f-ing cold.

Regardless, the tour was really interesting, when I wasn't thinking about how, if I were inclined, I might break off a toe and eat it as a popsicle (should have worn those boots, Mom). The castle holds one of the only intact Baroque theaters in Europe, complete with costumes and sets and everything. Very neat. We then headed to a cozy coffee shop for a lecture about the town by our Floridian tour guide (ha!).

After the tour a few of us went to a really strange underground dungeon restaurant for (expensive) beer and then headed over to the official dinner which was (surprise, surprise) at a beer hall. The dinner was AMAZING, the food might have been the best I've had so far. Then after our mandatory and free beer, a gypsy band played for us and we all danced and drank until midnight when everybody promptly went back to the pensions and fell asleep, maybe the earliest I've been to bed since I've been here. The dancing, debauchery was quite fun because our program directors were dancing and drinking with the best of us, pretty hilarious. Also, there are two 50+ year old women on our trip who mayyyy have made out with our tour guide (hence, the Dirty K). Regardless, one of the best nights I've had so far. The picture is of all my roommates, not a great one of me, but cute of them...

The next day we had about 6 hours free to wander the city, so a few of us checked out the local church, which was beautiful, and went to the Fairytale Museum aka creepy puppets museum. Very cool, very creepy. Then we went and had some pastries that we followed up with a HUGE Czech lunch. I think I've never been so full, particularly because I had a HUGE HUGE HUGE chicken steak covered in ham and cheese and creamy broccoli (see picture below). Phew! Then, alas, we left the Dirty K to return to Praha. Extremely fun trip that I probably wouldn't have gone on without the guidance of the program.

On an unrelated note, yesterday I went to a HUGE ska show with my Czech roommate, Petr, and a few of his friends. It was really, really fun, and just like ska shows in America except the band was Spanish, so...they spoke Spanish. I wasn't the only one who didn't understand them, though, as when they asked "Are there any American Latinos in the house?" the whole stadium cheered. Definitely some anti-American sentiment, as they're a pretty leftist band. One song was all about how they didn't like President Bush, and I was like "time to take that one out of the line-up, guys." Even though I was a little afraid to reveal my nationality, the show was a great time...Check out Ska P below...