Hump Day- Back to school for a bit

I had to go to studio to work on my costume. Michael went on “secret” adventures on his own. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going. He showed up to meet me for lunch with flowers for me and Jess and all of his souvenir shopping done. I was very impressed. The flowers were beautiful.

That afternoon Michael and I went to Vyserhad since we couldn’t go on Sunday. We went inside the cathedral and this time I took pictures even though I don’t think you were supposed to. We got to walk through the cemetery before it started to rain a little. We hid out inside of an art gallery while it was raining. The rained stopped for a little while so we took more pictures and walked around the castle grounds some. It started raining again and we hid out inside of a tree house in a playground area. It was a perfect spot to get away from the rain. Even with the rain we had a nice visit to Vyserhad.

Michael and I headed back to the pension exhausted and took a little nap. We ended up meeting Jess and Laura-Nelle for dinner at the Crazy Cow. It’s the best place that Jess and I found to have hamburgers. They put crazy toppings on a few of their burgers. It was an enjoyable dinner. Michael and I stayed in Old Town for a little bit and had a drink at a Jazz Club. The cover was a bit steep but we just sat at the bar and didn’t have to pay cover. For one drink it was perfect.

We headed back to the pension and found everyone heading out to Acropolis the club within walking distance. I felt like I hadn’t really taken Michael out so we went out dancing with everyone. They were playing good music that night and we all had a good time. It was fun finally getting to go out with Michael. 

Tuesday- Lets tour Prague

All three of us, Me, Michael and Jess all had a lazy morning. We finally got going and Michael and I went to Bohemian Bagel for brunch. I had to show Michael where we go for free refills on coke and American breakfast.

We met Jess at school and headed to the Charles Bridge and up to the Castle. The Charles Bridge was packed because the weather was finally nice. All of the artists were out and we got to look at all of the neat jewelry and artwork of Prague. We ventured up to the castle. The treacherous journey completely uphill. Of course there is a tram that will take you all the way to the top but we skipped that and walked. We made it up to the castle which also has a great view of Prague. This time we got there with enough time to buy tickets and actually go inside places. We went into St. Vitus cathedral, which is large but almost more impressive from the outside. We also went inside St. George’s Basilica which was a much older church. It didn’t have much decoration but had a few nice details. Next we walked down Golden lane and went inside the tiny houses which have now been turned into shops and a strange torture museum. After that we walked around the castle grounds and out to the gardens. Sadly the gardens were not open. We finally hopped on a tram down to the bottom of Malastrana.

While on the tram there was a little “tram jam”. Three trams got into a jam and none of the trams could move. We were right where we wanted to be so we just hopped off the tram when this happened. Not sure if that’s what we were supposed to do but it worked. We were near the senate gardens and they were open so we ventured inside. We got to see all of the peacocks. The colorful one had its feathers out and spread. Jess got a lot of good pictures, because of course my camera and Michael’s camera died… It was a really nice garden and we wandered around there for a while.

On our way home we stopped by the John Lennon wall. It was not quite what I expected but something worth seeing. It had some interesting graffiti on it but too many people had carelessly written or drawn on top of nice artwork so it looked a little over taken 

We had planned on Crazy Cow for dinner but ended up having Sudicka with Jess and then Lauren met us there for a drink. Our literature teacher was playing with her punk rock band at Lucerna but it was a hefty cover so we ended up not going. We had a nice time at Sudicka and then a few more drinks at the Peach Pit right down the street. 

Monday.. I have to go to school :(

May 6

I went to Literature class like a good student and left Michael to wander around. When he came back an hour later he had walked all over and to places I had never been. I was very impressed with his adventures. We had a good lunch of salad and quiche, my favorite, at Gourmond a French deli near school. I had to go back to studio that afternoon to work on and finish my costume. Michael hung out a little bit and got a feel for what the studio was like. He was there for a eventful day when all of the sudden we were invited to be a part of the Art to Wear pre-show. We had mixed feelings about it due to the short notice.

That afternoon after class we ventured around Old Town. We stopped in this store called Art Deco which had neat vintage things. I got two necklaces that I liked a lot. We then went up the in Astronomical Clock and looked out over the city. It was a really nice day so the city looked really pretty and you could see pretty far. The red roofs shown brightly. After taking in the city we walked to the Dancing Building. I hadn’t seen them yet and it is a Prague landmark. It is right on the water, so we hung out by the water a little bit. We were going to go paddle boating but we also had plans to make dinner with Jess and it was getting late so we skipped out on the paddle boating.

We went to the Albert, the lovely grocery store and picked up what we needed for dinner. Jess and I made Michael our famous spaghetti for dinner. It wasn’t as good as I remembered but it was still really good.  

The adventures of Katelyn and Michael begin

Sunday, April 5

Our first stop on our Adventure was Vyserhad but… we couldn’t get there. There were police everywhere and we had no clue what was going on. Everyway we tried to go to get there was blocked by police. It turns out that Obama was staying near there and also EU conferences are held in a building near the Vyserhad metro stop so it was all blocked off. I was really disappointed but luckily the rest of the day didn’t go like that.

Next we headed to St. Michael’s Fair. I had left the directions at home but remembered where it was from when Aneal showed it to me on a map. We went to the right metro stop and then got on the correct bus. Though Michael didn’t say anything I’m sure he was thinking “Katelyn are you sure you know what you are doing”, especially because I just kept saying maybe its this way maybe this bus will take us there, lets just follow the kids. Haha. Well we made it to the fair and it was just like the NC Fair except the images on the rides and booths were a lot more provocative. It was amusing to walk around and look at “carnies” in Prague and compare them to “carnies” in NC. There wasn’t much difference. We rode one rickety rollercoaster, had a yummy klobasa for lunch and then a delicious waffle with Nutella and banana for dessert. I was in heaven. Michael has a pretty funny picture of me with Nutella and powdered sugar all over my face.

There was a really pretty park next to the Fair so we walked around the park some. We ventured into the nearby neighbor and wandered some more. We stopped into a little cemetery and it was a typical Czech cemetery with over grown graves and just beautiful and calming. I was glad I could show Michael this because the overgrown cemeteries are one of my favorite things in Prague.

We then saw a sign for the zoo and knew that was our next stop. At first we thought we could walk to the zoo from where we were because the signs seemed to say that but we were mistaken. We took a tram back to the metro where we say a bus that said ZOO. We hopped on and it took us right to the zoo. We spent about 3 hours walking around the largest zoo on earth. It was huge and we saw lots of animals. Though we saw tons of animals apparently we missed out on exciting things like hippos, a bat cave, baby giraffes, etc. These were all things that other people saw and told us about when they went to the zoo. We still saw cool things though and had a nice afternoon.

After the zoo we went home exhausted. We didn’t go too far for dinner, just up two trams stop and had dinner at this place called Pizza Dali. It was yummy and cheap and we got a lot of food.  That night we had a chill night just hanging out at the pension. 

Saturday- Michael ARRIVES!

April 4 

Another eventful day. Keely and I went to do laundry. I needed clean clothes to look cute for my boyfriend. Ha Well, at the laundry mat Keely and I were going to use my “detergent” which was not laundry soap, but fabric softener. I was wondering why it hadn’t been lathering up when I was washing clothes by hand. That’s what I get for a language barrier. At least my clothes were soft. Hahahaha

I laid out some early afternoon because it was a beautiful day outside. I worked on my costume outside and read some of my book for literature. Then I cleaned up and headed to the airport to get MICHAEL! YAY!

Of course Michael was coming on the same day as Obama… It didn’t cause any delays at the airport, which was good, but I think it was the reason for Michael’s 5-hour lay over in Frankfurt Germany. I think that I may have seen Air Force One while on the bus going to get Michael. Who knows maybe not, but if so it was cool. 

After waiting FOREVER he finally shows up. Who ever new waiting at the Prague airport would be such a restless event? There were a few guys in the same boat as me and we were all pacing back and forth and kept changing places where we were standing. It was funny. Once I finally got my dear one I tossed him into my Prague life immediately. We took the bus and the metro to get home. No taxi, sorry I’m a cheapo and the metro is a TON cheaper.

We met some people for dinner at Ordinary people, but ended up eating on our own. We had a nice dinner and it was a perfect start to Michael’s visit. 

Friday Bee Keeping Field Trip

April 3

Though I’m not in the Bee Keeping class I went on the field trip anyway. It was out in the country, which was refreshing to go out there and get away from the city. It was a gorgeous day and the place we went was really pretty and fresh, right on the river. We took a train there and then had to take a ferry across the river. The ferry was really funny. It was run by one man, just a small little metal boat that fit about 10-15 people. The “captain” would motor across half of the river then cut off the motor and drift to shore which he would ram the boat into and run up and wrap a chain around a pole so the boat would stay on shore. It was very amusing to watch all of this take place.

Once across the river we met Dalibor, the bee-keeping teacher. He showed us his beehives and talked some about bees. Then he took the bees out of the hive. We got to hold to comb with the bees on it and then got to even “pet” the bees. It was an interesting field trip. He then took us to the Bee Institute where he works and where research is done. We all had lunch and the Dalibor showed us all around. We saw the laboratories and got to have a honey tasting. Each different type of honey tasted very different from the one before it. My favorite might have been the creamed honey, which is a less messy consistency and can be spread on bread. It was good. We also went down into the cellar and saw where mead was made. I didn’t like what it tasted like though. It was too strong for me.

After touring the institute Andrew and I climbed trees and took silly pictures. We all laid in the grass for about 30 minutes before the ferry would take us across the river. It was gorgeous weather that day. We missed the first train back to Prague but caught the next one 20 minutes later. It was a good day.

Once we returned to Prague, I attempted to find the bus station to buy ticket for Michael and I to go to Cesky Krumlov. Of course I was unsuccessful finding the bus ticket the first time and then by the second try I found the station, but bought the WRONG tickets. I didn’t realize this till I was back at school at which point I had to turn around and go back and get the correct tickets. It was quite an excursion. Whooo what a day. 

Week before Michael come to Praha!

Tuesday Jess and I went to APED a fabric store near our pension and got the rest of the fabric we needed for our costume. It was good and I finally became motivated to work on and finish my costume. We both had all kinds of ideas in place but it was difficult finding the materials we pictured especially because we aren’t familiar with all the stores and such and there isn’t such thing as a JoAnn’s. But the APED fabric store is HUGE and AWESOME and AMAZING and has everything you could ever ask for. Wish we had something like that near Raleigh.

Thursday was a very productive day costume wise. Also we began putting together ideas for our cocktail dress since of course we are all running out of time. That afternoon a big group left for Amsterdam. It felt really empty in the studio.

David, one of the landscape student’s mom and sister were in town. David invited us to dinner with them. We all went to Sudicka, my favorite restaurant of all time. At the end of the meal David’s mom paid for everything which was really nice. His mom and sister were really nice and cute and reminded me of home. It was nice to hear a familiar southern accent.

That night I went out with Jeremy, Lorna, Ben, Bryan, and Andrew. We went to Andrew’s friend’s apartment which is directly across the street from our pension. It was a fun night. The other people there weren’t that interested in talking to us but we created our own party and had our own fun. It was a lot like a party at home which was fun.