Friday, May 1, 2009
For those reading...
Photo shoot Time
Our morning began at 10 am at the studio. We tried on our costumes and made any last minute adjustments. A makeup artist met us at school and we got our makeup done by her. We had drawn out ideas and taken ideas from images found online. I think what I envisioned and what she saw in my drawing were two different things because I ended up looking like Mimi from Drew Carey with tons of blue eye shadow, pink blush and pink lips. I guess it matched my 80’s inspired costume but it was still a bit too much. The only part I did like was the flower she drew on my face, which matched the flowers on my top and headpiece.
The photo shoot went well. We took group photos with other characters that went with our character and also individual photos. I didn’t feel like the lighting was that great or that the pictures were going to turn out but they looked better than I thought.
That night after a lovely nap, Jess and I had dinner at Sudicka, my favorite restaurant. We met everyone back at the pension and went out to a 5-story club near the Charles’ Bridge. It was a ton of fun and was really 5 stories. It was my favorite club that we had been to. Jess and I danced with this really small Hispanic or Italian man who was hysterical. He loved to dance and would be funny and serious and do whatever you wanted him to do or whatever he felt like doing. It was a priceless night. I wish there was a video of this crazy little man. And by little, he was very little about 5 feet tall at the most. That was a very fun night.
Second to last week in Praha
Monday- We went on a field trip with literature and studio. I worked on my pattern for my cocktail dress during studio.
Tuesday- I went to the APED fabric store with Keely, Rima and Eleanor. Nina met us there and helped us pick out fabric for our dresses. Jess met us there later and got fabric for her dress as well. That afternoon Jess and I had a picnic in the grassy lawn in front of the clock church near our hotel and finished reading our book that we had a write a paper on for the next day. Luckily I was able to finish the book that afternoon and write the paper that night.
The rest of the week was spent working on our cocktail dresses and finishing our costumes for the photo shoot on Saturday.
Back to the US but for just one of us.
Michael and I hung out until we had to go to the airport. We both tried really hard to act like it wasn’t a big deal but really we both were upset to see his trip over. After leaving Michael at the airport I busied myself with things like the grocery store and studio but didn’t accomplish much.
Even though leaving the airport and heading back without Michael was really hard I saw a few really ridiculous things on the way home. After I got off the metro I first saw a homeless man laid out on the side of the road, practically wrapped around a street sign pole with his klobasa all over him and the road and also with a bucket of sauerkraut spilled all over him and the road. There was a possibility that he was dead considering that it was around 1:30 pm and he was still laid out on the road. I thought about trying to wake him but thought it was in my best interest to not touch him and leave him to someone who spoke Czech and could do something about the situation.
About a block up the road I saw this girl wearing this ridiculous jean jumper posing for pictures in the middle of the sidewalk. Not only was she wearing a terrible jean jumper it had an open back and her black bra was hanging out for everyone to see.
Next occurrence about 10 steps away from the jean jumper girl 2 huge remote control airplanes almost knock me out. First a teenage boy comes out and I have to stop to let his 5-foot long airplane pass in front of me. I think I’m clear of death via remote control airplane when this boy’s dad walks out with another 5-foot long airplane and really does almost knock me out. By this point I was done with ridiculous occurrences, but it wasn’t over.
Next I see a girl with neon-felted hair. Possibly dreadlocks but they looked like crafting felt and were multiple neon colors. It was the most ridiculous hairstyle I had ever seen. Let me note that all of these occurrences happened between the pension and the metro stop. Maybe a 10-minute walk…. It was craziness; I barely knew what was going around me.
Last day in Cesky
Our first stop was the Eggenberg Brewery for a tour. It happened to be that this day the English tour guide was not available and we needed to go to the main square to find a guide. So we went to the main square. Hung out, had some more homemade chips, and some awesome ice cream for10 crowns a scoop! It was great! We went exactly where we were supposed to for the brewery tour at 1:05, we were supposed to be there at 1 pm. They said that the tour guide had just left without anyone to lead. They called him and he came back and gave us a free tour. It was an enjoyable tour and the tour guide was really nice. I said that the brewery reminded me of a fraternity house because there was beer all over the floor and you had to watch your step. Other than that we got an all-inclusive tour plus some and learned a lot about beer and the history of Cesky Krumlov.
After that we had a good lunch at a little deli near our hotel and the brewery. Michael and I have decided that we are going to open up a deli somewhere in the Czech Republic and also design, sell and produce touristy t-shirts that are unique and don’t look trashy. All we wanted was a brewery t-shirt and they were definitely lacking in that department.
Next I really wanted to go canoeing down the river. It was a nice day and seemed like the perfect thing to do in the afternoon before we took our bus back to Prague. But… just like the brewery tour we ran into a few roadblocks. The first place we went to said they weren’t offering boat tours just around town today, the next place said we could do it at 4:30 but we had to get our luggage at 5 from the hotel. So we were going the scrap the whole boat down the river thing. But decided to get our luggage leave it at the boat place and try anyway. It ended up being almost a waste because it took only 20 min to get from where we got in the water to where we stopped… so after all of the organizing times and what not it was almost not worth it. What was worth it was the antique store we stopped in on our way out of town. There were multiple necklaces made with very unique glass beads that I had to have. That put a smile on my face after the ridiculous blown up canoe adventure.
We made it to the bus just in time to grab a snack at the convienent store and get on the bus. Our bus back to Prague was super nice. With an “in-route” video (though in Czech), internet on the bus, how crazy, and other things like an airplane. We got back to Prague late, grabbed a pizza and packed up for Michael to leave on Sunday L.
Friday in Cesky Krumlov
Friday- April 10
We had breakfast in bed. Nothing special, they just deliver breakfast to your room. Breakfast kept coming and coming. First was a plate of cold cuts, cheese and a few veggies. Then a basket of bread, and a basket of yogurt and apples and some snacks. 5 minutes later there is another knock on our door and we get a plate of sunny side up eggs. But they weren’t your normal sunny side up eggs. There were cooked on top of a slice of ham and there was some cheese on top of the eggs. They were delicious!
After our lovely breakfast we headed out to the Castle. We went up inside of the tower and took pictures of the town. Again a beautiful town and beautiful pictures. We wandered through the castle and then through the castle gardens. The gardens were really pretty and looked like they had just been opened and were being worked on some but they were still nice. There were manicured gardens then a path through a woody area, which led to a small pond. It was a nice place to walk through. We spent half the morning wandering through the gardens. As we walked back through the castle Michael got a slushy, which he had been wanting for quite some time, and I got a scoop of gelato.
We went into the main square and there were a few booths of homemade things and then this booth that had homemade chips… Just amazing. That’s all I can say. So good we had them 2 days in a row… After walking around some we went and had lunch at a little place on the river. Just picnic tables next to the water. It was a nice place and yummy lunch. We ate well while in Cesky. Next we went into a little church that was up a little bit from the river. After that we laid around and rested in a near by park.
We had dinner at a very Czech touristy restaurant. The food was good and so was the beer. We had cerny (dark) Eggenberg beer. Eggenberg is actually brewed in Cesky Krumlov. It was a good dinner. We went to the bar next-door for one drink. It had a good atmosphere but wasn’t that exciting. We left there and ran into the traveler’s bar. We got a cheap beer there and hung out for one drink. It was filled with people our age but not really our crowd. We kinda stood out amongst the backpacking crowd. Michael led us to the main square and another bar. There we had becharova, which is Czech liquor that tastes like cinnamon. After you take a drink of it “you feel the angels rise up from your chest” is what Art always used to say. We hung out there for a little bit and danced with the local teenagers. It was overall a good night.
The Adventures of Katelyn and Michael- Cesky Krumlov
I was all packed by the time I went to studio Thursday morning. I had to work on my costume since I was running out of days. Michael met me for lunch and was packed for our trip to Cesky Krumlov as well. We had lunch in Old Town Square with Jess. The Easter Festival had been going on the whole time Michael was visiting so there were food vendors and craft vendors. It was a fun little thing to walk through and get some “fair food” for lunch. Of course we had to have some gelato for dessert. Michael and I wandered around some buying final souvenirs before we headed to the bus station for our adventure to Cesky Krumlov
We made it to the bus station, which was kinda in the middle of nowhere and found where our bus was supposed to be. Luckily I had purchased tickets a head of time because even though it was like a charter bus, people buy tickets and just ride standing up, but if you have a pre-purchased ticket you had an assigned seat. It was a really crowded bus for half of the trip and there was even a girl with her dog on the train. We finally made it to Cesky Krumlov and headed off looking for our hotel. My bag had started to break so my super nice boyfriend carried it for me so the straps didn’t rip off.
It was perfect timing when we got there because the sun was just setting and it made for lovely pictures. We took and few pictures and then walked through town looking for our hotel. Luckily the town is pretty small and it didn’t take more than 20 minutes to get from one side to the other. We finally found our hotel on the opposite side of town from where the bus stop is and got in and settled into our precious little room. It was a nice place and the lady who worked there was really nice.
