Mom and Dad took it easy on Monday while I worked on studio stuff and went to class. Tuesday we did the Castle walk and I wore them out pretty good. We started the day at Bohemian Bagel- of course and then took the tram to the castle. I have been saving a few new things for me each time that people come and visit so when I went to the Cathedral inside of the castle (for the 5th time) we paid to go beyond the entrance lobby. It was better then I expected. There was a pamphlet that gave information on important relics and alters and also a staircase that took you under the cathedral to where kings and the royal family were buried.
We also went to Le Perle de Prague. It is a very nice restaurant in the top floor of the dancing house, a famous modern building in Prague. The food was so good and it was really cool to be able to be inside of the Frank Gehry building. The light fixture reminded me of the Harry Potter movie when Harry is flying after the keys with wings.
Wednesday I have class ALL DAY LONG- which wouldn’t be a problem if I was at K-State, but compared to my other days here in Prague it’s a rough day, I have 4 classes back to back between 8:45 and 3:30. Anyway, mom and dad had to entertain themselves during the day, and the US country presentation was that night so we went out for a late dinner in a restaurant I call the “neighborhood pub”. They have the best chicken meal I have found here.
Every Wednesday a different group of students from each country give a presentation about the country they are from; last week was the US turn. Our presentation went really well, we made a video of a road trip through America stopping in cities along the way and showing photos of what the city was known for while playing music about the city. I would say our presentation was the best so far- but I’m not biases.
Friday we got up early and took a train to Českĕ Krumlov. It was the most uncomfortable train yet. Usually in a cabin there are 3 seats on each side, so 6 people in each cabin well this train had 8 people in each cabin. It was crowded and smelly- people really need to shower more.
Cesky Krumlov is a cute little town. We stayed in a really nice apartment/hotel that was actually apart of one of the courtyards of the castle and not far from the town center. I had a room all to my self on the other end of the apartment and the bathroom was as big as my dorm room here in Prague.
We went to a jazz club that was really nice. There was a group playing named Work in Progress. And on Saturday night we went to mass at the Catholic Cathedral for Easter Vigil. It was huge and freezing, we had to stop on the way home to get hot chocolate so we could thaw out before bed.
Dad brought his old SLR film camera that he bought about 25 years ago. I am taking a photography class and our teacher wanted us to learn on a “real” camera as he calls it. So dad taught me how to use the camera and I just got my first roll of film developed today!! I feel like a professional with all of my gear on.
Sunday we got back on the train and luckily it was not as crowded. We stopped in Českĕ Budĕjovice and tried to take a tour of the (original) Budweiser Brewery but it didn’t work out and we ended up having a really good meal at their restaurant.
I took mom and dad to the airport on Monday morning- really early Monday morning. And then spent the rest of the day and Tuesday recovering from my two weeks of being a personal tour guide- I was pooped, but I had a great time.
Saturday we got up and started the day at the Schonbrunn Palace. It is really beautiful; it was the summer Palace of the Hapsburgs, only 4 miles from the winter palace in the city center. Next we did St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and lunch. Then we saw the Hofburg Palace (the winter palace) in the city center, but since we had already seen the Schonbrunn we did not tour the apartments. We did see the Treasury which contained some really amazing jewels and priceless historical artifacts. 
The group broke up at this point (mostly because we don’t all like horses, and people were getting cranky) and I went to go see the well known Opera House. But it was closed, I was an hour late. So I decided to walk around the city and see some of the architecture sites we studied in history class. The photo below is the Austrian Post Office Savings Bank one of the first buildings to use this much day light. There is an exhibit of architecture in the lobby, but I only got a few photos in before they closed the building and kicked me out. 
Sunday was museum day, Brittany and I started at the Modern Museum of Art, a really nice building with good art in it. Their collection has a good deal of architecture and the traveling exhibit was very interesting, very BLUE. The artist started painting blue on canvas, just blue, a royal aqua marine BLUE. And he then moved to adding dimension with sponges all with out using brushes. The next phase of his work was paint people and using them to get art on the canvas.
Next I went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1450-1650 art. A very nice collection of Bruegel, Van Eyck, Rubens, and Rembrant. I skiped most of the other art in the building, it was HUGE so that I could get to the Opera House for my 3:00 tour.
The opera house was built in the mid 1800’s but mostly distorted during WWII. The central part of the opera house is original but the outside has been restored. The opera shows a new opera every night in order to allow the singers to rest their voices and give their best performance. However, they have to have two crews of workers to take the set down from the night before and then put up another stage for tonight’s performance. It doesn’t seem worth all the effort, and the expensive tickets are sold out every night, but the opera is still not making any money. At least the tours are not too pricy.
Photography class has been interesting; dad gave me his SLR camera that is as old as Abi to learn how to use a “real camera” as my teacher calls it. The photos I have been showing you are a part of that class. This is one of my favorites.
In my art and architecture class I have been working on a watercolor of the image below. Next I am going to use color pastels and then do a charcoal drawing and step by step make it more abstract.
I call Creative Components and Detailing in Architecture = Doodling because that’s what we do during class. Usually people doodle when the teacher is boring, but in this case he talks for and hour (without stopping) and we doodle. I wasn’t loving this class until last week when he actually liked some of my doodles. I usually don’t doodle so it has been hard for me to start. Below is one that for some reason he liked, I’m not sure why. We draw it all by hand but I put this one on the computer. We have to turn in 3 doodles, one can be purely a design but the others are suppose to be a stained glass window, a heating grate or something real.
For History of Architecture we go on a lot of field trips to historic places in Prague. At the end of the semester I have to write a paper about how Italy is in Prague. When Prague was at it’s peak the people in charge brought Italian artist and builders to Prague to design important places. These places have been left the way they were because right after the peak of Prague’s history a sharp decline came and no one wanted to finance an expensive change to the buildings. Things have changed some since the tourist boom in the late 90’s. Here is a church that experienced this peak- it was beautiful.
In Czech Culture and Czech Language I am learning a little about Czech people and why they are the way they are and also how to say little things like “Dobry den, anglicky, prosim?” “Good day, (can we talk in) English, please?”
The point of visiting Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, was to see the Villa Tugenhut. It is a very well know piece of architecture from the 1920’s designed by one of my favorite architects, Mies van der Rohe. The house was beautiful. It is modern architecture and on paper just looks like a few lines, but in person it’s amazing. Mies was known for his clean lines and details so I was sure to take photos of details so I could figure out how to incorporate some of his designs into my projects. There was an amazing glass wall with huge pieces of glass. Two of the 5 windows lowered into the floor, almost like a car window. It was so cool I took a video.
After the tour, we had lunch and saw some of the sites of the city before stopping for a hot chocolate. Brittany and I have wanted sandals that we can easily walk around town in and went into one store and found them! On sale!! In my size (10) and Brittany’s (6)!!! We found amazing since they are both hard to find sizes. YAY for new shoes!
One of the things I wasn’t able to do the last time I was in Germany was take an ICE train, it’s more aerodynamic and goes faster then other trains. It’s so cool. The second class seats are like 1st class airplane seats. Ohh I miss it- the trains in the Czech Republic are nowhere near as nice. 
Friday the four of us saw everything we could of Berlin. Erin flew home from Berlin on Saturday so we had to see what we could. There is a public bus that goes pass the main tourist attractions, which is really nice. There is some really nice architecture in Berlin. I got to see some great examples of modern architecture from the 1920’s and from today. 
