Greetings Readers! Since I tend to fall behind on my updates, I had to make sure I wrote about my wonderful Thanksgiving weekend before leaving for Berlin. That's right! My final trip of the semester will begin tomorrow morning bright and early, as Alex and I take the train to meet Annemarie in Berlin for the weekend. I am very excited, and am sure that I will have a lot to share when I get back!
But more importantly, back to a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. Annemarie and I were so thrilled to be able to spend Thanksgiving together so far from home. It was very strange to be away from home for the first time on Thanksgiving, but it was nice to see a little slice of home (in the form of Annemarie of course!). She arrived on Wednesday while I was in class/napping, and did a little exploring before we met for dinner. After I went back to the dorm to grab some stuff, we had a long night of girl talk and catching up - something we are pros at.
On Thursday morning, we grabbed some delicious coffee at one of my favorite little cafes near school, and then walked across the river to the castle. The square behind St. Vitus even had a Christmas tree! It was oh so festive.
Then we went to one of my favorite little restaurants for lunch, and Annemarie was so infatuated with the decor that I'm not sure she even noticed the food! Hehe. After lunch, we walked a short way to the John Lennon Peace Wall where I jumped for JOY!
It was such a beautiful day that we didn't even touch the public transportation system, and we continued to walk around the city. After visiting the wall, we walked through Mala Strana and back across the Charles Bridge to Old Town. This is beautiful Annemarie on the bridge with the gorgeous Prague Castle in the background!
For Thanksgiving dinner, our program reserved seat at the Marriot Hotel here in Prague. Everyone dressed up and looked very fancy indeed. Most of the Czechs don't even know what Thanksgiving is, so we were glad to have our own little enclave of Americans to eat with. They had a delicious spread of food and desserts. Only two things missing in my book - green beans and mashed potatoes! I couldn't believe it! But the food we did have was very good, and we even got to have some pumpkin pie! Yummmm. This is my plate for the evening!
I was really diggin' the turkey. It was delicious!
Haha, Annemarie also enjoyed the festive centerpiece - complete with leaves and gourds!
On Friday, we began the day by visiting the Jewish Quarter. Although it is one of the more expensive entry fees in the city, I promised Annemarie it would be worth the price of admission. We went into Pinkas Synagogue, the Old Cemetery, and the Spanish synagogue as well. I even told Annemarie some of the legends and ghost stories I learned about while we were walking through the cemetery. Then we lunched at one of my most favorite places, Bohemia Bagel, before setting out to the Alfons Mucha Museum. I went to this museum once before with Alex, and I knew I had to take Annemarie back there! Mucha is a Czech Art Nouveau artist, but he spent a lot of his professional life in Paris. What a nice little connection between our two cities! It's a very small and interesting museum, so we both really enjoyed it. Plus I am writing a paper on Mucha's art for one of my classes, henceforth doing some research at the same time! After the museum, we went up Petrin Hill to the Viewing Tower (think mini-Eiffel Tower) for the wonderful views of the city. Annemarie has a much better picture of us on the tower, but here is mine - with the beautiful city in the background!
We were famished after a busy day, and met up with Alex and her younger sister (also visiting for Thanksgiving) for a traditional Czech meal of goulash and beer - Pilsner of course. That evening was also the official start of the Christmas markets, and we wandered and ate our way through the beautifully lit up square after dinner.
Annemarie tried one of my favorite treat - a trdlenik! I have no idea how to properly pronounce it, but it sure is yummy!
Annemarie's final day in Prague was fairly low-key, because we had done all of the tourist attractions I had planned for us. In the morning, we joined Alex and her sister for brunch at The Globe and ate delicious crepes and eggs and orange juice. We settled in for a little caffeine fix at Costa Coffee and then met up with Alex, her sister, and our two suite mates to go see a movie. I know what you're thinking... "A movie? In Prague? Why?" Well I'll tell you! Because they released the newest Twilight movie "New Moon" on Thanksgiving!!! And being across the world could not stop us from getting our Twilight fix! It was a much better movie than the first one - as in, I only burst out laughing at inappropriate moments once or twice. And thank goodness someone finally got Kristen Stewart an acting class and Robert Pattinson a dialect coach. Anyway, we loved the movie and had a great little girls outing! That night, I took Annemarie to my favorite restaurant in Prague called "Lekha Hlava," which translated to "Clear Head" in English. It is a vegetarian restaurant with a great atmosphere and amazing food. It was a wonderful way to end a wonderful weekend!
Annemarie left early the next morning, which probably would have been much more upsetting if she wasn't going to be with us in Berlin this weekend! Haha. Speaking of which... I should probably get to bed so I don't miss the train. Much love to all my readers. I'm so thankful for all of you!
This is Julia Miller reporting for The Blague!
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