Not much has gone on since we got back from Greece but we did come back to the Easter Markets in Old Town Square which were very tempting every time we walked through, and I may have, once or twice or like 20 times, stopped and taken advantage of the good stuff. They had souvenir stalls set up with everything from pictures to paintings to painted eggs to candle holders to lace; pretty much anything you could think of that somehow relates to Prague. But not only did they have souvenirs, they also had food stands. This is where I get into trouble. They had klobasa which is sausage on a baguette, chicken kabobs on baguettes, goulash, chunks of ham, potato pancakes, candy of all varieties, and little donut-looking things that tasted like cinnamon. The food was delicious and made me a bit lazy since I knew I could run out to the square and get a huge sausage on a bun for 2 dollars instead of being patient for pasta to cook. They were only present from March 28th to April 19th though so now the temptation has disappeared, thank goodness.
The removal of the stands has also propelled Renata and me to start exercising so we've gone running four times since Monday and are increasing the amounts of time spent running each visit. And it's no cakewalk to get to the park we've settled on either. It's a gorgeous park, tulips and statues and cafes all over with a gorgeous view of the cityscape of Prague, but... we counted, and you have to climb 239 steps to make it to the top of the plateau where the park is. That's quite a hike. Renata and I consider it our warm-up, along with the walk to the park from our apartment. But it's been good to get out and run and help get me more prepared for summer and build up some of the muscle mass that I've lost since being here.
Also, a little about the Easter traditions of the Czech Republic, they're quite different from our own, and this is all courtesy of the lovely wikipedia so I can't be accused of plaigarism:
"In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a tradition of spanking or whipping is carried out on Easter Monday. In the morning, men spank women with a special handmade whip called a pomlázka (in Czech) or korbáč (in Slovak), or, in eastern Moravia and Slovakia, throw cold water on them. The pomlázka/korbáč consists of eight, twelve or even twenty-four withies (willow rods), is usually from half a meter to two meters long and decorated with coloured ribbons at the end. The spanking normally is not painful or intended to cause suffering. A legend says that women should be spanked in order to keep their health and beauty during whole next year.[52] An additional purpose can be for men to exhibit their attraction to women; unvisited women can even feel offended. Traditionally, the spanked woman gives a coloured egg and sometimes a small amount of money to the man as a sign of her thanks. In some regions the women can get revenge in the afternoon or the following day when they can pour a bucket of cold water on any man. The habit slightly varies across Slovakia and the Czech Republic."
Quite an odd tradition if you ask me, and it doesn't seem like girls get much out of it...
Apart from our exploits of the Easter Markets and beginning to exercise, not much has happened. I can't believe I have a month left... it has gone by so fast! It seems like I got here only a couple of weeks ago, but oh well. Our days recently have been spent at the parks soaking up the sun and reading a book. It's a pretty nice relaxing way to spend the day and freeeeeee =) The parks are so pretty, too. I used to think there was no green in Prague but now we are discovering these places we never knew about and it's gorgeous!
We did take a trip to Cesky Krumlov this past weekend and I'll have a post about that in a couple days once I upload those pictures.
I'll be going to Krakow next weekend with our program, so I'm excited about that. We'll visit Auschwitz and Birkenau which will be intense, but I think it's something you have to see if you go over there. And apparently Krakow is a cool city, so hopefully I'll have some good stories after that.
I'll try to get Cesky Krumlov up soon. Hope y'all have a good weekend! Ciao!
a tree that they brought in and decorated for Easter, a view of Town Hall and the markets, an rabbit obstacle course
the stalls, so tempting!
one of my favorite eats: the chicken kabob, some ham that hooks heavenly, and the sweets that get us into trouble
the donut-like things, a huge wooden egg, a band that graced us with their presence
Kayla likes puppets, I like fishes, and Kayla gives her friend Emily a wooden rose
a display for a souvenir shop, the real tulips in St. Wenceslas Square
the fill you bag with candy stall--quite dangerous, and the markets that are always open
me and the Communist Memorial on Petrin Hill
The views from Petrin Hill, our favorite laying out park
