praha

i'm sorry to have left everyone in the dark for the past week - my little routine of morning blogging was interrupted on wednesday with a rushed morning, a whirlwind of sightseeing (including nordvijk, an art program for physically and mentally disabled adults in leiden, the apple orchard where leon works, and lunch somewhere in between). then i hopped on an afternoon train to come to nijmegen, the first of many legs of travel on my prague adventures. here's a quick rundown:

thursday: early morning drive across the border to catch a german train, somehow manage a train transfer all in german, arrive in frankfurt and meet up with marte, a dear friend, kindred spirit, and erstwhile traveling companion. walk for a bit around frankfurt and do the necessary catching up before boarding a bus to the hahn airport, two hours outside of frankfurt. catch a plane, land in prague, catch a bus, metro, and tram. arrive at our host's flat, chit-chat until 1 am, and sleep.

friday: walking tour of prague. we hit up an awesome free walking tour/stand up comedy show hosted by the ever-entertaining isaac from (in his words) a small village north of mexico known to some people as los angeles. gotta love it. somehow manage to see all the major sights in the old town in the midst of freezing temperatures and drizzly rain. honestly, some parts were completely blurred out by the pressing realization that i could no longer feel my toes and the constant contemplation of the feasibility of buying a winter coat from h&m. still we survived and warmed up over a delicious meal in a quaint cellar restaurant serving up a delicious czech beer. funny story about that later.

saturday: the rain seemed to hold off, so in the morning we headed up to the castle complex on the east side of the vltava river that overlooks the old town. a recommendation from a local on the tram directed us to a little pocket park with an amazing view of both the castle and the old city. (look for pictures once i'm stateside). we wandered around the castle, heard the 27 loreto bells, and ate our sandwiches on a park bench while discussing the communion of saints. awesome. in the afternoon we trekked over to the old town again and decided to splurge on some ballet tickets for swan lake. when in prague, right? we ended the day at a really wonderful little cafe recommended to us by our ever-hospitable host, kate. soup, original pilsner, and a shared piece of seasonal pear cake was just what the doctor ordered to banish the autumn chill.

sunday: mass in st. james' church in the old town followed by a cup of hot chocolate at a nearby cafe. marte opted for mulled wine which was also delicious. then as the sun broke through the clouds, we chose to wander for a while and soak up the art nouveau architecture of the old town center. heading over to the jewish quarter, we spent some serious time of contemplation at the memorial to the czechoslovak jews who died in the concentration camps of wwii and the children of terezin ghetto whose drawings survive today. more about that later, too. we took a quick respite from the cold in a truly unique teahouse (also more to come), before heading off to the ballet!

monday: last day in prague. we hit up the vycherad cemetery and church, the john lennon graffiti wall, and the remaining synagogues in the jewish quarter before meeting up with kate for a drink at the same awesome cafe which was conveniently near her work. our last few hours were spent chatting about our various lives, hopes, dreams, and the laughter of strangers-cum-friends. picked up our bags from her office and then repeated traveling process in reverse to bring me to nijmegen at four minutes past 8 this morning.

so, so much more to say, but a museum here in nijmegen is calling (or maybe it's just Oom Ad's voice downstairs...)