Birthday Time!!

Yay!! Im 17 now!! Time for the full story....

Last Friday, I took the bus to Prague, where I met a friend of my host mom. Martina has a 5 year old son and a 16 year old daughter, and in March suggested that we get together some time. We planned a visit that just happened to be over my bday. The family lives in a suburb of Prague about 30 minutes away from the center by train. I settled in on Friday night, and on Saturday we had our first excursion. Martina, her son Tomas, and I went to a chateau right outside Prague, in the little town where Antonin Dvorak was born. There, we toured the chateau and the museum in Dvorak's childhood home. The daughter, Miroslava (Blecha for short) returned home from a class trip to Germany in the afternoon, and I met some of her friends . On Sunday, we the 4 of us went to Karlstejn for the day. It is the most famous castle in the country, and I stil hadn't seen it... The tour was really interesting, and filled with history. Once again, pretty much everything was older than the U.S.A.. I love that!! Monday (Birthday!!), Blecha and I went to the city center by ourselves and explored some places that I hadn't seen yet. First we went to a hill near the castle, where we climbed the "Czech Eiffel Tower", and went to a mirror maze. Then was snack at the best (and only) bagel chain in the country. On the way there, we saw a man break into a parked van, steal the GPS unit, and run. Note to readers: if ever in Prague, DO NOT rent a car. Our next stop was the wax museum. There were old world leaders and entertainers, but my favorite part was the group of famous Czechs. Its not every day that Kafka, Smetana, Dvorak, and Charles IIII are in the same room. Then, we went to Blecha's school for an hour. (English class, of course :) ). In the evening, the family was super kind and cooked a special birthday meal of curry rice, with mojito ice cream for dessert. Tuesday, Blecha and I had a quiet morning on the computer, watching t.v., etc. After lunch, we went to a carnival that was temporarily in town. I loved the rides, given that I hadn't had any real ride-induced adrenaline rushes in a long time. Yep, Im a roller coaster junkie. Wednesday, we took Tomas to the zoo for the day. Its really a great zoo, though the weather was a little cool. On Thursday, it was another quiet morning of packing and entertaining Tomas as we waited for our ride back to Trutnov. I was certainly happy to be back in my host house, and ready to stay there for a bit.