PRAGUE....YOU GOTTA CZECH IT OUT!

Ok, I know....that was a bit cheesy, but I swear I saw 5 billion t-shirts with that phrase printed on them. For those of you living in Europe, Prague is definitely worth the Easyjet trip. It was extremely beautiful and romantic....and easy to cover in 2 days:)

We arrived on Friday, but to a unusual landing. We were descending, not far from the ground, when all of a sudden the pilot revs up the engines and pulls us back up into the air. There was another plane blocking the runway, so we had to circle around once more before landing. But it was just the weirdest feeling to be going down, then suddenly upwards....at least it was not due to some major problem...


The next 3 1/2 hours were by far the most challenging! First of all, Czech people are not very friendly....they don't smile that much, or at all, and have rough personalities. So that took some adjustment...but what I got really pissed about was the fact that when I asked this lady for help at the airport, she gave me directions that led us OUT of the city. Why on earth would tourists be staying at a hotel located nowhere near the city?! That would've been my first question to myself if I was this lady! She was also kind enough to keep my paper with all the hotel details...which would have been extremely useful later on! So, we tackle the heat and humidity to search for the buses she told us to take....we find our way, only to realize that the 2nd bus we've gotten on is going away from the city. We get off at the stop she said to, only to be completely lost. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal. But it was after 1 pm, and I was starving! Heat and hunger are not a good combination!

So, there we are...stranded in the middle of nowhere, but next to a football stadium. NO ONE speaks English!!!!! The whole time we were there we could not understand why more people did not speak at least English....Prague has become such a big tourist destination, so it would seem more likely to find someone who speaks at least a little. But, NO...they don't. So,we asked for directions and did not understand one word they were telling us. Which didn't matter, since no one knew what we were talking about! We kept walking and walking, when finally we stopped to call someone in Geneva who would be in front of a computer. Our helpers were unable to find the hotel on the internet, and I did not have enough credit on my phone to call again. Fortunately, Alejandro found this guy who was able to mime his way through the directions and we were on our way back to the city. He also gave us a printout of a map, which would come in handy later on.
Finally, around 3 pm, we arrive in the city center of Prague!! I was FLIPPIN starving, and growing more and more irritable by the moment. Again, we asked a jillion more people where to go....still no English. 30 minutes later we find some people who can at least point us in the right direction, and we arrive at 3.30. Moral of this story: TAKE A TAXI FROM THE AIRPORT!!!

So, because of all that crap, I was exhausted and starving. We ate at KFC simply because I did not feel like looking for a nice little restuarant....I just wanted food in my stomach! ('Get in my belly' from Austin Powers is stuck in my head now!) As we sat there devouring our food, a massive storm blows through...so we stayed there til it was over and then decided that we needed a nap. We did not care that we were there to see the city! We decided that everything could be seen in one day! So, after our nap, we went to eat...again...at this really great restaurant called Louis Armstrong. It was, of course, jazz themed and the food was excellent. They had classic jazz songs playing the whole evening, which added something extra to the restaurant.

The next day was an extremely LONG day! We started from Prague Castle, which they say is the largest castle in the world. I don't know if that's true, but it was pretty big.

Then we walked down to Charles Bridge, where they had some amazing statues...

We continued to the Old Town, where we saw the Astronomical Clock, Tyn Church, and Charles Church. We pretty much stuck around this area for the rest of the day since it was so beautiful. We got tickets to a music concert held in Charles Church, which was really great. There was a organist and violinist playing music from Bach, Vivaldi, and a couple others....

We stopped by this Museum of Torture, and I realized that there are some extremely sick people out there that can come up with some twisted, psychotic ways of torturing people. Some of the instruments we saw are still being used today in some countries! Hard to believe that that kind of barbarism still exists hundreds of years later...I left feeling slightly ill, but it was very interesting!

Then we walked around some more and waited for our tour at 8.30 pm...The Ghost Trail...oooooohhhhhhh. I laughed so hard during this thing that by the time it was over my cheeks were in pain! The lady was hilarious! It was quite obvious to us that Prague does not really have ghosts (well, not like they do in Great Britain!) so this tour company must have invented stories....and the way the lady spoke was just too much. I wish I could've filmed the entire thing, but I only got the last 'ghost story' which was not the funniest part of the whole thing. Even though it was not the SLIGHTEST bit scary, we both enjoyed it a lot.

Then we just walked around the town for a bit before heading back to the hotel...all in all, it was a great trip and a great city. I definitely recommend it....but just prepare yourself mentally for the lack of English spoken:)

So, I guess that will be all the traveling I do until either I decide if I want to go to Slovakia to play in a softball tournament, or until my birthday in September...we're thinking of going to Amsterdam. But, either way, it will be a long summer of work with no vacations in sight:( Back to reality....

WORLD'S LONGEST UPDATE

Hello everyone! Long time, no update:) Well, be prepared for the world's longest blog update! I have seen and done so much within the last 10 days that it will be impossible to keep this short.


Soooo, without further ado, let's start with day 1:
Kim and Lee arrive on the same flight from N.J. and do their best to stay awake as long as they can. They finally succumb to their fatigue around 11 am and I let them sleep until 2 pm. Since I couldn't wake them easily, I was 'forced' to poke them or rustle noisy plastic to get their eyes to at least open. We walked around Geneva for what seemed like hours, taking in some sights, and running some of my errands;) Then we went to the Old Town for dinner, and then met up with Rick, K, Sylvia and about 20 others to go watch Pirates of the Carribean at 9 pm. I really enjoyed the other POTC movies, but I was a bit disappointed with the third. It was WAY too long! Lee fell asleep for about half the movie....I don't blame him! Then we walked home....if only Lee realized how much we would be walking in Rome, I don't think he would've asked to walk everywhere in Geneva!
Day 2: The only day that I slept in past 8 am! We woke up and got ready to meet Nina in the park for a picnic....it was a beautiful day, so we walked around some more (I swear I lost every calorie I consumed during the last 10 days due to all the freakin walking we did!). Kim and I took Lee to the train station, where he left us for 2 days to hang out and play with his other friend in Lausanne. This was our chance to finally jump on a bus and go home! We relaxed, watched episodes of The Office (I'm trying to get Kim hooked!), and went to bed late.

Day 3: Got ready for my friend's baby's baptism at 12 (which was actually at 12.30, and I forgot! Kim was really happy about that!) Alejandro met us for that, and after the baptism we headed over to Sandra's house for yummy lasagna and garlic bread:) I think we stayed til 4 or so, then headed back home to do some more relaxing and to watch some more Office.

Day 4: I was all geared up for this day! I was supposed to have a softball game and Lee's friend was coming in to play with us...the rain stopped in the morning, and it turned out to be a somewhat nice day. But JUST as I was headed out the door, I decided to check my email once more (I am an addict!), and sure enough received an email that the game had been cancelled. We were pretty bummed about that, but met up with Lee and his friend at the train station and decided to see some more Geneva sights....there really aren't many, though! We headed on over to the Red Cross museum where I will tell you one of many stories that made me irate --> So, we enter the museum and I notice that there is a list of discount categories (students, elderly, etc.), and I thought that I would just ask-- because it doesn't hurt to ask, right? -- if U.N. employees get a discount. Apparently, that was the worst thing I could've asked! The guy looks at me and says,' Let me tell you something. The worst thing you could ask a Swiss person is if you get a U.N. discount! It is the ultimate insult! Now, I'm being nice by warning you....but the next person might not be. People who work for the U.N. don't pay taxes, don't.......*I lost him at this point because my blood was boiling and I was trying to stay calm*....and you should never, ever ask any Swiss person that again.' WHAT?! What happened to a simple 'No, we do not accept your U.N. badge'? Is it really that hard to say?! I had a few encounters like this during the past 2 weeks, so I am really on edge now....the next person with a crappy attitude who crosses my path had better watch out. I will definitely lose my temper next time!
So, we toured the musuem, which was quite interesting actually. A Swiss person came up with the idea for the first Red Cross, which was used primarily for soldiers during war. Then it slowly evolved into what it is today. I really admire those who work for this organization!
Afterwards, we walked down and took some pictures in front of the main gates of the U.N., then headed to Old Town for food. Then we went home and started packing for Rome:)

Day 5: Took our time waking up and getting ready to head to the airport. We arrived in Rome around 5 pm, and jumped on the bus to the city center. Funny story: We got onto this coach bus and there was practically no one in it, so we all took our own seats. Well, people started flooding it after awhile and Kim and Lee ended up having seat buddies. So, I'm sitting there feeling pretty good about my extra space when all of a sudden this HUGE man gets on the bus and starts waddling down the aisle. He's looking for an empty seat and, of course, the only one is next to me! So he squeezes himself in- he stomach was pressed against the chair in front of him- and his fat spills onto me! Kim and Lee were doing their best to not start cracking up. This flippin ride lasted 40 minutes!!! My leg was sweaty- good thing I had jeans on!- when I got off the bus because his stomach/leg fat was resting on my leg. As soon as we got off the bus, Kim and Lee were already cracking jokes:) I learned my lesson and doubled up with Kim on the way back on Friday!
We dropped off our stuff at the hostel...if anyone needs a cool place to stay in Rome, we all highly recommend this place. It's called Legends Hostel and it's 5 min. walk from the main train station. The people are very cool and sooo helpful, and one of them even made pasta for everyone every night! So, we checked in and headed off for dinner- pizza, of course!- and then next door for a few drinks at the Yellow Bar...another very cool place. Lee met people wherever he went, and it didn't take him long to find people from Virginia. So, he hung out with them for awhile and Kim and I headed back to try to get some rest before our first long day on Tuesday.

Day 6: Woke up to a beautiful sight of pouring rain. Nevertheless, we got our umbrellas and rain jackets and headed over to the Vatican. Has anyone else been there? Good grief! We stood in a line that would put all amusement park lines to shame! Fortunately, it moved fast...we were in after only a 1 1/2 hour wait:) But I think it was definitely well worth it....the Vatican is full of all kinds of different art, and everyone anticipates seeing the Sistine Chapel. I have some really cool pictures from inside, so I will be posting them here. I have to say that I was surprised when I saw the Sistine...it's not at all what I had expected. First of all, it is huge. Second of all, the images were a bit different that what I had remembered seeing in books. I think all of us, and those we talked to, thought it would be different. But it was still amazing....his paintings depicted images from Genesis, which I also didn't know. There were so many people in the room that we were all getting annoyed by the people who kept bumping into us. So we left after 15 or 20 min. and headed out....we weren't allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any from there. They were definitely strict about picture/video taking!
After, we went to eat some really good pasta right across from the Vatican. You would think that the food wouldn't be that great since it's right next to a huge tourist attraction, but it was awesome! So, after we ate, we did some MAJOR walking. First, we headed on over to the Pantheon, then the Trevi Fountain, then to the Spanish Steps. I have to say that I am very impressed with my map-reading skills! Rome is really not all that hard to get around. It's just massive, so it wears you out.

We enjoyed some of Italy's famous 'gelato', or ice cream, and sat on the steps in front of the Trevi Fountain. I'm not a huge fan of ice cream, but the gelati in Italy was amazing! One night I had vanilla ice cream with fresh fruit, and it was the best vanilla ice cream I have ever had in my life....something so simple can be so awesome!
We were dead on our feet by the time we made it to the Spanish Steps, so we hopped onto the Metro and headed 'home'. We dropped off our stuff, then headed out for dinner. This was one of two meals that I wasn't too impressed with. But, oh well, you can't expect great food from EVERY Italian restaurant! We headed over to the Yellow Bar again, had a few drinks, then Kim and I headed back while Lee found his friends and stayed around there.

So, now we're up to Day 7! Got up early, again, to make the 8.30 train to Naples, then head on down to Pompei. I don't know how many of you have seen Pompei, but I was definitely happy that I made the 3 hour trip down! It's this city that had been destroyed in 79 A.D. by the volcano, which is still active, called Mt. Vesuvias. All 10,000 inhabitants were buried under the lava, and somewhere down the line it was discovered. And now, it has been partially excavated- one third of the city is still buried- and you can walk around this city. I had no idea what to expect, so I wasn't expecting much. But, holy sore feet, this place was massive! The 2/3 that had been unearthed was like half the size of Abilene-where my family lives- but I know that is an exaggeration:) But we did walk around it for about 3 1/2 hours and still didn't see everything....there was even this one part called the Garden of the Fugitives, where someone in the 18th century found what used to be a wine cellar from Pompei...inside were the casts of 13 bodies. They had tried to escape the lava by burying themselves in a wine cellar, but ended up suffocating to death from the smoke. The are in the same position that they died in....I will definitely post that picture! It was really worth the trip, and I recommend it to anyone going to Rome to add an extra day for this excursion.

We got back around 6.30 pm and changed for dinner which was, by far, the best meal we had there! I had found this restaurant in Kim's Rome guide called Il Quadrifoglio, and it was not cheap, but not too expensive. So we decided to go at least once to a 'nice' restaurant. It's always a good sign when the other customers are Italian....it means that even the locals think it's pretty good:) So, Kim and I had the best eggplant parmigiano we had ever tasted and Lee went for the Swordfish pasta, which he gave 2 thumbs up;) We also had a tomato and mozzerella salad, which is one of my favorite dishes, and loved that as well. One thing I love about Italy is the quality of the food....simple things like tomatoes...they were so red and ripe, and the taste was amazing. Even Kim and Lee said something about it....after our meals, we sprung for the melted chocolate and fresh fruit dessert....yum. We were ready to be rolled out after that!
Kim and I attempted, yet again, to go to bed and rest up for the next day...and Lee was off to play with some new friends he met at the hostel. Lee definitely became sleep deprived at this point...every night he came back at 2, 3, or 4 am and woke up at 7 or 7.30 am for a long day of sight-seeing. Apparently, though, he has had some practice doing this!

Day 8: The Saint Domitilla Catacombe, the Colosseum, and Roman Forum....I really enjoyed this day, but I was ready to collapse afterwards. My feet had hurt all the other days, but on this day I wanted to just sit and not move ever again. After we had FINALLY found the catacombes- no thanks to the idiot bus driver who did nothing to help when I politely asked in my *best* italian- we followed some other semi-lost tourists on a sidewalk-less busy, wind-y, street until we finally saw a sign for one of the three catacombes. We left them, and found ours- the sign was nicely displayed behind some tree branches- and joined the tour. It was very cool...in this particular catacombe, there had been 150,000 bodies buried there. We walked through the tunnels, and saw how they buried them. It became a place where they could bury Christians because their religion was not accepted in Rome, and they were cremated, as were all Romans at the time. Apparently, Christians believed (still believe?) that if their bodies were cremated, then their souls would not reach Heaven. So, they started burying them underground...it was some very cool history, but also very short. The whole tour lasted only 25 minutes or so, and it had taken us almost 1 1/2 hours to get there!

Next, we caught a bus and then walked to the Colosseum. If you all are already sick and tired of my historical facts, then you might not want to read anymore! Because this one was awesome! There were about one million people killed for sport in the Colosseum....and over 500,000 animals slain by Gladiators or other animals. They had been importing wild, exotic animals from Northern Africa and, as a result from all of the 'sports', had made most of them extinct. They crammed about 60,000 spectators into the Colosseum in 8-10 minutes! They used whips to make people run to their seats....don't do that anymore, do they:) They had this ginormous- love that word!- awning that about 300 people worked to raise and drop so that the audience was protected from the sun, but also aired out because of the stench of all the dead animals and humans. Before the passageways were built underneath, the arena had been filled with water and naval battles were staged for fun...usually re-enactments of real battles. Then, because that didn't work for too long- forgot the reason why- they made passageways underneath and put a wooden floor above those and covered it with sand to absorb all the blood. The word 'arena' is actually Latin (I think) which has something to do with 'sand absorbing blood' or 'absorbing blood'...something like that! I tried to pay attention to everything the guide was saying, but he was talking really fast! Well, there's A LOT more where that came from, but I'll leave you all with just those cool facts and you can hop on down, or over, to Rome to find out the rest;)
Then we walked over to the Roman Forum, which is like a big park of old ruins, and took some pictures. I was just about dead after all the walking, but decided that I really wanted to look at some of the shops. Long story short- WHAT? Me getting straight to the point?!- I dragged Kim and Lee all around to find some specific shops but with no success. So, in the end, Lee left to go back to the hostel and Kim stuck around with me. At this point, I was completely deflated and decided to at least sit down and eat some gelato! That cheered me up *a bit*....but the golden rays of sun shone down on a little place I like to call 'Furla'. Well, everyone calls it by that name, but I was so happy! So, I finally decided on one (they're a brand of purses for those of you who are clueless, or a man) and left happy:)

Then we hopped onto the Metro, got back to the hostel, and got ready to leave again to meet my good friend, and high school rival (go Coogs!), Heather Perry. She has officially left Texas behind her to be closer to her Roman fiancé, Mattéo. So we met up with her and headed over to Trastevere, a quaint part of Rome, to have dinner. I was sooooo tired from all the sight-seeing that I didn't make it very long. They were nice enough to drive us directly to our hostel, which Kim and I were VERY thankful for since our feet were in an enormous amount of pain. Attempted to go to bed, again, before midnight but still with no success. There were some new people in our room that night, and we started talking....finally turned off the lights around 1 am.

Day 9: Last day in Rome:( Actually, by this time, we were ready to leave. We were exhausted and wanted to sleep in 'our own beds'. We shopped a bit in the morning, and headed off to the airport in the afternoon. Arrived to a cold, rainy Geneva- yeah!- and just relaxed.

Day 10: The day from Hell. How I love these days....when everything just doesn't go your way. It started off by getting up at the butt crack of dawn to get my eyebrows waxed. You know, to look pretty for my graduation;) Went to the bus stop only to find the street closed, asked the guys where the buses were and followed their crappy directions, still didn't find them and ended up walking a kilometer to a tram, grabbed another bus to the mall, ran in so I wasn't too late, only to have the girl behind the counter tell me that they didn't have my phone number to call me and inform me that the lady was sick and wasn't coming. I just looked at her and said, 'But I just spent the last 45 minutes in the bus to get here!' She was a bit shocked that it took me that long, but it does! So, she did it instead and I walked out feeling a bit better. Then I literally ran from bus to bus to get home to wake up Kim and Lee. We walked around buying souvenirs for their friends and families, and I owed Kim a bit of money and decided I would pay for her souvenirs. My card was declined....4 times. Soooo, I decided to go withdraw money instead....machine ate my freakin card! So, it's Saturday afternoon- and banks don't open til Monday- and I have no way to pay or withdraw money for the rest of the time they are here. I was NOT happy. So, we go back home and I find out that the plug I bought for my laptop does not fit. GREAT. I LOVE returning things at the store *extreme sarcasm*. I have a throbbing headache, and decide that I better do it that day since stores close here around 6 or 6.30 and I wasn't sure if I could make it during the week. So, I go back and stand in line...20 minutes later the guy tells me I'm in the wrong line. Of course I am....So I go to the other line, and HE tells me I need to go to a different guy. Wonderful. I go to the next guy who, fortunately for him, was extremely nice. He tells me to go down and get the cable I need...I go down and encounter another Swiss idiot who fails to understand the concept of good (or even decent!) customer service. He doesn't even look at me as he tells me that their store doesn't carry what I need, so he can't help me. I asked him if he had any other solutions....no. 'I can't help you if we don't have the product. You need to look elsewhere.' It took everything in me to not smack the crap outta this guy! So I get my money back and leave....but poor Kim had to endure my mood until after I finished my nap:)

Day 11: GRADUATION! This was an awesome day! I arrived at 8.30 am to the President Wilson hotel, grabbed my cap and gown, and starting taking pictures. Then I found my awesome friends- Agathe, Jerôme, Kim, Lee, Sylvia, Kevin, Alejandro- and got some more photos.

The ceremony was a bit boring since they had so many speakers, but I was happy to hear Joseph Blatter, who is the President of FIFA, speak and even mention the 50 million women soccer players in the world. Very cool. I received some Honor Society medal for International Scholars (because of my GPA, I think). Walked across the stage, shook hands, posed for the photographer, and then went outside with the rest of the graduating class for some group photos. Afterwards, found Sandra, who had brought baby Mattéo, and Rick and Katherine. We chatted, drank some wine, ate some finger foods, and had some fun. I was so happy with everyone being there that I didn't even freak out when I saw my idiot ex, Max, try to walk over to me. Rick and Katherine cracked me up! Rick's like,'Take my camera' and Katherine says, 'Take the jackets'...as if they needed both hands free just in case things got out of hand....too cute! Thanks, you guys, for being my protectors! So, I was spared an encounter with the retard and enjoyed the rest of the time there. We then split and Kim, Lee, Alejandro, and I went to get a kebab. Well, I didn't eat much because I was saving room for my dinner at Gaucho, a really good Brazilian restaurant in my apartment building. We got back home and crashed for a couple of hours before heading on down to the restaurant. There were 7 of us, and we had a really nice time. I think everyone enjoyed the food;) We finished around 10 pm and headed home....which, fortunately, was not *too* far!

Sandra and I after the graduation

Kim and Lee packed, and we turned out the lights around 1 am only to have to wake up at 5.45 am.....they were off in their taxi around 6.45 am and I got ready for a long first day back at work.
Did I not tell you that it would be the world's longest update?!! I think I will have to split this up or something so you can all follow it better:)
Well, I will probably give another update after my trip to Prague in a couple of weeks....so, until then, take care and I hope to hear from you soon!