Czeckin' out Prague and Olomouc

I may not understand the language or know the different customs but I do know that if my legs aren't toned by the end of this trip, there's something wrong with me. 

I have been in the Czech Republic for almost a week now and I feel like so much has happened.  I spent my first couple of days in the city of Prague, and I fell in love with the city!  On the first night, despite the fact that everyone was completely exhausted from the flight over we all went to an authentic Czech restaurant.  The first thing they brought us out was pivo (beer) and since pivo is literally cheaper than water we all get it for most meals.  The menu had translations in English so I was able to find a meal that I enjoyed, which was a huge relief.  One of the best parts about this restaurant was that there was a man playing the accordion and it immediately reminded me of my Grandpa Dolezal!  The next day a group of us somehow managed to navigate our way into the town square of Prague for a free tour of the city.  This tour lasted about 3 hours and it was well worth it! Not only did the tour teach us a little more how to navigate around the city, the tour provided us with so much history.  The history made the city of Prague more interesting to me. 

This is the Astronomical Clock.  We saw the clock in action at the strike of the hour but I thought it more was going to happen.  But I found this clock interesting because after this clock was made nobody wanted the genius who created it to make anything remotely similar again.  So, someone came to his house in the dead of night to stab a needle through his eyes.  He eventually got revenge and threw himself into the gears which broke the clock for the next 100 years.

Part of St. James Church.  I didn't get a chance to go inside this time but I will because one, I was told that it was really beautiful inside but also because there is an arm from the 14th century hanging in the back of the church.  This arm was cut off of a thief who tried to steal something one night .  The arm has hung ever since to scare people away from stealing.

 

The rest of the time I spent in Prague I roamed the city and caught up on sleep.  I get to go back next weekend and I cannot wait to see more!  Sunday I left Prague and arrived in Olomouc where I will be mainly staying.  I am studying at Palacky University.  Even though I have been in Olomouc for 2 days so far, the group has yet to get a tour of the town.  However it is basically a smaller version of Prague with less tourist.  Classes start Thursday and right now I'm attending many orientations, however they are pretty uninformative. Today we went on a field trip to a small town outside of Olomouc and we walked SOOOO MUCH.  We ended up walking completely through two towns.  At the end we walked through a cave but there are no pictures to post because taking picture cost money and I was feeling rather lazy. 

This is just part of the view of the town square in Olomouc.

Even though I don't know any of the language yet I seem to be getting by very well.  People here either know the language or I can take out my trusty translation book! Until next time!