Photo of the Week- Moravian Wonderland

A view of the abandoned St. Sebastian Church at the top of the Holy Hill in Mikulov. Looking down on the snow covered countryside was well worth the hike. My first visit to Moravia was timed perfectly with the first snowfall of the holiday season. It was only appropriate to warm up in cozy wine bar after seeing the snow covered vineyards! There we sampled wines from the Moravia region. Ordering can be tricky when white wines have the word "red" in the title. Communicating with the friendly locals was a fun mixture of hand signals, czech-english dictionaries, and the occasional use of Jon's German skills. English-speaking tourists do not seem to frequent this quant Czech town. But this American will be back there in the summer when those vines are lush with grapes and the countryside is begging to be hiked.

No turkey but still thankful

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,
NFL Thanksgiving Classic,
Thanksgiving Dinner and Dessert,
the ridiculousness that is Black Friday.

These are some of the things I will miss about Thanksgiving. But this list of American Thanksgiving traditions that I taught my classes about this week isn't the real reason why I will miss the celebration this holiday. I will miss being with my family. Every year we have been together in one place or another to celebrate. This year they will be celebrating with the newest addition to our family, baby Ethan!

Turkey day 2 years ago

So instead of trying to recreate the holiday in the Czech Republic, I'm celebrating this year sans turkey. Without all the holiday distractions I am able to just concentrate on the people in my life that I am thankful for.

First I am thankful for my family. We are all a bit crazy but that's what I love about us! Without my loving parents I wouldn't be who I am or where I am today. My sisters are my best girlfriends and we love each other unconditionally.

I'm so incredibly thankful for my boyfriend! This year we are spending our very first Thanksgiving together in the Czech Republic. The past five years have been full of laughter and love. He's my favorite travel buddy and my other half.

I'm thankful for my extended family and all my friends around the world- my family and friends who I do not get to see often but are always a skype call away. Basically I'm thankful for every encounter I've ever had with the people who have been in my life and allowed me to be in theirs. <3

Thank you!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo of the Week- Pilsner Urquell Brewery

Plzeň is only a one hour bus ride from Prague, and with a Brewery like Pilsner Urquell it is well worth the trip. If you want to try "Pilsner from the original source" or Plzeňský Prazdroj as it is called in Czech then Plzen is the place to go. The brewery tour is available in English 3 times per day and only costs 80 CZK for students (roughly 4 USD). The tour lasts 1.5 hours and includes a tour of the packing plant, exhibition, beautiful brewhouse, "hall of fame", and the cellars. The cellars were my favorite part. The sweet scent of hops, barley, and water fermenting in wooden barrels is enough to make your mouth water. We were served a large cup of open air fermented, unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell directly from the barrel. It doesn't get fresher than that. Even the head was delicious (Czech beer is meant to be served with a thick head of foam). On the way out of the cellars, there is a dummy beer barrel top. Why? To see if you're small enough to be a beer-barrel cleaner. This involves fitting through a tiny oval in the front of the barrel. Everyone shied away except for me. I stripped out of my coat layer and shimmied my way through that hole. If teaching doesn't work out for me, at least I know of one alternative.

Photo of the Week- Decorating with Human Bones

40,000 human skeletons decorate Kotnice Ossuary in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic. The bodies are from Black Plague and Hussite Wars of the 14th and 15th century. The chandelier in the middle of the Ossuary might just be the most interesting piece. It makes use of every bone in the human body.

This scene can't help but remind me of the Catacombs in Paris I visited a year and a half ago.

Seeing stacks of thousands of people's bones is eye opening and quite sobering to the idea of how precious life is and unavoidable fate of death.

Photo of the Week- Final colors of Autumn

The last viewing of autumn on a tree outside the Dresdner Residenzschloss in Dresden. Colors are fading quickly in Central Europe but this tree took advantage of its time to shine before winter.