Chocolate

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It has been so long since I late updated this blog but the only big change here in Prague is my chocolate intake. Chocolate here is amazing. All kinds of European chocolate with all sorts of insides. Nutella, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate with nuts and raisins, truffles, it never gets old. Aside from almost going into a sugar coma every day life has been great. I'm getting to know the city really well which is great. I've been walking to class lately which is a lot of fun because I walk though old town square and across Charles Bridge to get there. Along the way are some pretty cool street vendors. Classes are starting to get a little harder but still nothing too terrible.

Last weekend we went on a day trip to Plzen and took a Pilsner brewery tour. We saw where the beer was bottled, how it was made and all that good stuff. The cellars were cold and wet but they were dug out by hand when the brewery first started which was impressive. At the end of the tour we had lunch with chicken, dumplings and potatoes. It was very good. After the brewery tour we went to The Great Synagogue which is the second largest Synagogue in Europe. We couldn't go inside because it was closed for the day but it looked really pretty. Across the street from the synagogue was a tribute to the American military for helping Pilsen come out of communism.

I also went to the Museum of Communism. There was a video being played of the different protests and what Czech Republic was like under communism. Czech Republic has their first democratic elections in 1990 so it was strange to see something so recent it with violent acts happening in Wenceslas Square when it's such a touristy area today. It was eye opening to see how much they have changed in about 20 years.

The weather has been beautiful here and the snow was all gone until this morning. It dropped to about 25 and started to snow. The snow will melt within a few hours but I was used to being spoiled with 40+ degrees and sunny. One bad thing about the snow melting is the dog poop and pee. With the snow it stayed in one place but there are quite a few puddles besides water to look out for when walking around.

I'm really surprised at how amazing the fruit is here. It is always so fresh and perfectly ripe compared to home. I love fruit so I eat it constantly. That and chocolate. I think I have at least 3 different kinds of chocolate along with kiwis, strawberries and blood oranges sitting in the pantry right now. Europeans don't really go grocery shopping once or twice a week and buy everything that they need all at once. They buy a few items at a time and will pick up more later. There are lots of potravinys (mini markets) on the streets so it's not hard to find a place to pick up some things. There are big supermarkets that are very easy to find but even then Czech people still don't buy much at a time.

I will try update once a week!

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