Ostrava

April 27, 2012

We took an afternoon trip to Ostava on this Friday.  It wasn't a long trip but it wasn't really well planned out either.  We met with Ross (pictured below) who went as a part of the Nebraska Study Abroad with Dr. Clark several years ago.  He returned and fell in love with a Czech woman.  After getting married he opened up his own Harley Davidson business in Ostrava.  He gave us a lot of good information about his experience in transitioning from the United States to the Czech Republic permanently.  He said he thinks in Czech now versus thinking in English, that is crazy!

A quick view of part of the interior of his store area.  There was also a shop attached.

Most of us did a little bit of shopping.  Thanks for the discount too Ross!

Laura and I loved these bikes. 

 I loved the leather jacket but not enough to spend 12000Kc on it = $600 USD!

Jed and Tim showing off some of the bikes.

Caleb and Jed making them look good!

We spent a little time at the mall afterwards and there were these cardboard standee's around and when you took a picture with them, they almost looked a little bit too real. 

We ventured to the city hall where we got to ride the elevator to the top and it gave a great 360 degree view of the city from an outdoor walk way.  Ross talked about what everything was and a bit of the history of the city as well.  There were even signs up there that said what things were in the distance.

A very odd looking fountain right outside of city hall.

Loved the lights in the ceiling inside.

Katie showing us where the tower was.

Views from the top.

One thing that Ostrava is well known for is the factories.  Ostrava used to be so polluted that there was almost a permanent fog hovering over the city.  The distant hills weren't visible at all.

Laura is happy her face is healing from her accident in Rome. :)

I think Jed was having a moment here.

The guys had to stand on the pillars in every city we went to.

I think I managed to capture most of those moments.

Ross then took us to the downtown area, this street was famous for the mass amount of bars on one strip.  

Stodolni Street has a mass number of bars, pubs, restaurants, casinos, basically anything night life related you will find on Stodolni Street.  Ross took us to a Harley bar ... shocker. :)  

The trip to Ostrava was good but after looking more into what we could have gone to in Ostrava, I think the trip could have been a bit more organized so we got to see more of another great city with a lot of history.

Nutella Birthday Cakes & Yummy Food

April 25, 2012 - Thea's Birthday Cake

By the time Thea's birthday came about, we had a bit more skill when making the cake.  Her birthday was actually the day when we were stuck in the Milan train station, so we celebrated when we returned to Olomouc.  Once again, it was chocolate cake with Nutella as the frosting, added some strawberries too.

April 26, 2012 - Lunch after class

I loved our daily lunch outings, there was almost always someplace new that we went to each day.
Always new foods and new places to see and enjoy.

Caleb, Abby and Laura above.

Jed looking ... thoughtful?  Ann is enjoying herself as usual. 

Dr. Clark usually was the one who introduced a new place to us.  Thanks for that! :)

I don't know what this was but it came to crockettes, so that makes everything good!

Austerlitz Battlefield Fieldtrip

April 24, 2012

Austerlitz Battlefield Field-trip aka Slavkov u Brna

On this cold and blustery day, we took a field-trip to the Austerlitz Battlefield located about 10km southeast of Brno in the Czech Republic.  This battle was also called the Battle of the Three Emperors.  It was pretty cool knowing that the rolling hills that we were overlooking were once the sight of a huge battle that Napoleon won against the Russo-Austrian Army in 1805.

Martin came with us to the Battlefield and memorial to talk about the history of the event.

We then went to the museum and memorial, we had a guided tour that was very interesting and gave us some real idea of what the battle was like.  Lots of cool memorabilia  and replicas to check out.

The Peace Memorial (mohyla míru) on Prace hill. The memorial near Prace village has been designed and built by Josef Fanta during 1910–1912. The First World War postponed its inauguration until 1923. It is 26 m high, square, with four female statues symbolizing France, Austria, Russia and Moravia. Within is a chapel with an ossuary.

Within the inside of the Peace Memorial, the room is built in such a way that if you stand in one corner and someone stands in the opposite corner, you can whisper and the other person can hear you like you are standing right there.

The guys thought they would be cool with this picture ... you decide.

That night we went to watch some soccer aka Futbol!  Watching with Europeans is so much more fun and exciting than watching on television at home, especially when your professor is a huge fan!

After the game, we made our way to the Osa Bar aka Havana Club.
They have the best drink menu in Olomouc, anything and everything you can think of is on the menu that is a small book in itself.  They even had a huge list of non-alcoholic drinks for me!  Love this place!