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.