What a Weekend!

Hey everybody,

I'm just getting back from a 2 day trip to Moravia, specifically the cities of Brno, Mikulov and Lednice. The countryside here is beautiful, it reminds me a lot of home. There are huge sunflower fields and rolling hills and just miles of farmland everywhere. It was nice to get out of the big city and see what else the Czech Republic has to offer.

Friday night we had a workshop with Jindrich Streit, the most famous and acclaimed Czech photographer, and we stayed in a nice hotel in the country. Apparently some of the other students stayed up until around 4 a.m. drinking wine and chatting with our photography teachers, but I guess I wasn't invited to that party.

Saturday we got up and explored a castle and the surrounding gardens and such. It was very beautiful and I'll post some pictures soon. America really lost out on not having a castle phase. We should try to get on that.

We also visited the smaller town of Mikulov, which is up in the hills and rather secluded, but very pleasant. We walked through an old Jewish cemetery that was last used in 1939 (not many Jews left in the country after that, now it's kind of a personal memorial, a piece of their history). Everywhere I look in this country, everything is beautiful, it's amazing.

There were 18 of us all together, with the driver, the two photographers, Jan and Miro, and Jan's son. Somewhere along the lines, several people picked up bottles of wine (maybe in the wine cellar next to the hotel we stayed at...), and it is apparently acceptable to drink alcohol in a vehicle if you're not driving. So different from the States... Anyway, it's about at 3 hour drive, and the wine didn't come out until the last hour or so, and somehow, about a dozen people polished off somewhere between 4 and 6 bottles.
It was a very interesting journey.
There were sing-a-longs, strange propositions, and a video being taken on someone's camera that I hope to see. I'm sure the photos that were taken are rather entertaining as well. I'm not one for wine, and my camera battery was dead, but I still had a great time just laughing and people watching. For our last full weekend in Prague, it was a great way to spend it.

One more week of class, and then I'll be headed back home.
It's gone so fast!

See you all soon,
Emily