Just Czech-ing In

I'm loving essentially having Wednesday-Sunday free to wander the city with David. It's pretty much perfection.

Here's a picture of us on the bridge just south of Charles Bridge on the Charles River.

On Friday, we went to the farmers market that my roommates and I walked to the week before. We bought goulash, potato dumplings, and potatoes with sausage from a woman tending incredibly large cast-iron skillets. We sat on a bench in the park next to the market and marveled at how outstandingly fantastic the potatoes tasted. Then we tried the goulash and we died a little bit from the delicious-ness. Immediately, we deemed goulash at the market a Friday afternoon tradition. Though my stomach later made me severely question that decision, we'll definitely be going back next week.

Goulash on the left in the back and potatoes with sausage on the right in the back. The front two dishes are meat of some sort, but I'm not sure exactly.

 Saturday was David's 20th birthday! We met up in the afternoon and went to the mall near my house because I wanted to show him this giant Darth Vader made of LEGOs that was just hanging out in the toy section.

LEGO Darth Vader at Tesco

Afterwards, we wandered over to explore a LEGO store that I had spotted on my way to school. It's an unassuming storefront, and I assumed that it would simply be filled with a lot of cool LEGO sets that David would enjoy coveting. As soon as we walked in, our senses were overwhelmed. To get inside the store, we passed under a LEGO arch and to our right there was an entire wall made of LEGOs depicting a mock photograph, with a running LEGO train at the base. Just below the LEGO wall we noticed a set of stairs accessible through a turnstile. Ahead of us there were hundreds of LEGO sets and thousands of loose LEGO pieces that you could buy by the gram. David's approximate reaction was this:

David in awe of the LEGOs

David looking down the staircase in front of the LEGO wall/snapshot

LEGO truck running up the wall above the staircase

After David has preliminarily absorbed the store, we went and asked the cashier what was down the stairs. He informed us that they led to a three-story LEGO museum. He also told us approximately how many models and blocks the museum contained but David was already drooling so we decided quite easily that his birthday present would be admission to the museum. We spent about two hours marveling at the countless models and displays, which included many trains that visitors could control, as well as the release dates and block counts on each model. I chronicled the experience with David's camera, which his parents had, appropriately enough, given to him for his birthday. One of the models on the basement floor was of a Star Wars ship (David would know the name). There was a sign on the display that read something to the effect of, "For the full Star Wars exhibit, see the 3rd floor." David's eyes widened upon reading it and it took a moment to convince him not to bolt up the stairs immediately.

When we did reach the third floor, it did not disappoint. As soon as he walked in, the Star Wars theme started playing. The room was practically overflowing with Star Wars models. I think we spent about 30 minutes in those two adjoining rooms alone, and I was taking pictures pretty much the whole time. (David is currently having a difficult time sifting through those pictures to choose which ones to post on Facebook.) After looking at all the models, we headed back down to the basement to play with LEGOs they had sitting out at little stations throughout the exhibit. I built David a birthday cake (note the Napolean Dynamite reference), and he built a house that quickly turned into a mansion.

LEGO birthday cake (with 20 LEGO candles)

When we left the museum, it was 6:30 and we realized that our plan to shop for and make dinner was no longer viable. Instead, we decided to go to the Indian restaurant I had found the previous week. David got fried cheese, a mushroom and pea dish in tomato sauce, and garlic naan, while I got vegetable soup, spinach with homemade cheese, and jasmine rice. Everything was absolutely delicious (again). I'm thinking that we'll need to take my family there when they come, even if my mom and Grace claim they aren't big fans of Indian food. If any place could win them over, it would be this one.

David's mushroom and pea dish, served over a candle to keep it warm

My spinach and cheese dish with jasmine rice

 On Sunday, I met David at his apartment and we ate breakfast before taking a bus to a park by his house that he had discovered. It was a brisk, sunny day and the park was absolutely lovely. We sat in the grass to meditate and write in our journals for awhile. It was so wonderful to soak up the sun and be in nature. We stopped back by his apartment before heading to the Olympic Park. We had both heard a lot about the park and, since the Olympics ended Sunday, it was our last chance to go. For a minimal fee, we got to wander around this enormous park devoted to the winter Olympic events. There was a huge ice skating rink/maze, a cross-country skiing/biathlon arena, a curling sheet, and a snowboarding hill where youth snowboarders were showing off their skills. All the snow was fake, of course, since it hasn't been nearly cold enough for the real stuff, but it was great to see nonetheless. David and I tried a "trdlnik," which is a common Czech pastry. Long strips of dough are wrapped around a metal pole and dunked in sugar before being slowing rotated over a charcoal fire. Once browned, they are dunked in cinnamon and sugar again, and are then served warm. Unsurprisingly, it was absolutely delicious.

Curling sheet (I learned that term while writing this post)

Part of the ice skating rink/maze

Trdlnik just beginning to cook

David trying his trdlnik (it looks like too many consonants, right?)

 After the Olympic Park, we caught public transit back to his apartment, stopping at the grocery store along the way. We made lentils and cabbage and tomato soup for dinner. It was all delicious. We also tried a bottle of white wine we had bought for David's birthday dinner that we didn't end up cooking. David hadn't tried wine before and was pretty excited to try it. I was almost positive I wouldn't like it, but figured it was worth a shot. One of David's roommates (who are all much more experienced in the realm of wine-bottle-opening than either of us) helped him with the bottle opener and he poured two glasses. While we were eating, we decided to try it at the same time. We smelled it and agreed that we didn't particularly like the scent before each taking a sip. Immediately we both grimaced and decided we were not wine people. Luckily, his roommates were happy to have the free bottle of wine.

I'm realizing that the next few weeks are going to be quite busy compared to the last few. This Friday I'm hoping to be able to tag along with David's study abroad program on their trip to Terezin, the Czech Republic's most infamous World War II concentration camp. Then the next Thursday I leave for my program's 4-day excursion to Krakow, hopefully with David tagging along, though that's yet to be fully worked out. When I return, my family will already have been here for a day (woohoo!) and they'll be here all week. And David and I have been talking about independent travel we want to do soon. We're thinking trips to the Alps and to Copenhagen on different weekends before we activate our Eurail passes at the beginning of May, with which we'll go to France, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, and Belgium (we hope) before ending Greece. I can't even believe I can write that sentence. Life is just outstanding sometimes.

Lots of love to the Austin and Greensboro and Savannah (and wherever else you may be reading this from, perhaps Wisconsin?)!