Postcards from Prague: Moravia

Last Friday me and my fellow AIFSers boarded the bus for Moravia. Moravia is a district in the Czech Republic that is south east of Prague. We stayed in Brno, the biggest city in Moravia and the second biggest city in the Czech Republic. I honestly had no idea what I would be doing for the next 3 days. If I had to describe Moravia in one word it would be churches. On the way to Moravia we stopped at a church in a small town called Tisnov. The church is famous for the arch that sits outside of it. The arch featured a bunch of intricate carvings. We then continued on to Brno where we checked into our hotel and had a few hours to kill before our dinner excursion. To kill the time we did what any self respecting twenty somethings would do, and found a local pub. The city of Brno isn’t as “western” as Prague is and finding a pub that wasn’t a sketchy casino was not as easy as it sounds. But alas me, Stef, Walt, Kacy, Adrian, and Kate found a suitable pub. After our small taste of Brno we boarded the busses again and headed to The Templar Order Restaurant in Čejkovice. The restaurant was an hour outside of Brno. The reason this restaurant was special is it is composed of tunnels, many of which are filled with wine. We arrived at the restaurant and I promptly ordered the “chicken nuggets”. Now anyone who knew me from age 2 until about age 18 can tell you that I love chicken nuggets and used to eat them exclusively. Do not judge me for ordering chicken nuggets, the other two options were a pork chop or broccoli. These chicken “nuggets” were anything but, they were grilled chicken breasts served with a red wine sauce and potatoes. Not your average chicken nugget. So after being pleasantly surprised by dinner we took a tour of the wine cellars. Our tour guide was this really nice old Czech lady who spoke zero English, which meant that Jana (one of the AIFS staff members served as the interpreter). After the tour of the tunnels the real party started. The wait staff came by to take our wine orders. We thought we had ordered glasses of wine, however they delivered full bottles of wine to the table, one per person. The bus ride back from the winery was very very very fun.

(Me and our tour guide)

The next morning we went to Austerlitz, the site of a Napoleonic battle which pitted France vs. Austria-Hungry and Germany. The museum was way too technologically advanced for its own good. I really had no idea what was really happened until Z (the coolest old man/ tour guide/ European history buff ever) explained everything. After Austerlitz we ventured to the Mendel Museum where Greggor Mendel discovered human genetics. I am sure that the museum would have been cool had it not been closed due to a lack of power. Don’t worry, we made it back the next day where I bought an awesome t-shirt celebrating genetics. Saturday night everyone just hung out at the hotel in Brno.

(Adrian and I at Austerlitz)

Sunday we woke up and went to the Mendel museum and after that we went to Moravian Karst a complex of underground caves with stalagmites and stalactites. We first did a walking tour of the caves where and then we boarded a boat and went on a ride through the river that runs through the caves. The walk back from the caves to the bus was about a mile on an extremely icy road. I took a nice tumble on the road, but I will allow my friend Stef to describe the incident for you.

Alex’s fall was by far the most entertaining. I have no idea how this happened but he did a sort of sideways flip before landing, sending his inhaler skittering out of his pocket and away on its own. He looked up, his Waldo hat askew and his face is a state of absolute befuddlement about how he’d reached the ground, and it was possibly one of the most hilarious, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” moments I’ve ever witnessed.