So one week ago today to be exact two more Rebs came abroad to Prague. Since it was Ole Miss spring break, Marissa Rodrigues and Shelby Shelton decided to take a trip to come visit me. Sorry it wasn’t Destin, but freshman year is long over and Europe’s a tad bit cooler than Luke Bryan’s Panama City beach tour. How many years has he been doing that now? Anyways, we had a ball! Upon their arrival, I got to visit Kutna Hora which is another city in the Czech Republic. We saw many churches but the most memorable was the Sedlec Ossuary. It is also known as the Bone church because it is decorated with thousands of bones from dead bodies of the Plague back in the day. You could say it was bad to the bone, but very odd as you can imagine.
When they got here Saturday night I was so excited to see them because friends here are beyond different than they are back home. Obviously it is hard to be really close with people you have only known for a month and I have had three years to build friendships at Ole Miss, so finally seeing familiar faces was so so wonderful!! I threw them a little welcome party with pastries and decorations, what is Europe without fresh croissants?! (Okay, and maybe a bottle of champagne to celebrate an 8.5 hour plane ride?!) For our first full day we did the typical tourists sights; John Lennon Wall, Charles Bridge, Astronomical Clock, Old Town, etc. etc. We then had dinner on the top floor of the Dancing House which was so cool, and oh, what a view!! Shelby and I reminisced how we met Marissa one year ago this time last year when all three of us went to Nicaragua with Ole Miss Young Life. Shelby Squared, as people like to call us went to Earnest Hemingway’s bar (It’s on Buzzfeed’s list of “what’s the coolest bar you’ve ever been to”) that night where we caught up on just about whatever, because not being able to see your best friend for months is really hard.
On Monday, I was in class all day leaving Shelby and Marissa all alone in Prague, uh, what a struggle, there is nothing to do…. LOL We met up for dinner and that night Shelby and I (All the walking got to Marissa, or maybe just wanting to sleep, who doesn’t love sleep?) went to the what Molly Brosier says you HAVE TO see in Prague, the Ice Pub. It was totally overrated. A cover fee to get in, a mandatory drink purchase before entering, and 20 minutes in the bar before they kick you out. Moving on to the 5 story club, (attached to the ice pub) were 5 stories worth of 16 year olds. Untucked white dress shirts, black skinny ties, jeans, and white converse are a bit too European teen for me. Another day we walked around Old Town, got fish eating pedicures (so weird, but do try at some point) ate Trdelnik (which is a MUST try in the CR- dough with cinnamon, and sometimes Nutella) with mulled wine and then we saw the Andy Warhol Museum.
On Thursday, we woke up really early to take a bus to Vienna, Austria. A little confused after getting off the bus to a random place of nothing, we found our way to hostel. Shortly after being there, we had to google weinersnitchel because it was on every menu. Dankeschoen Google, it’s fried veal. We walked around Schonbrunn Palace in the freezing 32 degrees, but we got to see where Marie Teresa, Marie Antoinette lived for a bit, and where Napoleon lived when he occupied Vienna. Then we went over to the oh so colorful Hundertwasserhaus, an apartment building that’s architecture and color scheme are rad. We ate apple strudel which was INCREDIBLE. Day two we practically got a tour of the metro system, but we made our way to the Johann Strauss (famous composer) golden statue, St. Peter’s and St. Stephen’s church, and Demel, a Travel and Leisure’s dessert place you need to eat at in the world. We then popped back over to the bus station where we almost missed our bus, and made it back to Prague. That night we just stayed in and chatted, and then that next morning after coffee and croissants, my friends left. We had so much fun and it was so great to feel like I was almost back at Ole Miss. Hotty Toddy!!!