Saturday a group of 8 of us got up a bit early to leave for Ostra at 10am. Ostra is this tiny town about 45 minutes outside of Prague. We wanted to go there because when we were in Cesky Krumlov there was a store that sold soaps and candles and lotions and such, and everything that they sell is made in Ostra. The train ride was nice and only cost $3! Once we got to Ostra, there was a giant field of white poppies to the side of the train tracks, but I will talk more about that later. Once we got off the train we walked about a kilometer to Botanicus Obchod Otevren...or something: http://czechunderscope.com/travel-guide/botanicus-ostra/lng/en/
I thought we were just going to see a place where they make the candles and soaps, but it was so much better. To get into this old town was 100 kcz for students, and then you could exchange crowns to get the currency of the little town, the grosch. It was 10 grosch for 100 kcz. The tiny town is like a minature Renaissance faire, only it is there all year round. The people working there were dressed up and you could do activities like wood carving for 3 grosch, gold panning for 3, rope winding, weaving, and candle making. There were also a lot of different pastries. I got a bread thing with cream inside and powdered sugar on top for 1 grosch. Later I got a doughy twisty thing with sugar for another grosch. There were real food items like lamb and dumplings that you could get on wooden slabs in this dining hall with candle chandeliers.
During the coarse of the day, there was a juggling act, a musical performance, and a falconry show. The falconry was fun, not as exciting as the AZ Ren Faire show, and it was also warm to sit in the sun. The musical show, however, was my favorite. It was 2 guys and a girl, and the first song was drums and 2 bagpipes. For those of you who don't know, I love bagpipes. In subsequent songs, they set down the bagpipes and one guy played a lute and sang, and the girl was like a master piper. I think over the 30 minutes they were playing she played...at least 5 different flute/recorder things. Here is an example of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg9R7dpe4tM Unfortunately I didn't have enough money for a CD :/
I saw the main guy later and tried to tell him how much I enjoyed the playing, it was really awkward since he did not speak English and I didn't know what to say. Oh well!
The little old town had beautiful gardens and was overall just amazing. I got a woven wire ring for 2 grosch, I love it.
We stayed in the town til 3:15 and then went to the train station and the poppy field. At this point my nose has been stuffy all day, so it was probably not the best idea for my to run through a field of flowers. I had to though. It was huge. Like, when I say there was a huge poppy field I know I cannot adequately explain what I mean. I took pictures and video which I will post, but for now I'll try to explain it. We walked to the top of the hill to see how big the field really was. When you looked ahead you could see the end, and to the right you could see the end, but behind you the train tracks disappeared behind the hill, and to the left the field had no visible end. They were all white poppies with a few red/pink ones mixed in. It was incredibly beautiful.
Our train showed up at 4:15 and I slept the entire way back. At this point I am really not feeling too well. We got back to the dorms and I think I laid down while Ali and Kelly went out to eat. I took a bubble bath which was amazing and then I laid down again.
I really do have the best roommate and co-roommate, because Kelly and Ali brought me back nachos. Like, real nachos. My mood was immediately increased even though the salt was probably not good for me. Feeling a bit better, I went with 3 other people to the Tesco Extra for breakfast things, and tea. So much tea. I decided to buy one of the nice reusable shopping bags as well. We all hung out in the kitchen for a while and when I finally got to sleep there were people outside being really loud, but I felt so congested and gross I couldn't think to close our windows. That night I had really strange dreams of fighting off my congestion. There may or may not have been a dragon involved.
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