So this week has basically been just going to Czech class from 9:30 to 2, either going to lunch or running a few errands and then coming back to the dorm and making lunch here and then going to dinner. On Tuesday we went to the opera and saw La Traviatta. I've never been to the opera before so I don't have much to compare it to but I thought it was really good. The singers were great and the women's dresses were beautiful. The theater was gorgeous and I took some pictures of it but then came out with a reddish tint so they don't really do it justice. I think that some of us are going to go back for Swan Lake. After the opera we went to a cafe for desert. It was really nice but a little expensive. However, I was in ice cream withdrawal so I got a sundae, which was delicious, nearly in up to Dairy Queen (Milford, not Miami) or Whip 'n Dip standards. On Wednesday our Czech class ended at 12 and the teachers took us to the same art museum that the Picasso exhibit is at so Erin and I and some other people looked at one of the other floors. I really like this museum and even in two viisits haven't been able to see everything. Then at night we tried to go to a restaurant that my guidebook described as having "dreamy young Czechs". Once we got there it was packed and there weren't any tables so we decided to find somewhere else to go. Clearly other people were also listening to Rick Steves travel advice. We ended up at an Italian place and got really good pizza and just relaxed there for a while.
Today my Czech class ended at 12 again and this time we went to see the Dancing House. This was designed by Frank Gehry and was named after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers because the building looks like its dancing. After seeing this we went to a church that was the National Memorial of the Heydrich Terror in Prague. Heydrich was Hitler's top aide and was assassinated by two Czechoslovak parachuters. After his assassination Hitler and the Nazis searched all of Prague for the assassins, anyone helping them or for information and about 13000 people were arrested, deported or killed. They also killed all men in the towns of Lidice and Lezaky and sent the women and children to concentration camps and bombed the towns. Eventually the parachuters hid in the crypt of a church. One of them did not hide with the rest and stayed at his mother's house. He then revealedto the Nazis the people who had helped them and began to work with them. Some of these people commited suicide and others were tortured into revealing information as to where they were hiding. Then the Nazis surrounded the church and started shooting, throwing in tear gas and trying to find the men who had assassinated Heydrich. These men fought back but ended up killing themselves so that the Nazis would not be able to. This is a very short summary of what happened but you can look it up on wikipedia. Jan also wrote a book about it. But anyways, we went and saw where the parachuters hid, where the Nazis shot into, the hole in the wall that the men made as a last ditch effort to escape the crypt into the sewage system and where the Nazis stormed into. It was really sad but also really interesting to learn about.
Tonight we are going out to dinner for Julie's 21st birthday. We are going to a Mexican place that is supposed to be the only good Mexican restaurant in Prague. We also got her a cake at Tesco, which was probably equivalent to the Shaw's bakery, at least in looks. Erin and I were looking for a place to get a selection of cookies since there are tons of bakeries and pastry ships around here but apparently they don't sell cookies. The cake looks really good though.