Enough of these American-isms!

So after reviewing my last few blog entries, it made me realize that I've been partaking in too much imported American consumerism and I'd better get back to talking about Europe before I started boring everyone to tears. After all, I promise I do think about things other than Jake Gyllenhaal!

So the weekend was fantastic -- it's started to warm up, slowly and gradually, so it's above freezing! Hooray! On Friday night, Clayton and I went for dinner at this Native American pizza restaurant not far from the Vysehrad section of Prague. I'm now teaching several classes in this neighborhood so it was pretty convenient. It's no secret that decent pizza is hard to come by in the Czech Republic. And no joke -- it was a Native American pizza place! You can order such tasty dishes as "Running Bear" pizza and "Tomahawk" lasagna! I had a vegetarian pie with broccoli, tomato, mushrooms and corn.



On Saturday, I accompanied Clayton, along with his roommate Christine (from Bayside, Queens) and his friend Jules to Tabor, a small Czech town about an hour and a half outside of Prague to the south. It wasn't the most exciting locale, and given that it was the weekend, most businesses were closed by the time we arrived. But there was a cool church tower to climb and lots of cheap beer to be sampled. Christine and I really hit it off -- she offered to share her "Sex and the City" DVDs with me (as most of you can imagine, it's been almost 6 months so I'm in withdrawal) and we're planning a thrift-shop venture really soon (this city is FILLED with thrift stores on every streetcorner).

Sunday was another perfect day weather-wise, so I went for brunch with Beth, Kelly, Melissa, Mark, Megan, Scott, Nick and David at Fraktal at Letenske Namesti. The array of American accents was enough to make even the most open-minded Czech citizen cringe! Despite some issues with the service that resulted in me starting my meal about 5 minutes after the rest of the gang, it was a really fun time! Everyone meshed really well -- I get nervous before any sort of group outing that this won't take place. After that, we took a stroll through Stromolvka, this incredible park only a few tram stops from my flat. We finally made it to the Troja Chateaux, an unbelievably beautiful 17th century chateaux on the banks of the Vltava River and surrounded with formal landscaped gardens. Pictures will follow, I promise!

Following our Troja venture (and quite possibly the most unsavory bus ride back to Nadrazi Holesovice), Kelly, Beth and I enjoyed a screening of "Memoirs of a Geisha," or simply "Gejsa," as it's referred to here. The novel is one of my all-time favorites so my expectations were very high. The acting was superb, the cinematography was unbelievable and the costumes left the screen drenched in amazing color throughout...but it was just a HAIR too long. I'd have trimmed it by 10-15 minutes or so. And I can't recall the exact logistics of the original ending, but I swear it was a bit different than the ending of the film.