Moravia, yes it REALLY IS a city.

gregor mendel's museum

What a weekend. We took our first trip with AIFS to Moravia, the center of the first slavic empire, which was established in the 9th century. It is a very religious area, seeing as it is linked with the first Christian mission and contributed to the spreading of christian faith. We got there on Friday, and on our way to Brno, the capital of Moravia, we stopped at a church that had a cloister built in the 13th century. The structure was beautiful and is built in Romanesque-Gothic style. After seeing the beautiful architecture, we moved on to our hotel, WHICH WAS CRAZY NICE (well, compared to the dorms we've been living in where jenna and I can basically hold hands as we sleep). Jenna and I made sure to shower twice while we were there to take advantage of the decent showers. After we had some time to rest at the hotel, the program directors took us to a family run wine cellar for dinner. We got delicious chicken, veggies, and potatoes, and of course, we tasted a bunch of delicious wine. The family told us about each of the wines and showed us where all of them are stored and how long everything takes. Overall, it was so nice going to dinner with a small group of us and getting to learn about Moravian culture. Yesterday we had a long day of sightseeing. After a delicious spread at the hotel (eggs, fruit, tomatoes, cold cuts, etc.,) we visited Gregor Mendel's garden and museum. Mendel grew famous wrinkled peas and discovered the foundations of genetics. It was pretty cool to see all of that, but I'm no scientist (obviously) so I wasn't as intrigued. Next we saw the Austerlitz battlefield from the Napoleonic period where the Battle of Three Emperors took place in 1805. It was very interesting to see the huge area of land where people fought. We also saw the memorial that was build to commemorate all people that participated in the battle. The memorial was so detailed and lined in gold which was gorgeous. Finally, we saw St. James Church, and St. Peter and Paul's cathedral. Both were absolutely stunning, each made differently but again, very detailed and exquisite. To be honest though, many of the churches are blending together to me, but they are all GORGEOUS! Last night, a few of us stayed at the hotel for dinner and then went to bed early. Today we woke up, had another BOMB breakfast, and headed out to see our last cathedral. While we were in there, there was actually a communion taking place! Of course, I was so confused since I've never been to one before, but it seemed intense.

inside of the caves!

jenna and i- outside part of caves

Last but not least, my favorite part of Moravia was the caves! The Moravian Karst is a complec of underground caves, ranked to be the most beautiful area of central Europe. We got there and walked through a portion of the caves, which were dark and icy, but then we got to an outside portion with a waterfall. I can't even describe how beautiful it was! The second part of the cave tour was by boat, kind of like a mixture of the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, and Pirates of the Carribean rides at disneyland! We got to go on the water through the underground caves and it was beautiful. I'm happy to be back in Prague and with all of our roommates again (Steph didn't come but it is nice to be back together!) Tonight is the superbowl (starts at 1230am Prague time) and so we are going to this American bar to watch the game with a bunch of people from our program. I am so happy to be back in Prague... Home sweet home!