further updates

Ok, so I know I promised some further updates on the Moravia trip, so I better get to it before I start to forget the details. This post might be a little long, so bear with me. On Friday, we left at around 10 a.m. from the dorm and began our three hour drive to Brno (the "capital" of Moravia) where we would be staying for the weekend we were there. Because I slept most of the way there on the bus I don't remember a whole lot of the scenery...but at one point, I remember hearing that Brno was an ugly town with nice people when compared to Prague, which was a nice town with ugly people. I can't really say that I agree with that because I haven't spent enough time in either place to adequately judge them. But, that is what they say. On the way to Brno, we stopped at a small town of Tisnov, to visit a local cloister. The church of the cloister was built in a transition Romanesque-Gothic style in the late 13th century, and it belongs to one of the oldest structures of this kind in the Czech Republic. The most valuable part of the complex is the magnificent church gate, which is called Porta Coeli - or Gate to Heaven. It was really interesting to find out that there are nuns who still live in the cloister to this day. After we finished the tour we got back on the bus and headed towards Brno again. We arrived around four which left a bit of free time before dinner. Dinner was a special treat. We ate at the Templar Order Restaurant in Cejkovice. This restaurant and wine cellar were built in a series of tunnels made by the Templars, so the ambiance was really cool. We also got a tour of the wineries, and saw the second largest barrel of wine in the world (I think) which is also the largest barrel that is still used to hold wine. I think that it held over 20,000 liters or something...needless to say, it was huge.

Saturday was a full day as well. In the morning, we drove out to Slavkov (Austerlitz), which was the site for a battle from the Napoleonic period. The battle was known as "The Battle of the Three Emperors" since it involved French Emperor Napoleon, Austrian Emperor Francis, and Russian Tsar Alexander. The battle took place in 1805, and it was a great example of Napoleon's strategic thinking and military prowess. There is also a memorial there that was erected in the 20th century, which is dedicated to all the soldiers who fought and died in the battle. It is called the Memorial of Peace on Prace Hill. It is supposed to serve as a reminder that all conflict should be resolved through diplomacy rather than war, since so many lives were sacrificed on that field. After the battlefield, we drove in the center of Brno for lunch followed by a walking tour of the the main town square and the highlights of the city. I had lunch in the Sherlock Holmes Pub :) The tour was really good, and even though it was optional, I was glad that I went. I will probably never go back to Brno, and I feel like I got a good sense of the city from that tour. I had dinner that night in the hotel lobby with some friends, and it was soooo much fun. It was probably the hardest I have laughed the whole time I have been here, and that was a good feeling to have.

Sunday was probably the fullest day of the three. We started early again, around 9:30 a.m. The first thing we saw was the Gregor Mendel Museum and Garden (although we couldn't really see the garden considering it was under a foot of snow). Gregor Mendel is credited with discovering the foundations of genetics through his experiments with peas. Mr. Feeney would be so proud! Hahaha :) We only spent about 30 minutes there before we were off again to visit Moravian Karst. Moravian Karst is a complex system of underground caves with beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. We did a walking tour through about half of the caves, and some of it was absolutely breathtaking. Especially when we came out at the bottom of a really large cave opening. We could look up several hundred feet and see trees surrounding the opening, and snow was falling in. There was a lake at the bottom too that looked like glass...I mean it was just gorgeous. My pictures won't do it justice. Our last stop of the day was a town called Adamov. It is famous for an altar in one of the churches that is from the 16th century. It is a huge wooden altar with several scenes, angels, disciples, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and all sorts of other things carved into it. It probably stands over 20 feet tall. Everyone was so tired at this stop that I don't really know that we appreciated it as much as we could have if we had been able to focus. And that was the end of our trip to Moravia.