Visiting Litomerice

I went back to the same synagogue for evening Rosh Hashana services. This time the security guard asked me a bunch of questions and asked to see ID. Since they did not split up into conservative and orthodox for this service I was sitting on the women's side again. But it was much better then at Chabad because our area overlooked the synagogue and I felt more like I was a part of the service. The also let people come up to the ark and offer prayers, which they said was a Sephardic tradition. The Rabbi came up and said hello to Ariella and I and told us to come back for Sukkot Dinner and Shabbat. After the shofar was blown they had a light break the fast but we were still hungry so a bunch the students that were at services went to Bohemian Bagel.

Yesterday, we all met up for the day trip to Litomerice at school at 8:30 AM. When we got there we went on a short tour of the town. It was very beautiful and its claim to fame is that poet Karel Hynek Mácha lived there, although he is buried in the Vysehrad cemetary I visited on Wednesday. People were much friendlier there then in Prague. We visited a castle because you cannot go anywhere in the Czech Republic without visiting a castle. But it had a really beautiful garden and caves underneath and our program director Ana lived there for a while because her parents were the caretakers. We ate lunch at a restaurant that was were the execution gallows in the town used to be, so there were hand cuffs and masks on the wall. I also climbed to the top of this lookout point which was pretty terrifying because the steps were tiny and narrow and the ceilings were very low.

We then went to the winery, and looked at the barrels and the caves where the wine ages. Then we tasted four white wines and two red. After that we headed back towards Prague and Gina invited my roommates Laura and Molly and I to get dinner with her and her finance at a traditional Czech pub. Our friends Ryan and Dan and one of Dan's friends came as well. Dan and his friend are from New Zealand but they have this fascination with American hip hop culture and stong opinons about American politics. I talked to Gina's finance about how marrying into an American family. Dinner was nice, but all the wine and the long day proved to be too much for Molly who fell asleep during dinner.

I think for the rest of the weekend I will just be focusing on studying for my Czech midterm.