Hrad Karlštejn

Yesterday we went to Hrad Karlštejn, or Karlstein Castle, which was the summer getaway of Henry IV. We took an hour train ride into the countryside of Prague, which was beautiful and I'm sure even more so in the Summertime. I love train rides. Then we walked about 2-3 miles uphill until we reached the castle. It was really neat, really historic, and bloody freezing. It was actually colder inside of the castle than outside. Our tour was really educational, but our guide pretty much hated life. Every time someone in the group was talking or whispering to their friends, she would stop talking and stare them down. She actually said, "I can wait. You're wasting your time, not mine." I think she may have been an elementary school teacher before this job. She spoke English well, which was nice, but the way she structured the emphasis on her sentences made them seem very important, when they really weren't at all. For example, when she was talking about the King's room and how the bed was separated by a curtain, she started her sentence off in a low tone, and went to high; "the king's bed was separated BYYYY....." at which point we were all leaning in to hear WHAT this bed could be separated by, "...A CURTAIN!" She was making every sentence seem much more interesting by putting the emphasis on certain words and then leaving a pause between that word and the last word, but what she was saying was extremely anti-climactic. If you can't understand what I mean, then the only way I can explain it is with, "We want....A SHRUBBERY!". And then put that emphasis structure on sentences like, "And then the King left and went....OUTSIDE!"
Speaking of Monty Python, the entire time Spencer and I were quoting the movie because the castle and the atmosphere of the day really looked like the movie. So when we reached the bottom of the castle, we quoted this entire scene.


Saturday I went to a bazaar and got this really cool Russian camera from the 1800's, candles, and old 1800's fashion photos of really ugly women, which are hilarious. And on the walk home I bought really pretty yellow daffodils for my window.


Today I will probably go to school to edit a bit more (the final cut is due on Wednesday night), go shopping in my favorite section of the grocery store, cook, drink tea, and start writing a script for my diploma film. Isn't life abroad so charming?