Holidays in the Czech Republic

Hi everyone!! Hope you're all having a great holiday season back in the US. How's the Christmas shopping going? It's getting close... Only 3 weeks till Santa Clause comes to town! And that means only 2 weeks till Ben and I come back home for the holidays :) But we've been busy trying to absorb as much Christmas spirit here as we can, and, I must say, I think we've done a pretty good job.

On Thanksgiving, we went out to buy a Turkey and enjoyed a wonderful American meal from Burger King (Ben's favorite) for dinner. Some "American" things taste pretty different over here, but luckily Burger King tasted exactly the same! On Saturday (two days after thanksgiving; there might have been a football game on that day), we had an American Thanksgiving in the Czech Republic with our friends from Brno. It was excellent! The food was delicious. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, salad, bread, cranberry sauce, soup, and apple strudel. Our Czech guests were surprised by the amount of food that was consumed in one setting, but everyone caught on pretty quickly. Everyone had 2 helpings of everything and then headed back to the table later on to continue grazing. The Americans were proud. 

Starting in December, towns all over the country set up Christmas Markets in their town squares. They're really nice too. Basically, people walk around drinking svobodjacek (spelling?). It's a delicious mixture of hot wine, honey, and rum. There are other hot wine drinks that are mixed with fruit that are also worth a taste. And they eat sausages and bramborak (czech potato pancakes). The squares also sell traditional Christmas trinkets; everything from ginger bread cookies to candles to christmas ornaments to alcohol. It's a really neat tradition to experience. In Brno they have 3 squares that are occupied by the Christmas festivals so you can meander your way through all 3 while attempting to stay warm by drinking the hot wine. 

Yesterday, we traveled to Olomouc with a couple friends to see the town and enjoy its Christmas festivities too. When we got there it was a little colder than we expected, so we all ended up coming home with souvenirs of hats and gloves. Although we spent the whole day there it was a little cold to spend all our time walking around outside, so we enjoyed the local pub and brewery circuit too.

Here are some pictures from our holiday season so far!!

Ben's Buger King Thanksgiving Day meal

And my Burger King Thanksgiving Day meal

Our American Thanksgiving in the Czech Republic. We had quite the spread.

Ben in one of the squares for the Christmas Markets in Brno.

View from one Christmas Square into another. You can see the ferris wheel lights of another square in the distance.

Me in front of the extensive nativity scene (or Bethlehem as they call it) they have in the square. It's interesting because most Czech people don't believe in God, but they are very into the Christmas celebration. It should also be noted that Santa Clause doesn't bring the presents to the children here; instead, Baby Jesus comes in on a rope and delivers presents to all the good boys and girls. And good boys and girls are determined by St. Nicholas every year on December 5.

Christmas tree in the Center.

It would have been a great picture if it didn't look like a beam of light was shooting through my head.

Beer from a local brewery in Olomouc.

"Girls Picture" on the turtle!

I convinced Joe, an Iowa fan, to participate in an O-H-I-O picture. Next time I'll get something more exciting in the background.

St. Basils' looking church in Olomouc.

Christmas Market in Olomouc. 

Olomouc's own version of the Astronomical Clock. Apparently it was destroyed by the Germans as left the town at the end of WWII and when it was rebuilt the many communist/socialist aspects were added to it.

Yes, this is a real pig that is on display at one of the meat market stands at the Olomouc Christmas Market.

Everyone enjoying their Weiner Punc (pronouched punch) (yes, that's what it was actually called).

Happy Holidays from the Czech Republic everyone! Can't wait to see you soon :)