Swirly chocolate cinnamon pastry things

Howdy ho Ranger Joes! Glad to be typing to you all on this wonderful 21 degree Celsius day in Leipzig. The people of the city are out in force today, like a hoard of children when they hear the ice cream truck.  The parks and roads are filled, causing me to wonder where on Earth they all came from. Either way, we spent this past weekend in the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic, and I am excited to tell you all about it.

First, a side story. Earlier in the year, Tanner and I were told about an interesting quirk of Leipzig that happens in the Spring time. There is a plant called the Bear leek that appears in late February, taking the ground space by storm. This specific plant tastes like a combination of garlic and onion, and the people of the city will grab handfuls of it from the park for their own meal. After returning from Spring Break, I first encountered this plant on Easter without meaning to. Before entering the forest, a smell of garlic and onion hit me like a ICE train shooting down the track laid before it. The entire area was covered in a new green plant, and I really mean everywhere. A few days later, we returned, and grabbed the leek, for future meals. Update: just had some with eggs. Fabulous.

They are EVERYWHERE

Our whole Study Abroad group left for Prague early Thursday morning, and by train, the city is roughly four hours away. The people in Prague speak Czech and use the Korona instead of the Euro, which is roughly 24 Korona to 1 Dollar. After climbing over a tall pile of gravel, we found our lovely accommodations, and went on our way for our own group tours. On this trip, teams of two or three had researched specified areas to teach us about while we visited it. It was pretending to do school when we are really just on vacation. The first day we visited Wenceslas square, the Old town square, and Charles bridge. My personal favorite was the Charles bridge, due to the high level of activity going on across the water. Standing on the bridge, overlooking the setting sun shining down upon the water with weather to rival that of a Spring day in Texas set me in a great mood for the rest of our time there. The sun set, and we wound down after the day was up by playing cards in our rooms.

Wenceslas Square

Old Town Square

12 Apostles Cuckoo Clock

Our Marvelous Lodging

Charles Bridge

The next day we went to the remaining locations on our tour: the Jewish Cemetery, Prague Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral. The Jewish Cemetery was built in a way that is unlike the average cemetery. While normal cemeteries are wide with space between gravestones, this cemetery was built with bodies being buried on top of other bodies. The gravestones are close together, laying on mounds of dirt in the home of the remnants of the original Jewish golem. St. Vitus Cathedral was built starting in 930, and was finished in 1929. This ancient history has given way to a triple tiered gothic monster that has stained glass that looks like it belongs at a Christian Woodstock concert. The bland walls were colored inside by the stained glass that was too massive for me to begin to grasp what was happening within.

Jewish Cemetery

Bit of  a tight squeeze

St. Vitus Cathedral

Woodstock-Christian stained glass

Interior of St. Vitus

St. Vitus Cathedral

My new bff

In order to explain to you what the title is in reference to, I feel that I need a full paragraph to describe the pastry that I never saw a name for. This pastry is like a cinnamon roll that is long with a hole punched through the middle. The exterior is cooked brown while the interior is left doughy. In one particular location, we were able to get them filled with ice cream and Nutella. For those of you that know me, you know my particular love for anything desert like, and I am unashamed to say I had no less than three of these on the trip (likely more). Below is a picture to jump start your salivary glands, should they be in need of a test.

*drooling over keyboard too much to type anything meaningful*

Finally, I want to give you a taste of the church I have been attending semi-regularly while here. I have been going to the Leipzig Let's Start Talking missionary church with a handful of the study abroad folks. Depending on the week, there will be 7 or 25 of us, but we begin church by sitting together around a big table enjoying coffee and cake together (it is as effective at getting me to church as classes that offer doughnuts). We then have song and sermon in either English or German depending on the week, It is a home church environment, and I appreciate the missionaries working to give us a place to call home while we are away from ours. 

LST church

That's all I have for this week. We leave for Greece on Thursday, so there may or may not be a blog on next Sunday. Till then, hug someone you care about, eat a piece of chocolate, work hard, and above all, don't forget to put on your pants before your shoes. 

-Tad Kile