Autumn is a time for vino...

As the weather changes from summer to fall, it is still very pleasant to be outdoors in the evenings. The above is a photo of Prauge Castle taken from the balcony of the riverfront hotel. When Marsha and her sister, Carol were her last weekend they had an incredible view of the city from their riverfront hotel. We even watched fireworks one night!
This is a photo of the sunset I see every night from my terrace. With the weather changing the sunsets have been lovely.
It is Burcak (pronounced bur-chalk) time of the year! Burcak is a sweet, sweet fermented wine that is locally made and very popular in the Czech Republic during the beginning of Autumn.
On Friday, myself and 6 other teachers went to the vineyard in Vinoharady, also known as the neighborhood of Prauge 2. It is stunning. The grapes are plentiful as you can see in the abover photo and the terrace is lovely for sitting outdoors, drinking wine right from the vineyard, and enjoying a view of the countryside (as shown below).
However, our search for Burcak ended when we arrived to the vineyard terrace and there was a private party using the seating area for a wedding reception. We were kicked out and walked through the park to a few local pubs who were not serving Burcak in their restaurants yet. Bummer. We were so excited... But we did take seats at a nice pub, visiting, drinking Gin and eating cheese. It was a great way to end a long week. On Saturday, I bought my new guitar. I paid quite a bit for it, but I also upgraded from my previous guitar (which I left in the states). It has great sound quality and I am so happy to have a guitar in my hands again.
On Saturday evening, I went to yet another wine tasting in the house of an ISP teacher. He is very knowledgeable in wines, grapes, etc and has an INCREDIBLE collection of wines. It was a treat... and I think my mother would be jealous! (Don't worry mom, he said you are welcome to come drink his wine when you visit...) There were many ISP teachers there and it was fun to let loose and chit chat with everyone outside of school. After Wayne's fiesta, Ana and I took her friends from Thailand out on the town. We met up with another elementary teacher friend of mine at a club where she got us all on a guest list. That was a blast... we danced until 4:30am. We listened to 4 DJ's spin and it was great. It was our first night out on the town to experience Prauge's nightlife. Of course I am the only one who wasn't drinking, but that didnt matter because I love to dance and the music was perfect... I don't know how I mustered the energy to stay awake that long but i did. Today, I met up with Ana and Carrie and a few other teachers in the city for lunch then I did all my shopping for the week. It is surprising how small Prauge really is. Both yesterday and today, I ran into multiple groups of teachers out and about having coffee, shopping, on the tram/metro, etc. You really do see plenty of people you know despite the masses of tourists. Well, that is all I have for now. I finally have internet at home, so I should be able to blog more frequently... stay in touch. - Nikki