Prague Orientation

The group received their first tour of Prague yesterday. Vlasta, the Czech coordinator took the students to some magnificent places for their first exposure to this very historic city while making the group familiar with some European traits; using the public transit and walking almost everywhere.

At the first stop, Malostranska metro stop, Vlasta began his very detailed tour of the history of the city. The first piece of history was the Vrtboska garden. The Vrtbovska garden is situated on the slopes of the Petrin hill and is one of the most important boroque gardens of Prague.

The Italian style terrace garden was built by the Vrtbovsky palace in 1715-1720 for Jan Joseph, the earl of Vrtba, the highest chancellor of the Prague castle. The very intelligent solution proved by a convincible style interpretation was designed by Prague-born Frantisek Maxmilian Kanka. An important role was undoubtedly also played by his colleagues, sculptor Matyas Bernard Braun, who provided all the sculpture for the garden, and painter Vaclav Vavrinec Reiner, the author of the frescoes (any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings).

The tour continued on to several other smaller locations including the John Lennon wall, Charles Bridge, and one of the oldest working Astronomical Clocks in the world. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock )

The small tour given by Vlasta was a great orientation to get the students acquainted with Prague and get their confidence in themselves to now go out and take on the town and find out more on their own.

After the tour of the city, the students made their way back to campus where they enjoyed a Welcome Dinner hosted by our Czech friends. It was a very pleasant night as dinner was provided for us and we were able to meet and greet the Czech students.

Students stayed after the dinner and participated in a local fun game that the Czechs enjoy to play a lot, Foosball.