Brno and the discovery of Turkish Honey

Miriam and I took advantage of our last unofficial weekend together before she goes back to Barcelona by heading to Brno, Czech Republic. I painfully realized that I have not taken full advantage of her by using her for Spanish lessons becuase after two months of living together my vocabulary consists of common words I've heard her use in conversation over the phone. Oh and so long as I know "Donde esta" (pardon the spelling) then I should be able to navigate my way around Spain without a problem.

I digress. So we were greeted in Brno by Miriam's friend , Alba, from Spain as well, who was so kind to let us stay at her place for the weekend. And by her place, we mean her mansion of a flat, compared to our living conditions (Alba we are so jealous!). Friday night we headed out for some beers and then met other trainees at a couple of clubs and danced the night away. I was quite impressed that we were able to stay up as late as we did but when we finally went to bed, we were out like a light. I am proud to say that I gave Miriam her first beer hangover, an accomplishment I will hold high for some time to come.

Our hostess Alba!

The sightseeing tour of Brno was not as extensive as most cities that I go to. Usually I fee like I need to see everything there is in the guidebook, but it was really cold and windy that I welcomed a nice warm coffee shop instead. Alba, Miriam and I had some really good heart to hearts over warm tea and coffee. Then as it appears is Central European tradition, we headed to another Christmas market. This is where the good part comes in because we all discovered Turkish Honey. I wish I could explain it better but basically it is more like a nougat, white very hard with nuts inside, I will try to update a picture later. You need a knife and another utensil to break off pieces as I painfully learned trying to bite off a piece with my bare teeth. We bought some, tried it, realized we wanted more, went back and bought some more. Then we thought, this would make great Christmas presents, especially at $1 per 100gr, so we went back again. I can imagine what the shop owner was thinking. It will be my guilty pleasure for the next month and my dentists future paycheck as I'm sure eating all this sweet stuff is great for my teeth.

Here is an interesting sightseeing story; apparently the architect who created this church and statues in front, got pissed off because he was not paid enough for his work. So in a last dire effort to prove a point, her curved the tip of the structure. Clever guy! I got such a kick out of this.
Oh and I almost forgot about the Bulgarian Party. Saturday night, Alba took us to a Bulgarian party at a community hall in Brno. All Canadians who have roots in some other country will know what I am talking about as I was suddenly reminded of Croatian parties back in Calgary that were exactly like this. They had a performance with traditional folk dress and dances. I got the sudden earge to call my dad and let him hear the music becuase he is the John Travolta of Croatian Folk dance (holy roaming charges though!)

All in all I hope to go back to Brno in the spring sometime when it is a lot nicer outside and the city doesn't look so gloomy to explore more of the sights. It was so easy to meet and become friends with some of the interns even though our time together was short so I hope to visit or see them sometime in the future. Thats the thing about meeting people who are in the same position as you, an instant bond is created.