The Convent was founded in the first decade of the 13th century and quickly became a very wealthy convent. During the Hussite Wars in the 15th century the convent was occupied by the Hussite army and destroyed. Two centuries later, during the Thirty Years War, it was once again occupied and plundered. It was then rebuilt in the 18th century and that is where the current buildings on the ground originate.

The chapel on the grounds.

Near the end of the 18th century, however, Emperor Joseph II instituted rationalist reforms and dissolved many monasteries and convents around his empire, including this one. It was then purchased by a noble family, who, in the latter part of the 19th century rented part of the property out to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, who established a private all girls school here. This school lasted until the beginning of World War II, when all residents where forced out. By 1950, the convent was requisitioned by the Czech government and the property was put to use as accommodation for the Czech army, who inflicted a lot of damage on the buildings. In 1991 the convent was passed to the hands of the town of Chotěšov, where it has since remained. Today is it completely empty, however many movie makers come here to make films, particularly in the chapel. The tour guide told us that many of them like the chapel particularly because of its dilapidated and abandoned condition. He told us he was watching a Scandinavian film and noticed that part of it had been filmed in the chapel. So its not just Czech films, but people from all over the world come to film there. Pretty neat.

This was a theater and cinema for the girls who lived here when it was a private all girls school. However, a fire in the building several years ago left this part of the building severely damaged. Below is the grand entrance that leads to this room. The fire also damaged the large mural on the ceiling, but after many years they were able to restore the entrance to its former glory. What's incredible is they divided this huge painting into over 600 pieces of canvas, and once they were repainted they essentially glued them onto the ceiling. I can't imagine working on something that huge! I get tired of working on one painting after a couple weeks. This took years!

Above is the outside of the chapel that a lot of movie-makers like to film in.

And since I never got a picture of the front of it because we came in from the back, here's a photo I snagged from Wikipedia:

Pretty neat! 

Also, an update on that 'Ř' sound in Czech. I think I'm getting closer! I say it and Magda and Anna don't go "No, that's not right", so I must be getting closer, right? I probably sound totally American, but hey, I'm not asking for native speaking abilities... I just want to be able to say the dang sound! 

I thought I'd just post a little post about my thoughts on life lately. Haha. That sounds so... hipster... or philosophical. Oh well. 

First of all, can I just say I wish my near future was a lot more like this photo: one narrow path and one possible outcome or direction. This trying to find a job is really stinking hard! Especially when you don't know what you want to do. I feel like there's this vast ocean of professions out there, but I don't know which one to pick! I wish, just for a little bit, that having majored in International Relations meant that I would be going into one specific field, one narrow path, and that I didn't have to spend so much time looking for it. That I would just follow the trail and come out where I was supposed to in the end.But I'm grateful life isn't like that. Because agency is a pretty great thing. At the end of the day, I want to be satisfied with what profession I have settled on and the path I took to get me there. It probably will not be straight, and the outcome will probably have been one of many possibilities.

Second, I've come to the realization that I have been looking at a lot of house stuff on pinterest lately. I think that means I want a house or an apartment of my own. I'm so done with the whole roommate/ you can't paint the walls or hang anything up phase. I want to be able to go to Helping Hands or some Thrift Store, buy some furniture with some really great bones and fix it up. Make it something really special that I can keep in my house for a long time. I want to print off all of these photos I've taken, put them in massive frames, or order some canvases of my photos and hang them, with a real nail, in my walls. To go to Lowes or Home Depot and pick out a paint color and make my walls colorful! I want to get everything out of all those boxes I have stored in grandma and grandpa's hanger and remember all the cool places I've been as I hang my stuff on the walls and set them out on shelves.

Lastly, I turn 23 in a few weeks.  Actually... less than two weeks. For some reason I keep thinking about how these are the last few years of my "golden year" (my birthday is June 22nd = I am 22 years old) and that I haven't done much with it. But I think that's a lie. I've done some pretty awesome things this year. First of all, I now have a Bachelors of Fine Arts in International Relations! And a minor in German! I have graduated from 18 years of schooling! I still haven't 100% decided whether or not I will go back to school. Part of me thinks, "No way! Never. Eighteen years was long enough!" But another part of me is thinking, "Well... then I wouldn't have to find a job. And maybe then I could do some internships over the summer that are only available to current students." Who knows? Like I said, the path I'm on is not a straight one with only one route. Second, I decided to come to Prague, all by myself! And it may seem like a cool thing to say that I came to Prague for the summer, but I think the best part, for me at least, is knowing that I did this by myself. Knowing I had no friends or anyone else I knew waiting for me in Prague, I did it anyway. And it wasn't that bad. So maybe this means I am growing up and can do scary things all by myself. 

As Benjamin Mee says "Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, and I promise you something great will come of it."

This past Saturday I took Anna (the oldest) to Karlstejn Castle, which is situated above the small town of, you guessed it, Karlstejn. The castle was founded in 1348 by Charles, or Karl, the IV to provide a place of safekeeping for the Bohemian/Czech crown jewels and the Imperial Regalia (which were the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire). Interestingly, women were forbidden to enter the castle. However, Charles IV's wife, Anna, was able to break-in (in drag) at one point. I guess this story has become one of the most popular Czech comedies.  Here's the castle above the town:

Look mom! A picture of me! You'll be so happy.

This is Anna. She's so tiny! Haha.

We got lunch after we took a tour of the castle. Anna's English is better than our tour guide's was! I'm always impressed with how well children can learn new languages. It's amazing. I wish I still had that... Anyway, I got goulash in a bread bowl and Anna got this pancake thing folded in half with chicken inside. It was pretty good. While we were in Karlstejn and when we were eating lunch she was like "I want them to think I am from America too. So I won't speak Czech to them." Haha. Then she ordered some lemonade thing that had a very long Czech name and I'm pretty sure that gave her away. She's so funny, and probably one of the sweetest girls I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know.

Yesterday I had a day off, so I went into the city to do some exploring and run some errands. I had to get some more pages sewn into my passport at the embassy, so I decided to walk around downtown for a bit while that was getting done. I walked around to the back of the embassy because there's this cool park/orchard thing I read about, so I figured I could find a bench there, enjoy the sunshine, and eat my lunch. By the way, what is it about simple baguettes with butter, ham, and cheese, that are so darned good? I'm sure it's because it's in Europe. Haha. So I had my ham and cheese baguette, some Manner cookies (where are my Vienna friends, when I miss them so?!), and some peach and apricot Fanta. Seriously. So good. I think I could drink Fanta every day for the rest of my life and die happy. And really fat...

After my lunch in the orchard (and some photo taking, naturally), I went to this church that was nearby and was supposedly some big tourist destination. Inside they have this little Jesus baby doll up on an altar, all dressed in fancy clothing. Haha. It looked like some creepy porcelain doll from the 80's, but a lot of people seemed to really like it. There was even a museum to the side of the church that had all the little costumes that have been given to the church for the baby Jesus over the years. Creepily funny, if you ask me. Haha.

I then took the tram over to a street called Na Příkopě (which I am incapable of pronouncing. When there is one of those little marks above the r it makes a sound that people say is like a mix between an r and a z. The Krseks, however, told me that that's not how you say it at all. It's more like how the french say the j (zh), but with some additional weird thing they do with the tongue. I'm determined to figure the pronunciation of this letter out.). There's lots of shopping to do and the buildings are mostly all old, and all very cool looking. Of course I stopped in at H&M...

By then it was time to go pick up my passport. Rather than taking the tram back, I decided to walk the whole way, and just wander around. I walked around the National Theater and went to this little island in the river. When I came to Prague with my Vienna group, some of us went to this island and rented paddle boats from this little rental place there. It brought back a lot of fun memories. :) This time it was a lot prettier though. It was October when we went, and most of the leaves had already fallen off the trees and most of the stuff was dead. This time everything was green and in bloom...

After I picked up my passport, my feet were protesting any more walking, so I decided to catch the tram and head home. While I waited for the tram I had this really cool experience that I think will stick with me for a long time. As I walked up to the stop, I noticed this blind girl approaching from the other direction. She stopped a few feet away from me and we just stood there while everyone else was walking around us and the other passengers who were waiting for the next train. All of a sudden, her white cane tapped into my feet and as I turned in her direction she said "Oh pardon, pardon!" and then asked me something in Czech. All I could say was "Anglitsky" ("English"). So then she started talking to me in English. She asked if she was standing alright at the tram stop (she didn't want to be too far forward, or too far back, in case she missed the train) and I told her she was standing in the perfect place. She asked if I was a tourist, and I was like "well, sort of, but not exactly. I'm an au pair, a nanny, this summer for a family here." At this point a train was approaching and I asked her which tram number she was waiting for. She said 22, so I informed her that she would want to get on this tram that was coming in. She asked if I was getting on it as well and I told her no, I was waiting for the 12. So she bid me luck with the children this summer and went on her way.

Such a cool person! Earlier that day, there was a church that I wanted to see. There was some long skinny pathway in front of it and a sign that said "Klub." This sounds really, really dumb, but I turned around as soon as I saw the sign and walked the other direction, afraid I was going somewhere I shouldn't be going. And here was this girl, who couldn't see a thing, and she was getting on a tram, trusting that people were telling her it was the right one, and trusting that she would be able to get off at the right place and get to where she needed to be. I can't even walk down a path because I'm worried I shouldn't be there. This experience really put things into a totally new perspective for me. I should have kept on walking, and if someone told me off, then I could say in a thick American accent "Oh sorry! I didn't know!" and then leave.

Anyway, I thought that was a cool experience that I learned a good lesson from. I hope from now on I will remember that and not be deterred by dumb little signs in my path.

 In other news, I started working out again for the  first time in two months. My body basically hates me right now. But being sore is such an awesome feeling.

That's right, I've joined the big boys now. Haha.

This past weekend we went up to the Krsek's cabin within the Šumová mountains, in the town of  Borová Lada, which is about 5 km from the German border. It was gorgeous up there, so I really hope we get to go back. Mr. Krsek made it sound like they would be going up there fairly often, so I'm hopeful. We spent the weekend just basically relaxing in the mornings, and then either riding bikes or going on walks in the afternoon.

Here is the view from the back porch of their cabin:

Each night we ate dinner at the smallest restaurant I have ever eaten at before. They served all sorts of dishes with meat from different wild animals. The first night I had Fallow Deer (it's like a deer with spots, but not a baby deer. It just keeps it's spots its whole life, apparently) and the second night I had regular deer. Both were delicious. Ironic that I come from an area with lots of hunting and the first time I have deer meat is in the Czech Republic. Go figure.

The restaurant comprised of this one tiny room with a table that could seat about six people comfortably, and then a small one behind, that could seat two people. Like I said, very, very tiny. But also very delicious.

On Sunday we went on a bike ride through the national park. Here are some views from the ride:

We ate lunch at this restaurant, and there were lots of Germans there. I was sort of rude because I was eavesdropping, but oh well. This will sound strange, but I think German, when spoken well, is one of the prettiest languages. I know. Call me crazy. So I allowed myself to be serenaded by the sweet melodious tunes of the Germans around me while I ate my chicken with dumplings and sauer kraut.

After lunch I went on a littler journey on my own to see a remnant of the Iron Curtain, which was a couple of kilometer's away from where we ate lunch. The Krsek's told me that there was a 5 kilometer area leading up to the actual border between West Germany and the then Czechoslovakia where no one was allowed to live. Since Borová Lada is about 5 kilometers from the border, before the Iron Curtain fell, you couldn't go any farther past the last houses in the town. Crazy.

On Monday Barbara and I went on a walk along the river, which if I remember correctly ultimately becomes the Vltava, which runs through Prague. It was so gorgeous! I'll just let the photos speak for themselves:

Another fun adventure here in the Czech Republic!

So I managed to get out to the city a couple times this last week. I get two days off a week, so I've been trying to go explore as much as I can (today being an exception, as I had somethings I wanted to get done and frankly, my bed was just too comfortable...). One day, I went to see the gardens of Valdštejnský palác. Dating back to at least 1621, the palace was built by Albrecht von Waldstein (Valdštejnský = Waldstein), who was the commander of the Imperial Catholic armies during the Thirty Years' War. Now the Czech Senate is housed here.

Another view of Karls Bridge, this time from another perspective.

The next day Martina took Barbara to her Horse Park (which are some really cool stables she bought and restored about two years ago). I went along to watch Barbara while Martina was trying to get some work done, so I got to go see it as well. My camera ended up getting locked in her office for practically the whole time I was there, so I didn't really get any pictures of it, sadly. Next time I go I will have to make sure I gets some photos. After Horse Park, we ate lunch at the palace. Martina told me that during the Communist years, all the senior (I'm assuming she was referring to old when she said senior) writers were placed. Supposedly there's some really beautiful gardens as well. There's so much I have to check out!

This is the church of sv Jiljí (St. Giles), who was being chased by some hunters and wound up getting shot in the foot by an area, consequently becoming the patron saint of cripples, with his own pretty ornate church...

The last open-air market in Prague. It was originally run by the German community in Prague, and one could buy flowers and vegetables there. Now it has artwork, wood toys, food, flowers, and all sorts of stuff.

The Convent of St. Agnes. This is the oldest surviving Gother building in Prague and was founded in 1233. I ended up just walking around the building, because I couldn't figure out how to get in. I'll have to go back and see if I can figure it out.

My view while eating lunch in Kampa park: the National Theater.

Things are going well so far. Anna and Magda are away on a school trip this week, so things have been really calm with just Barbara. Over the weekend we went up to their cabin in Borová Lada, which is about 5 km from the German border. I got to brush up on my German a little bit, which was fun. Being so close to the border, if anyone there speaks a second language apart from Czech, its German. But I'm loving it here!