Last weekend in February

Saturday the 26th: Pig Killing Festival [Note: DO NOT READ THIS PART IF YOU ARE A VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, ANIMAL LOVER, ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST OR ANYONE IN GENERAL IT IS VERY GRAPHIC AND YOU WILL MOST LIKELY STOP EATING MEAT]
Sunday the 27th: wondering around lesser town
Monday the 28th: Pražský hrad (Prague Castle) and the Lennon Wall

So on Friday night me and my roommate decided to rearrange our room since we can so we did here is what it looks like:

Roommates side

So after I finished rearranging my room. I was talking to girl in my program, Cara, and she was like are you going to the event Geiger [person who plans events for us to go on]. I was like what event apparently I am not receiving emails. Anyone it was like why the heck not I have nothing going on tomorrow and I should ACTUALLY do something. So decided to go. Geiger was meeting in front of the K17 the other building at 7:15. I am not a morning person so getting up that early is always a challenge. So I manage to get up running a tad bit late. I forget that the metro runs less frequently on the weekend than during the week so I was waiting around finally at 7:10 it arrives and I was like crap I am not going to make it to K17 in time so I decided I will meet them at the train station since it's out of my way to go to K17 to save time. As I am about to get on the metro to the train station(since I had to change lines) I see Geiger, Liz and Sue about to get on the metro perfect timing! So we get on the metro and head to the train station. We get on the train and head to this small town with 200 people living there for the pig killing festival. First off I was not really sure what a pig killing festival entitled, but it's exactly as it sounds. I also don't eat pork. So we get there it's maybe quarter to 8 and there is no anywhere to be found really no surprise since it was so early. So we go looking around the town and we meet Geiger's friend G3(his name is hard to say but it sounds like G3 so that's what we call him). So we wait around and then I finally see the pig. It was the biggest pig I have ever seen it was a good couple hundred pounds. It was in a cage. I realize that they are going to kill the pig so I walk far away it didn't matter. I heard them shoot it. I could hear the pig flailing and struggling in the cage. I guess the pig wouldn't die so they had to slit it's throat. When I come back I see the pig lying dead on a latter. They are about to de-hair the pig. They pour this hot liquid on the pig and scrub the hair off. Then I see them take a blow touch to the pigs face to remove the hair. This was too much so I walk away with Liz and Sue and they are serving hot wine. I have never tried hot wine before, but it was cold outside and it was available so i decided heck why not. Hot wine was pretty good it was kinda like tea it's infused with cinnamon, sugar and lemon and tasted pretty good. Geiger calls us back. At this point the pig has no head and they are about to remove the toe nails on the pig. The remove the nails and back legs and are about to hang it up. I guess they usually keep the head on the pig but it was so big that it wouldn't fit in the stand with out the head touching the ground. So they hang the pig. It is standing there dripping blood. They begin slicing it open and remove the organs and intestines and place them in a bucket. They start to cut strips of meet to get cooked. I run away again. Then I see them starting to cook the meat. They cooked and used all the parts of the pig. The meat was being served as fast as it was done being cooked. I was not having any of it. They had a pepper stuffed with sauerkraut and bread which was actually not bad. The bread was free so I kept snacking on that. Then we viewed the chapel which was really small and only one room big. Outside the chapel was a nice comfy couch which we sat on and soaked in some of the sun that faced a playground where the children were playing. The butcher and his son were then making sausages. I have never really seen them made before but I really don't think I'll be having any after that. So they stick the meat the part that no one really wants to eat in with bread and grinds it up. Then once it's all made it is then stuffed inside the intestine skin. Then we left to go on a 5 mile hike to a castle. It was a pretty long hike and I felt way out of shape since I could barley climb it. We finally made it to the top. The castle was nice it was the off season(winter) so we couldn't go inside. But here are some photos:

train ride to the pig killing festival

my lunch (pepper stuffed with sauerkraut)  no pig for me

couch outside the cathedral

Castle

 
I didn't take any photos of the pig killing, but Geiger did so here are some photos too graphic to upload online view at your own risk:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1803349077339.2103673.1048227483

After that we went on the train back to Prague and I was dead tried at that point. I made some dinner and crashed. The next day I was going to meet up with Cara and go to Prague castle. We were going to meet at Charles Bridge then cross over into Lesser Town then go to the Castle but she doesn't have a phone so communication is harder so I couldn't find her so I walked around lesser town by myself I would have gone to the castle too bur my batteries died so I decided not to go. Good thing since I talked to Cara and we decided since we still wanted to go to meet up after my class on Monday. I wondered around Lesser Town kinda got a little lost but that's all part of the fun of exploring. I ended up outside a building with hundreds of people gathered outside with camera taking photos and videoing. So I decide to find out more about what was going on. I couldn't really tell what was going on all I could see were a whole bunch of soldiers marching with bayonets. About 12 marched out then 12 more marched inside then poof like magic everyone started to disperse. I still have no idea what was going on. Here are photos from Lesser Town:

On Monday after my politics class Cara and I went to go see Prague Castle. So we follow the signs that say Pražský hrad which is Prague castle in Czech. We finally make it there. I see St. Vitus Cathedral so we go inside it is really pretty in there. It has the traditional Gothic architecture features with the pointed windows, stained glass windows, rip vaulting, and flying buttress. We see this pink building to the right. We continue on to find the castle. We keep wondering and it ends there is no more buildings. We're like where is the castle. So we go into on of the gift shops and are like where is the castle. She was like you are at the castle. I was like I can't find it, so we look at a post card and I identify the buildings and ask where the castle is. She explained to me that all the building make up Prague Castle, but there is not one building that is called Prague Castle. So I was a little disappointed to find that out. Here are some photos From Prague Castle:

We leave Prague Castle and we are hungry. I had heard there was a really good Mexican food place near there and I had been craving some Mexican food badly. Cara had been there and was like it was good so we went to the restaurant it was called Cantina. It was a little pricey so we decide to split a dish since it was only like only 3:30 and were going to have dinner later anyway. We order some chips and salsa and a quesadilla with cheese, chicken and spinach so good! Since it was near by we went to the Lennon Wall. The Lennon Wall is a wall dedicated to John Lennon and people can legally graffiti it and it's an art form and it's quite cool. It is constantly changing so it will be different every time you go.

After that we went home. The next day, I find I got a package waiting for me. It's a huge box. I open it up and it's full of my favorite American junk food. My friends are so sweet I love them so much and miss them like crazy!