Hello from Italy!
The week in Prague was amazing! I got on my plane to Prague after going through El Al security which is very hard. They check your bags and then check your bags again! Once I got to the airport I had an order from my brother that I must get Sour Gumwines, a kind of candy you can’t get in America. I found them right away and I thought that at three in the morning there would be a short line in the Duty Free shop, but I was so wrong. It was the longest line ever. An hour later I had the goods! I got on the plane and was so tired I fell fast asleep immediately. I got to Prague at 9 am and then went to the hotel that I thought my parents were staying at, but turns out that they were at the hotel next door. The taxi driver came into the hotel and said “ no no” so I realized I was at the wrong hotel. What a way to start the trip. I finally got my parents’ hotel and woke them! It was great to see them. We then spent the next week touring Prague. My dad had to work most of the time but my mom and I got to explore the city. We went to places like the Prague Castle, which was beautiful and the Charles Bridge which has all these statues and where many artists come to sell their works. But the best place we went to was a monastery which had the most amazing library I have ever seen. I would trade Cooley for this library any day! Then on Friday I met up with a friend (Ondra) from the Ulpan. He lives in Prague but after the Ulpan , he went to Egypt for a little bit. I was able to see more of the local Prague than just the touristy places which was nice after a week of being a tourist. We went on a paddle boat ride on a boat shaped like a swan-it was really funny because the swan paddle boat apparently is the only one of its kind on the river and is much cherished. We were told to take good care of the swan.
The next day we were off to Italy. My mom and I got into the Rome Airport without any problems! We then took a taxi to small town close to the port and stayed at the Hotel L’ISOLA(in Santa Marinella). It was cute but the town is pretty sleepy. The food in Italy ROCKS! For lunch we went to a supermarket and got cheese, bread, salami and wine. About 4 hours later we were hungry again so we went to the piazza outside our hotel for pizza. No one eats dinner here until 8 at night. We got there at about 7:30 and sat down. We were one of two groups there. Then by 8:15 the place was crowded. There were kids playing outside while we were eating, and the atmosphere was that a fun family dinner. Today, we are heading to the ship which I believe that it is about 8 minutes from where we are now! Mom and I are going to get some more pizza for lunch before we go because it was that good! I will try to upload pictures soon, but they take awhile to upload so I might not be able to do that until I get back to Israel. Hope all is going well!
Laura
