Our new friends, Milos and Prague.

Just a short up-date to end a fabulous day!

Today, one of the professors here, Milos, took a group of us on a four hour long walking tour around Prague. It was hot, we're exhausted, but it was well worth it. Milos seems to know a little bit about everything in Prague and is so passionate about his home that I couldn't help but eat it all up!

Perhaps the coolest thing for me is that he is a mover and shaker in the music scene here and would mix stories about The Velvet Underground (apparently Nico once said that Lou Reed would "never grow up") and credited the Beatles for helping him to learn English. Now, I grew up on the Beatles, as most of you know, and have so much strong emotion linked to them that I instantly understood his passion. We went to what is known as the "John Lennon Wall," which was the first real monument in the world put up after his death. It started as spontaneous wall art and now is the only place in Prague where it is legal for anyone to paint.

It was incredibly moving to hear him talk about it and really think about how much John Lennon meant and still means to people, all over the world. I must admit I teared up a bit. I definitely plan on going back as it changes all the time.

In addition to this we walked through an artist colony neighborhood, where Milos pointed out where he met Allen Ginsberg for the first of several times and knocked on several doors to see if his friends were home. As well as walking through a fabulous park, that Milos talked about his friend who had designed a beautifully artistic tunnel and how he had referred it to BBC and National Geographic as a must see spot in Prague.

 View of the Castle from the park.

Obviously, Milos is a character. But so is Prague and he felt like the perfect person to lead us through it. Excitedly answering any questions we had and anticipating some things we would be interested once we got to know him a bit better. It was an informative and really fun day. I look forward to doing more tours with him and getting to re-walk some of the tour on our own later on.

That's it for the day, exhausted!