Florida Delegation Journal
Day 10, January 5, 2007

Merrell Shoes vs. Prada Boots
By: Eva, Ft Myers, FL & Megan, Mountain Brook, AL & Meghan, Ponte Vedra, FL

If you love to look good by wearing Prada boots and carrying Chanel purses, then this trip is not for you. You have to be able to wear North Face jackets and Merrell boots. Today we boycotted our 9:45am wake up call and woke up an hour later. But we didn’t care about the coaches’ or tour guides’ thoughts or opinions because we outnumber them, so we win. HA!

Florida Dele Prague

We shopped and photo-opt-ed the city of Praha again. Some of our sexy companions shopped AGAIN, some of our genius teammates toured historical sites again, and some of us just walked and hung out.  Our version of the LAST SUPPER was to take place at 4:30 at the Pizza Coliseum. Our team sat together and reminisced about our trip thus far. We took many pictures to remember our facial expressions.

Tonight, we had our team meeting which resulted in a smack down between the Jeffs to see who is the weaker link. Jeff won. Or maybe Jeff lost. Tonight, our soul will be consumed by the dance of Czech citizens and drink mass quantities of Voda (water).

The Ghetto
By: Kim, Ponte Vedra, FL (First paragraph with assistance of Eva, Meghan, Megan)

Today we went to the ghetto. While we toured the amazing sights the more memorable moments came from the Italian God, aka Rami. Rami insisted that our fearless leader, who looks extra fine in spandex, was from Italy. This confused us. Rami then escorted her into the souvenir shop to peruse all of the two aisle store full to the brim of vast quantities of Czech goods. All of the souvenir shops here have the same two aisles with the same six items: t-shirts, sweatshirts, babushka stacking dolls, magnets, key chains, and alcohol. Most of us had to go in at least ten stores to see the same six items we had just seen in the past nine stores.

Jewish Cemetary Prague.JPG

Seriously, a group of us actually visited the Jewish ghetto which consisted of the Jewish museum, Ceremonial Hall, the old Jewish cemetery, and four synagogues: Maisel, Spanish, Pinkas, and the Klausen. We were also able to see the Old-New Synagogue. We learned that the Nazi occupation of this area known as Bohemia and Moravia began March 15, 1939. Many Jews were sent to the Prague ghetto and as WWII escalated they were sent to the different concentration/work camps throughout Europe. The Pinkas Synagogue was turned into a memorial to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia murdered by the Nazis. On its walls are inscribed the names of the eighty-thousand Jewish victims.

Upstairs in this building was a permanent exhibition “Children’s Drawings from Terezin1942-1944,” this camp near Prague had ten-thousand children under the age of fifteen housed there, eight-thousand of those were deported to the east, and only two hundred forty-two survived the wartime suffering. Many of us were deeply touched by the information that we learned today.
           
We then proceeded to meet the remainder of our tour group at the New Yorker shop. Most of them had been shopping some of them had taken a boat tour and others a walking tour of Prague. This amazing city has such a rich history and culture that it is so hard to take in. We walked to an Italian restaurant where our farewell dinner took place. We ate several different pastas and pizzas, while enjoying the company of our tour mates.

Florida  final dinner

Thanks to Coach CJ for giving us this great opportunity.  We will never forget our BIP tour to Europe!  And I hope to see you all in Greece this summer!! 

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