Ahoj, I’m sitting
on the train going home from Prague. We still have quite a journey
ahead of us. A few more hours on this train, and then we spend about
an hour and a half in Berlin, then hop on to another train to Bünde,
and from there we go to Melle. I know I say this every time, but
Prague turned out to be my favorite city that we visited.
Day 1
As soon as we got
off the train around 5:30pm, we were greeted by the statue of Woodrow
Wilson standing outside the station and made our way to the city. The
first thing we needed to do was get Czech crowns. One euro equals
about 25 crowns. With that in mind, we used our bank card and took
out 3,000 crowns, or about 120 euros.
The money situation
was under control, so we dropped off our stuff at the Traveler’s
Hostel. Starved, we went to Fasty’s around the corner and got a
chipotle burger, a drink, and fries for dinner. Combined, our meals
came out to be 300 crowns, which was about 6 euros a meal. Not
bad.
The two of us were
ready to drink after that, so we went back to the hostel since it had
a bar on the floor we were staying on with some cheap drinks. We read
that if you’re paying more than 30 crowns for a drink, you’re
getting ripped off, so we started off each of our nights at this bar.
The bartender was always friendly… maybe because we left him a
generous tip every time. Regardless, we became well acquainted by the
end of our stay.
We found ourselves
wandering through the Old Town Square after the hostel bar, in search
for another place to drink. We passed by a medieval looking church,
the Astronomical Clock, and Town Hall. Prague has such an old
fairytale feel to it. Alex and I walked on the Charles Bridge that
night, too, and took in a very classic view of the city. The water
beneath the bridge was lit up by the house lights with red rooftops
on the hills. It was a very calm, spring evening and the trees were a
fresh shade of green. It was surreal being on the bridge because your
average Jersey girl isn’t exposed to these monumental works of art…
except Bon Jovi.
After doing some
minor sightseeing, we ended our night at Café Pub Atmosphere, and it
was exactly the type of place we wanted to hang out at. It had a
younger crowd and it wasn’t decked out in obnoxious tourist décor.
Alex ordered us beers in Czech, which he had been practicing with the
app he downloaded on his phone. We got our drinks, so they at least
understood him! By midnight, we were ready to crash.
Day 2
The next morning, we
had breakfast in the same room the bar is held. The selection
certainly wasn’t overwhelming, but it got the job done. Once we
fueled up, we went to Old Town Square to begin our free three hour
walking tour of Prague at 11am. Since our free tour went so well in
Berlin, we had high hopes for this, and we weren’t let down.
Our tour guides name
was Vitek, and he was a native Czech with cool white guy dreadlocks.
He certainly knew his history of Prague, and his English wasn’t bad
at all. He told us all about defenestrations, which is the act of
throwing someone out of a window. Apparently, it happened so often
here that they gave it a name: defenestration. Multiple times, people
tried to overthrow the government by use of this method. After the
third time, the government punished all 27 members who took part in
this defenestration by holding a public execution in Old Town Square.
In front of the town hall today, there are 27 crosses that represent
each member that was executed. The government took their heads and
displayed them all on the Charles Bridge to serve as a friendly
reminder to the public not to try and overthrow them.
He also showed us
the Astrological Clock, which was designed in medieval times. It
shows the date, time, position of the sun and moon, and it actually
corresponds to the astrological signs. It is 0 at sunrise. Every
hour, on the hour, the figures alongside the clock put on a small
“performance,” so the street that it’s on becomes very crowded.
Vitek said it wasn’t that impressive, though. I normally don’t
trust white guys with dreads, but he seemed like a reliable source.
Another unique thing
we were told to pay attention to in Prague is the house symbols. Many
of the houses incorporate some kind of symbol into the house which
represents the family in some kind of way. For example, we saw a bell
on one of the houses in Old Town Square. Perhaps the family is known
for making bells.
The tour also took
us through the Jewish ghetto. All of the Jewish people were crowded
into this area, and they were emancipated in the 1800’s.
Vitek also showed us
a beautiful Baroque style church. It is famous because, according to
the story of the church, a thief tried to steal a necklace from
around the neck of a statue of Mary a very long time ago. Legend has
it that Mary came back to life and grabbed the criminal’s hand.
People of the town didn’t know how to release his hand, so they cut
it off. It also was a fitting punishment for this crook. The
mummified hand still hangs in the church today, and it looks just as
disgusting as it sounds.
We also heard the
story of Golem, who is a monster created by a rabbi. If you shoot a
bullet into Golem, he will be your slave. The story of Frankenstein
very similar, and it was suggested that Golem inspired it.
As we were walking,
our group all stopped to get sausages from a stand. You’d think
after living in Germany for a few months now that I would be sick of
them, but Czech sausages were slightly different. They were a little
spicier, and I am really happy to have tried one.
We of course walked
the Charles Bridge, and it was a different sight during the day.
There was so much more color, and both views were very scenic. We
then walked over to the palace, and we got to see the president’s
car parked outside! It was just a plain old Škoda. There is no way
the average Joe could walk up to Obama’s car. Vitek told us about
the time Obama came to Prague with all of his secret service men and
snipers everywhere, and their president looked like some schmuck next
to him.
We climbed a heap of
steps towards the castle, and I saw my favorite view of the city.
There were a lot of red rooftops and green hills with blossomed trees
scattered everywhere.
When the tour was
over, Alex and I walked around the shops and got McCafes to
reenergize. Dinner was fancy that night and rather inexpensive. We
got the “tourist deal,” which was goulash with rice and a crêpe
for dessert.
After we rested in
the hostel room, Alex and I pregamed our night at the hostel bar. We
then went to an amazing five-story club that had a different theme on
each level. One floor was all about dancing, and the one above that
was designated to oldies. The two above were closed. My favorite
story, however, included the ice bar. We spent 30 minutes inside and
ordered one drink each that came in a glass made out of ice. In fact,
everything was made out of ice; the couches, the bar, the sculptures.
It was really great! It’s a good thing they gave us coats and
gloves before we went in, because needless to say, it was freezing.
The only weird part
of this place was that the bartenders would ask for a tip, and how
were we supposed to say no? They really took what they wanted from
us. Tipping etiquette is different everywhere you go, I suppose.
Day 3
My hangover made
itself known the next morning, but nothing a little ibuprofen and
hostel breakfast couldn’t fix. We ended up making soup in the
kitchen, too. I love when hostels have kitchens. Alex also read about
an explosion that happened in one of the buildings in Prague, and it
wasn’t far from our hostel. It was related to gas. I think about 35
people were injured, and it was mostly minor. People said they could
feel the shock from the explosion while standing on the Charles
Bridge. We didn’t get a chance to check out the scene, but I heard
that the police taped everything off, anyways. Besides, we had a lot
to do that day.
We went to the
Museum of Communism, which I loved and learned so much from. Alex and
I actually devised a plan where we both got the discounted entrance
fee. Alex presented his student ID for the discount, and after I
pretended to rummage through my purse for my “ID,” I gave them my
saddest face and said I left it at the hostel. It actually worked…
who said theater wasn’t applicable to the real world? We watched a
documentary there and it didn’t censor anything. It was really
scary, and put a lot of history into perspective for me. It’s one
thing to read about all of these things, but to actually see them
happening on real footage is chilling. I remember reading about Marx,
Lenin, Stalin, and all of these really important figures in school,
but it doesn’t mean as much when you only read a biased skewed
version of history from a textbook. I was able to understand it
better and actually connect facts that I learned from the DDR Museum
to this museum.
After the museum, we
ate schnitzels and fries at Café Restaurant, who, by the way, are
extremely stingy with their ketchup. They gave me a 20g packet of
ketchup, and the Czech speaking people at the table next to us an
entire bottle. Vitek said that Czech people tend to rip tourists off
like that.
That night, we were
very tired but wanted to soldier up and have a good time for our last
adventure in Prague. So, we went to our hostel bar for a few drinks.
It was bittersweet saying ahoj to our bartender. Determined to at
least leave the hostel, we went to a place called Little Goat and had
one beer each. It reminded me of a Czech Chili’s.
The next morning
came way too fast. We were up and out by 7am. Exhausted, we trekked
to the train. Only two more weeks until Barcelona, should be fun!
