Ahoj, Prague!

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!