Prague, Czech Republic

WOW! Those are my words to describe this city. The only downside of going to this city in early October: it's fall there, so it's actually kinda cold (but I remembered to pack 2 coats for this trip!), as opposed to the gorgeous sunny 80s weather I'm still experiencing here in Rome. This was one of my favorite weekend trips so far!

Our trip started off in Rome; we had to take a train to Florence to catch the Bus2Alps bus that was departing from there. (We is my roommate, Shelby, and her brother, Brandon, who is visiting Rome for 10 days). So I actually was able to return to Florence, my favorite Tuscan city! We caught the bus at 8 PM, meaning we would be driving all night long and arriving in Prague on Friday morning. We drove through Austria and Germany to finally get to the Czech Republic. I actually was able to sleep through most of the night. We checked into our hostel, the Czech Inn, as soon as we stepped off the bus. It was an even nicer accomodation than the hostel in London. They provided us with towels as well as maps of the city and free breakfast!

Now we were ready for another walking tour, this time in a new city! The easiest form of public transportation to use in Prague is the tram and all weekend, we had to ride the tram for about 2 stops to get to our hostel or to get to the Town Center. Our tour guide, Isaac, was hilarious and made the tour really fun. First, he showed us this really pretty building, the Museum of Natural History, but he told us that it's must more interesting from the exterior and not to waste our time on boring museums. If you met him, you would really find him funny, I promise! Next, he took us to the Old Town Square, where the Astronomical Clock stands. The show that takes place on the hour at the Astronomical Clock is overrated. Here's a link to all the YouTube videos http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=astronomical+clock+prague&search_type=&aq=0&oq=astronomical+clock++ and you can experience the short show for yourselves. I think it's something the Czechs are proud of, though. From the Old Town Square, we walked to the Jewish Quarter, where there are obviously many synagogues. There is also a Holocaust Museum to commemorate all the Jewish Czechs who died in World War II. We Shelby and Brandon are both Jewish, and we wanted to return to the Jewish Quarter on Saturday to explore a little more. Next, we were moving towards the Vltava River (as I said before, almost every city I've visited so far has at least one river!), and a view of the Charles Bridge. We caught a glimpse of the Prague castle- I couldn't wait to get to that part of the tour. As we continued our walk, we saw a working water mill on the Kampa island inside the city. Next to the water mill is a lock bridge. Not a far walk from the lock bridge is a wall to commemorate John Lennon's death. After he died, two Czech teens decided to spray paint some lyrics about peace, love, and happiness, and even included the lyrics to "Imagine." Many people have contributed and the wall looks pretty cool today. From there, we walked up a big hill, passing one of Mozart's apartments when he lived and composed in Prague for a short period of his life. At the top of the hill is not only an amazing view of the city, but also the Prague castle! It is one of the biggest in the world, but it is a functioning castle- meaning the Czech government has its offices there, so you can't actually go inside to the rooms of the castle. Inside the castle walls is a basilica and lots of fountains and small squares. Outside the walls are men who stand guard with serious faces. I took my picture with one of them- I will be posting more pictures soon. Our tour ended at the castle and we made our way back down to the Old Town Square for some lunch. I decided to have traditional Czech food- some goulash, bread dumplings, and potato pancakes. I didn't know that potato pancakes was a Czech food- I actually thought it was a German food, but they were pretty good! The goulash is not the goulash I eat at home- at home to me, goulash is shells, meat sauce, and green peppers. In the Czech Republic, it's almost like pot roast in gravy and yes, surprisingly, even though I hate gravy, I ate it with the gravy on top! It was a really good meal for lunch. After lunch, I stopped at one of the shops in the Old Town Square to dish out my own candy- I bought so much, it lasted me until Sunday night! After lunch, we walked around a little bit, then went back to the hostel to freshen up before going out for the night. That night, we decided to participate in the Clock Tower bar crawl, which would take us to several bars all in one night. It was fun to experience a different night life atmosphere than the one in Rome, and I enjoyed dancing at the second place the most!

On Saturday, we indulged in the free breakfast at the hostel and took our time getting ready for the day. Our tour guide for Bus2Alps, Dan, was going to the zoo, but it was a cloudy day and none of us really wanted to see the zoo in Prague, although it's supposed to be one of the top 4 or 5 zoos in the world. We decided to go to the Holocaust Museum, only when we got there, we realized it was closed due to a Jewish holiday the next day. So we walked around the Jewish Quarter a little bit more and then decided to do some shopping! I finally gave in and bought some cute European clothes at two stores, New York and H & M. I was so glad I could finally find some clothes that I liked. :) Plus, they were a little less expensive than normal because the exchange rate to crowns is really good- it was 25 Czech crowns to one euro. I almost forgot to mention lunch on Saturday- I had a sausage and corn on the cob and some fried dough covered in sugar and roasted almonds. It was the best lunch ever!! I missed sausage and although it's not the same as venison sausage, it was a great substitute. After all our shopping, we went back to the hostel to drop off our bags and meet the group and our tour guide at the Beer Factory. This place is a restaurant and night club, but we went there for dinner. They have beer on tap actually at the tables, so you can pour your own beer. I knew my brother and dad would love that idea. Shelby and I decided to split a Greek salad for dinner and get onion soup as our appetizer. They brought us onion soup with cheese, but it was not the French onion soup we were expecting. It was still delicious and tasted so good because it was cold outside!! When they brought us our Greek salad, we were surprised as well- they didn't even put lettuce in the salad- it was just cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onions, and dressing. There was a soccer match that night between the Czech Republic and Poland taking place in Prague, so we decided to lay low at the Beer Factory during the first half of the game. Then, we walked to an Irish pub in the Old Town Square to watch the second half. There was also a soccer match being played between Ireland and Italy, so of course lots of people in the pub were watching that game too. The Czechs won their game (1-0), but the other game between Ireland and Italy ended in a 2-2 tie.

On Sunday, we woke up earlier, as we had to catch the bus at 11 AM. It was a loooooooong bus ride back to Florence, but we were able to enjoy the beautiful autumn scenery and landscape of Germany and Austria, because on our trip to Prague, it was dark and we were sleeping as we passed through it. My favorite part of the bus ride was driving through the Alps- the views of the mountains are just breathtaking! The bus dropped us off at the train station in Florence and we had a 10-15 minute walk to our hostel. The accomodation for one-night was even nicer than the one in Prague- we had our own bathroom, which meant we didn't have to share a shower or wait in line for the toilet. They also had free Wi-Fi, which most other hostels have as well, but this time, I had my computer, so I could do some work before falling asleep. We were up bright and early again to catch our express train (1 1/2 hours) from Florence to Rome. We didn't return to our apartment until around 11:45 AM and it was back to reality. Time to catch the bus to go to class again! And right now, I'm on my way to my Italian class, so until next time, ciao!!! :)