Prague : SO ROMANTIC!

This weekend rivaled one of the best weekends of my life. It’s up there right next to Oktoberfest for many of the same reasons, actually. Aside from being the craziest party countries I’ve been too, I actually learned a lot about history, world war 2 and loved the beauty of the cities.
My friend Gabrielle and I left Rome Friday afternoon. Our flight was at 4:30 and we got to the Prague airport around 6. We exchanged money for the Czech Crowns (monopoly money, really- 100 Euro was almost 3,000 crowns!) There and took the shuttle to the center of the city and walked the rest of the way to our hostel. We stayed at the Old Prague Hostel, which was small but very clean and cozy. We had a private room for the two of us, so we dropped our things and went to dinner. Ironically, the first night we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner- only because we needed to stay around old town square and everything else around there was kind of expensive. Everything was so romantic at night, Gabby and I kept joking that we might as well have been on our honeymoon! After dinner, we walked to the famous astronomical clock and met a group for a city bar crawl- it was 400 Crowns- that equaled to be around 16 Euros- for an hour and a half open bar plus entrance to 4 other bars plus a free shot at ever bar. Probably the best deal for drinks I’ve gotten in Europe so far! The pub crawl was really fun actually, and we got a chance to meet some people and even play beer pong! Which I haven’t played in MONTHS! At the end of the night, we crawled our way back to the hostel around 3 am and passed out.
The next day we woke up at 8, showered, got our free breakfast from the hostel and walked around to find toothpaste (both of us forgot to bring it!). We eventually found our way to this huge mall called the Palladium and spent most of the morning there just shopping and getting lost. It was also our way of staying inside because it was FREEZING. I had to buy earmuffs and gloves to keep me warm for the rest of the trip because I wasn’t expecting the 30 degree temperatures that it was. After some coffee and toothpaste, we walked back to old town square to meet the New Europe Walking tour group. It’s a group that takes you on free walking tours in cities throughout Europe, and if you enjoyed it, all they ask is that you tip the guide at the end. So worth it. Our tour left at 11am and our guide was really good and funny. We started out in old town square where he told us the history of the city. It was really fascinating how much it has changed over the years. From free to communism, Hitler to Stalin- everything was just so interesting and it’s strange to think that most of the Czechs lived though it and just regained their freedom about 30 years ago. The square itself is beautiful too. It really feels like you in the middle ages. The castles, churches and architecture look like Disney land. After a history lesson, we went to see the astronomical clock, which is apparently the second most overrated tourist attraction in the world. (Don’t ask me whats # 1) But it’s basically this really cool looking old clock and every hour it goes off and makes strange noises that no one really understands for about 30 seconds and then stops. We didn’t wait for it to go off on the tour, but we caught it later that day- it’s quite an odd experience, you don’t really know what’s going on and then all of a sudden it ends with a roosters sigh- pretty random. Anyway, the tour took us to many of most popular places- we passed by the only theatre still operating where Mozart has played. Then we walked passed Wenceslas Square and saw the national museum. It’s where two students lit themselves on fire to protest to the government during the communist times to show how miserable the people were- and when the fall of communism finally gave people their freedom, the Czech’s went to the square, thousands of people, and jingled their keys to show that they hold the key to their own future. It was really fascinating. From there we walked passed to the Jewish Quarter. This part of the tour was really eerie, actually. In WW2 obviously Prague was under Hitler’s rule. Hitler wanted to preserve the Jewish Ghetto of Prague specifically to turn it into a museum of an extinct race. It was so bone chilling to know that everything in the quarter was perfectly preserved for that reason. It’s shocking to think that what it could have really been had he not lost the war. Many years ago, the street level was much lower; the Jews were practically forced to live in swampland. So after they were liberated, they re-built the area and raised the street level- which is why most of the synagogues’ windows are practically on the street and you have to walk down steps to get into the main floor. The cemetery was interesting to learn about too. Since they could not move from that area, the Jews were running out of space in the cemetery to bury their dead. So they improvised- when they ran out of room, they would pile more dirt on top and burry another layer of people and so on. The cemetery was about 10 feet higher than street level, and it is said to go many, many feet below the ground. I can’t even imagine how many people are buried there. Today, however, the Jewish Quarter is a beautiful area, and holds the town’s high end shopping district. From there we walked to the River and our last stop was in front of some university building. We really enjoyed the walking tour, we saw so much in one day and learned more about the history of Prague and WW2 that I ever thought I would. After we left the tour, Gabby and I walked across the Charles Bridge to the John Lennon Wall. We left our marks on the wall and took some pictures. Afterwards, we walked back to our hostel for a quick nap before dinnertime. We went to this place called Lokal for dinner, it had really awesome Czech food and beer for really amazing prices. It was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had. After dinner, we met up with some other AUR people at a place called the Beer Factory. It’s a pub where the kegs are at your table, and you pour your own cup from a tap in the center of the table. Each table competes to drink the most beer! Our table obviously came in first place- 23 liters of beer between 9 people. And at 19 Crowns a liter, you can’t beat that. We wanted to continue the part at Karlovy Lazne- the 5 story club that plays a different kind of music on each floor. It was really wild- we had an awesome time and danced the night away. I walk on to a floor called “black music” (I can’t make this up) and my favorite song, Alors on danse was playing- I obviously knew it was going to be a great night and found my way to a ledge to dance above the crowd. The rest of the night we were on the techno floor, because everyone knows that’s my favorite. We made it home around 4 am, tired and freezing and passed out for about 4 hours.
Sunday was just as long of a day. We woke up at 8, had breakfast at the hostel then went out for a Starbucks coffee- oh how I missed that. We walked to the other side of the river to the Prague Castle. As we were walking up, we started to hear the music for the changing of the guards and quickly ran up to take pictures. I’ve never seen anything like that before and it was like this big ceremony. After the change, we went into the castle and saw the cathedral. It was beautiful- and huge. It took hours to walk around the whole thing and cross the bridge to get back home. For the second part of the day we visited the Jewish Museum, which also gave us entrance into some Synagogues as well as the cemetery. It was really interesting, but of course sad. There was an exhibit of pictures drawn by Czech children in the concentration camps, and for some of the kids, it’s the only proof that they actually existed. The cemetery was creepy, too. The tombstones were so old and they were all on top of each other. It took us a couple of hours to see the whole museum, and eventually we headed back to our hostel to pick up our things and get on our way to the airport. Our flight left at 8pm, and when we got there around 6, we were exhausted. We did so much in 2 days on such little sleep. But it was so worth it. I could live in Prague. It’s amazing there, really, and every detail about the city has its own story. It’s on my list to go back some day. Looking ahead, this weekend – Amsterdam. Thanksgiving without a turkey, but filled with another walk back in time.