The adventure to Prague was so much fun! It was a very big culture shock in comparison to the western European countries I have been visiting this semester and I'm really glad I got to see it. My friend Kayla and I made the last minute decision to go the week before. We both really wanted to see Prague as we have heard great things. Fred still reminisces about it so I was especially interested to see what his study abroad city was like. We went with a bus tour group called Euroadventures and they took care of transportation as well as toured us around the whole first day. Before I left, Fred made me a very detailed itinerary which was really helpful and I think we saw almost everything on his list that first day:
Old Town Square & The astronomical clock - there was a wedding taking place just as we were walking by which made it even more pituresque. Old Town Square is really lovely and fairy tale like. Definitely my favorite section.
Wensceslas Square - giant plaza lined with stores. my favorite part of it was the starbucks...(yes, i suffer from american coffee deprivation)
Then we crossed over the Charles Bridge which was filled with many arts and crafts stands, traditional Czech music bands and cute old little men playing the accordian.
The Lennon Wall - obligatory
The Prague Castle - we trekked up toward the castle and the view from the plaza was beautiful. The cathedral was also stunning. We walked through the Jewish quarter and had lunch at Bagel Bohemia. Then, we made our way to the Beer Factory which I had heard about through friends before. I am not a fan of beer..and this trip didnt change that...but I tried! We sat around the table playing drinking games and drinking Pilsner Urquell...ehh...It was fun..but..yeah I dont think I'll ever acquire that taste. We headed back to the hotel and me and kayla were so exhausted. We took a short nap and got ready for dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant. There was a wait to get a table so we headed toward the bar where they had the weirdest beer flavors! Coffee Beer, Lime Beer, Banana beer, Sour Cherry beer...we had to try them so we ordered a sampler which was small shot-glass sizes of each...they were as gross as they sound. I practically spit the banana one out. gah. anyway, dinner was much better. I liked the Czech food! I tried a bite of someone's Smazeny Syr and potato croquette. For dinner, Kayla ordered the beef goulash but I stuck with a safe choice...grilled turkey breast, vegetables. Kayla and I split potato dumplings as a side. They were so unexpectedly filling, spongelike and heavy, we only ate two! I definitely loved trying Czech food, but could not imagine eating it often. Afterward, we went back to Old Town Square with the entire group. On the way, we saw some NYU friends from Florence who were heading to someone's apartment. We got caught up talking and lost our group. All of a sudden, we were in the middle of Old Town Square with no idea where we were or where the group was headed. We knew the name of the bar but couldn't find it. We started going into random nearby bars looking for our group which was really fun! but also frusterating. So we bbmed Fred (but he also had no idea where we were because we had no idea where we were). Thankfully with her blackberry we were able to get our tour guide's number from an email he sent us and finally met up with them as they headed toward Karlovy Lazne a five story club near on the river...The club was alright. It was full of tourists and one floor was packed with a flock of people from Denmark. There were women dancing in cages...which I am not okay with...and when we first walked in there was a boy who was no more than 15 sitting in between two other 14 year old looking girls, taking turns making out with him..The music was good but the place resembled a bigger, sweatier version of the NYC teen club Webster Hall. Uh, anyway, Czech clubs are intense. Proceed with caution.
On the second day, we woke up really late and got breakfast at Starbucks. Kayla and I headed to the Mucha museum which was awesome. I love Mucha! I have a poster of his I bought at the NYU poster sale freshman year for my Rubin hall dorm room not even knowing who he was. I just was so attracted to the poster. Anway, I had no idea he was from Prague. I adore art noveau and his advertisements were so ornate and beautiful. The museum was small but awesome for a fan. There was a movie about his life that we sat and watched for an hour.
When we left the museum we were sleepy and starving. We wandered around Old Town Square looking for some grub and stumbled upon a brand new vegetarian restaurant, Maitrea. Kayla got a really good burrito and I got a spinach salad with sun-dried tomato, bacon tofu, and parmesean. By that time it was 5pm and really dark outside already! We walked along the river heading for the Dancing Building. Along the way, we split a really good street fired-dessert we had been eyeing all weekend. It was called a trdlo..basically a round donut rolled in cinnamon sugar. The Dancing Building was an amazing sight. To go on top to the roof, you had to buy a drink at the bar/restaurant Celeste. I ordered a Spicy Strawberry. It was peppercorn infused tequila, crushed fresh strawberries, strawberry liquor, thyme, ice. Yum. The view from the top was beautiful. The castle was lit up over the Charles river, the lit up astronomical clock, the opera house. It was a very nice way to end the day. That night, we had dinner at a typical Czech restaurant again and went dancing at a few clubs which I forget the name of now... Prague was a lot of fun and definitely somewhere I would like to visit again as it is still in the process of modernization.
