What an amazing weekend. I can't even remember what I did last week because the awesomeness of the weekend completely overshadows it (I didn't really do anything of particular interest last week anyway).
On Friday morning, three of my roommates and I packed a backpack each and headed over to the nearest train station--about a five minute walk from our apartment. We each bought a ticket and took a half hour train to the airport (this process was significantly less thrilling on the way home). We arrived at the airport about 3 hours early because we had no idea what to expect, and within 15 minutes, were sitting in our terminal wondering why on earth we left so early.
As it turns out, if you don't have any baggage and security is reasonable, you can get to your gate pretty quickly. Once it came time to leave, we boarded the plane and arrived without issues in Prague. We were then picked up by a shuttle and taken to our hostel...or so we thought.
When we got to the place we were supposed to stay, the front desk told us there was "an issue with the room" (they wouldn't elaborate), so they called someone from another hostel to come pick us up, which was a real disappointment because the location of that place was prime--just off of Old Town Square (one of the main attractions in Prague). Within about 10 minutes, some guy named Robert came and told us he was going to be driving us to "his place". We walked over to his car (his personal car, complete with baby seat) and cautiously got in. He drove us about 10 minutes away, all the while giving us tips on things to do and places to see and generally not shutting up at all.
The front door of Robert's Place--the Museum Inn
We were feeling very uncertain with Robert and "his place" anyway, but then we pulled up to the front door (pictured above). Without thinking, I walked right in when Robert opened the door (probably should have been a bit more cautious), but once we got into the actual room, everything was alright. It was well furnished with two twin beds and a queen. There was a shower, towels, sheets, and a kitchenette if we needed it. It really wasn't bad at all.
Once we got our bearings, we ventured out for an early dinner at a place nearby that Robert had suggested. It was called Deminka and served American dishes as well as classic Czech cuisine all from an English menu. I ordered a dark beer (no idea what it was called) and the beef sirloin in cream sauce--I went for the classic Czech. It was pretty good, but had an odd citrus-y sweetness that I wasn't too excited about.
Beef Sirloin in Cream Sauce with Bread Dumplings
This first place is also where we realized that beer is much cheaper to get than water. While a half a pint of beer was about 35 koruna (about $1.20), the same amount of water was 50 koruna! Needless to say, my friend that ordered the water was a little miffed.
After we ate, we headed to the tourist attractions. Our hostel and the restaurant were at one end of Vaclavske Namesti, or Wenceslas Square, which is one of two squares of importance (to tourists at least) in Prague. We went through Wenceslas Square (which is really more of a boulevard) to Old Town Square--the location of the St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Prague Astronomical Clock. We kept walking and found ourselves at the Charles Bridge, so we crossed over into the area known as Lesser Town.
A colorful corner of buildings in Old Town Square
The St. Nicholas Cathedral at night
An interesting find in a chocolate shop
One of the many beers lining the walls of the chocolate shop
(still regretting not getting it)
Insufficient view of the Prague Castle at night
St. Nicholas Cathedral (yes, another one) in Lesser Town
After an evening of walking, we decided to go to a bar to relax for a bit before heading to the hostel. All of the authentic-looking pubs were really crowded and noisy, so we ended up in an Irish Pub in Old Town Square. After one drink each, we found ourselves exhausted and went back up to the hostel.
In the morning, we had great plans to go to a cafe suggested by Robert, but after about 20 minutes of searching for it, we settled for a place called the Colour Cafe (or something like that) where I ordered scrambled eggs with smoked salmon--a delicious choice.
At 11, we began a free walking tour (through the same company that we got the airport shuttle) of the city. We started in Old Town Square and walked through the Jewish ghetto of Prague, some of the historical streets, to the Charles Bridge, over through Lesser Town and ended the 4-hour tour at Prague Castle. We had a great guide, he was very knowledgeable about the city and told us historical facts and stories about various sights along the way.
Wenceslas Square
365 day/year open market in Old Town Square
St. Nicholas Cathedral and Old Town Square
The Prague Astronomical Clock
It shows the astronomical signs on it according to
which constellations you can see in the sky during that time of day/year.
A student folk band in the Prague Public Library
We saw them during a lunch break on the tour
View of the Lesser Town and Prague Castle from Charles Bridge
View of the Vltava River from Charles Bridge
The city from Prague Castle
Prague Castle
Stained glass inside the castle
The rear spires of Prague Castle
Gorgeous views were plentiful
The Lennon Wall
Graffitied by the youth of Prague after John Lennon's death in 1980
The tour offered beautiful views of the city in areas where we wouldn't have thought to go ourselves. After the tour, we scrambled back to Charles Bridge while there was still daylight to get some more pictures.
Paige and I sharing a moment
After getting some more pictures, we went back to the hostel--partly because I needed to wash my hair because a bird pooped on me on the Charles Bridge and partly because we needed to figure out where to have dinner.
We ended up going to a place called Hostinec U Kalicha (I only know the name because I snagged a coaster) and it ended up being a great decision. I ordered roasted duck with cabbage (first time having duck) and a pint of pilsner. The duck was pretty good, but what really made the experience was two guys from the kitchen came out and played folk songs on an accordion and bassoon--it was so awesome!
That evening, we participated in a pub crawl (which I now know are a total scam and not worth it at all), then ended up at a bar where we had a pint of pilsner (the local delicacy). We were drinking them outside and, still bitter from the pub crawl scam, we took the mugs as restitution. I'm currently drinking water out of it.
In the morning, we finished up our visit with a few more tourist-y pictures of the Charles Bridge, purchasing some gifts for the folks at home and getting street food for lunch. You can see why this lunch was necessary...
"The Traditional" Wenceslas Sausage
A view of New Town Prague
The weekend was one I'll remember for years to come. Prague is truly a beautiful city: so clean, so quaint and an 80% atheist/agnostic population! My only regret is that we couldn't stay longer.
To those who haven't been: Go. You won't regret it. The people are very friendly, english is widely spoken, it's incredibly cheap (only spent 80 euro/$100 the entire weekend), and the views are unbeatable.
To those who have been: Go again. We both know it's worth it.
Things to look forward to this week: One of my roommates has her 21st birthday tomorrow that we'll be celebrating and a field trip to Liguria with my Strategic Management course for the weekend (includes visits to 4 different Italian companies, meeting the governor of Genova, a 5-hour hike in Cinque Terre, and a stop in Pisa and the Leaning Tower therein).
That's all for now! Thanks for reading.
Kasey Ann
No comments:
Post a Comment