[insert corny “Czech it out!”-inspired title here]

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Prague, a girl fell in love with Eastern Europe….

This adventure in Prague (November 3-6; sorry I’m still a little behind in these posts) was my first time visiting Eastern Europe and I didn’t know what differences to expect, though I thought it would be less “Americanized” than Western Europe. In fact, after visiting I believe the opposite is true. Around every corner you can find a KFC, Starbucks, or other American fast food chain. Those are things you couldn’t find in Italy unless you were willing to travel for a bit. But even still, the buildings are beautiful and make you feel like you’re in a foreign land. That may seem like a weird thing for me to say considering every country I’ve been in for the past 3 months has been foreign, but Western Europe is starting to feel comfortable and like home to me. Prague and Eastern Europe still has this magical quality to it that reminds me how far away from home I actually am.

one of my first views of Prague… can you tell why I fell in love with it? It’s like a real life fairy-tale!

Of course, we hadn’t seen American fast food or even fried food, in a very long time so the first place we went in Prague was KFC. I’m ashamed to admit that, but now that it’s out there… it was delicious!! I love the natural foods, fruits, and veggies of Italy, but sometimes you just really need some good fried chicken, french fries, and a soda. Yummy! Since it was already late when we arrived, we just went to see the main square at night before going to a bar to try some Prague beer that we had heard was good and then went back to the hostel to sleep. [The room was huge! We haven’t stayed in a bad or gross hostel yet, thank goodness! *knock on wood*]

The next morning we started in Wenceslas Square, one of the main sights of New Town. Wenceslas Square is huge; it’s easy to see why there would be demonstrations held here versus other squares in the city.

a memorial cross to the two men who burned themselves alive in Wenceslas Square in 1969 in political protests

view of Wenceslas Square from the National Museum

Though Wenceslas Square was interesting and full of political history, we didn’t know enough about Czech history to make this really interesting so we moved on quickly. Our next stop was the open market full of food, fruits, nuts, and knick-knacks where I made a friend (of course!) with the guy who was serving food. I was going to take a picture of the food when he stopped me, picked up his big stirring spoon and posed for the picture. So cute. 🙂 And the food was delicious!

my new friend posed for the picture before he served me a delicious meal of potatoes and klobasa

mmmmm delicious potatoes and klobasa. I want some right now!

After lunch we went to Old Town Square! Kevin’s friend from home Eric is now studying in Prague so he became our tour guide for most of the rest of the day. It was awesome to have our own personal tour! Plus, we didn’t have to worry about figuring out where to go. Eric took care of that for us! First stop: the clock tower! The Astronomical Clock in Prague is gorgeous, but I think you don’t really appreciate it until you know it’s history. This clock was installed in 1410 (601 years ago!), making it the 3rd oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one that is still working today! I know I overuse this word, but… it’s AMAZING!!

probably the biggest attraction of Prague: the Astronomical Clock! Though the show it puts on is a little disappointing, it’s still fascinating to think that this clock has been standing here (and working) for such a long time!

[I thought the clock was really interesting to learn about. If you’d like to read more, check out this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock ]

Old Town Square: While we were in Prague, there was a festival going on, hence all the booths set up around the square.

Eric took us up into the clock tower where we got a beautiful 360* view of Prague.

a view of Prague from the top of the clock tower

again, from the clock tower, part of Old Town Square and the castle-like church!

We were lucky enough to be on the top of the clock tower at the top of the hour. On every hour mark the clock puts on a little “show,” basically these puppets pop out of the windows on the top of the clock. (I couldn’t see very well, but Kevin said it wasn’t anything special.) While you can’t see the show from the tower, you can see the crowd gathering below and then have a front row seat to the trumpeter’s performance. The trumpeter plays a song from all four sides of the tower, in the four cardinal directions. Very cool experience. Unfortunately, I can’t post the video on here, but you can see the video when I get home if you’d like! (along with the videos of me dancing in Brussels)

the crowd gathering below to watch the hourly clock “show”

the trumpeter with his awesome outfit! I bought you all matching outfits for Christmas… now just to learn how to play the trumpet… 😉

Thankfully, Eric was very determined to show us all that Prague had to offer, both in sights and food. He recommended these Prague doughnut-like pastries (I forget their actual name) with chocolate inside. Sugar pastry + chocolate = one happy Alyssa. I was sold. [But none of you doubted that I would get one, you know me too well.] Kevin and I split a regular one and a chocolate one so we could get the full experience. Chocolate was better, but both were so good!

delicious Prague doughnuts with chocolate 🙂

Next stop: Lennon Wall. To get to the Lennon Wall, we crossed the beautiful and famous Charles Bridge. Though I don’t know if there’s any historical significance to Charles Bridge [who am I kidding? it’s Europe, of course there’s historical significance, I just don’t know it], I thought Charles Bridge was interesting because of its religious statues. Both statues I noticed were depictions of moments within the Crucifixion of Jesus, yet both had inscriptions written in Hebrew. Yes, we were near the Jewish quarter and I realize that Jesus was Jewish, but I had just never seen a Christian monument/statue in Hebrew before.

the beautiful Charles Bridge, though unfortunately the people block it’s beautyCharles Bridge, the river, and the statue to rival the Eiffel Tower

Charles Bridge, the river, and the tower to rival the Eiffel Tower

From Charles Bridge it’s possible to see Petřín Lookout Tower. The steel tower resembles the Eiffel Tower of Paris and was built on the top of the hill so that it’s actually higher in altitude than the Eiffel Tower, though standing alone it would be shorter. As you can imagine, this makes the Parisians a little upset. I find it funny.

the Parma gang in Prague (L to R): Cailin, me, Kevin, Olivia, Christina, and Eric (not the tour guide Eric)

The Lennon Wall.  I was a little confused when I first heard the name (Lennon or Lenin??), but yes, Lennon as in John Lennon of the Beatles. Why the wall is there I have no idea, but Lennon is seen as a communicator of peace and love through his/the Beatles’ songs. The whole wall is a beautiful collection of graffiti: lyrics, sayings, names, ideas, hearts, peace signs, and lovers’ names among many other things.

part of the Lennon wall that I really liked: “Ideas are inspiring but inflexible. Fight for people. People change the world.”

Beatles lyrics on the Lennon wall… how appropriate 😉

Unfortunately by time we reached the Jewish quarter of the city we had only half an hour before Sabbath began, not enough time to go through all the things I wanted to see. We were able to see the outside of the Old New Synagogue, but couldn’t go inside that or the Cemetery (or anything else). I had been so looking forward to this, but that’s what happens when you’re only able to travel on the weekends. Oh well, just another reason to come back to Prague.

Old New Synagogue (the Czech and their crazy names)

When rejected by the Jewish quarter, we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap before dinner. There’s no such thing as being too old to take naps.

view of Wenceslas Square and the National Museum at night

beef goulash for dinner… yummy 🙂

Another day, more sights to see. Day 2’s destination was Prague Castle. Because there’s so much to see there, we saved a whole day for the Castle itself. The Castle was so overwhelming we didn’t know where to begin, just like I don’t know where to start now! Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world (according to Guinness Book of World Records) and was founded sometime in the late 9th century (around 880 AD). The Castle is composed of a variety of different types of buildings ranging in styles. With the ticket we purchased we were able to visit four of the biggest sights within the Castle: St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St. George, and Golden Lane. I’m a proud nerd so prepare yourself for some historical information:

St. Vitus Cathedral is the most important church in all of the Czech Republic and it’s history is so fascinating, but I promise not to bore you with  the details The current church is actually the third church situated on this spot. The first, which had been built in approximately 925 AD, was too small to accommodate the growing Catholic population so construction of the current church began in 1060 AD. This second church housed the bishop of Prague and the tomb of St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of Prague. When Prague became the seat of the Holy Roman Empire and an archbishop in the middle of the 14th century, the entire Castle’s life was renewed and St. Vitus was expanded to its current Gothic form. All this just to say that the church was ornate and intricately designed, with beautiful stained glass. Stained glass is one of my favorite parts of churches and it was all over this cathedral so I loved being inside it!

St. Vitus Cathedral within the Prague Castle

I loved all the stained glass windows within this Cathedral! They were so colorful; every window had a different color scheme.

The second church we went into was the Basilica of St. George, right across the piazza from St. Vitus. St. George’s is the oldest surviving building of Prague Castle, built in 920 AD, though it has been restructured and redesigned many times after falling into ruin from fires and abandonment. As you can see, though the churches are right across a square from one another, they are completely different styles on the inside.

within the Castle walls: Basilica of St. George is building with the red facade

another church within the Castle (the inside of the Basilica of St. George in the above picture)

After the churches we went into the Old Royal Palace, which was nice but empty so it wasn’t as interesting as the other parts of the Castle. In the Old Royal Palace we did see the royal jewels though, which looked like a kindergartner’s arts and crafts. I say that meaning no disrespect to the Czech people, of course, I just can’t describe the very colorful, large jewels in a more accurate way without a picture.

Finally, the most fun part of the Castle… Golden Lane!! Golden Lane is a tiny street filled with all these tiny houses (see the picture of me standing next to one below). Some houses were set up historically and on display for visitors to see the way the people lived there, surprisingly not long long ago. The writer Franz Kafka (you may know The Trial or “Metamorphosis”) lived here with his sister during WWI.

I loved Golden Lane within the Castle. The houses were all so cute and tiny! (No one better say that I’m just abnormally tall….)

In one of the houses, you were able to walk upstairs through an armory and then could actually shoot a cross bow yourself!! This was my favorite part of Golden Lane and probably the whole castle! Alright, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I love watching medieval/action movies and this was so me! I’m not going to tell you that I missed every single shot because that’s not important. [What excuse would you like to hear? I need my glasses to see distance, especially in the dark. There was a language barrier when he was explaining how to aim it… I’ve got ’em all planned out.] What’s important is that I had so much fun!!!

Me shooting a crossbow. Look out world!!

While everyone else went on a beer tour and pub crawl after the castle, I decided not to go (it would’ve been a waste of money because I don’t like beer that much) and chose to take a personal night tour of the city instead. Cailin chose to come with me. For dinner we had some of the ham pictured below. Fire roasted, smokey, flavorful and moist. Mmmm… my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I thought this food stand was so cool. You walk up and say you’d like a plate of ham so they get out their knife and just start cutting slabs off of the spinning meat. Then you just get the meat and a slice of bread on a plate to eat! At first I looked at the plate and thought that I was taken for a fool and made to pay the equivalent of about $10 for a small plate of ham, but that ham was worth every penny.

Prague ham… DELICIOUS!!! Dad and Mr. Glynn, I was thinking about you while I was eating it. You two would’ve loved it!!

doesn’t it look soooo good??

And just when you thought my dinner couldn’t get any better…. I ate the ham in a small grassy area right in/next to Old Town Square. It was gorgeous at night and everyone was just sitting there, relaxing, chatting, and enjoying their surroundings. I made friends with two different groups of people: two Czech boys who were laughing at me for taking a picture of my ham and two Italian boys who kept me company when the crazies would come up and try to talk to me. I guess Europeans think I have a friendly face! I don’t mind, I like making new friends. 🙂

from inside the pretty park where I ate dinner (That’s the building with the clock tower right behind the tree.)

Don’t worry, family, I’m being safe when meeting new people. Though the Italians invited us to a club, I turned them down. I wanted to see some more of the city at night! [See? No need to be worried.] We were already in Old Town Square so naturally that’s where we started. I love this castle-like church. I never got a chance to go inside, but it’s so beautiful from the outside, especially at night. It almost reminds me of the turrets on Cinderella’s castle. The whole time we were in Prague we kept saying, “This is a real life fairy-tale!!” and it’s so true! It looks like Disney World come to life.

I just can’t get enough of this beautiful church when it’s all lit up at night!

Old Town Square and the festival at night

From Old Town Square we walked back towards our hostel because I wanted to see the river and National Theater, which was a 2 minute walk down the street from the hostel.

beautiful Prague

Prague Castle/St. Vitus Cathedral, as seen from below

Charles Bridge

After crossing a bridge to get pictures of St. Vitus Cathedral and the Charles Bridge, we went halfway back to an island in the middle of the river where there was a small, deserted park. We just sat on a bench with this view directly in front of us….

the National Theater

Life is good. I’m so lucky that I had the opportunity to sit on this park bench in such a secluded area of the beautiful city of Prague. We sat there for about an hour before we got too cold and decided to call it quits for the night. It was a wonderful hour in a beautiful place with a great view. The perfect ending to an amazing trip.

Prague seen from a different vantage point, sitting on a bench in a park across from the National Theater.