I had to smile when I heard this familiar sentiment as we boarded the train from Vienna to Prague. I've heard my dad say this my whole life and it was kind of weird hearing it for real. It was so fun riding through the countryside past a few different cities where my dad served his mission over 20 years ago. The Czech Republic is BEAUTIFUL and I wish we had the time to explore more cities!
We stayed with a CouchSurfing host just outside of the city who had 3 cats in his tiny apartment...3 CATS! And they were nuts! The place wreaked to high heaven but we got our own room and king-sized bed so we couldn't complain too much. Our host, Tristan, was from the Netherlands, and he was super nice and friendly. We met up with him and his sort of nerdy friend in a weird dark alley at an all-you-can-drink wine bar on our second night there...weird times. There were so many times during our travels that I just had to stop and think, "What the actual heck am I doing here?"
ANYWAY, let's get down to the good stuff! Prague is crazy cool. I think I've heard it's one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe because it really wasn't bombed during WWII. That's why so many movies are filmed there, the streets look almost just like they did 500 years ago (with a lot more trdlo stands...more on that later).
We took stupidly few pictures while in Prague, a real shame, but this kind of gives you an idea of how cute the cobblestone streets were! Our feet hurt real bad after each day walking on such uneven ground, but I guess that made it a more authentic experience, right? Also, peep the headphones...this is what we looked like 90% of the time walking the streets taking Rick Steves audio tours. No shame, we really learned a lot!
The Old Town Square in Prague is probably the most beautiful and unique square we saw in all of Europe (though the Plaza de Cervantes will always be my #1:). All the buildings are just so diverse and so pretty, and look at that church tower?! It just SCREAMS the Dark Ages, don't you think? On the left, you can see the famous astronomical clock, which was installed in 1410 and is the oldest clock in the world still in operation. We got to hear it chime and watch the weird little figures dance around.
On our first full day there, we toured the Jewish quarter, which was a really eye-opening experience. Almost all of the Jews in Prague were forced from their homes during WWII. We got to visit the old synagogue where there are written all of the names of the murdered Jews from the Bohemia area. It was so, so sobering. There are tens of thousands of names lining the walls in perfect printed handwriting.
Outside of the synagogue, there is a cemetery that has been used for hundreds and hundreds of years. Since the Jews were only allowed a limited amount of space in the city, and because the religion values the preservation of bodies after death, they had to bury their dead on top of other buried bodies and stack headstones wherever they could find space. Look how crazy, old, and disorganized this cemetery is! I've never seen anything like it!
We also visited their modern synagogue, which is just stunning. What a terribly sad history these people have in Europe.
Aight, let's talk about the FOOD. Unfortunately, we never found any nudlové překvapenà (a gross macaroni dish that the missionaries probably just invented haha) but we did eat lots of heavy meat, potatoes, and whole wheat bread! We bought this stuff at a little stand in the main square. It was pretty good, just realllly heavy and I would definitely be 300 lbs if that's all I ate every day.
After eating what we could of the crazy heavy meal, we went to a Vivaldi concert near the banks of the Vltava. It was a little touristy, but again, I was so happy to hear a live concert performed by both vocalists and string musicians. And what better place to hear Smetana's Moldau than right there in the heart of Bohemia!
Our second day in Prague was my 24th birthday! I've had a lot of good birthdays, but roaming the streets of Prague is pretty high up on the list. We started the day finishing our tour of the Jewish quarter and then headed way uphill on the other side of the river to the castle of Prague. What a place! It was also pretty touristy, but hey, nothing like a good torture chamber to make you glad you're living in modern times.
We climbed 280 stairs in the castle tower to get up to this view. Prague isn't called the City of a Hundred Spires for nothing! I guess this isn't the greatest angle, but there are over 500 tall spires throughout the city. So beautiful! What's NOT beautiful is that giant radio tower you can see about 1/3 from the left in the picture...in fact, the thing has been voted "The World's Ugliest Building" a few times. There are even weird giant baby statues climbing up the 700-foot monstrosity...way to ruin a beautiful place.
Some people eat cake on their birthday, others eat trdlos. These baked donuts rolled in sugar and filled with Nutella, ice cream, fruit, and really whatever you want are TO DIE FOR. Hayden didn't love them as much as I did, but MAN these are good and really fun. The sweet ladies who made mine even topped it with a birthday candle and sang to me!
A little melty, pretty huge, and REALLY delicious.
That evening after running around trying to find an ATM so we could get some coronas (no really, Czech currency is called coronas and wow what great timing) we bought an hour-long rental paddle boat to ride around the river near the Charles Bridge. What a magical way to spend a birthday! It was sooo wonderful watching the sunset over the castle from inside the river. It's one of those moments I wish I could just bottle up and keep with me forever.
And here's us on that famous Charles Bridge - one of the most beautiful and lively bridges in Europe.
Hayden had made a reservation at a cute little old restaurant near the John Lennon wall across the bridge (peep the date on the original fresco behind me in this picture). We didn't really know what to expect from a Slovakian restaurant, but we were certainly not disappointed. All I can say is that my future birthday dinners have a tough act to follow! We were some of the only guests there, so we really got the special treatment: free appetizers courtesy of the chef, wonderful food that was both beautiful AND delicious, and a birthday dessert (which was extra shocking seeing as it's hard to get ANYTHING free at European restaurants). I mean look at this pretty little thing!
It was some sort of fruity, creamy, chocolatey, layered thing decorated with real flowers and I was THERE FOR IT.
That night we strolled through the Old Town Square again, which was just so beautiful after dark, and I just couldn't believe how lucky we were to be where we were when almost no other Americans in the world were allowed to travel like we were. How did we get so blessed?! The next day we got on yet another train, this time to Berlin! More on that in the next post!