Oh the city of Prague. I must say this was probably one of my FAVORITE cities on the trip (i feel like i say this about every city...except for Berlin, def NOT Berlin). It was absolutely gorgeous (with great weather too) - so much culture, so much to see, so much LIFE in the city. We arrived in the early afternoon (by train from Berlin, which took about 5 hours) and went to our hostel "Mosaic House"...which BY THE WAY should not be called a hostel since it was practically a hotel. It was HUGE and so nice inside, very friendly staff & a great room (we had a somewhat private room since there was 4 of us and we got a single room w 2 bunk beds). If you ever head to Prague, I strongly suggest you check it out - http://www.mosaichouse.com/. We were a bit hungry so we decided to get a bite & some drinks at the bar downstairs & discovered that Czechs LOVEEEEE hockey, almost as much as Canadians. Czech Republic was playing Sweden in the semi finals of IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and we ventured out to the main square where they had set up a HUGE TV set up, with hundreds of Czechs cheering on their team. Unfortunately, the swedes won 5-2 which upset the crowd. After the game, we toured the city a bit not really knowing where to go and stumbled upon a lovely restaurant near the Charles Bridge. Absolutely delicious. I had a classic Czech meal (sorry no pictures wahh) which was a type of goulash. So so yummy. On top of the amazing meal, we had a gorgeous view of the Charles Bridge and the Vltava River. We saw the sunset (so pretty) and when the air got a little chilly, we were given cozy blankets to warm up. We headed back to our hostel, got ready & headed out for the town. I would love to say I know where we went and how much time/money I spent...but alas my memory fails me. Let's just say, the czechs know how to party...hard.
The following day we took a walking tour with Extravaganza Free Tour; (http://extravaganzafreetour.com/) now I must admit our tour guide was a little insane BUT it was the best tour by far of the whole trip. We met a group of swedish, finnish & spanish exchange students and hit it off right away. We saw everything there is to see in Prague;
- the astronomical clock (definitely worth the couple of euros to go up this tower - you have a gorgeous 360 view of the city, and if you're lucky with the weather like we were, you'll see for miles out)
- Tyn Church, St. James' Church, St. Nicholas Church (I've realized this trend of churches in Europe; there's a lot of them, like a lot)
- Celetna street which is one of the oldest streets in Prague & part of the Royal Route
- Jewish Quarter
- Old-New Synagogue
- Jewish Cemetery
- Pinkas Synagogue
- Clementinum
- Charles Bridge
- Kampa Island
- Nerudova Street
- Prague Castle
- St Vitus Cathedral
- Old Royal Palace
- Royal Gardens
Like I've said before, these walking tours, though they seem long and tedious, they are the best way to see the main sites of a city on a student budget. Plus it's a great way to meet some other tourists. On our tour, we spotted a unique spot called "The Pub" I'll explain a little bit later... Once we were done the tour, the boys just HAD to grab a beer at this little patio right near the Palace. Well they got a little more than they bargained for - they got MASSIVE mugs, you should have seen the look on their faces. Let's just say they were a wee bit bloated after that experience (I of course did not partake in this madness, since I can consume only so much beer in one trip - yuck).
Now back to the "Pub" (http://www.thepub.cz/welcome/?lng=en): it's a great little bar that offers a unique experience for it's customers - beer competition. Each table is set up with beer taps and each individual receives a large mug. You then fill up your mug to as much or as little as you want & the tap records how much beer you dispense. Your "stats" are then posted on a large screen in the bar and you compete with other tables in the pub AS WELL as the other pubs in different cities. We went with our new swedish/finnish/spanish friends & yes things go rowdy. It was a great experience and we even were on top for a while (no thanks to me of course... haha ya right, I had one mug and was full). We headed to the 5 level bar in the heart of the city and had quite the experience. It gets a bit blurry after that but ah it was def a fabulous night.
The next day we had some time before our train left so we ventured again into the city but this time, I was going to have my way. I went off to go shopping (how could I not) for a few hours on my own while the boys did...well, who knows what they did doesn't really matter. I picked a few blouses, dress pants and a blazer for work purposes & fully enjoyed the experience. Another great thing about travelling (other than the amazing food of course) is the shopping/fashion styles of the cities. I just love seeing and shopping different styles & I tried my best to buy things outside my shopping comfort zone. I think I somewhat succeeded... anyways, we picked up our bags & headed to the train station for the ride back to Berlin. We stayed overnight & caught a flight early the next morning for Stockholm. Funny side note: so we decided to tram (basically subway) to the airport but unbeknownst to us, the clearly clueless Claudia's in this moment, there was a disruption on the route to the airport and we had to get off and we were lost in Berlin. We had to flag down a taxi (which apparently was a rarity in the location we were in) and rush to the airport. Well we got there, quickly checked in and literally had to SPRINT to our boarding airplane - we barely made it. Oh wells, a good story came out of it & a bit of exercise I suppose. On to SWEDEN!
Main Square filled up to watch zee hockey game
Artsy Fartsy shot of Charles Bridge
View of the bridge/river from our table
snug as a bug
prague a nuit
THEEEE clock (astrological that is)
strolls along prague streets
great story behind this - our tour guide informed us of this famous tale about this "hand". basically, this is in one of the churches' we visited (def don't remember which one) and it has this gorgeous virgin mary statue (see below) at the front. I guess in olden times (sp?) people would thank the virgin mary by adorning her with precious gold, jewelry, fruits of their labor etc... and one day a "thief" walked by the church and noticed a pearl necklace on the virgin mary. he sneaked into the church and tried to snatch the necklace BUT THEN the statue grabbed his hand (hence the use of tale) to prevent him from stealing. the priests came in eventually and did not know what to do with the thief since his hand was being held by the statue SO they decided the only reasonable thing to do was cut his hand off & they mummified it and hung it at the entrance of the church to demonstrate what happens to those who steal... love
they couldn't resist
spotted this rooftop patio restaurant and had to go for dinner - tres delicious I must say
@ the Pub
bottoms up
with some new friends
the whole gang
