(S)Prague is Cool

Last but not least: Prague. I have wanted to go to Prague since I arrived in England nearly a year ago now, and it didn’t disappoint. Although our hostel was not in the best area (and again, about a 20 minute walk from the old city center), the architecture and history of the city itself made up for it. One of the first things I noticed about Prague was how cheap everything is. I’m talking dirt cheap. Like the equivalent of $0.30 for a beer; $5.00 for a massive pizza, etc. It was a great way, money-wise, to end our trip.

On our first day in Prague we went on two tours, a free walking tour and a paid castle tour. Our tour guides for both tours were great, especially the free walking tour. The guy was incredibly animated and did a fantastic job telling us all about Prague. My favourite part of his story was when he told us how the people of Prague would handle disputes back in the day, during the 30 Year War. Any guesses? Interestingly, instead of using knives or guns or hangings or anything like that, the Czechs would throw people out of windows. Yup. And if the window wasn’t high enough to ensure death upon landing, they would place spears in the ground so that the poor guy thrown out would land on it and die that way. Lovely mess on the ground outside the buildings I’m sure.

On the tour we saw and learned a lot; I can’t even begin to remember everything, especially with all the German history floating around in my brain as well, but I have come to understand that Prague is a city rich with history, both glorious and tragic. The buildings, monuments, streets, and personalities of Prague tell a captivating story – such buildings etc include the Astronomical Clock (a clock that has both numbers and astronomy symbols to tell the time), the Jewish Quarter and the Old New Synagogue (yes, Old + New) , Jan Hus Statue, Charles’ Bridge, the Estates Theatre and much much more. We ended the tour lying on the grass with everyone from our tour in a park beside the Charles’ Bridge, thinking about everything we had just heard and hoping we could remember it all (which, as I already mentioned, I unfortunately do not).

About a half an hour later we embarked on our Prague Castle Tour – there was a charge for this one, but I guess we had to pay for some stuff in Prague. On this tour we went to The Garden of Eden at the Wallenstein Palace and I saw one of the most interesting walls I have ever seen. It is called The Grotto, or the Dripstone Wall. It is a humongous wall made of artificial rock, or dripstone, the purpose of which was to create a secretive and mysterious area in the garden that brought artificial and real living nature together to mingle and contrast. Don’t ask me why the dude who lived here wanted to do that but he did. You could actually see if you looked very closely the startling images of frogs, snakes, lions, and a variety of monsters and grotesquely formed faces that had been formed out of the dripstone on the wall. It was creepy but cool.

After the garden we took a tram up the mountain to the Strahov Monastery and Brewery, where monks continue to live and brew the “finest beer in Prague.” Too bad I don’t drink beer or I would have tried one. Smelled good though.

I have to say, the Prague Castle was pretty disappointing. It doesn’t really look like a castle, at least not compared to other ones I have seen. We were lucky enough to catch the changing of the guards though, which was cool considering every time I’ve been at Buckingham Palace when they are changing there are too many people’s heads in the way, blocking my view. The castle is the home, though, of St George’s Basilica which is a very fascinating church, so I guess travelling all the way up that mountain was worth it. Thank god we took the tram, that’s all I have to say.

After the tour Sarah and I had dinner and wine/beer at a nice restaurant in the center of the city and slowly wandered back to our hostel. We were exhausted at this point; it was another long day that involved hours of endless walking. My body didn’t know what hit it on this trip!

The next day was cloudy and cool, but we had planned to meet up with one of Sarah’s friends from a camp she worked at a few years ago in Canada. Her friend, Simona, is Czech and very kindly took us out for lunch at a traditional Prague restaurant. It was a very good meal and a good visit for the two of them. After lunch Sarah and I spent the rest of the day shopping since the weather was pretty crappy and we had already done most of the sightseeing we could. We spent all our Czech money (what would we do with it all!?) and lugged our bags back to our hostel for an early night. We had to wake up at 6am the next morning and head to the airport for home. I was happy to leave, actually; I was sick of sleeping on horrible beds and showering in public showers and I longed for a home-cooked meal. The trip was fantastic though, and it excites me to no end that I get to cross off four more countries from my list. Where to next? Who knows! (Although I’m hoping it’s Italy…).