Czech me out!

Dobre Dem from Prague!

Oh my! It has been an extremely busy two days here in Prague. We departed from Florence at 8:30 on Thursday and arrived at our hostel at about 11am on Friday. What better way to start off a 10 day Eurotrip marathon than being completely exhausted? 

The Hostel: the Czech Inn

Though I've only ever stayed in one other hostel, this one seemed pretty nice. Everything was extremely modern, minimalist and clean (it basically looks like the Ikea catalogue) and the staff was all very young and extremely helpful. Not to mention, the hostel definitely has a TOMS shoe fetish. The walls in the lobby and bar are decorated with TOMS signage and merchandise. Mad respect, Czech Inn, mad respect.

Our Hostel

The Weather: my least favorite part of Prague

When we arrived, it was cold and rainy and we had a 3 hour walking tour through the city. Our guide, Karel, was hilarious and full of interesting facts but, the fact that all of my appendages were nearly frozen made the 3 hours somewhat miserable. We did get to see some cool stuff, though! The Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock, the Old Town, and the Jewish section. It all makes you feel like you're in a Disney movie. I just wish it wasn't so dang cold! 

Karel, our brilliant guide

Old Town Square

A really gorgeous museum

The Food: 

Friday night, my friend Kate and I wanted to grab a traditional Czech dinner (though, we really had no idea what that meant!). Turns out, Goulash is a Czech dish (too bad I don't eat red meat) and the Czechs really love gamey types of meat. Kate had goulash with venison and I had rabbit with sage and potatoes. I'd never tried rabbit before but I am so glad I did. It was fabulous! The taste of it almost helped me to reconcile the fact that I was eating bunny.

Rabbit Season!

The best part of the meal, however, was not the food. It was the company. When we were eating, a group of 4 male twenty-somethings from Belgium sat next to us. They asked me how my food was and we chatted for the rest of our time in the restaurant. Davy claimed that he is a famous Belgian actor. I tried to call his bluff but he gave me his card and, when I looked him up, I was surprised to discover that it was no bluff! The only reason I hadn't heard of him was because, well, I don't watch many Belgian films. These guys were hilarious! It got a little heavy when I expressed my opinion of strip clubs after the engaged member of the group announced that he was leaving to go to one. I told him I was glad I wasn't his girlfriend and that kind of killed the fun for a bit (leave it to me to be the killjoy!). But things got light again and now I have a place to stay if I ever decide to go to Belgium!

There was also a small Czech festival going on. We stopped at one of the booths and split a delicious *cough*Czechwordicantpronounce*cough* 

Saturday: Castles and Museums!

We had a walking tour of Prague Castle in the morning. It's the largest castle complex in western Europe and it is gorgeous! It sits on a hill overlooking the city and, at night, it's lit up. Kind of like Cinderella Castle at Disney World!

The view from Prague Castle

The guards look meaner in Prague than they do in London!

Prague Castle at night

After the castle, we went to the John Lennon Wall. I am a HUGE Beatles fan so this was right up my alley. If you've never seen it, it's basically a huge wall with a bunch of graffiti on it (not unlike the rest of Europe). Lennon fans from all over the world come to paint it, write on it, and pay their respects to John. I even made a contribution to the wall (though, my contribution kind of contradicts Lennon's philosophies).

A famous fountain on the way to the wall. 

My contribution: GOD IS LOVE

The Charles Bridge is the most famous bridge in Prague and contains tens of bronze statues and even more street musicians. The most famous statue is a crucifix. 2 parts of it have been rubbed shiny because of the myth behind it. If you rub the left claw, you will be fertile and if you rub the claw on the right, a wish will come true. I rubbed both.

The Charles Bridge

After that, we visited a Beatles exhibition. It was borrowed from the Beatles' Story Museum in Liverpool (the one dad and I visited a few summers ago) so I had already seen everything except the random bits of Czechoslovakian Beatlemania trivia they included.

Once we crossed the Charles Bridge again, we came across a sign that read, "Medieval Torture Instruments Museum". My first thought: Man, I bet you'd find some real freaky kind of people in there (and not the good kind of freaky!). My second thought: I bet that'd be interesting. Naturally, Kate and I visited the museum. What can I say? I have a strange interest in morbid historical trivia.

The Astronomical Clock is one of the most famous clocks in the world. It involves 3 different clocks, one with normal time, a calender dial, and an astronomical dial that shows the phase of the moon and position of the sun. It rings every hour on the hour, the apostles move in and out of the windows, a skeleton rings a bell, a rooster crows, and a live minstrel plays a trumpet from the top of the tower. It's cute but a feeding ground for pickpockets.

The clock in action

Prague Randomocity:
-Though the buildings are all very old school, Prague has the most American restaurant chains of any city I have visited in Europe.

This is considered blasphemy in Italy

-There is no shortage of souvenir shops. The only place I've ever been to with more is Florida.
-Prague is famous for babushka dolls and Mucha. I LOVE MUCHA.

-Prague is a part of the REAL Bohemia.
-I must give a shout out to my Czech Veverka family! I actually saw a store that is called "Veverka" so I took a picture...just for you!

I started this entry in Prague but am finishing it on a beautiful morning in Berlin, Germany. So, for now, auf wiedersehen (thank you, Sound of Music and Wayne Newton, for teaching me some basic German)!

~Britt