Czeching out Prague

I know, I know, I’ve been MIA for the last couple days.  Even though I promised that I would write the next day about Prague and the next about Vienna.  Well apparently that didn’t work out.  I forgot about taking a night train, and then driving all over and being exhausted and all those things that go into a trip.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m having the time of my life, but I really don’t have time for posts. Actually, I think you should be worried if I did post all the tme.  Because that means I'm istting around doing nothing.

But, right now I do.  I’m sitting on my host’s couch in Davos after a day on the slopes and writing.  Mainly because I don’t understand the German dubbed Simpsons on TV, and therefore can't be distracted too much.  So here is Prague…

Prague was…so many things, it’s hard to put into words.  I think it’s one of the most romantic cities I’ve ever been too.  No I haven’t been to Paris, but the feelings that I get from others, is that Paris is the city of love, love is all around, etc. etc. But Prague itself is filled with some of the most interesting history I’ve ever heard.  And the buildings are very gothic, which makes them much more romantic in my opinion regardless of whether or not they include a tower.  I was sitting on the tram just staring at all the buildings as we passed them.  They're beautiful.

First of all, I arrived and went to the opera as you’ve already read.  And it was beautiful.  And I loved it.  When I got back to my hostel, I met the other people in my room.  Julia from Germany who is soooo cool (she told me to write that, but I’d have to say I agree), Russell her boyfriend, originally from New Zealand, but now living in Germany, and Jonas, also from Germany...

 

  

 

We played pool for a while, then went to a club, then went on the search for another club, only to find out it had been closed, and then took a very long walk home.  When we got back, we continued to play pool and finally went to the room around 5:30.

Well, apparently, I was actually able to get out of bed in time to actually do something.  So of course I, once again, had to take the walking tour, and once again, I had an awesome tour guide...

This time he was from North Carolina (give it up US.)  He moved here for the women and the beer, stayed for the beer, and has yet to move back.  Actually I don’t if that’s the actual reason, but I like it…and the Czech beer.

We started in old town square…

Here we got a brief rundown of the entire 1000 years of Czech history.  We saw some statues, some buildings, and this awesome clock…

It was the iPhone of its day.  It can tell you practically everything.  But here’s my favorite part.  There are 365 names around that clock.  Every child must be named off that clock if they don’t want to be made fun of in school for the rest of their life.  (Celebrities…you might want to take note of this.)  So on your birthday, you go out and everyone buys you drinks.  But on your name day, you go out and are required to buy everyone else drinks.  But I still like the thought of having a day just to celebrate your name.  Although I kept wondering about leap years…what happens then?!?!  The clock also strikes the hour, dances, has a little chicken that crows, but the festivities around it are really sort of a let down after seeing it.  You’d think they’d be more awesome.

Then we saw the concert hall where Mozart played…

Fun fact…this building was used for the majority of the movie Amadeus even though it’s supposed to take place in Vienna.

Oh look it’s a large building!

I actually forget what this was.  But I know in front of it is a plaque honoring a guy who attempted to commit suicide in front of it to protest communist rule, but couldn’t actually die when he decided to light himself with gasoline, which isn’t hot enough to burn human flesh.  He sadly died four days later, but after telling his friends to not go through the same thing he just did.

And here’s the black Madonna…

She was used at a street marker before people could read street signs.  You know, “hang a left at the black Madonna.”

Here we are standing outside of a church reenacting an event…

The legend is that a thief tried to steal the Virgin Mary statue’s necklace.  The statue came to life, grabbed the arm, winked (the girl acting couldn’t wink either,) and held him their till the priest showed up the next day.  So in order to free him, they chopped off his arm, had it mummified, and it is hanging inside the church.  True Story.

You know how Kafka tended to rule many a Drama discussion?  You know how we actually have a phrase “Kafka-esque?”  Well here’s one of the statues of one of his short stories, because man they love that guy...

Here is one of the only Jewish temples in Europe older than World War 2…

And it was built to look like a mosque just to hide that fact a little bit.  Because there was thing called asshole lack of tolerance.

Here’s the rest of the Jewish quarter…

It’s built on swamp land, because that’s the land they were given.  You can tell which buildings were built when by where they are street level.  But how is it so intact you ask?  Didn’t all Jewish things get destroyed by Nazi bastards?  Well not here, because Hitler wanted to preserve it as a, get this, museum to an extinct race.  (Yea…raise your hand if you’re glad Hitler’s dead.)  In here there is a beautiful church, a rather morbid cemetery involving layers upon layers of buried bodies, and two memorials, one to all Czech Jews killed in the war, and the other to the drawing of the children of Theresienstadt, a concentration camp, a story which I actually did a play about in college – I Never Saw Another Butterfly.

Then we saw this building…

And this one…

And this pendulum…

See it way in the distance? There used to be a statue of Stalin there, but then it exploded (with help from the locals.)

Then we came to Charles Bridge…

For a while it was the only way to cross the river.  It was officially opened in 1357 on the 9th of July (the 7th month) at 5:31.  Get it?  135797531! It’s pretty old and pretty awesome.

And finally in the background we saw Prague Castle...

The thing that if you’re in Prague, and you go see one thing, it’s this.  Of course, as I was only there for one day and had already spent my three hours taking this tour, I could not make the tour of the castle.  But I still saw it from a distance.  And it looked pretty awesome.  Good thing I had Dad’s awesome zoom camera.

Well that was the end of the tour, but definitely not the end of the night.  I met back up at the hostel and with my roommates, we went out for a delicious and cheap pasta dinner.  Then we stopped at the store for some 50 cent beer.  Seriously…everything in Prague is SOOOOO cheap.  I could not get over it.  We went back and played pool, and looked at my pictures from the day, and talked, and drank, and bonded until late into the night (but not 5:30 again.)  Then we finally got to bed.

Well, since I didn’t have to leave until 1, I was able to sleep in.  Once I finally got up, I bid goodbye to Julia and Russell who had to catch their plane, and hung out with Jonas till I had to leave.  And I boarded my train for Vienna, ready for my next adventure, but never to forget my wonderful time in Prague.

Word of the day: pivo - beer (Czech)