Czech-ing Out Prague

For my whole trip thus far, I haven't really set alarms to wake up and I've been able to get up in the morning at a reasonable hour, this day being no different. Upon waking up, I checked the train times and headed on my way to Prague. I had arranged with Maria, my Berlin Couchsurfing host, to keep my larger bag at hers while I visited Prague because I wanted to get back to Berlin in two days for a walking tour of Potsdam which is situated right outside of the city. I was so glad I didn't have to lug a large bag around Prague because my next Couchsurfing host, Lukas, wouldn't be home until seven in the evening so I was able to bring the smaller backpack with me around for the day.

Getting ready for Prague

How I've been charging my phone

Some views from the train

Now I didn't even think about Prague when I was planning my trip around Europe but my cousin, Erin, went to Prague a few summers ago and she highly suggested that I go so I added it to my itinerary. I know I had only a limited amount of time but Erin had sent me a list of suggested things to do and things to eat. My teammate, also Erin, had sent me a list of things to eat vicariously for her so I had quite a few things to accomplish.

From cousin Erin

From teammate Erin

When I first got into the Praha Hlavní Nádraží station, I don't know why but for some reason I just wasn't sure what my next plan of action was because I typically just walk out of the station and have a place to go to meet my host. So my first attempt was to start walking to get to some sort of city centre but once I walked out of the station, there was what looked like a freeway in front of me so I went back inside and bought a map before walking out through another exit that seemed more pedestrian-friendly. I wandered down to the street level before deciding that I still wasn't sure where I was going so once again, I headed back towards the station and finally saw an arrow pointing to the tourist center and I found salvation. There were several options for what I could get to travel around Prague for the two-ish days so I decided I would go with the 24-hour metro pass as well as the 48-Hour CitySightseeing Hop On-Hop Off Bus which included a free tour of the castle as well as the Jewish Quarter and a boat ride. I saw that Prague public transportation was similar to Berlin's in that you validate your pass at a machine and you can ride whatever form of transportation you want but once in a blue moon does someone check the pass so I decided I would risk it with just a 24-hour metro pass. I planned on doing the same thing when I got back to Berlin because the stamp was very light on the pass so I was going to restamp it upon my return.

So many crowns!

The station museum

Ready to go!

Now equipped with my new currency of Czech Crowns, a metro pass, a sightseeing bus tour ticket and a cup of gelato, I finally made my way to the bus stop for the CitySightseeing bus. It took awhile for the bus to come and when it finally did, the attendant told me that there was only going to be one more stop before they were done for the day. The last stop would have gotten me closer to the center of the city so I hopped on the bus and was just glad that I was finally going somewhere (I was in the train station for quite a while...) Upon getting dropped off at a stop close to the center square, I was told to walk towards the "tall dark pointy building" so off I went and I found myself around food so I went on a mini rampage of snacking. I saw a small pastry stand and wasn't sure what anything was so got something that I think had cherries and a poppy paste which was pretty tasty. Then, I passed a trdelnik stand and it was on my recommended food list so I got one of those. THEN, I came across a small market and went to a stand selling sausages so purchased a deer sausage and munched on that. I had consumed a lot of food in a very short period of time that I wasn't feeling so great a few minutes later but I slowly waddled around and waited for that moment to pass.

This looked yummy

They all looked yummy

Cherry and poppy paste?

Love finding these little markets

Deer sausage

Playing with my food

The black pointy building I was directed towards

When I finally got to an area that had a lot of people walking around, I was trying to figure out where to go so was consulting my map and looking up at a building to get the spelling of a street sign when a man with what I caught as a North American accent asked if I needed help and I admitted that I could use some. He told me that he had spent about ten years in Prague before he could comfortably put away his map and walk the streets so I didn't feel too bad about my confusions. He directed me towards a main street which I kept hearing as "Winsoslaw" but I couldn't see that on the map because I came to find out much later was what was written as Václavské náméstí. From there, he suggested that I walk up to the National Museum then walk back down to the Old Town Square. I thanked him and he left me with one piece of advice; he told me that while I'm looking at my map, I have to remember to look up every once in a while because there are so many great and random things that I could miss if I don't and that's stuck with me ever since.

Not sure what building I was looking at...

A guy making bubbles but he wasn't as nice as the guy in London

In following this helpful man's suggestion, I walked towards the National Museum and I think I remember seeing a clock somewhere that told me I should get on my way to Lukas's so I hopped onto a train to make my way over. The way that addresses are written are quite confusing because there are two numbers and I thought the first number indicated the house number so when I got to where I thought the address led me, it was a restaurant so obviously I was quite baffled. At this point, my phone was dead so I walked up and down the street to figure out if there was another building with the same number but there wasn't but I guess my luck was able to bring another kind stranger to stop and help me. I showed her the address and she tried to look with me before she gave me her phone so I could find Lukas's number to call him. I was directed to walk back towards the subway station so I thanked the lady and was luckily able to find Lukas back around there. Turns out that the second number of the address tells the building and I'm not exactly sure what the first number indicates but neither does Lukas.

Not forgetting to look up

The National Museum

Walking up to the Museum

Looking down Václavské náméstí from the Museum

After settling in a bit and explaining to Lukas what I was doing in Prague, we decided to cook dinner together and I offered to go to the store to buy a few veggies. I was still getting used to using crowns so when I paid with an 100 crown note, I expected some sort of paper notes back but all I got was coins so I stood there waiting for the rest of my change and was adamant that I hadn't gotten the correct change; the cashier lady that rang me up yelled something at me in Czech then continued to ring someone else up and I continued to stand there staring at the change in my hand. It took me a few seconds before I recounted what was in my hand and realized that I did, in fact, have the correct change so I left without trying to look too stupid.
After getting back and cooking with Lukas and having a yummy dessert that his girlfriend made, he gave me a few suggestions for where I should go and see. I decided that it was still relatively early so I set back out to Old Town Square to wander for a bit. The subway took me back to the National Museum so I walked from there back up Václavské náméstí and over to Charles Bridge (Karluv most). Erin had put that on her list of things to do and it was just amazing to walk across it because it was quite pretty and it was nice to people watch. There were groups of people stopped at the side doing a cappella and various couples along the way being all cutesy and I felt a mixture of loneliness yet serenity because even though I was there by myself, I felt very at peace.

Lukas's girlfriend's plum dessert

Such a happy spoon

The National Museum lit up at night

Going into Old Town Square with the Clock Tower as my guide

Clock tower

Getting to Charles Bridge

The Prague Castle off in the distance

Eerie night

My fascination for signs

A crazy long escalator in the metro station

After a leisurely stroll across Charles Bridge and a bit more wandering, I made my way back to Lukas's to get some sleep before a full day of exploring. I had already had a plan in mind since there were scheduled times for the Castle tour and the Jewish Quarter tour and I planned on doing both along with the boat tour. Luckily, my body woke me up quite early the next day so I made my way to figure out where the start of the Castle Tour was.
I started my tour with a guide who reminded me of Jeff Goldblum from the way he stood and talked. While we walked to the bus, we talked a bit about how Americans move around so much (him to me: "you are born somewhere and are raised somewhere else then go to school somewhere else then work in Dubai or something") and people from Prague pretty much spend their whole lives there ("we are born in Prague, we work in Prague, we die in Prague"). We also talked a little bit about American politics and he seemed to know way more about it than I did, being an advocate for Bernie Sanders for presidential candidate. That made me realize just how ignorant of an American I am and made me contemplate whether I should start following politics a bit to become a little more informed with the presidential election coming up next year and all.

Such thick hot chocolate while waiting for the tour

View from the bus

Moving on into the castle tour, we got there and the tour guide took us around to see the better view of the castle from his point of view. Along the way, he told us how not many people like their president and a few days ago, when a huge photo of their president was hanging from one of the government buildings, it was replaced by large red underpants which is supposed to represent foolishness. Seems like the Czech people are pretty good pranksters.

Leading to the Castle

Cathedral within the Castle

So in reading over the quick things I scribbled down on the tour and whatever I can gather from my.memory, here are some things I learned on the tour.
- The cathedral within the castle grounds took over five centuries to build because there were times of war and other events that stopped the building of it for centuries at a time.
- The Czech Republic gained its independence in 1918, breaking away from their former identity as Czechoslovakia.
- When they gained their independence, they were supposed to recreate a flag for their country but they just kept Czechoslovakia's flag and Slovakia made a new flag.
- Their currency, the crown, is currently weakening which makes exports more competitive(?). I'm not quite sure about this one since economics isn't my strength.
- Only about 20% of the population in the Czech republic is religious because there was too much conflict over religion that many decided to become atheist. Even then, there are still many beautiful cathedrals still in Prague because they are used as concert halls.

Inside the Castle grounds

Leading out to the senators' houses

Guards protecting the castle

Prague

I wrote some names down thinking I'd remember their connection but my memory fails me. From what I wrote down, I might be telling all lies but it might have something to do with King Charles V from Spain with some sort of connection to Austria (was he born there or conquered it or gave it away?) and that is connected to his younger brother Ferdinand and his wife Anna who died giving birth to their fifteenth child. And I believe that their grandmother is the one who is responsible to giving ships to Hapsburg which would eventually be the ships that Columbus sailed the ocean blue with to "discover" America. Now all of this past paragraph might be a bunch of hullabaloo but there might be some truth to it and I guess I'll just have to do some research in the future to get my history straight. Anyway... check out these photos!

The Cathedral

The rosetta window

Inside the Cathedral - where I was standing was built centuries apart from the part I photographed

Amazing detail

When we walked into the cathedral, we were told that the mosaic inside was half gilded in gold which makes it seem like there are holes in it but it's just the light reflecting from it. From the cathedral, we went to go wait for the changing of the guards. We happened to be there for the ceremonious one at noon so it was complete with music and the whole deal. Not as grand as the one in London but still very organized and serious. Lots of iPads and selfie sticks were in my way but I still got to see it.

The balcony where the band goes. And the Czech flag

Guard change

Band

A random guard

I guess I had stayed longer for the ceremony than the Jeff Goldblum lookalike had told us so I missed the next bus that was taking us back to the point for the Jewish Quarter tour. Luckily there was still time and I got back to the meeting point with enough time for a good old Pilsner. This tour was led by a guy from London who said he moved to Prague after years of visiting every other month because he couldn't get enough of it. I was still trying to figure out if I liked Prague at this time and I couldn't quite see what charm he saw about it yet. I was already very hesitant about talking to German people but I was even more so with the Czech because they looked so intimidating. But anyway...

Wandering while waiting for the bus

Young wine

Old stadium

Castle from afar

The Dancing House

Our guide took us through the Jewish Quarter which used to be a slum but is now all done up. Before getting there, we walked by the Old Town Square and the guide pointed out the clock tower which was meant to be only a watch tower but ended up having a clock on it and Lukas had told me that there's a little show that plays from it on every hour; I tried to catch it the previous night but only got a few seconds of it but the guide said the show only lasts a few seconds so maybe I caught all of it. Anyway, the Jewish quarter - The Jews were given this part of the city to live in because it was the part that always flooded but now has been built up several meters since. We walked by several synagogues and we were told various stories of how life was like for Jews living in Prague way back when. For example, when the Bubonic plague came through, no one knew the cause so somehow, there was a finger pointed at the Jews and when they were in this synagogue one night, 3000 of them were killed in that one night. Now I'm not sure if it was the night of this mass killing or another time but their numbers were depleted from 25% of the Prague population to just about 1% and even today, the Jewish population is still very low.

I can't remember the significance of this statue...

Kafke - A famous Czech writer

Synagogue

Jewish graveyard

A museum containing Jewish history in Prague

The synagogue of the mass killing

All the Jewish community got back as an apology was a clock

Our guide took us to another building that houses the crown jewels (I wrote Charles IV next to this note so maybe it belonged to him?). There are seven locks to this crown and the seven most important people (the president and other governmental officials) in the city each have one key. Legend has it that immediate death will come to anyone who touches the crown. Apparently there was one person who once possessed all seven keys so went to go get the crown and he was never seen again. Oh. And a random thing that the guide told us was that when he used to play "War" with his friends, someone had to play the role of the Nazis and he always liked to do that because he always imagined himself in those smart uniforms and he later found out that the reason why their uniforms looked so smart was because they were made by Hugo Boss.

Statue for Kafke

The narrow streets of the Jewish quarter

The lower ground is how lower the Jewish quarter was that always flooded

Thus concluded the Jewish Quarter tour and our guide walked us to the dock for our boat ride. On our way, he made mention of the Dancing House which is meant to be a more modern looking building that had a lot of pushback when it was first built. It was built on one of the two sites that were bombed during WWII. Prague was pretty much left alone during the war but the only reason it got bombed was because the US thought that Prague was Dresden... I apologized on my country's behalf.
When we got to the boat and boarded, I wasn't sure where to sit so I sat down at a table which had pastries set out so I thought they were for every guest so I happily munched away. I'm still not sure but I think I sat down with another tour group because there was a lady talking to the various tables so I got up to sit outside which had the view I wanted anyway and it seemed like there wasn't going to be any commentary for the ride. So I spent a nice hour or so just enjoying my time on the water.

Not sure if it was for me but it was good

Charles Bridge

Parliament building? This building is made with real gold at the top

By the time I got off the boat, I figured I had a little bit of time to check out a few things before getting back to Lukas's to check in. When the Jewish quarters tour had started, something caught my eye so I got back to the Old Town Square because I had seen something that was on my list of things to eat - palacinky. It was a ginormous crepe-like thing that I enjoyed while watching some musicians and other people perform in the center of the square, all while trying to avoid a bee that just wouldn't leave me alone. From there, I headed towards the Chocolate Museum just to see what admission prices were like before making my way back towards home base.

Palacinky in the making

Chocolately and doughy goodness

Enjoying the activities around the square

At the Chocolate Museum

Making marzipan

What used to be army barracks is now a large shopping centre

Some pretty amazing and young musicians

Upon checking in with Lukas, he had a football game that night and didn't recommend that I go but gave me some suggestions for what to check out for the rest of my time in Prague. So after I had some leftovers from the night before, I headed off in the direction of Vyšehrad which I believe is a section of Prague, similar to Malá Strana which I went to after I wandered Vyšehrad. I'm glad that my phone had a bit of life left in it because I was able to use a paper map along with my phone to navigate the streets. When I got to where I thought I needed to be at the opening of what looked like a park, I walked in and there weren't many lights around but every so often I'd see a runner so I figured it was safe. The city girl in me still twitched every time I heard a rustling or something but overall, I felt pretty safe roaming around these random paths. I walked around to what looked like a castle wall and eventually, I got to this beautiful cathedral. I think that I saw what I needed to see there so I headed on my way to see the Petrinská rozhledna (Petrin) which is like the Eiffel Tower's younger sister by two years. There was a government-funded group of Czech travelers who went to Paris shortly after the Eiffel Tower was constructed and went back to Prague to tell of how amazing it was and two years later, up went the Petrin. I kept seeing the top of it the previous night and throughout the day so I made it my goal to get to it.

Headed into the dark of the night

I just hoped that I was going in the right direction

Amazing city lights

Found the cathedral

Yep, just came from there

From the direction in which I was coming from Vyšehrad, I had to trek through another park with all different paths and I'm so glad my phone map has the feature to show me which direction I'm facing so that I could continue to walk somewhat in the correct direction and I'm so glad that my phone had enough life in it to get me to the Petrin. So I followed the paths on the paper map and pulled out my phone every so often to double check the direction in which I was going. A little while later, when I was contemplating turning around, I got to an opening that offered an amazing view of the lights of the city and I heard some people in the distance which gave me some hope that I wasn't going to be eaten alive. After taking in the night air a little bit, I continued on my way and finally, I caught sight of the tip top of the Petrin which gave me some shimmer of hope that I was getting really close. I'm not sure how long I roamed around that park but man was I glad to finally get there. From there, the path back was fairly straightforward so I didn't freak out when my phone decided to snooze for the night. Using the paper map, I got back to some regular roads and walked down a street where I found a cute little restaurant and had some yummy potato soup, beef goulash with bread dumplings, and some sort of lemony dessert.

Off to find the Petrin

Overlooking the city

Catching sight of it!

Almost there...

Made it!

More darkness awaits me 

Castle wall

Leaving the park grounds

Dinner for one

Beef goulash and bread dumplings

Dessert

Not a bad price

I wasn't sure of the time but I had accomplished all that I had set out to do that night so I headed back to Lukas's. I had planned on getting back to Berlin by 9 AM to catch the Potsdam tour so I decided it was best not to sleep that night and just crash when I got onto my 4:30AM train. I actually got quite a few things accomplished with writing up bits of my blog and uploading photos until it was time to find the night trolley to get me to the station. I think I ended up going the wrong way so I just decided it was best for me to go by foot, my most reliable method of travel thus far. Made it there with a few minutes to spare! Then it was SnoozeTown for me for the next few hours back to Berlin.

Peace out Prague