I went with my friend Keri, and despite almost missing our plane (they had to hold the entire shuttle just for us - talk about embarrassing!) we arrived safely. Since we couldn't check in to our hotel right away, we wound up going to the National Museum. According to several travel websites, this is one of those museums you "can't miss." What we saw was a bunch of old rocks and stuffed animals. Don't get me wrong - I like rocks and stuffed animals - but I think I could probably have missed this museum and not been too torn up about it. At least it was a funny experience, and we got to see some animals that I had never seen before!
After exploring the museum and finally checking in to our hotel, we decided to use our Boat Tour voucher to take a boat ride on the river that runs through Prague (called the Vlatava). The boat ride was fun, and it was nice to be able to see all along the Vlatava. There are so many buildings right along the river, including the National Theatre and the Rudolfinum (a concert hall). We also passed under the Charles Bridge, and got a great view of the Prague Castle, which is the largest medieval fortress in Europe.
The Prague Castle
The Charles BridgeWhen the boat tour was over, we explored some of the streets of Prague. The buildings are all so beautiful, and even though the sidewalks and streets are all made out of cobblestone, they have a certain charm that I think you can only find in these old, European cities. We walked down to the Old Town Square where we stumbled upon the "Old Town Fair." There were booths set up everywhere, with people selling cheese, puppets, and any number of sausages. We also saw people making swords, which was fun to watch for a while.
We wanted to get some traditional Czech food, so we ate dinner at a restaurant by our hotel called Legenda. My dinner consisted of roast duck breast with cranberries and bacon mashed potatoes - it was one of the most delicious things I have ever had. I also had two HUGE beers called Staropramen Lager, which is apparently a very traditional Czech beer.
Our real adventure started on Tuesday, when we took a free, three-hour walking tour with a company called Sandeman's New Europe. Anyone traveling to the cities listed on their homepage should definitely set aside some time to do one of these tours!
Our tour guide's name was James and I felt very fortunate to have had him as a guide because I could tell right away that he was very passionate about history, and about Prague in general. I saw several things on the tour, but the following are the things I found the most interesting and the most profound.
We started off the tour in the Old Town Square. I learned that much of Prague survived World War II, which is fortunate because there are many cities around Europe that were completely destroyed. The Old Town Square was created in the 12th century, and has seen many significant events since then. In the middle of the square is the Jon Hus monument, where Jon Hus was burned at the stake because he went against the church for selling papal indulgences. On one side of the square is the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, which is one of the most impressive Gothic cathedral in all of Prague.
In this cathedral is the tomb of the royal astronomer Tycho Brahe. He was a wealthy Dutchman who had been banned from what is now the Netherlands, and was invited by the king of Bohemia to be the official imperial astronomer. He loved to party and he was a rather unusual fellow. When he was a schoolboy, he challenged a classmate to a duel, during which the tip of his nose was cut off with a sword. As a result, he would wear a bronze nose during the day, and he had a silver nose that he would wear when he went to a party. He had a midget named Jepp and a pet moose who he would bring to parties and to whom he would feed beer. I think it's funny to try and picture a guy showing up to a party with a silver nose, a midget, and a drunken moose.
On the other side of the square is the Old Town Hall (in Czech, Staromĕtská Radnice S Orlojem), of which only part of the original building remains. The part that is still standing was built in the 14th century and features the world-famous astronomical clock. The rest of the building was destroyed in the weeks leading up to the end of World War II, when the Nazis bombed Prague.
We saw Wenceslas square, where there is a monument marking the spot where three young Czech men took their lives by lighting themselves on fire, in the hopes that it would spread the message to the rest of the world about the oppressive communist regime that was in power during the 1960s. This took place in 1968, and it wouldn't be until 1989 that the communist regime actually ended and the Czech Republic would be formed. It was actually a very chilling thought, that all of this gruesome and violent history is actually very recent.
Next, the tour took us to the Jewish Quarter. Before 1890, the Jewish Quarter actually used to be a ghetto, where there were walls in place to keep the Jews in, and the street levels were about three meters lower than the rest of the city. Because the river used to flood very often and because the ground level was so low, the Jewish ghetto was basically a swamp, and it was a terrible place to live. When it was decided that the walls would be torn down and the Jews would be free to leave, most of the buildings were torn down because they were in such a bad state, and 80 percent of the Jewish population living there left. During World War II, most places in Europe that were predominantly Jewish were completely destroyed by Nazi soldiers, however the Jewish Quarter in Prague was left alone because it was Hitler's plan to retire to Prague after the war and put all his efforts into opening the Jewish Quarter to the public as a museum of an extinct race. It's such a horrible thought, and I actually got goosebumps and felt a bit ill as James was explaining this.
After the tour was over, we had some time to explore Lesser Town, which is across the river from the Old Town Square and where our hotel was. First, we went to the Prague Castle. To get there, we had to climb up hundreds of steps. It was definitely worth it, though, because the view from the top was absolutely stunning. There was also a very beautiful Gothic cathedral, and the sun was shining so brightly that the stained glass windows made it look all pink inside.
When we had finished exploring the castle, we walked through the winding streets of Lesser Town to get to the John Lennon wall. This wall, which is filled with graffiti, started as a spray-painted picture of John Lennon after he was murdered. As time went by, the citizens of Prague continued to add messages of peace, and some say that it actually contributed to the peaceful end of the communist regime.
That evening, we had signed up for a pub crawl with New Europe, and so we met back with James in the Old Town Square. There were a few more people who had signed up for the pub crawl, and I remember thinking that we were such a motley crew - an Irish tour guide, two Czech girls, a couple from Germany, a college guy from Connecticut, a funny little guy from Chile, and two American girls. We learned a lot about beer - in Prague they are very proud of their beer, because most pubs brew their own and it is unpasteurized. There are also fewer chemicals, and you can drink a lot of it without getting a hangover! It is also customary for the women to drink dark beer, as it is sweeter than light beer and it goes down more easily.
The Czechs have very a very specific custom when it comes to drinking beer. First, you look everyone at the table in the eye, one by one and say, " Na zdraví!" Then you pound your beer on the table and only then are you allowed to drink it. If you don't do that, the punishment is seven years bad sex. If your arm crosses someone else's arm while you're doing it, the punishment is worse - you get married.
We got to try lots of different beer at several different pubs, and eventually we wound up at a communist bar called Propaganda. The owner of the communist museum in Prague took some of the communist memorabilia and used it to make a communist bar. It was so much fun, and it was one of the best nights I've had. I really enjoyed being able to converse with people from different countries.
We wound up staying out pretty late for a Tuesday night, drinking great Czech beer and talking about the things we were most passionate about. It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had - to be able to share the old and universal tradition of good beer and good conversation with people who, in the end, really weren't so different from me.
We wanted to get some traditional Czech food, so we ate dinner at a restaurant by our hotel called Legenda. My dinner consisted of roast duck breast with cranberries and bacon mashed potatoes - it was one of the most delicious things I have ever had. I also had two HUGE beers called Staropramen Lager, which is apparently a very traditional Czech beer.
Our real adventure started on Tuesday, when we took a free, three-hour walking tour with a company called Sandeman's New Europe. Anyone traveling to the cities listed on their homepage should definitely set aside some time to do one of these tours!Our tour guide's name was James and I felt very fortunate to have had him as a guide because I could tell right away that he was very passionate about history, and about Prague in general. I saw several things on the tour, but the following are the things I found the most interesting and the most profound.
We started off the tour in the Old Town Square. I learned that much of Prague survived World War II, which is fortunate because there are many cities around Europe that were completely destroyed. The Old Town Square was created in the 12th century, and has seen many significant events since then. In the middle of the square is the Jon Hus monument, where Jon Hus was burned at the stake because he went against the church for selling papal indulgences. On one side of the square is the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, which is one of the most impressive Gothic cathedral in all of Prague.
In this cathedral is the tomb of the royal astronomer Tycho Brahe. He was a wealthy Dutchman who had been banned from what is now the Netherlands, and was invited by the king of Bohemia to be the official imperial astronomer. He loved to party and he was a rather unusual fellow. When he was a schoolboy, he challenged a classmate to a duel, during which the tip of his nose was cut off with a sword. As a result, he would wear a bronze nose during the day, and he had a silver nose that he would wear when he went to a party. He had a midget named Jepp and a pet moose who he would bring to parties and to whom he would feed beer. I think it's funny to try and picture a guy showing up to a party with a silver nose, a midget, and a drunken moose.
On the other side of the square is the Old Town Hall (in Czech, Staromĕtská Radnice S Orlojem), of which only part of the original building remains. The part that is still standing was built in the 14th century and features the world-famous astronomical clock. The rest of the building was destroyed in the weeks leading up to the end of World War II, when the Nazis bombed Prague.
We saw Wenceslas square, where there is a monument marking the spot where three young Czech men took their lives by lighting themselves on fire, in the hopes that it would spread the message to the rest of the world about the oppressive communist regime that was in power during the 1960s. This took place in 1968, and it wouldn't be until 1989 that the communist regime actually ended and the Czech Republic would be formed. It was actually a very chilling thought, that all of this gruesome and violent history is actually very recent.
Next, the tour took us to the Jewish Quarter. Before 1890, the Jewish Quarter actually used to be a ghetto, where there were walls in place to keep the Jews in, and the street levels were about three meters lower than the rest of the city. Because the river used to flood very often and because the ground level was so low, the Jewish ghetto was basically a swamp, and it was a terrible place to live. When it was decided that the walls would be torn down and the Jews would be free to leave, most of the buildings were torn down because they were in such a bad state, and 80 percent of the Jewish population living there left. During World War II, most places in Europe that were predominantly Jewish were completely destroyed by Nazi soldiers, however the Jewish Quarter in Prague was left alone because it was Hitler's plan to retire to Prague after the war and put all his efforts into opening the Jewish Quarter to the public as a museum of an extinct race. It's such a horrible thought, and I actually got goosebumps and felt a bit ill as James was explaining this.
After the tour was over, we had some time to explore Lesser Town, which is across the river from the Old Town Square and where our hotel was. First, we went to the Prague Castle. To get there, we had to climb up hundreds of steps. It was definitely worth it, though, because the view from the top was absolutely stunning. There was also a very beautiful Gothic cathedral, and the sun was shining so brightly that the stained glass windows made it look all pink inside.
When we had finished exploring the castle, we walked through the winding streets of Lesser Town to get to the John Lennon wall. This wall, which is filled with graffiti, started as a spray-painted picture of John Lennon after he was murdered. As time went by, the citizens of Prague continued to add messages of peace, and some say that it actually contributed to the peaceful end of the communist regime.
That evening, we had signed up for a pub crawl with New Europe, and so we met back with James in the Old Town Square. There were a few more people who had signed up for the pub crawl, and I remember thinking that we were such a motley crew - an Irish tour guide, two Czech girls, a couple from Germany, a college guy from Connecticut, a funny little guy from Chile, and two American girls. We learned a lot about beer - in Prague they are very proud of their beer, because most pubs brew their own and it is unpasteurized. There are also fewer chemicals, and you can drink a lot of it without getting a hangover! It is also customary for the women to drink dark beer, as it is sweeter than light beer and it goes down more easily.
The Czechs have very a very specific custom when it comes to drinking beer. First, you look everyone at the table in the eye, one by one and say, " Na zdraví!" Then you pound your beer on the table and only then are you allowed to drink it. If you don't do that, the punishment is seven years bad sex. If your arm crosses someone else's arm while you're doing it, the punishment is worse - you get married.
We got to try lots of different beer at several different pubs, and eventually we wound up at a communist bar called Propaganda. The owner of the communist museum in Prague took some of the communist memorabilia and used it to make a communist bar. It was so much fun, and it was one of the best nights I've had. I really enjoyed being able to converse with people from different countries.
We wound up staying out pretty late for a Tuesday night, drinking great Czech beer and talking about the things we were most passionate about. It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had - to be able to share the old and universal tradition of good beer and good conversation with people who, in the end, really weren't so different from me.
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