Stephanie Goes to Prague

“Hopefully we will have you safely on the ground soon.”  Those words after hearing the phrase technical difficulties in a plane aren’t exactly ones I’ve always hoped to hear.

Thus started my weekend adventure in Prague!  My first picture of the city...

I’ve organized this post a bit differently than some of my past ones.  There are a lot of stories because I packed in a ton of things.  So here I’m sharing pictures and the basics about my weekend and you can click on the very obvious links to read more about a specific part.  Also note...you can click on the pictures for a better view!

I arrived to my hostel around 9 pm on Friday night and was met by a pub crawl guide who convinced me to throw my things in my room and head out for a night on the town.

WORST pub crawl ever.  I had high expectations given my pub crawl in Dublin…thought we’d drink some good Czech beer and see some nice PUBS.  Nope, spent the night at really crowded clubs.  Also, I’ve gotten spoiled by the smoking ban in Poland and Michigan.  Czech bars are disgustingly smoke filled.  There are also people lighting up joints everywhere. 

 

Suffice to say I couldn’t get into a shower fast enough!

Saturday was cold, snowy, and rainy…like my feet were soaked by noon.  I couldn’t find my gloves so my poor hands took turns freezing as they held my umbrella.  It was so cold the rain froze on my umbrella...and mixed with the snow it was a mess.  A fresh perspective on the weather courtesy of Australians...

I did a walking tour of Prague on Saturday morning despite the nastiness.  Along the way, I met an awesome Aussie named Ashlee.   We became travel buddies for the day since we were both traveling alone.  

Highlights of the walking tour were the Astrological clock, lots of awesome architecture and Czech history.  The astronomical clock is the oldest working astronomical clock in the world and 3rd oldest altogether.  It was started in 1410.  There are three different ways to tell the time by it, the easiest being how many hours since the sun set the night before.

 

Pictured on the right is the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn.  The construction of this church began in the 14th century and is currently under renovation.  On Sunday, I took a peek inside and took a few "illegal" pictures!  It's an incredibly beautiful church.

Although not Czech, Mozart was apparently incredibly fond of Prague and found a very willing and enthusiastic audience amount the Czech people.  It was in this theater that his opera, Don Giovanni premiered.  There are still showings of the opera in the theater, and it is on my list of things to do next time I go to Prague.

More pictures and highlights along the walking tour are here.

After the walking tour, Ashlee and I grabbed some mulled wine (a new favorite drink of mine).  Then, given the cold weather and frozen state of our toes, we wandered into the Museum of Medieval Torture. I'm aware that the Church during the inquisition and many other people in power used different forms of torture to get "confessions", but the devices they used are incredibly strange, awkward, disgusting, and quite well-designed.  More torture things (WARNING VERY GROSS!).

After having a long time to thaw out, Ashlee and I decided to brave the weather and check out Charles Bridge, the #2 thing to see in Prague.  The bridge was started in the 14th century by then king Charles IV.  It is decorated with about thirty different statues and a stunning view of the Prague Castle, a bit obscured by the snow in my photo, but still beautiful.  Some cool stories about the Charles Bridge.

Amidst the wandering around Prague, I realized I kept seeing the Infant of Prague statues everywhere...and it dawned on me, I was IN Prague and should probably go see the baby Jesus.

I bought myself a beautiful piece of crystal with the Infant of Prague in it and stumbled into a priest who blessed me and my new statue!  

Saturday rounded out with a classical music concert inside an old Catholic Church.  Strangely enough, the church had a number of crazy colored balloons hanging from the ceiling.

 Sunday started where Saturday began, in church.  I couldn't find the Mass I thought I was going to go to, but stumbled on another parish with twenty minutes to spare.  So I started wandering around and snapping a few pictures.  I sadly forgot to get the name of the church, but it was the basilica of someone!

After Mass, I went to the Chocolate Museum to learn about the history of chocolate making in Prague and the world.  It was a lot more informative than I thought...AND I learned how to make chocolate pralines from the cool chocolate chef in the museum.  Wanna know how?  Read more here!

After the museum, I decided to climb to the top of the Astrological clock.  Scroll up if you forget what it looks like, cause the next pictures are from the top of it looking out at the city.

My last activity in Prague was a three hour walking tour of the Prague castle (also in the background of that picture).  It's the world's biggest castle according to  Guinness and the #1 tourist attraction.    Sunday in the Czech Republic was a big holiday, the first constitution of Czechoslovakia.  Although no longer a country, it was interesting to see someone sing the old anthem in the castle grounds.

The Prague Castle is the official seat of the president.  And my guide, a Czech native, called the three flags outside of the president's residence "overkill of patriotism."  So I told him about Union Station...and the fact that my family own multiple American flags.

For more on the Prague castle...you want these pictures!

One interesting fact about the Prague castle, the first president of Czechoslovakia was good friends with Mick Jagger.  Some how, Jagger found out that the Czechs couldn't afford to light up the beautiful Prague castle in their post-communist economy.  So he sent his lighting technicians to Prague and funded the entire lighting system of the castle. Czechs literally have moves like Jagger.

The tour ended at the John Lennon Wall.  A remnant of the communist era when Western music was prohibited, the Czechs started a small culture war with the Soviets over the wall after the death of John Lennon.  In the end, the communists allowed the wall to stay in place after trying to paint over it and block access on multiple occasions.  It is a continuously changing piece of art as people add their own favorite Lennon lyrics to the wall when visiting.

All in all, I fell in love with Prague.  I'm more than happy to answer questions if I can.  Wiki might do a better job than me.   And I REALLY hope you enjoyed these pictures!