Praha

Behind the Charles Bridge

Dobriden to everyone! Melissa and I are in the city of Prague as of right now and what a beautiful city it is. A lot has happened since our last update and I hope you enjoy what we have to say. Prague is definitely a city that everyone must see.

On Thursday we took a morning train to Berlin expecting to arrive in Prague at 1:30. However while in transit our train decided to stop working and we were stuck in one place for an extra 70 minutes. It wasn’t too bad but Melissa and I were supposed to meet my friend Aja who lives outside Prague and this train delay screwed that up a bit. However, we did end up meeting her later on and it was an amazing time!

With Aja 

Aja took us out to her favorite restaurant in Prague call Kavarma Slavia.  The location of the restaurant is really great since it is right across the street from the river and you have beautiful views of Charle’s Bridge and Prague Castle just outside the restaurant. Apparently many famous Czech people go there. Melissa ordered a traditional Czech soup consisting of beef broth and beef dumplings; and both of us ordered the beef goulash with dumplings (which looks like bread). I also ordered a Czech beer called Budweiser. However, it is not the American Budweiser but a different Czech beer with the same name. I thought that was kind of cool. Overall, it was a delicious hearty Czech meal and I thank Aja for taking the time to take us out and give us a little Czech culture. 

Beef goulash and dumplings...yummy

After we said goodbye to Aja we wandered about the city a little more and came back to the hostel to relax until the Prague night life called us out.Our night journey brought us to a club called Karlovy Lazne. This is supposedly the biggest club in central Europe. It has five floors and every floor consists of a different music theme. The first floor was radio hits, the second was club music, the third oldies (which had a really cool dance floor that changed colors), the fourth was rap, or “black music” as they called it, and the last was the chill room which was cool lounge music. If you’ve ever been to a club, then you know how hot and crazy it gets. Just imagine your typical club and add an extra flare of European-ness and you just might get a taste of what we’ve experienced. In total, we had a great time and Europeans are crazy when it comes to their clubs.

Prague Castle and Charles Bridge 

The following day was started with a walking tour of the city. Melissa and I really enjoyed this tour. Our guide was cool, knowledgeable, and a great story teller. Almost every place he brought us to, he gave us background behind it, and a story to go along with it. He brought us to many of the famous touristy locations including Old Town Market, Wenceslas Square, Powder Tower, and the Jewish Quarters (to name a few).

Easter Market

After our tour, Mel and I decided to go into Old Town Square where they have an Easter Market type festival every spring. It’s really pretty. There are little shops selling painted eggs, and other Easter related gifts. They also have lots of food vendors there with all different types of Czech food which of course Melissa and I had to try. We decided to purchase this dish which consists of potatoes, sour kraut, and sausage all mixed together. It was really delicious despite the fact that we got ripped off with the price. After our stomachs were filled with tasty food we were off to our last destination of the day, the castle district.

Statue on Charles Bridge

To get to the castle district we crossed over to the other side of the city by walking across the Charles Bridge. (btw this is Melissa writing now, no longer Orry). The bridge was built by Charles IV in 1357, and is the oldest medieval bridge in the world. As you walk along the bridge you pass statues of religious scenes from the bible. These statues were added to the bridge during the 16^th and 17^th centuries by the Hapsburgs and only a couple of them are still the original. Because of air pollution the original statues have been removed from the bridge and placed in museums. When we got to the end of the bridge we began our trek up the hill towards the main sights.

The first sight we saw in the castle district was the castle itself.  Most of the castle was closed up, but we were able to see some of the more famous rooms in the castle. As all of my World students should remember from class, the Thirty-Years War began in the city of Prague when two Catholic royal officials were thrown out a window of the castle by two Protestants in protest of the Catholic rule. I came to Prague with a mission to find this room that the officials were thrown out of so that I could show you and I was successful in finding it!

Window that started the Thirty-Years War

Mucha's stained glass window at St. Vitus

After the castle we went to the St. Vitus Cathedral, which stands in the center of the castle complex (for my classes: why do you think the cathedral was built in the center of the castle complex?).  Although this cathedral was not the biggest I have seen, the stained glass was definitely the most vibrant that I have seen yet.  One of the more notable pieces that can be seen in the cathedral was created by the Czech Art Nouveau artist Mucha.  The cathedral is also home to the crown jewels, which is kept locked in one of the towers of the cathedral. To get to the crown jewels you need to unlock seven locks. The keys to the locks are spread out among seven Czech government officials. Because of this the jewels can only be viewed when all of these officials are joined together at the Cathedral.

Now we are just relaxing back at the hostel. Tomorrow we are going to a town nearby called Kutna Hora, which was once one of the largest silver mines in Europe. 

Until next time…

-Melissa and Orry

P.S. We want more comments!