Prancing About In Prague

Another trip! This one, luckily, was much smoother than my trip to Amsterdam - no delays or cancellations or anything.

Friday

Our adventure began pretty early on August first, with a trip to the train station. Our train was there right on time and we left right on time. The train ride was great - quiet, smooth, beautiful scenery outside. The European countryside is truly gorgeous. I attempted to get some sleep on the train but was met with no success.

Once in Prague, we headed over to our hostel to drop off our things. Luckily, the staff told us our room was ready, so we got to put our things away and get somewhat settled. They were very accommodating - we had all booked separately, but they grouped us up in the same room. One of the guys with us had even booked a cheaper room, but they rolled in an extra bed for him so we could all be together.

After putting our stuff away, we headed to lunch. We got food at a Mexican restaurant near our hostel that was super good. It was also cheap - I got a drink and a full meal for like fourteen dollars. Food is much cheaper here than in the US or in Berlin. Not sure if that’s because the dollar is strong in Czechia or if things are just cheap. I’m guessing the second, since a certain administration has been doing a lot of things lately that have been tanking the US economy.

We then crossed over the Vltava, the river that crosses through Prague, to the St. Vitus Cathedral. It was super cool, with huge vaulted ceilings, beautiful stained glass windows, and a two-hundred ninety-seven step climb to the top of the dome. Great view from the city but quite the tiring climb. Worse was there was only one staircase, so you had to squeeze by people going up and down. The ceiling was also pretty low, so I had to slightly crouch the whole time.

We got chimney bread after, which I thought was a Czech dessert, but I soon learned that was not the case (more on that later). It was like a churro but in a different shape.

We came back to our hostel after for happy hour, but we got sidetracked in a quest to get some cash. Our hostel’s card reader was broken, so we needed to buy any drinks and food with cash. We also had to pay our room fee with cash, which all told was about two thousand Czech Koruna. After two separate forays to find an ATM - one of which resulted in getting caught in a down-pouring of rain - we got our hands on enough cash for our rooms. However, due to Chase charging me a foreign transaction fee and a non-Chase ATM fee, this exchange lost me ten bucks. By the time we got back to the hostel, happy hour was over, so that was a bit of a bust.

We got dinner at a nearby place that sold cheap shawarma wraps. They were quite good, especially as they only cost about seven dollars. The crew I came on this trip with left for a pub crawl, but I decided it was bedtime.

Saturday

I got up and headed to breakfast while the rest of my group was asleep. I ate at an oatmeal bar that was nearby, which was pretty good but quite overpriced. I came back and me and my friend Caleb headed over to the meeting spot for our walking tour. We went all over and learned a lot about the city. Here’s some highlights:

• Prague is where Protestantism started.
• There is a university in Prague that’s been around since the thirteenth century - the only courses of study it offered back then were theology, medicine, law, and arts.
• Chimney bread is not from Czechia, and locals view it as touristy trash. Guess I shouldn’t have gotten any.
• Prague is home to the only cubist cafe in the world (very specific accomplishment).
• There’s a famous clock in the old town square that has been rated as the second most disappointing tourist attraction in the world (the Mona Lisa is in first place). It’s a cool clock, but people come to see what it does on the hour, which is just a few little chimes - nothing worth the huge crowds the clock draws.
• There are two notable cases where the Prague population threw leaders they didn’t like out of windows - the first was onto a group of people holding spears, the second onto a large pile of manure. We should bring this back.

I got lunch with my friend Caleb at a Czech place, where I got a potato gnocchi. It was quite good, although that may be because it had roasted vegetables and I hadn’t had any vegetables in like three days.

After a pit-stop at the hostel, we went to the Royal Gardens, over near the cathedral we had gone to the day before. They were beautiful, if not a bit small, but they led out to a cool walking trail that we took back down towards the transit stop that got us there. We had to do a bit of cross-country walking, but it was really pretty. Very green and lush, likely due in no small part to the incessant rain we’d been experiencing while on this trip.

We met up with the rest of the group I traveled here with for dinner, which took us to four different restaurants before we found one that had seating for all of us. Piece of advice - don’t travel to a European destination with fifteen people and expect to easily get seated anywhere. The food we got was good but the service wasn’t great.

After dinner, we went to a funky and slightly tourist trap looking cocktail bar, and then I headed back to the hostel and went to bed.

Sunday

We all woke up on Sunday and packed up our things before checking out. We deposited our bags in the luggage room, with some reservation, as the room was just open to anyone in the hostel and there were no lockers. Nothing ended up happening but it was a bit worrisome to just leave and hope our things would still be there when we got back.

There were dissenting opinions on breakfast, so my friend Derrick and I ended up going out together to a place nearby that had good reviews. We got caught in the rain on the way over and got absolutely drenched. Worse, the place we were going had a line out the door, so we went to somewhere close by, mostly just to get out of the rain.

We ordered our food, and then a group got seated next to us. This group got their food before us, which was a little weird, especially because I was pretty sure the food they got was exactly what Derrick and I had ordered. Turns out, that was our food, mistakenly given to the wrong table. We let our waitress know and we got our food after a few more minutes. It was pretty good!

Derrick and I then went to one of the National Gallery buildings in the city (there’s a bunch of them), and got a cool art museum experience.

Derrick and I then left for Strahov library, which I had heard was cool, but it was a total bust. The entire experience was just a single room that you could look into, not enter. Granted, it was a cool room, and the tickets were like four dollars, but I still felt a little bit ripped off.

Derrick left to go do some souvenir shopping, and I headed to Petrin Park. It was awesome! Quiet, densely wooded, lots of great walking trails. There was a lookout point I sat at for a while with a fantastic view of the city.

I met up with my group for a farewell dinner - we had gotten a reservation for all fifteen of us so we could eat together. It was California style Mexican, and while it was good, I don’t think I can truthfully say it was quite Californian.

After dinner, we grabbed our things back at the hostel (nothing was stolen) and headed to the train station. Our train got in on time and the ride back was fine.

It was a great trip, and I’m glad I got to go! I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to see all these cool places this summer.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate it. See you next time!