Prague was a very eye opening experience for me. I think it was one of the first places where I didn't really know much about the place before going there and kind of booked the trip on a whim. Since I didn't know anything about the sites, the culture, or the language, Prague wouldn't have been my first place to travel but it landed in my plate through spontaneous action, and I am so thankful it did.
My original plan was to meet Dana (my roommate from last year), and then spend the rest of the time with Matt (a friend form Florence.) Well, we all know that plans rarely work like they should and this one didn't either. Instead, I had Cara (friend from home who I have known since we were 6), meet me in Prague. We had no plans, and kind of decided to just explore. I had reached out to some friends to get some brief suggestions but we were kind of on our own.
I had a hellish experience getting to Prague because I decided to sacrifice reputation for price. It worked on my trip to Barcelona, but backfired in this case (I am dedicating an entire post to my airport experiences so check back later!) I got on a train at 6am, flew Wizz Air (DONT EVER DO IT) from Milan's Bergamo airport and met Cara at the airport in Prague. We made a meeting place and our flights were scheduled to land at the same time. Mine got briefly delayed but there Cara was when I arrived (Thank goodness!) We had directions from our hostel about how to get there from the airport but they weren't terribly clear. Unlike Florence, the ticket machines use coins only and they are no screens so the language that appears is the only one you get. We also realized it was a different currency so we needed to solve the money issue before we went anywhere. The next issue was that the Czech language doesn't resemble anything we recognize so there was no hope in the deductive reasoning I had used up until this point through my knowledge of Spanish and Romanian (Thank you Georgiana.) When we tried buying tickets from the bus driver her kept repeating things back for a good 2 minutes until she shook his head and grabbed the correct coin from me (Dumb Americans, right?) I looked at Cara and thought we were going to be doomed for the next 3 days.
Only highlight was seeing the sun rise on the train
Luckily, it was uphill from there, minus an expected detour as we figured out the metro system. All was good and arrived at our hostel. The last hostel I stayed at wasn't exactly a hostel but this one was more like a hotel. It was 3 in the afternoon and as we walked in the door, there were college aged kids everywhere hanging out in the bar which took up the entire first floor. We checked in, got wifi and went downstairs to join the fun. We ate lunch, took a nap and then decided to explore the area.
Once again, I had no prior knowledge of the area, I usually do research (I didn't this time), and all I had was a map that I didn't like to pull out.
 |
| This was necessary. Tim & I on our first night in Florence attempting to find home. |
Side Note: I have a thing about pulling out maps in public. Yes, sometimes it is absolutely necessary but if it's not, put your map away. The second you pull your map out you are letting everyone around you know you are a tourist. I know that it is obvious by the way I dress and speak, but I love experiencing the culture. I feel like the typical tourist label is a person stuck in their own culture, unaware of those around them and not courteous to the new place you are inhibiting. I like just wondering and going with the flow and maps most certainly take that away. However, I am a guilty map user when need be.
We walked right over to the Vltava river and headed straight to the Charles Bridge. The sun was setting and the scene was just gorgeous. There is a certain light that I have noticed during sunset in Europe that hits the architecture of these stunning locations and makes it look so romantic (yes, buildings can be romantic too.)
We then continued toward the old square. We followed the path of people because I felt they would lead us in the right direction, they did. The streets that you walk down feel like Disneyland. Someone had told me this prior to my arrival but I will pass along the message, Prague is literally adult Disneyland. I was wondering what characterized this in my mind and this is what I concluded:
1. Everyone is from somewhere around the world speaking a million languages around you at each second
2. The buildings are colored and remind you of walking down any of the streets in the park with colored buildings.
3. For the amount of people, the city is extremely clean
4. You have to pay to get into everything!
5. But you have fun at each attraction
6. There is a huge castle that you can see anywhere you are
7. Lastly, there is a happiness and joy you can feel in the city similar to the feeling from little children that are at Disneyland. There is a sense of community, happiness and love in the air (Crazy huh?) I think it is because everyone is surrounded by a city that looks as it did 100 years ago and everyones in awe.
One of the first things my mom told me to see in Prague was the astronomical clock, and if I timed it right, to see it on the hour for a little show. She LARGLY overhyped this event. We walked around and waited for 30 minutes to see the clock on the hour, I was ready with my phone to take video and there was a huge crowd gathered. I started to get excited, what was going to come out? A trumpeter? Fireworks? A song?
NONE OF THE ABOVE was the answer. I was deeply disappointed. The cool thing is that this clock looks amazing from the outside and they constructed it a long time ago so it was very advance for its time. If this is anyone's favorite thing in Prague, I am sorry but I need realistic expectations next time (wink wink Mom.)
We ended up wondering back to the hostel just in time for the crowd to really pick up downstairs. I invited Dana over here because we were finally both in the same city and I missed her face! We were really tired and wanted to get a jump start on our touring the next day so we said we were going to go be social and meet people and then come back up at a reasonable hour. Not only did this not happen, we ended up making friends, they took us touring the city, and we didn't get to bed until the wee hours of the morning. Fun, of course, but far from our idea. Our friends were from Canada and they had been to Prague before. They took us to the coolest place, it was made out of metal and looked like artwork covering all 4 stories. I attempted to take pictures but it just doesn't do this place justice. Since it was a Sunday night, none of the places were crowded and we got to explore the whole space which was fun. They also knew how to work the taxi business.
Apparently in Prague, taxis can be sketchy and you have to agree to an estimate before you get in the cab because they are notorious for driving your money around town. The cab driver attempted this and the guys called him out and he quickly took us to our next destination. We had a fun night and it was so nice to be taken around since we would not have experienced any of that by ourselves. We even learned that they dream to live in California (who wouldn't?!)
We had a slow start the next day and nothing planned. We decided to take a tour of the Pilsner brewery in Plzen. Cara is really into brewery's and I am always up for something knew. I have to admit, I really didn't know the process of making beer so this was also educational.
We leisurely walked to Wenceslas Square, had lunch and then made our way to the train station. The train station was so old and we found out that it is actually the oldest one in the Czech Republic. Once we entered we had a hard time finding tickets for the train and not the metro. Once we got our tickets, we had to figure out how to get to the brewery from the train station. We desperately searched for Wifi and found it in a Burger King of all places. The train rides was easy and we basically napped the whole hour and a half. We arrived and tourist information was so helpful and we found out the brewery was right around the corner. We arrived just in time for the last tour of the day.
The tour was awesome. The brewery is really large and they took us to the packaging plant, the old brewhouse, the new brewhouse, through an interactive museum about the technique, ingredients and process they use to make Pilsner Urquell and then finally through the cellars for a tasting The whole day was so fun and unlike anything I've done or probably would do. They charged for pictures inside the rooms so I don't have any fun ones but here is one from outside the old Brewhouse.
Once we got back, we were exhausted. We had to be up, meeting for a tour at 9:30 the next morning for Terezin the Concentration Camp so we decided to have dinner at the hostel and head to bed. The one downside of having a bar downstairs is that going out doesn't require much effort and our roommates didn't show a ton of courtesy when they came up later from the bar.
We got on a bus in the Republic Square and headed to Terezin on Tuesday morning. It took about an hour to get there and once again, we on and off napped on the way. I woke up at one point to see that we got pulled over by cops (I am still not sure why.) When we arrived, we went to the Ghetto Museum in the actual city of Terezin. The museum was super interesting because it housed a lot of the pictures that children drew while in Auschwitz. They had children draw pictures to keep their spirits up and to have them not focus on the life they were leading at the time. After the museum we saw the train tracks that transported the people to other camps. It just held such an erie feeling in the air. We then met a tour guide at the actual camp to give us a walking tour and he was able to explain in depth about what actually went on at Terezin.
This is what I learned: Terezin was not a death camp. It was used as a work camp for people (not just jews) who had earned military honors previously or were highly regarded in society and had some sort of pull to not get sent to the death camps. This was also a site where Red Cross visited. The camp was able the appearance of the camp look very nice for this visit and all the renovations were used as a propaganda technique to show the world that the Nazi's were not being harsh to the people at the camp.
Even though it wasn't a death camp, many people still died here from extreme conditions. It is really eye opening to see how these German soldiers acted. You hear stories about SS soldiers that smuggled in goods for the sick but why didn't all of them realize actions against this entire race was wrong? I realized that I don't know if I could ever visit Auschwitz in my future, I felt such a pain by walking around this area that I can't fathom what that camp must be like. I think I hold a heavy weight in my heart because half of my family is Jewish and to think that some of my relatives and so many others have gone through this terrible hate and torture, pains me.
 |
| The Entrance to the Camp. |
I am so glad we stayed the extra day to experience all the city had to offer. Prague is truly such a wonderful place and I recommended it to ANY and all travelers.
