To get to Prague I left Vienna at about 9:00am. I luckily only had to take one train this time and arrived at Prague Hlavni Nadrazi at 1:00pm. Obviously I got lost again trying to find my hostel, but I made it there by 2:00pm or so, got checked in, and readily clothed myself for exploring the city.
I stayed at the Czech Inn, a lovely hostel that was only 5€ for the night (I know, how frugal!). One of the men at the reception also sat down with me after and showed me everything I wanted to see on his handy map. He showed me which metro and trams to take and made sure I knew which way to turn on specific streets. He and I both agreed that I was exploring against the sunset, which was at 4:30pm, so I had to get a move on.
My first stop on my personal walking tour was Prague Castle, which was protected by some fancy guardsmen in fur. The castle was huge and there was even a pop-up Christmas market on the grounds. The next stop was the church of St. Nicolas, that was also massive and very ornate. I wasn’t able to go in because the guard was confusing and closed the doors on the people in front of me. I got a traditional Czech pastry instead (called TrdelnĂk). It was s doughy thing sprinkled in cinnamon, warm from the fire and looks like a telescope!
Next, I aimlessly wandered to the Lennon Wall… And I was a little let down because I completely thought this wall would be massive. It was still beautiful though with murals and graffiti all against war and celebrating love and The Beatles. What topped it all off was a local playing classic Beatles’ songs in front of the wall on his guitar. In order to get to Old Town from where I was, I had to cross the Vltava River, which meant crossing the Charles Bridge. I liked crossing this bridge because the sun was setting and all the lights of the buildings and restaurants on the river made the prettiest reflections on the water.
In Old Town Square there was… (take a wild guess!)… A Christmas market! And it every features a nice old man playing an accordion on stage. I tried my first little cup of mulled wine (it tasted like warm sangria with touch of cinnamon) and walked between the booths of the market to see what was happening there. The astronomical clock was also in the square and a very interesting contraption. It was getting dark by the time I got there, so it was a little hard to make out what was going on with the clock.
On my way to the Municipal House and Powder Gate, I got lost again, but quickly re-oriented myself to get back on track to my next site. I think the Czech should brag about their gates and tunnels because the Powder Gate was no exception. It was grandiose and intricate and very European.
By the time I was en route to my final site, the sun had set and the sky was completely dark. I took the tram to Vyšehrad, which is a huge fort on a hill that overlooks much of Prague. As I said before, it was quite dark so I waddled up the hill and explored the grounds quite quickly. For the third and final time on this day, I got lost trying to find the metro to take me back to my hostel… And ended up a lot farther from the station than I initially intended (oops!).
Once back to my hostel I had to sit down because both my feet and my knees were throbbing/killing me. My almost-22-year-old body is growing weak as the traveling continues… I hopped around the corner to a kebab shop and was greeted by a nice Czech man (the shore owner) and his friend. Not only did I have the best falafel ever, but the men spoke a bit of English and one had been to San Jose before! Whenever I’m reminded how “small” the world is, it freaks me out a bit while at the same time making me feel more at home. The friend had been to San Jose because of its glorious ties to the Silicon Valley and shared that he visited the city in California to obtain investors for the start up he works for. He also mentioned that he accidentally bought a Google bike off Craigslist and visited San Jose State with a cut-up watermelon and handed out pieces to students as they passed by. I thought that was a funny story to share.
The rest of the night I spent regaining strength in my feet and in my knees and sip on mint green tea before bed.
Prague is a lovely city with loads of history and friendly old people.
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