Praha, Part 2

Tuesday we planned on taking a city tour, but wandered Weneclas Sqaure trying to find the shack. In need of nourishment (and to get out of the blizzardy cold), we stopped in the nearest warm looking restaurant for food. I had the most delicious fruit crepes and an average apple streudel. I assumed that in places like Vienna, Prague and Munich there would be delicious appel streudel but it pales in comparison to the recipes that my mom and grandma have.

At 2 pm we took the city tour and it was nice to get oriented with the city. The bus stopped at Prague Castle for 40 minutes. Not nearly enough time to look around, but we planned on returning Wednesday.

Corinne and I did some quality shopping in Old Town Square. Czech has beautiful glass and Corinne was in search of wedding presents for her sister and best friend, so we went into handfuls of crystal stores. I found a neat bookstore that actually had titles in English and was so happy! Since our hostel is so far out of the way (literally an hour by public transportation) we stayed in Old Town Square until all the shops closed at 9 pm and went to dinner. The restaurant wasn't crowded, and the prices were so cheap we got drinks, an appetizer and an entree. You all would be very proud that I am branching out in my cuisine choices. My appetizer was asparagus with tomatoes and bacon. What arrived in front of me was not what I was expecting and I was slightly grossed out. The bacon looked like deli sliced ham and I was afraid to put the food in my mouth. It turned out to be absolutely delicious!! The bacon, although not extremely crispy, was the most phenomenal bacon I've ever had (and I've had my fair share of breakfast buffets with scrambled eggs and bacon...) I ordered pasta in cream sauce with spinach. It was almost a mild version of spinach and artichoke dip, and was very tasty as well.

Wednesday we woke up early to hit Prague Castle. We started with the history of the Old Royal Palace (mostly random artifacts - jewelry, crosses, uniforms, books.) The building was like a maze with so many hidden rooms and staircases. One could easily get lost if not for the arrows directing the tour. St. George's Basicila was beautiful - but not in the same way the cathedral at the palace is. The Basicila is beautiful in the "less is more" approach. It is simple, open, refreshing. The center altar had iron staircases on each side leading up and looked like the perfect place for a wedding.

Golden Lane was a residential part of the palace with little apartments which had been converted into tourist shops (although they had very cute crafts). Number 22 used to belong to Franz Kafka. Although I dropped English 12 AP in high school because of his book, The Trial, I did take pictures. I don't hold a grudge anymore, and if I did it would more likely be directed to my teacher for choosing such a boring book for us to read over the summer than the author himself. At the bottom of Golden Lane was an amazing view of the city. As I was snapping pictures of myself (partly a game to see how off center you can get, partly because it gets really annoying always asking people to take your picture) my camera started beeping at me that it was out of batteries. I paid careful attention the entire trip and it had full bars the entire time. Slightly depressing, but I'd already crammed in a solid amount of pictures that day. Old Royal Palace had a huge wooden ballroom and upstairs the ceiling was covered with family crests. St. Vitus Cathedral had beauiful mosaics.

After our tour of the castle we walked to Charles Bridge. The view of water and other bridges was amazing... and I turned on my camera in hopes of getting a few more pictures out of the battery to see it had full bars again. I don't understand what happened, but I was thankful to be able to take more pictures. We spent the rest of the day shopping (I took notes during our bus tour of stores i wanted to go it, so we even had a game plan! I felt to organized.)

For our last night in Prague, Corinne and I ate dinner in a restaurant off Old Town Square and had dessert at an outside cafe. Even though there were heaters (like the ones at the Hawk...haha) I was still chilly. Corinne and I were sad to leave Prague because we both loved it so much, although we certainly weren't going to miss our sketchy hostel (which also did not provide toilet paper.)

Prague is very historic, the architecture is beautiful, the food is delicious, the shopping is plentiful and affordable and the transportation system is easy to understand. I LOVED Prague and if you're going to Europe, you should make time for this lovely Czech city.