It deserves the hype

When people talk about budget travel, they really are not talking about budget travel. You know you are a “real” budget traveler when a hot meal on a plane confuses, surprises, and elates you. 

Natalie and I were excited enough to be able to go to Prague (it is not at all close to Spain) having a hot breakfast on the way there was like having dessert before dinner. If that were not enough, while on the flight we had a perfect view of the Pyrenees in Spain and then the Swiss Alps. I stand by my assertion that Lufthansa is the best airline out there.

Best plane-view I have ever had

Our first dinner in Prague was everything I hoped it would be:

Goulash ABSOLUTELY AMAZING GOULASH

Pork Knuckle

Beer and free (!!!!) bread

(...and I think it all amounted to 9 euro each)

The next morning we woke up and walked to the town square, which was embarrassingly difficult. We saw the Astronomical Clock (the most famous site in Prague) and went up the tower as per my friend Liz's recommendation. It was clear that we were going to have a very fortunate weather day.

I saw the pastries that I had enjoyed in Budapest (cylindrical rings of sweet dough that are soft on the hollow inside and hard on the outside) and HAD to get one. Take note: the ones in Budapest are more delicious. 

I was pretty sick of hearing how great the NewEurope free tours are (they are obviously not free; they are based on tips with the idea that the tour-guide will do a better job, a mindset with which I completely agree) so Natalie and I decided Prague would be the person place to try one.  It was AMAZING. Our tour guide, James, from Northern Ireland, was as knowledgable (probably more) than and Prague(r?) and told us all the great funny, sad, quirky, and historical stories everyone hopes to hear when visiting a city like this one. The tour was three and half hours and Natalie and I gave James 15 euros together (we might have given more if there were not so many people in our group) I swear I saw one couple give him a 50. I mean he WAS good, but damn.

Powder Tower and Municipal House

Natalie is obsessed with Stalin and Communism

Charles Bridge (it said eggs were mixed into the mortar to strengthen it)
complete with 30 baroque statues on ever 

We walked across the bridge and up the VERY large hill to Prague Castle and were rewarded with some amazing views of Prague. The Prague Castle area felt like an entirely different city, maybe even a different country; it was exciting to have so many different sites and sounds than from the place where we had been a half our before. We went to the cathedral first that which was very impressive and reminded me quite a lot of Notre Dame (but with better stained glass inside- sorry Paris).  We had to buy a ticket for a group of sites in order to get into the cathedral, which I was not happy about. The other things were boring art museums and more churches; basically I am just a really good friend and spent $10 more than I wanted to because Natalie is museum-obsessed. 

Prague Cathedral

Colored light shed on the cathedral from the stained glass

The hi-light was definitely seeing the window that the imperial regents were thrown out of by Protestants (for not letting them practice their religion) in the defenestration of Prague led to the Bohemian Revolt and the Thirty Years war. Nothing has brought me back to AP European History more.

Defenestration of Prague window in Prague Castle!!!!!

On the walk to the Lenon Wall, Natalie and I split my first HotDog in a baguette for one euro. I would love to bring these to Comm Ave (ahem. Commonwealth Avenue) and be open from midnight to 4 am. This thing would be college-drunk-food gold, I am sure of it (that, along with crepes, kebab, chocolate con churros…). We got stopped again along the way with what appeared to be a medieval festival complete with a walk-up cocktail bar and a giant Czech man carving an entire pig. Natalie and I enjoyed literally the best sausage I have ever had in my life and some freshly warm roasted nuts, which is possibly my favorite street food in the world (file that under Shelagh-facts).

After John Lennon died in 1980, pop music was banned in Czechoslovakia until 1989 by the
communist regime, so the youth of the city grafittied this wall over and over as a monument to John Lennon
 and his ideals of peace, even after it was whitewashed over and over, as a sign of rebellion.
 Eventually, authorities gave up and it is now a free space for grafitti.

Next, we went to see the courtyard of the Franz Kafka museum to see the statue of Hitler and Gorbachev peeing on Prague. 

Hitler and Gorbachev peeing on the Czech Republic in front of the Franz Kafka museum

We walked across the famously (crowded) Charles Bridge, rubbed the guy falling, averted the dog (see explanation under the picture), and then enjoyed some much deserved sitting-and-doing-nothing time in a café.

This bronze plaque, next to John of Nepomuk that is supposed to bring good luck (and is therefore shiny by everyone rubbing it), was shined only overnight by some tricksters hoping to make tourists apt to rub it as well, but in fact it brings BAD LUCK! I hope there are no superstitions tied to taking pictures of it.

We found out that this particular night there would be a light show in the town square to commemorate the 600^th year anniversary of the construction of the Astronomical clock (how lucky are we?). We swam through the crowd of people to get a view as the light show started and it was pretty darn impressive. The only problem with this spectacle was that there were four in a row, with the thought that this way, everyone who wanted to see the show would be able to. Like any European city, the streets leading to the town square are very narrow. Therefore, one can realize the problem that arises when thousands of people are trying to get INTO the town square at the same that thousands of people are trying to get OUT of the town square. It really brought me back to warped tour ´06 (yeah, I went), especially when a fight almost broke out right in front of us. I don´t know how there would have been enough physical space for it to continue and Natalie and I were befuddled by what was going on this guy’s mind.

REAL absinthe is legal in Prague! The problem is that it is completely disguting

We enjoyed a quiet night with a beer like the boring old couple that we are in our hostel bar (which was confusingly classy) to top off the day.

The next day was JEW DAY! Absolutely everything in the Jewish quarter is closed Saturday so we had to wait until the day we were leaving, Sunday, to visit the area. We bought a group-of-sites ticket (I don’t know why Prague is so obsessed with these; I am not) and started with the Spanish Synagogue. 

Spanish Synagogue: I am so happy I took an illegal picture inside because it was so beautiful

We went to the Pinkas synagogue next, which is not in use for worship anymore. Our tour guide told us the very upsetting story of its history the previous day. Between 1954 and 1959, the synagogue was turned into a memorial for some 77,294 Jews who died in the holocaust. Each victim’s name and some personal detail (like a birthday) was written by hand on the walls. In 1967, Communist forces closed the memorial and painted over the meticulously made wall. Between 1992 and 1996, after the fall of communism, every name was rewritten by hand. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but you can imagine how overwhelming it may look.

More upsetting visits ensued with the Jewish Cementary. The cemetery is well-known for its grave (should I have used a pun there? Probably not) and uncommon appearance. From the 15^th to the 18^th century, the Jews of Czeckoslovakia had one small area to bury their dead and were forced to build up… 12 meters up. The result was a piece of  lopsided land over-filled with graves looking like they are battling for a spot to help those underneath to rest in peace. 

Old Jewish Cemetery

Being silly with Franz Kafka

If you could not tell, Prague is awesome. That is all. Paris next. Yes, again.