Praha (Prague), Czech Republic

We arrived in Prague in the evening and with no directions to our hotel, we went around in search of internet. After finding a McDonalds, a local boy there let us use his computer and helped us plan our walk to the hotel. (We chose to stay in a hotel for our time in Prague as it was even cheaper than the hostels around. At only 26 euro a night, we got our own room and bathroom in a nice hotel building not far from the city center). After walking for about 40 minutes, getting lost along the way, we finally made it to the Winston Churchill Hotel. We were greeted by the front desk man who would prove to be a great source for recommendations and information.

Hungry, we left our things in our room and went out in search of food. After walking the block or so around our hotel, we decided our best option was, believe it or not, Chinese takeout. We ordered the most familiar items and headed back to the hotel, curious to see how Czech Chinese food compared to our American style. (It was good. A little different but overall okay.) After eating, we watched some TV before heading to sleep.

The following morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before heading into the city center. We stopped off at the local mall (the Paladium) to use the internet there to send emails home and look up some things for our plans. From there, we headed to the main square (Old Town Square) and admired the architecture and historical buildings. Having some time to kill, we moseyed around and perused the shops.

At 2pm, we met for the free NewEurope walking tour. We were assigned to Isaac, an incredibly knowledgeable and hilarious guy from California. Here is a taste of our lessons for the day: (VIDEO TO COME)

After a day full of history and laughs, we ended our tour in a short rainstorm, huddled on the steps of symphony hall with another well told story from Isaac. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and headed off on our own. We headed back to the hotel for showers and a change of clothes before our evening plans.

That night we decided to have a nice dinner out and experience some real Czech food. We went to the Louvre Café, a place where Einstein had dined as well as many others. Corinne had goulash and Camille had steak and dumplings before finishing off our meal with chocolate cake. Satisfied, we made the short walk into town to meet for the pub crawl that night.

When we arrived we were surprised to see Isaac running things for the pub crawl. It would later become clear that he in fact owns the pub crawl himself (among other endeavors). We made the walk to the first bar, paid and got our bracelets before heading in.

Included in the pubcrawl was unlimited beer, vodka shots, rum and coke, absinthe shots and hookah at the first bar which was a nice pub style joint. From there we walked to the second bar, an underground bar with a normal bar theme. Next up was a sports bar with a live band playing well known songs. We sang along and enjoyed our free shots (at every bar). Last was a dance club where we grooved to house music on the dancefloor. After a while of dancing, we were growing tired and decided to head home. Rather than finding the bus, we made the 40 or so minute walk back to our hotel. Relieved to have made it, we quickly readied for bed and passed out.

The next morning, Camille did not want to get up. Corinne went down for breakfast and we slowly prepared for the day. We finally made it out around noon and again stopped at the Palladium to use the internet. From there, we went to the Old Town square to check the times for free tours and get information on the local museums. We decided to go to the Jewish History Museum which ended up being not one building, but a self guided tour all around the Jewish quarter of Prague. We viewed the names of every Jew from Prague lost in the holocaust, saw drawings done by the children from concentration camps, saw exhibits in the former synagogues and walked through the grounds of the Old Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery was an intense experience. The small plot of land holds over 25,000 bodies of the Jews who died while trying to make it in the ghetto after being segregated from the general population. Being given only a small plot of land, it filled up quickly. However, after being denied more land, they were forced to bring in more dirt, raise the tombstones and start a new layer. This happened 11 times. The cemetery is now raised grounds covered in tombstones with no rhyme or reason to their position; a truly unique and intense experience.

After our tour of the Jewish quarter was up, we headed to the other side of the river. We walked across the Charles Bridge into the village like town. We asked around and finally found what we were looking for: the Lennon Wall. This wall of street art was started the day John Lennon died as the people of Prague, then under communism, saw him as a source of hope and freedom. The wall has since been layered and layered with art contributed by both professionals and just passersby. It is the only wall in Prague that it is legal (now) to write on. Camille added some words and we took photos of the wall in its entirety before moving on.

Growing hungry, we found a small Italian restaurant (we were in the Little Italy side of town) and settled in on the heated patio for a delicious dinner. Outside the restaurant was a small bridge whose gates were adorned with locks. Curious, we asked our waiter what was with all the locks. He replied, “Maybe you have a dream, and your lock is here.” Confused, we thanked him for his insights and continued with our meal. Afterwards, we crossed back to our side of the river and caught the bus home for the night.

Saturday morning, we rose early to eat breakfast before showering and packing our things. We left our luggage in the storage area downstairs and headed out for our last day in Prague. Again we stopped at the Paladium this time to peruse the shops and have lunch at the L.A. Café. Apparently the Czechs have a very skewed view of what us Californians eat.

After lunch, we headed to another free tour, the Castle tour. This time, our lady tour guide took us to the opposite side of the river, showing us sights along the way to our destination: the Prague Castle. We took tons of photos before heading back into town. We stopped off at the store to buy a few supplies (things are cheap in Prague) before returning to our hotel to grab out bags and head to the train station for our night train. We boarded and said goodbye to Praha.