I arrived in Prague at about 3 in the afternoon and had to take the metro to my hostel (but I'm getting more confident about public transit, I think), which was actually the cutest hostel in the world.
That afternoon, I wandered up around Prague Castle, the biggest medieval castle in Europe, and down into downtown, where there are old buildings, twisty streets, and more currency exchange booths than I've ever seen anywhere.
If Norway wins for prettiest country, I think Prague wins for prettiest city I've seen so far. It's just beautiful, all packed in together with colorful roofs and buildings and several different kinds of architecture. Including Cubist!
The next day, Tuesday, I went on a free walking tour with the best guide I've had so far (she told us stories about growing up in communist Czechoslovakia!), then a tour of the castle, which was not what I was expecting (we didn't even go inside), and maybe wasn't worth the time since I'd already seen most of it yesterday. But it's always fun to hear stories of crazy kings and crazy Nazis, I guess.
That evening, I went out for dinner and had myself some goulash, and then went to this neat smokey, grungy, below-ground bar with a girl from my hostel, where you can get half a liter of beer for about $1.50. Have I mentioned that Prague is great? I had the pilsner, for posterity, then switched to a darker beer I liked much better, the name of which I no longer remember but I think it started with a "k."
On Wednesday, I took the train about an hour outside the city to Kutna Hora with some other people from the hostel, to see the bone chapel, decorated over many years with the bones of plague and war victims. It was super neat. Here are some creepy pictures:
We also went to a cathedral, though already, after not even two weeks, I'm starting to be kinda, "Really? Another cathedral?" about it.
When we got back to Prague and went to grab dinner, I had an interesting experience. We went to a kebab shop (what would I do without kebab shops?) and I noticed that the guy making my döner only gave me one sauce and didn't give me cucumber, which I'd requested. So when he went to hand it to me, I said, "I wanted all of the sauces. And cucumber, please." And he kind of shook his head and said, "You are American," and I said, "Yes, I'm sorry." Because I know I come from an ignorant, entitled, demanding nation, and I know that I myself can be ignorant, and entitled, and demanding, intent on getting all that's owed me on my $4 kebab. My companions, Dutch and Australian, respectively, both commented that it was rude of the kebab guy to say this, and maybe it was, but it really made me think more concretely about how I (as a foreigner, as someone from the US) present myself abroad. I'm not sure I've come to any conclusions about this yet.
But I do know this. Prague is beautiful, and awesome, and lovely. I think it's been my favorite place so far, and I was so sad to leave.
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| Me with Annie and Jurri, my traveling companions in Prague. (Photo cred: some random other tourist with Jurri's camera.) |
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