Landed a little late... Got in around 11:50 Nic landed a little early. But we missed each other at first. Finally met up around 12:45 and got our eurail pass validated and took the s-bahn to Marienplatz and saw a few of the highlights to start with—the rathaus (city hall), St. Peter’s Cathedral, and Karlsplatz. We got some lunch at this restaurant and tried out our very poor German skills! But got what we wanted beer and food! We found the general area of our hotel for when we come back next weekend and are now on the train after just one more beer :) nic is now dozing as we fly down the track whizzing by houses and fields. All I can think is "is this real?! Am I really traveling across Europe for the next two weeks!? This is Awesome!
Saturday, 27 March 2010 Day 2: Prague
Our train arrived in Prague around 11:30 pm last night. We walked to the hotel where we made our reservation, Hotel Florenc, and they told us that they had “technical problems.” The water pipes had burst in five of their rooms—one of which was ours. So they made a reservation for us at a hotel just a little farther from the city center, but easier to walk to. We got to bed around 1:00am.
We woke up to a sunny and mild morning at 8:30 to get breakfast in the hotel for free! Some yogurt, cereal, tea, chocolate pastries, cheese, vanilla wafers, more cheese, cookies, and some pork/ham cold cuts to make sandwiches. After breakfast we showered to get ready for some sightseeing. One of the girls Nic is studying with in Bologna, Gretchen from Maine and goes to school in Bryn Mawr, has a friend, Diana also from Maine, studying in Prague for the semester so we had plans to meet with them to get a tour from a local!
Nic and I first went to the square in front of the Opera house and saw a few little stands set up with some street food and decorations. Then we turned right to walk along the river and then up to the castle to meet everyone. Gretchen’s other friend from back home in Maine, Hilary who studies at Middlebury, but in Paris for the semester was there, but not Diana. She had gotten food poisoning earlier in the week and was still recovering. By the time we made it to the top of the castle, some dark rain clouds had moved in and threatened to rain. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped a few degrees. So we decided to walk through the largest castle in the world! Well, it kind of cheated… The castle in a connection of government buildings, a cathedral, and a Vineyard that make a large enclosure that kind of is and kind of isn’t a castle, but still cool nonetheless! And is didn’t end up raining and the skies even cleared a little!
After the Castle we descended the mountain to go see John Lennon’s wall and Lock Bridge. Then we crossed the Vltava River on the famous Charles Bridge to grab lunch at an authentic Czech restaurant. Nic and I both had some delicious garlic soup, cesneková, goulash and dumplings, gulaš na knedlíky, with some Czech beer, pivo, Krušovice. After a late lunch we walked to the Center of the city to see the Astronomical clock, get a nice view of the Týn Church, and see, taste, smell, and hear the Easter Festival going on. So many traditional Czech paraphernalia, such as braided willow branches (I’ll explain later) intricately painted and carved eggshells, beer, mulled wine, pastries, sausages, and shish kebabs! Throughout our time there we ate one of everything. We met up with more of Gretchen’s and Diana’s friends from high school and/or studying in Prague for some more sightseeing. Two of the friends wanted to go on the boat tour, but the rest of us didn’t want to go because it was cold and about to rain. So we decided to go to a bar. Two of the bars we went to were packed with people, mind you this was 6:00 pm on a Saturday, so Karen, a girl studying in Prague invited us all to her apartment to chill and relax for a little bit.
On the way to her apartment we stopped by the grocery store and picked up some beer and snacks to enjoy. It was really cheap! Almost everything in there cost just a dollar. Karen’s Czech RA/mentor/roommate came home shortly after we did and joined us in a game of kings that we taught her. Nic and I “kidnapped” her from the party to learn about Czech culture. She told us SO much, and by just showing a little bit of interest, she gave us a present—a shot of plum liquor! 60% alcohol by volume! Well… actually two, because Czech tradition says that if you have just one you’ll walk lopsided for the day! The plum liquor was actually made from plums from her parents yard in Moravia! Every year they pick the plums and prepare them to be fermented. Then they take them to a factory of sorts to be made in to alcohol because it is too difficult to be done at home, not to mention illegal. Then they go back later and pick of their liquor, which makes very easy Christmas gifts! Lika (?) got 8 liters last year! Czech tradition says that the drink is healthy and you should start everyday with 2 shots to stay healthy and youthful. A small shot is also taken when you have a sore throat! Lika shared a story with us about an old woman that kept going to the doctor every morning because she got sick and then later in the afternoon she’d feel better and go home. Then one day an older doctor saw her and asked her if she took the shots of plum liquor and she said “yes, of course!” It turns out that the woman had Alzheimer’s and didn’t remember how many shots she was taking and would get drunk every morning, sleep it off at the doctor, feel better, then go home and do it over again the next day!
Lika also shared with us the Czech’s Easter tradition. Way back when, less now, but still in her small town the young boys would weave willow tree braches together to form a whip/switch to which they would tie ribbons. The bigger the stick with more ribbons the better. The girls would buy tons of eggs and color and decorate them. Then the boys would come to the girls’ houses and ring the doorbell. The girls (reluctantly) answered the door and the boys would hit them with the sticks and the girls would give them eggs! Kind of like a fertility ritual. The boy with a lot of eggs was said to be a good luck and have lots of kids. I enjoyed talking with Lika more than any of the sights we saw that day. Prague definitely an awesome city to visit!
Ahh reading that makes me can't wait until Prague! I think you speak more Czech than I do! ...but seriously though haha
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