Czech Me Out!

This past weekend Prague blew my mind.  Prague is often known as the pearl of Europe and I now understand why because it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.  When I arrived at the airport I immediately converted my money from Euro to Crowns.  For every 1 euro I received 20 crowns.  Therefore, when I turned in 100 Euro for weekend spending I was returned back with 2000 crowns.  I felt rich!  I was traveling with my friends Jenni, Whitney, and Vanessa. 

Prague is not overrun by tourism, but its effects are evident for all to see. Much of the post-communism reconstruction and regeneration of Prague has been driven by tourism, as ancient buildings have been transformed into fine restaurants and stylish hotels.  We arrived at where we were staying called the Czech Inn and I immediately began figuring out the public transportation system in the city.  When I arrive in new cities I really like to figure out the transportation system and I think it is so fun.  I quickly learned that Czech is an extremely difficult language and is nothing like Italian or Spanish.  Czech, is a consonant-rich Slavic language, is one of the most difficult European languages to learn. English speakers find some sounds very hard to pronounce.  It literally looked like I just closed my eyes on the keyboard and clicked random letters and that is how the language originated. 

The weather in Prague was great!  The taxi driver was telling us that two weeks prior it was negative ten degrees and how nobody can believe the current weather.  On Sunday, there was not a cloud in the sky with the sun shining at a nice 65 degrees.  The city of Prague was so clean.  There was not a piece of trash to be seen and everything in the town was operating efficiently.  During the morning I saw machines not only cleaning the roads or merely picking up the trash but they were almost like suction tubes picking up excess dust and dirt.  No wonder the city was so clean.  The buildings in the city were tall all with distinct pastel colors often with  a gothic or baroque style.  The people in Prague were friendly and many people came up to me asking about my hair and I also saw lots of  ladies with their hair dyed red haha.  A lot of people thought I was from Russia or Hungry and not until I opened my mouth they did they think differently.

The Czech Republic has a long rich history and I was only able to brush the surface of it but it was fascinating epic story.  Inhabitants of the city have witnessed a declaration of independence, Nazi control, brain washing communism & capitalist democracy.   And that was just the 20th century!  On Saturday, I went on a three hour walking tour where I began to immerse myself in the city and learn about Prague.  By far my most favorite part of Prague was the Charles Bridge at night.  It is also popular with Czech artists, musicians and souvenir vendors whose stands line both sides of the bridge year-round.  At sunset I came to enjoy the breathtaking view of the fully lit Prague Castle against the evening sky.   The bridge is now a pedestrian zone (although both tram and car traffic were allowed there in the past) and is almost constantly filled with people. If you want to have it all to yourself, go there at night or very early in the morning.  The Charles Bridge was the most important connection between the Old Town, Prague Castle and adjacent areas until 1841.  It is aligned with over 30 baroque statues.  This "solid-land" connection made Prague important as a trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. One of the nights when I was out on the bridge I saw a proposal!  A guy got down on one knee and took out a little box from his pocket.  The couple did not speak English but I guarantee you by the expression on the girls face she said yess!

Another one of my favorite sights was the Lennon Wall.  The wall holds messages of peace, freedom and hope. People started writing messages in graffiti when the nation was still under communist rule. It became a monument towards free speech - in communist times the wall became the soapbox of the repressed people of Prague and people risked arrest and imprisonment to get their message across. The wall was repainted several times by the authorities but this didn’t stop the graffiti reappearing.  This wall is symbol of freedom and at every special occasion people are burning candles there. The first night I was there I visited it and then when I came back the next day it was different.  The next day when I came back I came back prepared with a black sharpie pen and wrote some of my favorite quotes!  I also visited the famous Prague Castle.  The Prague Castle illuminates the skyline and can be seen from many different locations from the city.  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world.  The outside has gothic influence and at night it is illuminated beautifully.  It is currently home to the Czech president.  When ever he is home there is a flag that waves in the air.

Another great place in Prague was Old Town Square.  It is a huge marketplace for Prague. Over the next few centuries, many buildings of Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic styles were erected around the market, each bringing with them stories of wealthy merchants and intrigue.  The Old Town Square's most notable sights are the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, the Old Town Hall Tower & Astronomical Clock and the stunning St. Nicholas Church.  The old town square was huge and in the middle there were food venders selling typical Czech food and many cafes surrounding the outside.  For dinner one day, I got a huge sausage link and then went to a bench and ate it and people watched in the huge lively square.  I quickly became a big fan of Czech food.  They are all about the meat and I love that!  Every restaurant was filled with burgers, ribs, and steaks.  One night for dinner I had some ribs, mashed potatoes, and the most delicious garlic soup.  For dessert I had heated raspberries with vanilla ice cream.  One of the main sights in the square is the astronomical clock.  The astronomical clock in Old Town Square has kept its time for over 6 centuries and continues to work till this very day. The clock shows three individual sets of data. It shows the revolutions of the Sun, the revolutions of the moon, and the revolutions of the stars. The clock is divided into red and blue halves representing day and night. It's quite an amazing thing to see, considering the relatively low technology they had in those times.  Loads of tourists flock to see the clock in action to strike the hour.  It is said that they made the creator of the clock go blind so that he would not produce another one ever again!  Right after the amusing chiming of the clock, a Czech in a traditional costume appears at the top of the tower and blows his trumpet. Again, the performance is very brief but it is unforgettable because it draws everybody's attention and brings a touch of medieval time. After that, tourist groups disperse but the atmosphere remains very lively.  In Europe, I have become very accustomed to piazzas and squares as a place to be outside and enjoy.  It is going to be weird to go home to backyard.

The very first night I had a little bit of a mishap to say the least.  I was pulling out my hairbrush from my locker/drawer where I had my stuff and I thought the top part would stay open.  Clearly I was wrong as the heavy top of the locker came smashing down on my thumb nail.  I immediately started gushing blood, finger swelled up really big, and yes my finger nail was officially off.  I quickly wrapped up my finger and gauze, tried to clean it out, and it was extremely painful.  I decided to just deal with it for that night.  The next morning I went off to a hospital that supposedly for foreigners.  Turns our they did not speak English and they were not very nice and it was confusing trying to figure out what the doctors were telling me.  Also, they are not very gentle as when I took x-rays they just throw your hand in different positions.  They told me I hurt a nerve in my finger area which was why it was so painful.  When the doctor and nurse figured out that I would be returning to Rome on Monday therefore they quickly wrapped up the finger in a soft cast and told me to go to a doctor in Rome and he will remove the soft cast for me.  In other words they decided it would be easier to just not deal with me since I would be leaving.  O well!  This happened the first night I was there and I was not going to let a little finger accident ruin my weekend.

I arrived back in Rome on Monday.  I got a t-shirt as a trinket and it says on the front “Czech Me Out” in cool writing.  Haha get it?  An interesting difference in air travel in Europe is that when a plane lands everyone claps and applauds for the landing.  This week I am not too busy and look forward to spending the next week and the weekend in Rome.