Leah, Stuart, Bobby & I spent 5 days in Prague for our winter break. The city is absolutely beautiful, with so many well-preserved buildings. We did a lot of walking around (the city is fairly small, so you don't need to rely on public transportation) and were exhausted by the end of each day.
Day 1
We flew from Stockholm to Copenhagen, Copenhagen to Prague. Both flights were only an hour each, and security in the airports here is pretty relaxed -- we didn't even have to take off our shoes! We arrived in Prague at around 2pm, and decided to walk around the city until dinner. We explored the Little Quarter, the part of Prague on the other side of the Charles Bridge. There were lots of little restaurants and cafes in that area, and we made our way up a hill to see a beautiful view of the city. On our way back to the Old Town Square, we passed a Starbucks -- the first one I've seen in Europe! (We did not go in.) We met up with Leah's friend Lara for dinner, who showed us a great little Italian restaurant near where we were staying. Everything in Prague is insanely cheap, with the average dinner costing about $6 or $7 and beer costing about $2. Quite a change from expensive Stockholm! After dinner, Lara had to go back and study, but she told us to go to U Flecku, an old bar hall nearby. We went and they brought beer to the table like American restaurants bring water. After about 30 minutes, the lights dimmed and a cabaret show started. It consisted of 3 Vegas-type show girls doing the can-can and lip syncing to Marilyn Monroe's "I Want to be Loved by You" and 2 older women singing Czech folk songs. It was hilarious!
Day 2
We got up early, met Bobby & Stuart (we stayed in a hotel, they stayed in a hostel) in Old Town Square and made our way over to the Prague Castle. The castle itself is on top of a very big, very steep hill, but the view at the top made it so worthwhile. We went into the Toy Museum, a great little museum that included a Barbie exhibit and lots of rooms with old European toys, such as train sets and teddy bears. We then got in line to go into the Saint Vita Basilica, a gorgeous church in the center of the castle square. After taking countless pictures, we got tickets to "The Story of Prague Castle", a very big museum that had artifacts from the castle dating back to 2000 B.C. (a date we were all a little skeptical of). We went to lunch at a nearby restaurant, where I had my first traditional Czech meal: roasted duck with bread dumplings and wine cabbage. It was actually very delicious. We finished our meal and went to the Picture Gallery, a collection of paintings that either depicted various Czech rulers that resided in the castle, or painting that hung in the castle. We then went into the actual castle, which was disappointed, since it consisted of a large room (most likely used for balls or banquets) and a smaller room with a view of the city. Before trekking back down the hill, we strolled down the Golden Lane where there are lots of tiny shops that sell the typical tourist things.This is also where Franz Kafka lived in a brightly painted blue house. The whole street used these bright colors, reminding the 4 of us of Disney World. Walking back to the main city, we stopped by the river to take pictures of the city's shoreline, chase the ducks, and play on the playground that was nearby. We got dinner in Old Town Square, where Bobby finally got to eat his much anticipated goulash. It looks pretty disgusting, but tastes pretty good (I stole a bite!).
Day 3
In the morning, we took a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Our tour guide, Roman, was a very nice guy who grew up in Prague but lived for 2 years in New York. He brought us to a Jewish cemetery and a synagogue, all the while telling us about the hostile conditions in which the Jews were forced to live in the past. What was amazing to me was that all of these buildings and areas were hidden away, tucked secretly in a small part of the city. If you weren't looking for it, you could easily walk right by it. For lunch we went to a restaurant called the Beer Factory, where there is a beer tap built into the table and a big screen keeps track of how much each table has drank, making your meal into a competition. I had a very good salad, since I decided I couldn't really handle Czech food for every meal. After lunch, we walked over the bridge to the Kafka museum, but it was unfortunately closed. We did, however, see a live photo shoot right outside the museum, with a model posing with new cars, which was exciting. Again we met up with Leah's friend Lara who took us to a very dark and smoky Czech pub, where I had another traditional meal of bread dumplings stuffed with smoked meat and cabbage. It was good, but I found the meals extremely heavy, with lots of bread and sauce. After dinner, we attended a show called "Wow" performed at a black light theater. It is exactly as it sounds -- a production done in a completely dark theater as the actors are wearing only fluorescent outfits that glow in the black light. They are very popular in Prague, with about 20 locations in the city alone. "Wow" was pretty bizarre -- the plot was basically about a man going back into his childhood through dreams. The "play" was non-verbal, with somewhat creepy music and tracks of children laughing. The only thing we could compare it to was the Blue Man Group, with its over-the-top visual stimuli and audience interaction. It was an experience, to say the least.
Day 4
Today we went on a tour of Terezín, a concentration camp 50 minutes north of Prague, on the border of Germany. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and took us to both the Small and Large Fortresses (2 different sections of the concentration camp), a crematorium, an exhibit of drawings, literary works, and musical compositions done by the prisoners, and a museum of camp artifacts. It was a very moving tour, my favorite part being the drawings by the prisoners. It allows people to see what only the prisoners were able to see, a rare experience that is very personal and emotional. We had an interesting experience driving home. Our tour guide was NOT a good driver, and at one point we ended up going the wrong way on an highway on-ramp...while a truck was coming. She had apparently "made a mistake" and asked us to "cover our eyes" while she took the on-ramp the opposite way to connect back to our original road. Needless to say, it was very terrifying. She didn't seem to be that concerned, claiming that "some days just don't go right." When we got back (thankfully in one piece), we went to a cafe that Lara recommended to us. Leah got a huge piece of chocolate cake, Bobby got banana hot chocolate, Stuart got apple strudel and an amaretto cappuccino, and I got apple strudel and hazelnut cappuccino. It was all so delicious. We continued to walk around, discovering a gorgeous church that was having a service. For our last dinner, we found a very lively and busy pub / restaurant. I got "risotto" which I can best describe as fried rice. Both Bobby and Stuart got a HUGE leg of pork, which Leah and I found revolting. Leah got fried cheese, a very popular food in Czech that is basically a big, square mozzarella stick.
Day 5
We found a bagel place for breakfast, which made Leah and I extremely happy. It was obviously geared to only tourists, but we didn't mind. You could get a plain bagel for about $0.64, or a bagel with cream cheese for $2. We then took a cab to the airport and made our way back to Stockholm.
It was a great trip. I had great traveling companions -- we all got along and we all agreed on what we wanted to do each day. It was also the perfect amount of time to spend there. Fewer days and we wouldn't have been able to see everything we wanted; any longer and we would have gotten bored. We took in the beautiful views, ate some new and interesting food, and learned more about a culture we all knew nothing about!
