Prague!

Prague was amazing! I loved it! I've never seen a place so beautiful. The architecture was absolutely amazing and I couldn't help looking around in awe all the time. Even a simple building looked great. The only down side of Prague was the weather. I would have loved it even more had we had at least one day of nice weather. The entire time we were there it was cold, rainy, and windy. But, I guess I can't complain because the rest of spring break we had great weather. It was only time before we had a bit of bad weather. We arrived at the Prague airport Wednesday night and we encountered our first problem: the currency. We immediately had to go to an ATM because none of us had any crowns. The smallest amount you can take out of an ATM is 500 crown. We freaked out a bit when we took out 1,000 crown before we realized that it wasn't actually that much. The other thing about ATM's is that the smallest bill they give you is a 200 crown bill, which means that of course when you take out 1,000 crowns it gives you a 1,000 crown bill. Somehow all of us managed to break it or at least get smaller bills so we could take the bus to metro station. It was a bit frustrating and annoying, but we made it to our hostel. The next day, we did a walking tour (the same one we did in Amsterdam) and our guide was Irish. I probably would have learned more and enjoyed it more had it not been so rainy and windy. But, I tried really hard despite the weather to learn a lot and enjoy it. We saw the astrological clock, which is very hyped up. Every hour, there is a rooster that is supposed to make a sound every hour. But is makes the quietest and shortest noise and anyone who gathers to hear it thinks that they missed it or that it isn't going to happen. The clock moves clockwise during sunrise and then the opposite direction after sundown. The guy who built this clock expected to be rewarded for making this clock, but instead they blinded him. They did this so he couldn't make another clock like this one for anyone else. Prague wanted to be the only place to have a clock like this. Eventually this guy got a bit of revenge when he clipped some of the wires that made the clock function. It took them 100 years to figure it out and fix it. That is why now the rooster doesn't make that much of a sound. We got to see a few concert halls and saw the National Museum of Prague from a distance. It was closed for renovation and is expected to reopen in 5-7 years. Although, my soccer coach Andy told me not to go there because it was overrated. Then we went to get lunch at a bagel place. After lunch we went to see the Jewish district. The cool thing about this district is that it is the only one where all the buildings and synagogues weren't destroyed. That is because Hitler was going to use them as a museum for the "lost race". He didn't end up doing that so some of them are turned into museums, but others are still used today as synagogues and everyday use of the people living in the Jewish district. From a distance we got to see the metronome which symbolizes that time moves forward. I really liked that and I thought it was really cool that Prague has something like that. It's a good reminder every day and I've never seen anything like that before. We ended in front of a concert hall that supposedly has the best acoustics in Prague. I really like the tour and I like learning things about cities I'm visiting that I never would have learned by myself.
After the tour we decided to head over to Charles Bridge and walk across it. It was really cool and there were a lot of vendors selling what they make. There was jewelry and paintings mainly, but a lot of the stuff was really cool. Had I had more space to bring stuff back I definitely would have bought something from one of the vendors. We decided to go up to the palace while we were near it. We stopped at Starbucks on our way up because a couple of us wanted coffee and we just wanted to stop for a bit. We made our way up to the palace and got some great views. The palace is huge and I wish I could have stopped to look at it for a bit longer. It started to get really windy and we had to head back to our hostel. We got back to our hostel and a couple of the girls decided to take naps, but I didn't want to since I knew I probably wouldn't sleep much that night if I did. So I hung out in the lounge for a bit and then went out to the market type thing in the Old Town Square nearby. I went back and waited for anyone who was ready to get dinner. We went back out to the square and I got a sausage and potatoes. Both were delicious! I also got one of the few typical Czech foods, something called a trdlo or trdlenik. I don't think they really like vowels there haha but it was really good! It's a dessert and has some cinnamon sugar type stuff on the outside. Then we went back to the hostel to get ready for the pub crawl we signed up for. It started off pretty boring, but got pretty fun later on. I met this Australian guy who only knew Vermont because of the movie Super Troopers. Oh, the things that represent VT to foreigners haha. Apparently Super Troopers is huge in Australia and they love it there. The last place we went on this pub crawl was a 5 story club, the biggest in central Europe. Each floor had a different theme and played different music. One floor was oldies music, another radio hits, one was a chill out floor, one was hip hop, and I'm not sure what the last one was. It was crazy, but fun.
On Friday, we slept in and had a low key day. All of us except Amy went to check out one of the Jewish synagogues where there was a museum. It had pictures that kids drew about their experiences and what they saw. A lady started this project during the Holocaust because she thought that it was a good way for the kids to deal with all of their emotions in a good/productive way. It was really interesting to see what the kids saw or what their point of view was. We also got to see the Jewish cemetery which was extremely powerful. In some places it is 12 graves deep and people are buried vertically instead of horizontally because they didn't have the space. Seeing all the headstones so close together was insane. Then remembering that up to 12 people could be buried underneath that one headstone was even crazier. No pictures will ever truly capture that sight. You just have to go there and see it for yourself. After that, we walked over the Charles Bridge again to find the John Lennon wall. We eventually found it and it was pretty cool. We leisurely made out way back and went to a place called "The Pub." You can sit down at a booth and fill your own beer glass at the table. You can fill it up as much or as little as you want. It's really nice because then you don't have to have a full glass. After we went back to the hostel to chill out for a bit before we went to a concert. Katya and I decided to go to the market while the others were napping. We both got coffee mugs that we really liked and also got some crepes. I got a banana and chocolate one, while Katya got a cherry one. They were so good! Later that night, in the square there was a baroque concert going on in a church that we had bought tickets for earlier. The musicians played Vivaldi's 4 Seasons and one of Mozart's symphonies. It was really cool and I really liked it. It made me want to get back into playing piano and teaching myself some pieces. I'm sure my grandfather will be pleased to hear that :) We went to get some dinner after and we got some traditional Czech food. Katya and I split a goulash dish, which wasn't at all what I was expecting, but nonetheless delicious! Katie and Kayla split the traditional Czech dish of beef tenderloin in a cream sauce. The sauce was amazing and we were all surprised at how good it was. We went back to our hostel afterwards and packed up our stuff since we were leaving early the next morning. All in all, it was an amazing trip and I'm really glad I went to those three places. I am such a lucky girl and am very grateful for having this opportunity. Thank you Mom and Dad!