Prague: The Heart of Bohemia

Once again, I've been so busy exploring in Paris that I haven't found the time to write about my travels during last week's Winter Holiday!  I spent 10 days exploring Prague, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna- it was amazing! I did not want to leave any of the cities!  There were 7 of us total on the trip: 3 from Wisco, 2 from Illinois, 1 from Texas, and 1 from Brazil.  Not all of us knew each other before the trip, but we've all become close since!

Our first stop was Prague, Czech Republic; this city was at the top of my list of places I wanted to visit this semester, so I was really excited to finally go there!  I'd heard great things about the city, and although many people would never have considered visiting it 20 years ago, it is rapidly becoming a tourist hotspot.  We flew into Prague late Thursday night (some struggled to find the airport), we then struggled to catch our bus once in Prague (we missed it twice), and then struggled to find a taxi.  But once we made it to the hotel, everything was great! Our hotel was very nice and charming, small, and very European.  The next day, we took a tram to Old Town Square and did a free walking tour of the city.  Our guide was very informative, and the city of Prague is walkable enough that we saw most of the main sites.  I had never realized how much history the city holds: it played a major role in the World Wars, has a huge Jewish quarter, and is in the heart of Bohemia.  All the buildings are so cute and painted in pastels.  Prague has a very Eastern European feel, but a good mix of modern and traditional stores and sites.

We spent the rest of the day walking around and seeing the Powder Tower, Municipal House, Astronomical Clock, Wenceslas Square, and finally Charles Bridge.  From this gorgeous bridge, one is able to look across the river and up towards Prague Castle.  After crossing Charles Bridge, we ended up at the John Lennon Peace Wall, which is basically a wall of (amazing) graffiti to symbolize peace and the end of Communism.  (Note: Lennon, not Lenin)

The night ended with a pub crawl, which was recommended to us by almost everyone who had traveled to Prague.  Basically, a tour-guide took us to 4 bars, where we had free drinks (we spent an hour at each bar).  The pub crawl ended at Karlovy Lazne, a 5-story dance club with a different type of music on each floor.  It was a crazy night, but really fun because we met a lot of amazing people from other countries.  Interestingly, there were a lot of Australians, as it is their "summer vacation".. many of them were traveling around Europe for a few months.

The next day, we hiked up to Prague Castle, which has amazing views of the entire city.  Unfortunately, we got there after the castle had closed for the day... We spent the rest of the day shopping and walking around the Mala Strana quarter.  One of the girls I was with, Chelsea, had heard of an amazing beer hall at a monastery (ironically), so we ended the night there.  The monastery is at the top of another hill, so we were once again presented with a gorgeous view of all of Prague at our feet.

On Sunday, we woke up early to catch a train to Munich.  The train ride was about 6 hours long, but we had a compartment to ourselves, which was fun.  The views out the window were gorgeous, although we spent much of the time reading and napping.  It was sad to leave Prague, and I wish we would have had more time, but I was really excited to get to Munich as well.  I had been there before (and loved it), so it was exciting to get back to Germany!  I will continue with Germany in my next entry...