Czeching out Prague

      Following the steps sent to me by me soon to be “Air BnB host”, Chad and I hopped on the first bus and hoped for the best after touching down in Prague. Not knowing when to get off made us glance sideways at each other each stop wondering if we had passed it 20 minutes ago. Through much confusion, hoping, and stealing of wi-fi access from outside restaurants we found our apartment. Prague offered a much friendlier exchange rate and we took advantage making heaping servings of pasta on our first night with our friends who arrived shortly after us. Bags were upside down, dirty dishes were in the sink, and the place was looking messier as the night went on. We had arrived.

     Free transport definitely was the name of the game and allowed for my decreasing bank account to finally take a deep breath. Muchas gracias Czech Republic. First day out we met up with friends and headed to the top of the very reveled astronomical clock tower in the main city square. It reminded me of the tower next to the Duomo in Florence. The main difference was the obvious difference of height and the fact that for this one, instead of taking the countless stairs like we did in Italy, we hopped in a cool glass elevator reminiscent of the one in Willy Wonka. The 360 view of Prague was quite amazing from the top and also made me realize how far off in the boondocks our apartment was, again, cue the giving thanks for the public transport. Right beneath us was the main square in old town Prague where local vendors sold their goods and the food cooked right in front of you…which was eventually irresistible, and it got the better of me.

      Next up we visited the castle in Prague, which was superb and lived up to of all praise I had heard about it. Walking into the massive courtyard was pretty unreal and as the cathedral towered over the pathway and it opened up into a delicately bricked plaza, I felt like I had walked onto the set of The Wizard of Oz. We made our way through the fancy gardens and wandered around many other decorative buildings. We sat for quite a while outside of a Starbucks and enjoyed the view and as I took it all in I kept thinking how amazing it was that the very same view is more or less what King Charles used to look out at all those years ago.

      Another notable find in Prague as the Lennon Wall. Once we decided to find the Lennon wall it took us roughly an hour to find it and afterwards we found our way to our starting spot in roughly 10 minutes. Poor directional guessing on our part. But our wanderings made us explore some random places and I have found throughout my time in Europe that getting lost makes for good finds and great memories…and the occasional riding of a baby statue. Like so.

    Going on the infamous Charles bridge (which the old King so humbly named after himself) was special as we saw local craftsman selling their goods on the bridge, people playing their instruments as kids danced around, beggars with their heads to the ground, and this clash of all worlds was happening as people foot pedaled around in their boats underneath us. All along the bridge there are statues with placards at the bottom with words or some with engravings. These engravings were all dark but consistently there was one object on the placard that had been buffered into a shiny gold color from all the hands that had rubbed it for good luck over the years, I gave the golden dog a little rub just in case.