Prague, Czech Republic aka Praha

After spending the day in Boleslawic, Poland, we hopped on our bus and ventured forth to Prague. We passed fields and fields of a strange yellow flower, which I learned was either rapeseed or canola. (The two terms are often used interchangeably, but are not the same plant, thus the oil they produce are different from each other.) I never got tired of looking at the scenery; there were lots of rolling fields and cute farmhouses which I'm sure were working farms which would probably take umbrage at me calling them "cute" if they were sentient.

Our bus drivers dropped us off near the Dancing Houses in Prague, aka the Fred and Ginger, and we walked to our hotel from there. We stayed at the fantastic Mosaic House, and I would definitely stay there again. It was part hostel, part hotel, and part club. It was in a fantastic location as well, walking distance to many of the historic and plain cool sites in the city. Shortly after arrival, we met a group of new friends and trekked less than a block to a fantastic Thai restaurant. It's hard to find Thai food near us in Vicenza, much less GOOD Thai food, and that place did not disappoint. I wish I remembered the  name of it, but it's the closest one to the restaurant. We were sorely tempted by Pho practically across the street, but I'm happy we wound up going for Thai instead. I had shared appetizers, a huge meal and a drink all for less than ten euro, and everything was delicious. I'm a wee bit ashamed to say I didn't take further advantage of the night life, but after so many hours on a bus I was happy to get a night's sleep in a real bed.

Jewish Cemetery to the upper left

The next morning, we met a group of people outside the hotel for a free (tips-only) walking tour of the city which lasted about three hours. We got a brief history lesson on some of the main sites, and fortunately the rain held off for us to do a bit more exploring. We went through Wenceslaus Square, the old town square to view the famous Astronomical Clock, and also passed the Charles Bridge and Jewish Cemetery and the collective Jewish Museum(s). The Old Town City hall is, appropriately, located in the old city square, and there were tons of street performers, food vendors, and street musicians out and about. I got to hear a few of the old jazz standards and it made me a little nostalgic. We later walked through the old Jewish section of town, called the Jewish Quarter or Josefov, and it was pretty amazing. There were stalls of tourist-trap vendors underneath the cemetery which was both intriguing and distracting. I shouldn't say under the cemetery; the cemetery is built higher than street level as city layout dictated it expand vertically instead of horizontally, and the vendors were along the retaining wall and on both sides of the street, giving the illusion that they are under the cemetery. That section of town dates to the 13th century and has one of the oldest synagogues in Europe; it's definitely the oldest synagogue in the Czech Republic. (Many of these old buildings are still standing, since Hitler declared them off-limits as a "Museum of the Extinct Race." I think it is not he who is having the last laugh...) One of the last things we saw before departing the Jewish Quarter was a big statue of Franz Kafka; you're supposed to touch his boots for luck. We also passed the Prague Opera House, the only Cubist lamppost in the world, at least one monastery, and the very famous brewery attached to/built in the monastery. The brewery is called...wait for it...the Monastery Brewery. Very clever, these Czechs. We also got a pretty nice view of a giant metronome built into a park on a hillside, which supposedly replaced a statue of Stalin.

Prague Astronomical Clock

One of my favorite sites in Prague was really just a blip on our tour. I really got a kick out of the statue of King Wenceslaus riding a dead horse inside the atrium of the Lucerna Palace. Prague is home to many covered alley shortcuts which house both shops and artwork. Right smack in the middle of the atrium, which can be accessed via some of these covered shortcuts, is a giant statue of a man riding an upside-down horse. That is, he sits on the horse's belly and both are suspended from the ceiling. I think it's a political statement or some such, but I enjoyed it so much I took a picture and had it made into a tshirt for my dad. This statue is across from the oldest wine shop in Prague but, sadly, we didn't have time to stop and check it out.

Wenceslaus riding a dead horse

After our tour, we stopped for a traditional lunch, then walked along the Vltava River for a bit of shopping and sight-seeing. Technically our free walking tour didn't bring us along the river or to the bridge, but we ended at a very convenient location to continue exploring on our own. (Side note: I felt like a heel at the end of the tour. I didn't have any small Euro or Czech Koruna, so I tipped the guide in dollars. She seemed pleased, and said it was her first tip in American money, which made me feel slightly less bad about it.) Though we didn't cross the river, we did walk out onto the bridge and had a phenomenal view of the Prague Castle. One of the many neat things about this bridge is its statuary, I think something like 30 or 40 of them, honoring saints and political figures. They date back to the 1600s! Or at least, the originals are from the 17th and 18th centuries; they've been replaced with replicas over the years, and the originals are in the National Museum. We also walked along the royal route or King's Road which dates to the 14th century, and somewhere in there we passed a demonstration against "lies associated with Armenian Genocide." 

Tulips blooming in front of the Charles Bridge in Prague

We met our bus in the mid-afternoon, and the skies opened up on us while we were waiting. I got pretty drenched, to say the least. I'm so happy it held off until it was time for us to leave. I had fewer than 24 hours in Prague and loved every second. I did not, however, love the bus ride back. We got stuck in some horrendous traffic, and our bus driver actually left the bus to go talk to some other drivers. After probably an hour or more, we turned the bus around and took some back roads. It was scenic, but we got back several hours later than we planned, in the wee hours of the morning on Monday. Maybe next time I'll take a train and indeed, I'm going to try my hardest to make sure I go back to explore some more of this beautiful city.