It's funny, in Bavaria all of the houses are neat and white, with red roofs. As soon as you hit the Czech Republic, the houses become CRAZY.
Bohemia is not as pretty as I would have expected... the scenery was nice, but we were definitely happy to get in to Prague just around dinnertime. We checked in to our first real European hotel, Barcelo Praha, and got dressed for our first evening excursion - a "Czech Dinner" complete with folk dancing, singers, talented musicians, traditional food, and bottomless wine and beer.
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| Dancer... part of a VERY talented and entertaining troupe. |
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| Brother mackin' on a dancer... this will become a recurring theme... |
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| The ol' wine bong... obviously husband is very impressed and very drunk here. |
Obviously this was a blast. The service was excellent and the food was simple and delicious (having been prepared for the worst, since EVERYBODY said that Czech food was not great). Not good for vegetarians, though - EVERYTHING had ham in it. There was a singer with a great stage presence that got everybody into the spirit, and this came off as one of our favorite nights. You can also, in the last picture, see some of the people we travelled with - a couple from Missouri who loved theater, and a gentleman from Cuba by way of Florida who was interested in what happens to countries when Communism is over with.
The next morning we drove into Prague and went on a walking tour of the "Old Town" - this is the most touristy, but also oldest part of the city. it is intact and pretty well preserved, especially for being over 1,000 years old.
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| Graffiti has a way go to here... |
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| Cleaning up the Buildings... |
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| These cars crack me up! |
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| What a view! |
Our tour guide was petite and blonde, and held a large yellow umbrella even though the sky was clear and it was HOT. She had a lot of good information about the Jewish Quarter and the older buildings, and even though at one point we almost were run down by a tram, the tour was interesting.
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| Mounted police with a Castle in the background... |
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| Charles Bridge, built in 1357 |
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| View of the Little Quarter |
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| Pigeon on the head! |
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| It's crazy how the beggars prostrated themselves here! |
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| Steampunk art! |
After our tour was over, we stopping in the square for a very delicious Italian lunch. Italian food is very big here (and everywhere that we went) - you forget how close things are in this area, since the cultures are so different. Food was great and the bathroom was CLEAN and nice (even though it was in a scary cave basement). After lunch we went to my favorite building the whole trip - The Astronomical Clock.
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| Built in 1410... |
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| It is BEAUTIFUL and the oldest one still working of it's kind. |
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| Pit stop on the slippery stone spiral staircase... |
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| Going up... |
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| BEAUTIFUL! |
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| Notice that there is nothing stopping you from falling off. |
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| It's not Disneyland... |
We split up and wandered back through Prague...
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| This sign is ridiculously elaborate. |
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| The Jewish Quarter |
In the Jewish Quarter we went to the Holocaust Museum and Old Cemetery, both of which do not allow pictures inside. It was very awkward at first, because the lady who took tickets did not speak English and was kind of behind a curtain so you couldn't see her face. Add to that the conversion from dollars to Euro, and Euro to Koruna, and wondering if maybe Husband could get a Student Discount, made for some confusing moments, and she (unlike most of the people we met) was NOT friendly. The lady inside the museum pointed to my Mary Medallion and said something I couldn't understand, so at first I wondered if she wanted me to take it off, since I was entering a Synagogue. It turns out she was just complimenting me, but we had another issue when we got to the cemetery and there was a big sign telling you to cover your head, but no yarmulke or scarves were available to do so with. SO basically I felt like a horrible heathen the whole time, but the museum was very interesting. It is quite small, and the centerpiece of the exhibit were a series of drawings made by children in concentration camps.
The old cemetery was interesting too... It was in use from the 1400s to the late 1700s. The city had limited space, so when the area was full the Jewish people removed all the markers and filled the area in with more dirt, building it up so the bodies could be stacked on top of each other. The Markers were then replaced, so thousands of them are all crammed together. It's a stunning sight. there are an estimated 12 layers of bodies in the cemetery. I was bummed, though, because Kafka's grave isn't in the cemetery proper but outside of town in a newer one that was built after it became legal for Jews to be buried outside of their designated section. That cemetery is half empty because the generation it was built for were shipped off to concentration camps.
Oh, you know, just chilling in a cafe in Prague. (P.S. This is where we discovered that European Fanta is AWESOME.) Also, I made several observations... I was definitely the third fattest person in Prague, and most people are very young and look like supermodels. They also dress like supermodels. Also, Europe is very dog-friendly, and the dogs behave less like pets and more like magical familiars that follow mental commands of their owners. At this particular cafe a tiny dog was hanging out for a while on Husband's feet. His owner came to pick up her child and the dog followed her out into a busy street, pausing for cars without being told, and casually walked over to the car and got in, again without being told. Crazy.
Our hotel left a little to be desired, even by European standards. The food was weak, and most of our included meals took place here. There was also a very funny incident with a maintenance worker who did not speak English, and a strange thing on the wall that looked like it came from a car shop in the 1980s. It turned out to be a hair dryer that he was fixing... Overall, though, Prague was a great city. While it wasn't my favorite overall stop on the trip, it had some of my favorite excursions and the coolest buildings.
