Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Prague


PRAGUE!

Honestly, Prague wasn't one of those places that was high on my priority list while I am over here. But, Michael and Peter heard it was amazing, so we decided to spend 3 days there of our spring break. I am so glad that we ended up going because it actually turned out to be one my favorite cities we've travelled to.

We got to Prague that Tuesday afternoon. It was a little tricky to navigate the city at first, but we eventually found where we were staying. Peter and Michael have a couple of friends studying abroad with Prague so we were able to stay with them. They happen to be in our same program, just in a different city, so it was interesting to see the differences between the two. Example 1....their apartments are HUGEEEE. Literally ginormous. So it was nice to stay there and see it. They had an absolutely amazing view of the water and were right in the heart of the city.

Then a few of us decided to go to lunch and having a Czech meal. Czech food is pretty darn good. I had gnocchi and water while all the guys drank beer. Now beer in Prague....is cheaper than water. Which would be amazing if I drank the stuff. But it was really quite amazing to see how cheap it was there. After lunch, we just walked around and hung out. Any travel day is pretty slow and exhausting.

(Wall of locks we found by the John Lennon wall. You are supposed to put one there and write you and your significant other's name on it, and as long as it stays there...your love will last forever or something. However...the city cuts them down all the time. Sad.)

That night, Peter and I were attempting to find this supposedly amazing Mexican restaurant to go for dinner. After searching for awhile, we gave up and as luck would have it...found this great little restaurant. It was so cute and cozy. And on the menu....french onion soup. So we were so excited to have it again, since we had not eaten it since Paris. Now the french onion soup I like is covered in cheese and soaked up in bread and is absolutely delicious. This french onion soup....was literally chopped up onions....barely cooked...in broth. Now it wasn't terrible, but it was a bummer becuase it is not what I expected. The rest of the meal was really good! It was one of my favorite dates Peter and I have ever had.

After, we walked back to the apartment complex to meet everyone. The plan for the night was to go to this bar/club called "Beer Factory." Now like I mentioned earlier....not a beer drinker, but the concept for this place was so fun! It looks like a normal club, but on each of the beer taps at the tables, there is a meter that tracks how much beer you have consumed. So basically, you can have a competition between tables at this place. There are big screens where the club shows who is winning and how much beer each table has had. And on the tables, there is a cool spray cleaner that cleans your mugs. Don't know how to describe it....but it was a really smart idea. Once we had our fill of clubbing Prague people and our bellies were full of beer (or wine), we decided to go back for the night. But not before I had to try one of the Prague sausages. There are vendors all over the sides of the streets selling these disgustingly large sausages. I don't know why I ate it, and it wasn't even good, but if you go to Prague...do NOT eat one of those sausages. It was gross. Plain and simple. But at the time, it seemed like a great idea.

(One of my favorites from the John Lennon wall.)

Wednesday, we did a lot of walking around Prague and had such an amazing day. We were just wandering around the city and happened across the place we wanted to go...Old Town Square. OTS was so cute, especially because it was decorated for Easter. There are lots of little shops and vendors who sell anything from souvenirs, clogs, crepes, beer and these amazing things called "trdlos." As a sweet lover and aspiring baker, I was fascinated by these. They actually aren't baked....they are fire roasted, and they were absolutely delicious!

(Trdlos being cooked.)

(Clock tower in Old Town Square.
Every hour, it strikes and a guy comes out from the top and
plays the trumpet. So random.)

(A cute little lady HAND painting eggs for Easter.
Or maybe all the time. Either way, they were amazing!)

Peter and I also made a stop by the chocolate museum in Prague. We didn't pay to go in, but there is a store connected to it that is open to the public. Here, we had waffles on a stick, dipped in chocolate and covered in m&ms or coconut. Definitely worth the trip! Afterwards, we went to the clock tower in OTS. It is the highest point in Prague, and it was a clear day so we took advantage of it. You have to climb to the top, but it isn't too bad. The main problem was that there is a very small amount of space at the top and tons of tourists...this equals a crowded international mess that isn't fun to swim through. It was very cool to see how big Prague is because we were only exposed to a small part of the city.

(Pete and I at the top of the clock tower)

(View of OTS from the clock tower.)

(Our amazing waffles on a stick!!)

That night, we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant....think it was called Cantina....and the food was better than any Mexican I had in a long time. The ceiling was really cool because it was decorated in rice sacks. We had a really good time, although we all spent a little too much than we hoped for. Apparently it is one of the most expensive restaurants in Prague....whoops. We attempted to go out that night, but we did't quite make it out. We just had a great time hanging in the apartment and catching up with old friends.

Thursday was also a great fun day. Peter and I knew we wanted to go back and walk around OTS. Not without stopping by Bohemia Bagel and having our first bagels in 3 months! So simple and so delicious. By the time we got there, it was raining. It literally put a huge damper on the day. After aimlessly walking around for awhile, we ended up finding this bar called "The Bed Lounge" or somethign like that. It was like a bar with tables and everything...except the chairs were comfy beds. It was so relaxing and great people watching. Steve and Michael ended up coming to meet us there and I think we all laid there for a really long time before we got back up. We went back to the John Lennon wall for the second time. I'm not really sure what the significance of the wall being there is, but of course I enjoyed it. I cannot even remember what we did for dinner that night...oh yeah I do. We walked across the bridge and found this italian restaurant with great pasta! It was an easy dinner, and all of us were getting up early to travel in the morning, so we called it an early night.

(Steve and Michael sleeping in The Bed Lounge.)

(They have Budweiser in Prague too. Apparently we stole the name. But shhhh!)

Friday morning, we woke up to catch a flight to Edinburgh and then the train to Amsterdam.

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