Czechin' Out Praha!

AHOJ everyone! I bet none of you know what that means…but it’s hello in Czech! That was one of the few Czech words I learned this past weekend on my trip to Prague.  After a lot of planning and build up for our first trip, we somehow pulled it off with barely any issues!

We started the “weekend” (apparently weekends start on Wednesday nights here…) off on a great note when Staci and I took a quick packing break to grab dinner at a Panini place we had heard about called Al Antico Vinaio (okay I’m sorry I just couldn’t resist telling you about more food!) .  What we had heard did not even come close to doing it justice.  This hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop is a local Italian favorite that has been around forever.  When Staci and I arrived at around 8:30, the place was packed with a crowd of Italians pouring out onto the street, each of them holding an enormous sandwich in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.  Staci and I were the only Americans in sight.  I opted for a prosciutto, mozzarella, eggplant, and tomato sandwich, and we of course had to get a glass of wine!  We stood outside with the rest of the crowd and enjoyed our delicious sandwiches like true Italians.  This has definitely become one of our new favorite spots.  

We headed off to the Pisa airport early Thursday morning (we were quite a sight to see as we lugged our suitcases all the way across the city from our apartment to the train station) to catch our flight to Prague.  We were slightly concerned when we looked out the window during landing to find the whole city covered in white snow! Good thing we packed earmuffs…

Since we only had 3 days in Prague, we were very busy!  Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

1. Tour of the Jewish Quarter with Roman: I think this was probably my favorite thing that we did.  Before we left for Prague we did some research on the main sights we wanted to see, and this was on the top of our list.  I thought it would be a good idea to take a tour of this area so that we could learn a little bit more about the Jewish history there, and after doing some research online I found a guide named Roman that seemed to be famous for this tour! Our friends Lindsay, Smoler, and Rachel who came with us to Prague decided to spontaneously book the tour with us for our first day. Roman turned out to be fantastic.  He met us at our hotel to give us a brief history lesson on the Czech Jews.  We then took a tram with him (the trams are the main form of public transportation in Prague! They run all over the city, kind of like in San Fransisco.  They are all over the roads and it makes the city almost look like a combination of Disney World and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood) to the Jewish Quarter.  He walked us through where the Old Jewish Ghetto used to be, and none of us could believe how small it was considering there were thousands of Jews living there at the time.  

We also saw the Old Jewish Synagogue, which is now a museum inside that houses many important artifacts from the history of Czech Jews.  Some of the coolest things we saw were the extravagant silver crowns and jewels that were used to dress the torahs, as well as the symbolic yellow hat that most Czech Jews had to wear to show their identity as a Jew.  

We also went into the holocaust museum, which had two separate sections.  The first floor was several large open rooms with large white walls all completely covered in the names of Czech Jews that were killed during the Holocaust.  This was pretty incredible and very disturbing to see since there were so many names.  We also somehow happened to find the name Korn on the wall, which was so crazy!  After we saw the Jewish cemetery, and I couldn’t believe how many tombstones they were able to fit into such a small space.  Roman told us that there are as many as 12 bodies piled on top of each other.  We also saw the Jewish morgue, and a famous statue of Moses.  Overall, this was an incredible tour and we were all very happy we got to learn at least a little bit about the Jewish history in this city (even though our toes were completely frozen by the end of it!)

The whole group with Roman!

2. Old Town Square: This city actually looks like it is straight out of a fairytale.  Even though it is very cold and a little gloomy looking, all of the buildings are absolutely beautiful and everything looks like a medieval castle! This is especially true of the Old Town Square, which is the center of the Old Town of Prague, and home to the famous Astronomical clock.  We were lucky enough to have our friends who are studying abroad in Prague as our tour guides for the rest of the weekend! Our friends Lizzy, Ali, Lindsay, Jolie, Dari, and Lauren met up with us for brunch and then showed us around their city! The Square is absolutely adorable, filled with people, music, food, and so many colors! 

We climbed up all the way to the top of the astronomical clock (good thing we are used to walking up a lot of stairs in our apartment…) to czech out the incredible view of the city.  As you can see from the pictures, it was definitely worth it.  

When we got back down, we rewarded ourselves with tredelniks! These are a traditional Prague treat made with fried dough, cinnamon, and sugar, and cooked on a long iron stick over a coal fire.  Crunchy on the outside, gooey on the inside, rolled in cinnamon and sugar.  What more could you ask for?

3. The Charles Bridge and John Lennon Wall: Next, we walked over the historic Charles Bridge.  Although it is MUCH bigger than the Ponte Vecchio, it is the same idea! The bridge is filled with people, vendors, painters, music, and historic sculptures.  

After we crossed the bridge, we headed over to the infamous John Lennon Wall.  We of course couldn’t leave without taking a photo shoot in front of it and signing all of our names.

4. Prague Castle and Toy Museum: After a long hike up the hill and a lot of stairs, we made it to the famous Prague Castle.  This is actually the castle that Disney World’s castle was modeled after! After seeing it up close, I can see why.  The castle is enormous, and it is absolutely beautiful.  After exploring the castle we headed over the toy museum that was in the same area.  They have a famous Barbie exhibit here with Barbies dating back all the way to the 1950’s.  I have never seen so many Barbies in my life!

5. Czech Food and Night Life: Well you didn’t think I was going to go all the way to the Czech Republic and not try any Czech food did you?! Although most Americans aren’t too excited to try any authentic cuisine in this city, Staci and I decided that this was the only chance we would ever have to do it.  We used the Prague guidebook my mom sent me with (see mom your books do come in handy!!!!) and found a restaurant that supposedly has the best traditional Czech cuisine.  It turned out to be very cute bar/restaurant with long wooden tables, and a lot of Czech people.  We decided to order the Goulash and beer.  The beer was included and the meal only cost $6!  That’s another thing I forgot to mention, the currency is very bizarre here.  The currency they use is called crowns, and 100 crowns is only around $5! This took a lot to…but anyways, back to the goulash.  It was surprisingly delicious!  It kind of tasted like brisket (don’t worry Mema, no where NEAR as good as yours!) with a lot of sauce, and it was served with Czech dumplings (essentially just spongy bread) to dip in!  We enjoyed our authentic goulash and beer at a communal table with some other Czech women (we couldn’t understand a thing they said..) while watching a soccer game that was being projected onto the large white wall at the end of the restaurant! Overall, a positive goulash experience.  

We also of course had to visit the two main restaurants that everyone abroad in Prague seems to be obsessed with: the Bakeshop and Bohemia bagels.  I can’t say that it is anything compared to the food I am eating in Florence, but we did love both of them! We also went out to a few different clubs with our friends during our weekend.  The nightlife here is a lot of fun!  My two favorite places we went to were a club that played only 80’s and 90’s music, and the five story club which has 5 different floors that each have a different theme on them. 

So, we somehow survived our first weekend trip!  We had an amazing time, and we are so glad we decided to visit.  Since I had a lot of schoolwork this week (yeah, apparently school work is a thing that I have to worry about now…?) I haven’t had time to write this post until tonight.  And as insane as it may sound…I am off on my next weekend trip early tomorrow morning! MADRID, here we come!!! I have to be up early to catch my flight, but I will be back with a full report of our adventures in Spain next week.

Adios!

Jordan

P.S. Almost forgot my Italian word of the day! Today’s word is Sonno, which means sleepy.  I learned this word in class today and it is very appropriate considering I am exhausted! Buona Notte!