March 31-April 3: Prague

I love Prague!

My trip to Prague was my first experience with Eastern Europe and the best word I can think of to describe the city is weird, and trust me, I mean that in a good way. From the get-go, something just seemed strange about the city. The outskirts were sad and desolate looking, and whenever I expressed this sentiment to the people I knew who were studying in Prague, they explained the feeling with one word: communism. I admittedly know little to nothing about the legacy of communism in Prague, but its former presence is certainly visible in the city. From peoples' subdued demeanor to the architecture it seemed that the vibrancy seen all around places like Spain and Italy is not a norm quite yet in Prague, rather it is an up and coming notion. 

Eery Old Town Square 

My weekend in Prague may have been one of my most fun yet, partly because my friends and I met up with friends from school who were studying in Prague, giving us an insiders advantage in sight-seeing, eating, drinking and partying. I'll mention here that I have decided that while studying abroad, there are several different types of fun to be had. There is the sight-seeing studious fun, the relaxing beachy fun and the party all night in bazar European clubs fun. Since Prague is known for its vibrant and outlandish club scene, I decided to really soak in the culture and focused mainly on the third kind of fun. No worries parents, I mixed in some of the first and second kind of fun as well. 

Charles Bridge

For the sake of convenience, I decided to take a blessed break from Ryanair travel, and I flew out of Florence instead of Pisa. As I was traveling alone to Prague and meeting people there, I felt much more comfortable with this. My modest coach seat felt like first class luxury in comparison to the flights I have become accustomed to, and the snacks were a true delight, so much so that I ate 2 sandwiches on each of my two flights to Prague. My arrival time happened to correspond perfectly with that of the travel companions I was meeting at the airport and all we had to do was exchange some money (Crows are the most confusing currency I've ever experienced, good thing I still have hundreds of Crowns I can't exchange!...not), hop on a bus and ride into the city center. 

My trip back to Florence was slightly more hectic. I had quickly and spontaneously booked my flight to Prague several months ago, and I never really bothered to look at the flight times. It wasn't until the day before I was set to return to Florence that I realized my flight left at that ungodly hour of  7am. My stomach dropped as I realized that since we had stayed out partying till 5:30am, there was no chance of me being able to get any sleep before my flight, forcing me to stay out all night. Luckily, Jules had been visiting friends in Prague that weekend as well and she happened to be on my flight. Thanks to some redbull cocktails, we managed to stay out all night and ended up getting to the airport just in time to catch our connecting flight to Munich. We were home and in our Florentine beds by 11am meaning I had stayed awake for my first 24 hour period. Not my preferred approach to travel, but hey, we survived because we had to. 

Our hostel, located just off of Old Town Square, was nice, clean and quiet and we were able to stay in a private room. The first day after arriving the night before, we were all a bit tired, so we dragged our feet around the city until we found a Starbucks, which was conveniently located across from one of the main tourist attractions in Prague, the astronomical clock. This clock chimes on the hour, and is quite unique in a very creepy way.

Astronomical Clock 

 After killing two birds with one stone with the coffee run, we made our way to the Charles Bridge and explored the opposite side of the river. We found the famed John Lennon wall, which is a graffitied wall which once served as an outlet for communist resistant youths to rebel against the former regime, by painting John Lennon inspired artwork and quotes. As most study abroad students who visit Prague do, we took about a million and a half photos in front of the wall and called it a day. 

After seeing the Lennon wall, my friend Sasha and I met up with some of the people we knew who study abroad in Prague and climbed to the top of what we termed, the fake Eiffel Tower and got an outstanding view of all of Prague. We were fortunate to have amazing 65 degree, sunny weather all weekend which is definitely not what I think of when I think of Eastern Europe.

on top of the "fake Eiffel Tower" 

The next day, after some lively night time activities at a club which played solely '80's and '90's music on huge screens, we dragged our feet all the way to the Prague Castle, which was more of a complex, rather than what I think of as a castle. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing, but we still aren't quite sure if we went to the right place. Next, we decided to simply enjoy the nice weather, and we headed to a beer garden in Letna Park which overlooks the city. I had a truly enjoyable afternoon as we sat, drank and watched the sun set over Prague.

Cathedral in the Prague Castle 

View from the Castle

Beer Garden in Letna Park

Ironically, aside from the beer, I didn't really get to experience the typical cuisine of Prague, as I ended up eating Thai food, Japanese food, and Mexican food the three nights I was there. The one Czeck dish I did try was a real treat: fried cheese. It is essentially a fried cheese patty on a bun YUM. Prague knows how to do late night food right, a quality I must say, Florence lacks. 

After a fantastic weekend involving the perfect combination of the three types of fun: sight-seeing, relaxing and partying, I embarked on the aforementioned sleepless travel day and headed back to home-sweet Florence. 

A truly weird and exciting city