This little piggy went to Prague. And this little piggy fell off.

Thanks to a large high pressure area centered over Siberia, I spent last weekend in temperatures ranging from -20C to -9C. Kaitlyn and I arrived in Prague on Friday night and took a short 20 minute cab ride from the airport to our hostel. Thankfully we had arranged to be picked up by a worker at the hostel, because I'm not sure we would have found it otherwise. The hostel was located on a dark side street and had no sign on the outside. At first glance, the hostel looked completely sketchy, but the inside was actually really clean and quaint! The bathroom was definitely nicer then my bathroom in either Hamburg or Norman. Either way, my first hostel was a complete success!

The sketchy exterior of our hostel in Prague

Saturday morning we were up and out really early. Even though downtown Prague is pretty compact, we wanted to make sure we had enough time to see all of the main tourist attractions. Our first stop was the Národní divadlo, or National Theatre. At first I didn't realize that you had to pay to tour the building, so I just walked right into the theatre. But then this old man told us we had to get out and pay for a tour like everyone else. Whoops! Luckily, I was able to take a few pictures before we got kicked out. 

Národní divadlo - National Theatre

Inside the National Theatre

Next up was the Novomêstská radnice, or New Town Hall. After we saw the New Town Hall, things started to go downhill. It turns out that navigating through a city where everything is in a strange language hampers my map reading abilities. Rather then heading north towards the main tourist attractions, we turned south and get really lost. Normally I do not worry about getting lost in a strange city because it allows me to see parts of the city that I otherwise would not have seen. But this was not the case in Prague. It was so bloody cold out that our little adventure presented itself as a great annoyance to me. By this point, neither of us could not feel our fingers, toes, legs, or face. And the body parts that we could still feel were tingling and aching. After about one hour of walking in the wrong direction, we finally stopped and asked for directions. Thankfully, although the men did not speak English, they were able to point us in the right direction!

Novomêstská radnice, or New Town Hall, was
built in the 14th Century and once housed the
seat of the New Town authorities. 

Cloître d'Emmaüs (Emmaus Monestary) - This was one of the
buildings we passed during our two hours detour. At the time,
we did not know what the building was, but when I got home I
learned that it was founded for a Slavic Benedictine Order in
1372. During WWII, the Gestapo seized the monastery and
 sent the monks to the Dachau Concentration Camp.

Vysehrad is one of two castles located in Prague. The castle
was built in the 10th century and houses the Basilica of
Peter and Paul. As a violinist, one thing I found really
interesting was that Antoní Dvorák is buried in the
Vysehrad cemetery.

After regaining our bearings, we paid a visit to Národiní Muzeum, or the National Museum. The Museum itself was badly damaged during WWII and the Warsaw Pact Intervention, so it is currently closed for renovation. After viewing the National Museum, we wandered a little further north to what I will dub "Tourist Lane." In Prague, many of the famous tourist sites are located along one main street. We quickly visited Obecní Düm (Municipal House), Prasná Brána (Powder Tower), Chrám Matky Bozi pred Tynem (Church of Our Lady Before Tyn), and Orloj (Astronomical Tower) on the way to Josefov, the Jewish Quarters in Prague. Although all of the buildings were old, historic, and beautiful, I was not blown away by any of them. I have to wonder if this lack of enthusiasm towards Prague was due largely in part to the bitter cold.

Národiní Muzeum (National Museum) - The lighter spots
evident on the pillers and in the stone work is limestone used
by workmen in the 1970s to fill in the bullet holes. 

Prasná Brána (Powder Tower) and Obecní Düm (Municipal
House) - The Municipal House is home to the Smetana
Concert Hall. The Powder Tower was originally built in
1457 but was then rebuilt between 1875 to 1886. 

The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

Chrám Sv. Mikuláse (St. Nicholas Church)

Inside St. Nicholas Church

Staroméstská Radnice S Orlojem (Old Town
Hall and the Astronomical Tower) - The Old
Town Hall was built in 1338, and the
Astronomical Tower was later added in the
early 15th Century

Orlojem (Astronomical Clock) is the third
oldest astronomical clock in the world. Every
hour between 9am and 9pm, the twelve
apostle appear in the upper part while the
lower part acts as a calendar board and
contains the zodiac signs by Josef Mánes.

After walking down "Tourist Lane," we headed north to visit Josefov, or the Jewish Quarter. During WWII, the Jewish Quarter became the Prague Jewish Ghetto. One of the most prominent buildings in the Jewish Quarter is the Staronová Synagoga, or Old-New Synagogue. The Old-New Synagogue is the oldest preserved Jewish Synagogue in Central Europe and dates back to the 13th Century. After visiting the Jewish Quarters, we stopped and ate a traditional Czech meal. I had Bohemian Dumplings and Goulash, which is a type of thick beef stew. The meal was good, but there is no way I could eat Czech food everyday. The food was really heavy and just kind of sat like a rock in my stomach for the rest of the day.

Staronová Synagoga - The oldest synagogue in central
Europe. 

A traditional Czech meal of Goulash and Bohemian
Dumplings. 

There was some really disturbing pictures
painted on the wall of the restaurant...

After lunch, we visited one of the most popular and famous tourist attractions in Prague - Karluv Most (Charles Bridge). The Charles Bridge was built in 1357 by Charles IV. The bridge is flanked by two towers, Lesser Tower Bridge Tower and Old Town Bridge Tower, and it connects the Prague Castle with the Old Town. One of the 30 statues on the bridge is of St. John of Nepomuk. They say if you touch the dog and the woman on the statue you will have good luck and ensure that you return to Prague. I don't really believe in old wise tales, but just incase I touched the dog for good luck!

Karluv Most - One of the towers on the Charles Bridge 

Charles Bridge

Statue of St. John Nepomuk - You can see where
people have touched the dog and the woman. 

Next on the agenda: Prazsky Hrad or Prague Castle. In order to get to the castle, which sat on the top of a very large hill, we had to climb up this massive set of stairs. When we reached the top, we were rewarded with magnificent views of the city. By the time we got to the Castle, it was already 4pm, so the tours had ended for the day. But, we returned on Sunday morning and toured the Old Royal Palace, the Basilica of St. George, Golden Lane, and St. Vitus's Cathedral. St. Vitus's Cathedral was absolutely breathtaking. There were these massive stain glass windows, incredible stone pillars, and unbelievable statues made from bronze and stone. It's incredible to think about how many talented people must have been involved in creating such an amazing building. The Old Royal Palace was slightly disappointing because most of it was closed to the public. On the Golden Lane, we were able to see a bunch of old armor and weapons used during different time periods in Prague. I was also taught how to shoot a crossbow, and believe it or not, I hit the target two out of the three times! The girl infront of me was crazy good - I'm pretty sure all three of her shots hit the center of the target.

View of Prague from the top of a large hill.

Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle) was originally
built in the 9th century and has continued to
be expanded since then.

Side view of the Prague Castle

Main Hall in the Old Royal Palace

Shooting a crossbow - No big deal.

Inside St. Vitus's Cathedral

One of the many stained glass window inside
St. Vitus's Cathedral

Our last tourist attraction for the day was the John Lennon Peace Wall. The Lennon Wall is a stone wall covered in graffiti inspired by the words and lyrics of John Lennon. For many, the wall represents Lennon's ideals of peace, love, and freedom of speech.The wall was initially a source of contention for the Communist government in Czechoslovakia. The authorities once viewed those responsible for painting the wall as supporters of Western Capitalism and as rebellious citizens. Some believe that the wall led to the Velvet Revolution which is responsible for the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

John Lennon Peace Wall

Graffiti of John Lennon 

Just one of the examples of pictures and lyrics written
all over the wall.

On Saturday evening, Kaitlyn and I went to an eight member chamber music ensemble concert in the Municipal Hall. I really enjoyed the concert because they played a lot of music I knew very well. Among the pieces played were "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi, "Canon in D" by Pachelbel, and "Hungarian Dance No. 5" by Brahms. I was somewhat disappointing at first because I was expecting a larger orchestra to play, but it ended up being a great concert regardless. After the concert, Kaitlyn and I went to a bar and tried a few traditional Czech drinks before heading back to the hostel for the night. 

Small concert hall inside the Municipal Hall where we saw
the Camber Music Concert.

Sunday ended up being a really weird day. It all started with my breakfast. There were surprisingly few restaurants open for breakfast, so we ended up at this one place that served omelets. I decided to go with a vegetable omelet, figuring it was a relatively safe and healthy choice. Ha! Boy was I in for a shock. When you think of a vegetable omelet, what do you generally think of? Eggs, peppers, onions, brocoli? Well, in the Czech Republic, a vegetable omelet contains carrots, corn kernels, corn stalks, pea pods, and cauliflower. It was definitely the weirdest tasting omelet I've ever had. We then spent the rest of the morning touring the Prague Castle. When we arrived at the airport, we had problems checking into our flight because Economy had already checked in full, so the lady behind the desk ended up giving us free upgrades to Business class. This was the first time I have ever been upgraded, so I was super excited! The upgrade ended up being a bit of a disappointment because we were on a really small prop plane, so Business class was not really Business class. The only bonus was we got to enjoy a completely disgusting meal full of many questionable substances.

The meal we got for sitting in business class.

I will send a special German present to anyone who can
tell me what this was (or what it tasted like). I'll give you a
hint: it was neither cheese nor bread.

Well folks, there you have it - the summarized version of my trip to Prague. I enjoyed my time in the city, but I was not blown away by it. My enthusiasm towards Prague was probably hindered by the unbearably cold conditions, so hopefully one day I'll be able to return and give it another go. Tschüs!