Prague: Picturesque

I stayed in Prague for 8 nights, two more than any European city I have visited. I did not intend on remaining there as long as I did, but it just happened to work out that way. I had orginally been planning to be in the Czech capital for 4 or so nights, but when I learned that Kelby (Paris Girl) was also paying the city a visit, I decided to extend my stay so our trips would overlap. Additionally, I decided to spend two more days there after she left because, well, I felt like it.

I arrived last Saturday night via a flight from Amsterdam, and arrived at A+ Hostel at roughly midnight. Shortly after checking in I met a group of French college students on Spring Break ("Easter Holiday"). Before I knew it, I was drinking at the hostel's downstairs bar learning plenty about the French people and culture. After about 45 minutes of drinking and chit-chat, someone from their group informed his friends that their cab was "ready". One of the girls turned to me and asked if I wanted to go out clubbing. And so I went.

It just so happened that two hours after landing in Prague, I set foot in the city's nightlife hotspot. Located next to the Charles Bridge, Karlovy Lazne, or as it is popularly known, "Five Floors", offers 5 levels of themed dance floors. One minute I was dancing to Justin Timberlake, while the next I was singing along with Billy Joel. The club and the French were a lot of fun - I didn't even realize how late it was until I walked back outside to a Prague sunrise.

After sleeping in, I made my way to Old Town Square. I was lucky enough that I caught the final day of the Czech Republic's Easter celebration. The entire square was filled with vendors and booths selling meats, sweets, novelties and the like. There was a puppet show being enjoyed by hundreds of people. The show was in Czech, so I was not one of the hundreds.

[I learned over the course of my stay that Prague celebrates Easter in a rather interesting fashion: A tradition which still exists is the whipping of women and girls. The whip or “pomlázka” is braided from three or more willow rods. Pagan Slavs believed that whipping brought good luck, wealth and a rich harvest for the whole year. The strength and vitality of young twigs was supposed to be transferred onto the person whipped. I suspect that in these days, men don’t have a clue about the metaphysical meaning of this tradition; they simply enjoyed the opportunity to chase the village girls and have some fun. In addition, traditional whipping is normally accompanied by the singing of Easter carols.]



Sunday's weather was perfect and so was the scenery. Old Town Square is one one of the prettiest sites I have ever seen. When I first walked into the middle of the square, I stopped dead in my tracks. No joke. I let out an, "Oh my God", before regaining enough composure to move my legs again. The two tours I wanted to go on had already started, so I decided to walk around and get my bearings of the city in the meantime. As I walked around, I quickly fell in love with the city's beauty. Largely unscathed from WWII, Prague's architecture is unlike anything I have ever seen. I thought for a while how I would describe the view and realized it is a cross between a medieval Disneyland and a movie set. The cobblestone (which is ALL over the city) and 1000+ year old buildings make the city seem like it's straight from a fairytale.

After walking around, I decided to look for some traditional Czech cuisine. I found a cafeteria-style restaurant that seemed to only be inhabited by locals. Everyone inside was speaking Czech and the menus were written in Czech, so when it became my turn to order, I simply pointed to the portion of food the man in front of me had ordered. The dish turned out to be some sort of pork roast with cabbage and what they deem "bread dumplings" (knedliky). I would describe them as sponge-like bread in the shape of hockey pucks. The dumplings were tasty, but more importantly were sufficiently able to soak up the gravy from the roast. Along with the meal, I ordered a Pilsner Urquell, their local beer. As soon as the man behind the counter handed me the beer, I felt slighted - there were roughly 2 inches of head. As it turned out, every single beer I was served in Prague had between 2 and 3 inches of foam at its top. In the US people get annoyed when their beer has so much head, but in the Czech Republic they prefer the taste. Whenever I saw a local served a pint, they immediately chugged half of it, presumably to enjoy the foam while they could.

The meal was tasty, but I quickly learned two things about Czech food: a) A Czech meal will prevent hunger from striking for days, and b) There is virtually zero variation with Czech food. Every single traditional meal I ordered over the next week would consist of beef or pork, bread and a side of a vegetable. I sought other options, but they were extremely hard to come by.