Again, sorry for the delay but hopefully I'll be caught up in the next day or two before I go to Amsterdam. Prague was awesome. It is now one of my absolute favorite cities in Europe and I want to go back so badly. It's absolutely beautiful and I want to live there someday. I went with Alex, Rosie and Shawna for the weekend and we ended up running into about half of Penn. I don't think there was a single time we left our hostel and didn't run into someone we knew. At least 10 girls from my pledge class were there in addition to all the kids studying there and a few others who were also visiting for the weekend.
First things first, though. We almost missed our connecting flight from Frankfurt. Why? Not because our flight from Athens was delayed or because we were getting food or shopping and were late to the gate, but because sitting at the gate, we were playing with the most adorable child ever. We looked up and realized that we were the last ones there and we were the last ones on the plane along with one other couple. Once we got there, we also had to find our other friend from Penn in the airport which turned out to be a bit of a strug-fest. Finally we got to our hostel and, after lunch, began to explore.
One of our first stops was for these delicious cinnamon rolls and hot spiced wine (both are now two of my favorite things):
Then we set off to cross the Charles Bridge:
There are about a billion things to do and see on the bridge. There are tourists and vendors swarming everywhere and we kept getting distracted by all of the sights. We got about halfway across when a very familiar looking boy walked by us. I yelled after him and it turned out to be one of our friends from Penn. He took us to go see the Lennon wall, first stopping by to look at a gate covered in locks (I forgot the significance. I want to say locks of love, but I know that's a charity to donate your hair to so that can't be right...)
And here's the Lennon wall (obviously, named for the Beatle):
translation fail -intentional or not?
In Tyler We Trust:
On our way back to the bridge (we still hadn't crossed it), we ran into a group of girls from SDT who were on their way to see the wall. After chatting with them and planning to meet up later, we got back to the bridge. Finally, two plus hours after we first set foot on the bridge, we made it across.
We next went to Old Town Square because I wanted to go see the Astronomical Clock and we stumbled upon a food festival of sort. We had more hot wine (yum) and waited for the clock to strike the hour. These pictures are actually from the next day I think but you can see the clock better than you could during the night:
In Old Town Square, we ran into another group of Penn kids (this time Oz and Theos boys) before heading back to our hostel to nap and change before dinner. We went to a cute Czech restaurant for dinner but apparently they eat a little earlier than in Greece and the waiter was not happy when we were still there after 11. He actually turned off the heat on us. Jerk. After, we went to an underground bar (it had Wifi) and played a few rounds of loaded questions before going to the our friends' apartment to meet up with the rest of Penn. We all went to an 80's and 90's music club (i.e. AWESOME) which was amazing. We were all dancing up on the stage when the Backstreet Boys came on the speakers and I'm pretty sure I punched some random guy in the face when I jumped around in happiness.
The next day, we got breakfast at a cute cafe and went to the castle. We were about to go into the castle when we ran into Shawna's friends from school, one of whom now lives in Prague. We were chatting with them when I looked up and saw even more Penn people, including one of my friends from my hall freshman year and one friend who I was glad to see still standing after the previous night.
The view from the path up to the castle:
The palace (or its entry-way?):
Saint Vitus' Cathedral:
The Window of Defenestration!!! (my favorite part of 8th grade history with Mr. Weickert, other than the fact that I somehow managed to write my term paper for a class on European history about sharks):
overlooking the rest of the city:
After we wandered around for a bit, meeting some fellow study-abroaders from BC who of course we all had mutual friends with, we went on a cruise up the river where we had amazing fried potatoes and I tried "grog."
Sadly it was not on this boat which was clearly made for me:
Also, I stopped for a little snack. These are waffles on a stick (but look like octopus legs):
Later that night, we met up with the whole Penn group we'd been with the night before for dinner at an Italian restaurant (where Shawna, Alex, Rosie, Luzi and I sat at our own table and played loaded questions, as usual). After dinner, we went back to their apartment for a bit where we lost Alex to a bout of narcolepsy(?) and Shawna, who went to go meet up with her friends from school. The rest of us, however, went to some multi-level club that was super touristy and sketch. One of our friends had her wallet and camera stolen and we spent most of the night there trying to find it.
The next morning, we tried to collect our fallen and missing companions and possessions before going for brunch with more Penn people, one of whom was apparently on her way to the hospital to treat an ankle she had twisted the night before due to some over-excitement? Anyway, we had bagels and then headed to the Jewish quarter. Where, of course, we ran into the Theos/Oz crew we had seen at the club the night before.
The Old Synagogue:
Jewish Cemetery:
Star of David stained glass windows:
We shopped for a bit in the market there before wandering around and doing our last-minute souvenir shopping. Of course we ran into the SDT group and the Theos/Oz group again before we even made it back to our hostel to get our bags.
This concert hall apparently has the best acoustics of all of Europe. George Lucas just recorded the soundtrack for whatever his next project is there this past summer. I really wanted to go see a concert there but we didn't have time...
Some last views from the Charles Bridge:
After we made it across the bridge with minimal stops, we went to a really cute cafe for lunch, gathered our stuff from the hostel and headed for the airport.
First things first, though. We almost missed our connecting flight from Frankfurt. Why? Not because our flight from Athens was delayed or because we were getting food or shopping and were late to the gate, but because sitting at the gate, we were playing with the most adorable child ever. We looked up and realized that we were the last ones there and we were the last ones on the plane along with one other couple. Once we got there, we also had to find our other friend from Penn in the airport which turned out to be a bit of a strug-fest. Finally we got to our hostel and, after lunch, began to explore.
One of our first stops was for these delicious cinnamon rolls and hot spiced wine (both are now two of my favorite things):
The next day, we got breakfast at a cute cafe and went to the castle. We were about to go into the castle when we ran into Shawna's friends from school, one of whom now lives in Prague. We were chatting with them when I looked up and saw even more Penn people, including one of my friends from my hall freshman year and one friend who I was glad to see still standing after the previous night.
The view from the path up to the castle:
Some statues:
Sadly it was not on this boat which was clearly made for me:
Also, I stopped for a little snack. These are waffles on a stick (but look like octopus legs):
Later that night, we met up with the whole Penn group we'd been with the night before for dinner at an Italian restaurant (where Shawna, Alex, Rosie, Luzi and I sat at our own table and played loaded questions, as usual). After dinner, we went back to their apartment for a bit where we lost Alex to a bout of narcolepsy(?) and Shawna, who went to go meet up with her friends from school. The rest of us, however, went to some multi-level club that was super touristy and sketch. One of our friends had her wallet and camera stolen and we spent most of the night there trying to find it.
The next morning, we tried to collect our fallen and missing companions and possessions before going for brunch with more Penn people, one of whom was apparently on her way to the hospital to treat an ankle she had twisted the night before due to some over-excitement? Anyway, we had bagels and then headed to the Jewish quarter. Where, of course, we ran into the Theos/Oz crew we had seen at the club the night before.
The Old Synagogue:
This concert hall apparently has the best acoustics of all of Europe. George Lucas just recorded the soundtrack for whatever his next project is there this past summer. I really wanted to go see a concert there but we didn't have time...
Some last views from the Charles Bridge:
After we made it across the bridge with minimal stops, we went to a really cute cafe for lunch, gathered our stuff from the hostel and headed for the airport.
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