Prague Pt. 1

Friday morning, the 23rd, I packed up from Paris and left for Prague, Czech Republic. I was traveling with three girls from the University of Wisconsin. One of them had stayed at our apartment after the Texas Independence party the night before so she wouldn’t have to go to the airport alone, so the two of us took the first 5:30am metro out of Châtelet Les Halles toward Charles de Gaulle. When we were just about there, we realized that SmartWings, the airline we were taking, operated out of one of CDG’s more obscure terminals, so we tried to get a hold of the two other girls – Katie and Melanie – that would be traveling with us. The first couple of tries were unsuccessful and went to voicemail; the third try was more successful, but with a catch; my phone calls had just woken Katie and Mel up in their apartment in Paris. With a little over an hour before the plane was scheduled to take off, those two leapt out of bed, sprinted to Gare de Lyon to find a taxi, and sped to Charles de Gaulle as fast as they could. They had to have an airport employee convince the ticket agent to re-open her booth in order to check them in and then lead them through security to bypass the line. We all four made the flight, but so began a trip of miracles and failures, in which we would be constantly flying by the seat of our pants. Oh, and the seat of our pants would be on fire the whole time.

We got into Prague and exchanged our Euros for the Czech monopoly money, the Kraun, before getting onto a bus destined for the city center where our hostel was. It took us awhile to get our bearings, but we made it to our hostel and checked in around noon. We’d missed the free walking tour of the city that we planned on taking at some point, so we just decided to explore Prague a little bit on our own. The Vltava (or Moldau, in German) splits the city in two, and we spent the majority of our time on the East bank where we lived. We were staying in Prague’s old town square, which is on the more Western side of the East bank, if that makes sense. We decided on Friday, however, to cross the river and head up through the embassy district to Hrad Praha, or Prague Castle. We found our way to the famous Charles Bridge, which is flanked by old Gothic towers and guards in traditional Czech garb, and decorated across its length with a lot of religious sculpture and iconography.

The castle was more baroque than it was medieval, so palaces and gardens really took the place of ramparts and defenses. We wandered the gardens and then the interior grounds of the castle, going inside the Cathedral of St. Vitus. St. Vitus wasn’t that much different from any other Gothic cathedral I’ve been inside in Europe so far, but it was perfectly situated to catch the rays of the setting sun through the primary stained glass window in the sanctuary. That made the whole interior of the building lit up with a bunch of vibrant colors that reflected off the walls and floor like a disco ball, almost, which was pretty cool and really beautiful.

After getting back down from the castle area, we headed to the West bank of the Vltava to find an outdoor patio where we could get drinks. We found this one little place that was only accessible through an alley so narrow it had pedestrian traffic lights to tell you to proceed or to wait. I’d never seen one of those before, so that was pretty entertaining. We all got a round of Czech beers, Pillsner Ursquall, as a pre-dinner happy hour before heading back to the hostel. After getting cleaned up, we went out to dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant right in our neighborhood. I got another Pillsner Ursquall, and then a braised beef plate, salad, and the best damn apple strudel I’d ever had in my entire life. We then headed back to our hostel, had a few drinks, and went out to a club on the Vltava called Lazne, where we spent the remainder of the night.