Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, the 13th largest city in the European Union (EU).

It feels and looks like it is out of a fairytale. The buildings are ones that you see in Disney to try and create a castle & a fairyland. As far as I’m concerned Disney copied Prague’s architecture and relocated it.

I went to Prague with my group of eight girls that I’ve been traveling and hanging with in Florence. We left on Thursday and took a train from Florence to Milan, then from Milan to the Bergamo Airport, and then off to Prague!

When we arrived at our Hostel, we were convinced we had the wrong location and that we had actually arrived at some sort of strip club. Unfortunately, we were wrong. We walked through the disco-themed curtains that replaced any front door, down the LED lit up hallway, and up the stairs to our front desk to check-in.

The front desk guy showed us to our room and we were instantly met with the stench that we were going to be living with for the weekend. We had two rooms rented out but after feeling weird about, well, the whole situation, we decided to take the mattresses of one room and pile them on the floors in the other.

Eight girls in one hostel bedroom for four. Just when we thought the situation couldn’t get more chaotic and the room couldn’t fit anymore, we had some new guests join us- bed bugs. Yes. Bed bugs. Those things your mother always tells you to worry about but it seems so unlikely that you don’t even believe it’s real.

Well folks, I am here to tell you they are real. And they are little, they move in packs and enter your house (and stuff) unknowingly. When my friend Alexa started to freak out that she saw one we all tried to debunk her certainty, until we compared a few internet pictures to the one we found. And yep, then we all started to freak out.

These are creatures you never want to encounter, especially if you are in a shared with another human because they can spread and get into all your clothes. Moreless, eight (8!!) girls in one room with all of our stuff on the floors. At 11PM. In a foreign country. In a strip club-like hostel. Nightmare fuel.

For those who do not know, bed bugs can bite you, cause itching and further health issues. The number one way to encounter them is through traveling.

So, we scrambled. We gathered our stuff quickly and called a bunch of hotels until one told us they had room for eight girls to stay with them. Luckily we called one whose receptionist kindly offered us nice hotel rooms (which felt like an absolute luxury to us) for the whole weekend and acted as a mother figure to us the whole weekend. Shoutout Youla from the Prague Star Hotel.

I am now taking that saying “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” very seriously.

The next day we all woke up feeling very content with our new housing situation. We grabbed some breakfast downstairs and headed on our touristy packed day, my personal favorite type of day.

We headed down to Old Town Square, which is the main plaza area of downtown Prague. Absolutely gorgeous. I could not believe the architecture and that it was not just created for a movie set. We then climbed the Astronomical Clock tower which led us to even more beautiful views.

After the Square, we went to the Old Jewish Cemetery and Spanish Synagogue which was a very moving part of the trip. These places include many names and horrific stories from the Holocaust and other timely events.

Prague is very large but fortunately all of the places we wanted to see were decently close. But as usually, we did lots and lots of walking.

To take a break from being tourists, we stopped at a Cafe that my friend Carly was recommended. We ordered the “omelet in a croissant meal” that was supposedly “amazing”. And yes, it was. Who would’ve thought! We were then fueled up and walked over to the St. Charle’s Bridge. This is the most notable bridge in Prague and did not disappoint. Anytime I can be near water, my soul feels better; so I loved it!

We walked over the bridge and down to the John Lennon wall. This is a main tourist attraction in Prague. The wall was once known at the ‘Crying Wall’ and a place where people would come and pour their frustrations with the government and other authority. During the Communism era, western pop songs such as the ones sung by The Beatles were actually banned. John Lennon’s music represented freedom and it captured the imagination and self-expression of Prague’s youth. So after John Lennon’s death in 1980, the wall was named after him to celebrate and represent what he and his music stood for during these years.

It is now a place where people can go to express thoughts of love and also frustration with current worldly issues. Hence the “All you need is love.. and a f’ckn mask” that was written on it near the center.

After all of these cool sites, we discussed our plan of action before our 6-hour pub crawl that started that night at 8:00 at the Drunken Monkey. We were advised not to pregame, so where did we go next? The Ice Bar!

You enter a freezing cold room and drink out of ice cubs and act like you are in an Igloo club. It is like drinking in Wisconsin, but people actually pay to do it. Naturally, we had the “special offer” deal at this place and got to check out the ‘Robot Bar’ exhibit where an actual robot made our drink. Technology in its most productive form.

We walked back to our hotel, got ready and headed for dinner and then the Pub Crawl. This was an absolute blast, as many would assume. They handed out free beer, wine and shots from 8:30 to 10:00, when we left the Drunken Monkey for other bars. A complete blast.

As expected, Saturday morning had a slow start. It was snowing outside which was gorgeous on the Prague buildings. We grabbed breakfast which was a little strange. We should have taken the fact that there was no one actually inside eating as a red flag, but we did not. But hey, a weird breakfast builds character!

We walked over to Prague Castle which was so magical, especially with the light snow. To get there you have to walk over to the little village that surrounds the castle. Then you have to walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the base. Each flight of stairs you climb, you are rewarded with a better view. Once you get to the base there are multiple buildings that have a gothic architecture and multiple that have a more elegant look. It was a prestigious, yet ominous area, unlike anything I had seen before.

The different architectural styles bear witness to the changing styles Prague has had over the years. That sentence sounds like it belongs in an essay but it is true and so fascinating. We climbed Prague Castle and once we were at the top looked over all of Prague. All 8 of us were on the top of the castle for a while, not even talking or taking photos, just taking in the view. Those moments are my favorite.

On our hike down the hill of the castle, we stopped at a little shop that sold some greasy good food, which was just what we were craving after a weird breakfast and a hike up a hill. We all snacked on fries, cheesy chips, hotdogs, and homemade donuts. The little shop was also blasting American party songs, which seems to be a common theme wherever we are. Europeans love American music and it is fantastic.

Walking back to Old Town Square, we passed a billboard for ‘Banksy’s World of Art Museum’. I was unaware who this was but Lauren and Alexa filled us on on the mysterious artist.

Banksy first got noticed for spray-painting trains and walls in the UK during the early 1990s. Street art and graffiti can be considered criminal damage, so in the beginning, it’s thought the artist stayed anonymous to keep out of trouble. He then started to create paintings and art and would leave them in streets and subways in New York and all over. Yet, no one really knows who Banksy is. There have been small glimpses of his faces exposed but that is the extent of his identity.

The significance behind his word is that it depicts the current political, societal, and philosophical norms that society is going through. He uses a sense of symbolism and irony throughout his work. Here are a couple photos from his museum:

After seeing his art, we went back to the hotel and sat down for what felt like the first time all weekend. We were basically all laying in my, Julia’s, and Anna’s bed and just going through photos of what we had previously seen.

As weird as it sounds, these moments are some of the most distinct in my heart. Slowing down gave us all a moment to reflect on how cool it is that we all didn’t know each other prior to this and are now traveling to some of the world’s coolest places together. Life is pretty damn cool.

That night we got some amazing Sushi, went to a pub downtown for a while, and then went back to bed before our 6am flights.

The travel back was fairly smooth, the train was, of course, my favorite part. We had an hour transfer in Milan, which allowed us to briefly see a small part of this modern, metropolitan city. It really is wild how different each part of Italy is; Milan has a very American, big-city feel, while Florence has a village feel throughout its entirety.

This truthfully in itself justifies the worth of seeing multiple parts of Italy. Wherever you are, you can expect a different experience than a place 20 miles away.

Weekends are starting to feel like one long day. Sleep couldn’t be less of a priority when it comes to seeing the world and traveling to do so. This whole experience is learning to be comfortable with living outside of your comfort zone, a vital part of one’s growth.

Thanks for the hospitality in Prague (except for Hostel Apartments), feels good to Czech you off the list – pun completely intended!