Getting in was a cinch and not setting an alarm for the morning was a great call. We all woke up easily around 9:30 though, showered, ate leftover cold pizza, put on a much warmer set of clothes than what we'd been wearing the day before in Budapest, and set out to take on Prague. At 12 we had to meet a guy at a McDonald's so Julia could buy her Ellie Goulding ticket (it was pretty much as sketchy as it sounds), so we wandered around the area we had to be in- Wenceslas Square and a little market- until then. Only when we got to McDonald's he was nowhere in sight. After Julia approached a few Asian men (that's all she knew about him) and asked if they were selling concert tickets and they said no, we figured he was a no-show. Later she got an email saying he was sorry but he sold the ticket already. Bummer. But this made me realize something- I'm better at decision-making than I give myself credit for. And then I thought about the whole trip thus far, and realized I was so satisfied with the choices I had made, which times I had chosen to stick with the group and which times I had chosen to branch off, etc. etc. and that felt pretty good. I usually say that I am so indecisive and wish people would just choose for me, but so far I've made (what seems to me and by my own personal standards) all the right choices: not going to Vienna was a good call for me, I don't think I would have felt like I'd seen either place fully; finding the last-minute non-night train ticket to Prague, turns out spending money on a hostel was well worth the great night's rest (and the hostel turned out to be a private hotel room anyway!), and I tried to change my flight home originally to be able to go to his concert, but after seeing the hassle of getting the ticket I'm so glad I just stuck with my original plan. But Julia was such a good sport about it and didn't let it affect her mood the rest of the day, and from there we went to see Old Town Square. Right as we got into the center of the square, the clock struck 1:00 and the Astronomical Clock began its commotion (something we had not planned on or anticipated). It wasn't anything super fascinating, but it did remind me of the little singers in the village of Duloc in Shrek...the whole downtown actually reminds me of this. Prague, in my eyes, quickly became very fairy tale-esque. It has character and seems like there's tons going on, great night life and restaurants, and yet its quaint and so well-organized, like its not a real city but a set from a movie. Also the cleanest place I've been to thus far.
The famous astronomical clock
Old Town Square
Trdelnik's in the making
The first thing I did was buy a Trdelnik from a stand in the square; its a cinnamon pretzel/toffee coated-type treat in a spiral shape. I think I ate at least 3 over the course of the weekend. The first thing MC did was buy a chocolate crepe, and that became her obsession for the remainder of the trip. We definitely lived by the motto "You only Prague once"--maybe we relied a little too heavily on it...Anyway we tried going to see landmarks near by like Powder Gate and the Jewish Quarter, but once we couldn't take the mist and the cold any longer we gave up and went to find lunch where we could sit and get warm for a while. This brought us to Home Kitchen, a lunch place with a menu that alternates every day. We got the soups of the day (chicken soup which turned out to be liver, and minestrone, which turned out to be the perfect choice for the kind of day that it was), a mango/chickpea pasta, and bread/balsamic/goat cheese to share. All homemade and all delicious. You could talk to the chef across the counter as he cooked, and when I asked just out loud in the room, what's in this chickpea pasta that makes it so awesome, he shared with me the entire recipe. From here we just went back to the hostel and fell asleep, waiting for the Vienna group to meet up with us. The power nap was much needed, but I woke up feeling so disoriented, like I'd slept for a whole day. I'm not used to napping in general, but especially not when we're on a trip. I always try to fit as much as possible in a day, not wasting time at the hostel for any reason. But with the weather the way it was, and the excuse of needing to meet up with everyone, I let myself relax and just sleep- probably what I needed to do most of all anyway. That night some of the group got Burrito Loco for dinner (just a Mexican food stand on the way downtown...anything cheap and non-tapas calls to us), but Julia and I split Prague sausage and a macaroni/potato/cabbage dish in the market. And that night we all decided to do an organized pub crawl, just to take the pressure off of deciding what to do; that way it'd just be decided for us. Apparently absinthe is a big thing in Prague, because it was free, included in the price of the pub crawl, at every bar we went to. Why can't Prague be known for pina coladas or daquiris? That stuff is like mouthwash.
The next day, after everyone was accounted for, the Vienna folks left for a walking tour, and so it was the quad (what we're calling ourselves now) again for the day. Today, the sun was shining, at 9:30 it was already significantly warmer than yesterday afternoon, and we were all in great spirits, excited to see the other half of Prague. But first- a necessary stop at the crepe stand for fuel. I got banana, chocolate, and cinnamon sugar, and although it was delectable it was so rich I couldn't finish it all. We sat in the center of Old Town Square, just smiling to be in Prague and enjoying the breakfast. Again, the four of us were in such good moods and that just bounced around between us, keeping the good moods going all day long. I was so glad to be there and to be there with them, with a full day ahead and not a cloud in the sky.
We finally made it to the other side of the river- it seemed like we had gone back and forth on the same path from the hostel to the main square 50 times in the last day, but after I saw Charles Bridge I knew there would be much more to Prague than just what I had seen. A bridge is a bridge, right? How different can one be from another? Not to me. This one is not only beautiful to see from a distance (and you can see it from so many different viewpoints), it is beautiful to see the landscape around from on the bridge, and the construction of the bridge itself is beautiful. And the amount of life going on is infectious. Street players playing music, dancing, performing tricks, people selling food, artwork and jewelry...I noticed that I couldn't stop smiling as my gaze turned from an acapella group singing Call Me Maybe, to a band of older men playing strangely grouped instruments like a banjo, a cello and some kind of bongo drum I'd never seen before, to vendors with beautiful bronze, hand-crafted earrings (I helped MC pick out a pair that jumped out to me, as her souvenir to take home). Coming in the opposite direction from us were various people eating the most enticing hot dog I'd ever seen, and I made it my mission to find where they bought it and make it my second breakfast. Right across the bridge was a little stand selling Prague and Wenceslas sausages of all different kinds, to be paired with stewed cabbage and onions and spicy mustard on a bun. I wouldn't even say I like meat all that much- I could go for chicken or fish and leave out all the steak/pork chops/ribs from my diet altogether- but I will say I do love a good hot dog. And this one was goo-ooo-ooood, as Grandaddy would say.
Charles Bridge
The area across the bridge holds the same charm- quaint yet bustling. We saw the Lennon Wall, a huge, graffiti-painted wall that is a must-see in Prague. When Stephen was here a few weeks ago he left me a message on it for me to find when I got here. I couldn't end up finding it, but I know it was there somewhere, along with encouraging notes like "For here, all are one", Boston 2013", and "With will, one can do anything. Stay strong", along with lots of other encouraging messages in every language imaginable. It's really a cool place to go and sit for a minute, reading messages people have written to specific people that they might not ever read, or to read things someone might have just been thinking and didn't intend for anyone to read.
My favorite part of the day came after this, though. Everyone was a little tired from all the walking, the consecutive early mornings, the late nights, and the week of travel in general, but there is a gorgeous hill (Petrin Hill, I recommend it to anyone that goes to Prague if you're there in the spring) that you can hike to the top of. At least in spring, the entire hill is covered with endless trees of white flowers, and because its a rather steep climb, you can immediately start seeing views of the city, the river, the bridges, the Prague castle, when you begin the climb. We stopped a few times on the way up to take breaks and take in what was around us, and if there were ever a time I wish I could wrap up a whole place into a box and keep it with me forever, it would be this time. I did the best I could to capture the contrast of the trees and all the nature and greenery around us with the beautiful city in the background but it was almost hopeless. We got to the top where we saw Prague's version of the Eiffel Tower (not anything to write home about, and we didn't pay to go up and see the highest view of the city) but there is a whole park at the top of the hill and I could have spent the entire day up there if I had known. I would love to go back around the same time of year with a picnic and a blanket and have just napped up there all day. It's like a little oasis. The way down was even harder than the way up! It was so steep you almost had to run down the hill and slow yourself down when the ground evened out a bit, but it was so easy to pick up momentum you almost couldn't just walk down.
Right after reaching the bottom of the hill, we made the trek over to the Prague castle and hiked back up a long path of curvy steps to reach the entrance. Only this isn't just a castle- it's like a whole otro mundo. Only adding to my perception of this city as like a Disney World/Epcot land, you buy tickets to either see a portion or all of the buildings within the castle walls, and you can go around at your own pace or follow the directions suggested to visit the various sites. We bought the short visit pass and wandered from cathedral to basilica, government building to preserved cottage homes, for over an hour. I could have easily spent much more time exploring but we had to think about getting back to the hostel to meet the others and make our arranged shuttle bus to the airport. But again, the whole castle is set up on a hill and holds views of the city that I never tire of looking at (or snapping pictures of...unfortunately my camera died in the middle so I couldn't take as many as I would have liked.) Golden Lane was especially interesting, however. It was a little museum-esque with its arranged rooms in each cottage, representing different aspects of life and society in the 1300-1500s. But we climbed to the top of one of the tower walls above the cottages and saw the military museum, which housed suits of armor and helmets of all shapes, sizes and designs, different weapons used over the centuries, and even some of the machines they used to torture their enemies. Although I wanted to stay at the top of Castle Hill longer, sitting on a bench and overlooking the city, time was ticking and I did see another Trdelnik stand on the main path up to the castle. Only at this one, you could ask for a layer of chocolate on the inside of the cinnamony-dough spiral. HEAVEN. We had just enough time to walk through the market one more time and buy some souvenirs/gifts, see the Dancing House building, and use the rest of our crowns at a grocery store to get snacks for the duration of our overnight flight. Oh and to get another Prague sausage while walking across the Charles Bridge, just because "You only Prague once." Yeesh.
From inside the main cathedral
A view from inside a window of one of the government buildings
One of the plazas with the main cathedral
A view of the city
To say our day had only just begun might be an understatement. We ended up getting to the airport too early to check in, so we just had to sit on our stuff outside security and wait for our flight to pop up on the screen. This did give us time to eat the jar of Biscoff spread (Cookie Butter) that my Vienna friends bought for me when they saw it in a Viennese grocery story... eating an entire jar of cookie butter before going through airport security, flashbacks to Dublin...how has this scenario occurred twice in my study abroad experience?! I need cookie butter therapy. Once we got through security, and I still had 260 crowns left to my name, I decided to buy some "duty free" (and I only just learned that Duty Free means no tax, not that "hey, you're on a plane, you don't have any responsibilities/duties, you can do/eat/drink what you want!"...yeah) chocolate bars for a total of 258 crowns. Money well spent. More waiting at the gate. First flight went by quickly, and we were in Barcelona by 11 pm. Somehow we all had different flights back to Sevilla from Barcelona, but none of them left until 7 am. So what did we do? Found a cozy spot in Gate A, pushed two rows of chairs together to fashion into beds, and sprawled out for a long night in the airport. It was as long as it sounds. It didn't go by fast. It was not more comfortable than I expected. But it was just a night and now I can say I've spent the night in the airport (I guess I'll say that was on some kind of bucket list I have, just so I can check it off). I hadn't even thought about what this week would entail in school, but that was so far off my radar by the time my head hit my pillow Monday morning, back in Sevilla. And whatever it was going to mean for me work-wise, it would all be worth one of the greatest weeks I've ever spent!
My chocolate amor...I'll be back for you one day.
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