Prague, Czech Republic

Praha (or Prague, as we know it in English), is quite possibly the most beautiful city we've ever visited.  It is one of the oldest, most well preserved cities in Europe, and unlike many other European countries, did not get burnt to the ground durning the World War.  This left some of the most beautiful buildings left in their original form.  Going through my photos after our time here, I found I had photo after photo of the city streets, lined with beautiful architecture.  This city is romantic, picturesque, and includes some beautiful castles, including the Prague castle.  It is small enough that it makes walking around the city quite possible, which I love.  

When we arrived at our hostel on Monday, we were blown away.  Nestled at the bottom of a hill, the old style exterior of the hostel did not prepare me for the modern design of the interior.  Think polished concrete, brick walls, high ceilings and tall windows.  The showers were also polished concrete with frosted glass with rain head shower heads.  White linens were on our bedroom bunks with double sized pillows.  We definitely felt like we were at a hotel!  And it was super cheap!  Zack had booked us in different rooms (haha) because I guess that made it even cheaper.  That turned out to be just fine because my room was all girls and I really enjoyed chatting with the other girls.  I love finding out where other travellers are headed, or hearing about their experiences along the way (and seeing as Zack and I are travelling together for 7 weeks, some time apart probably did us well, haha).  The only negative part of the hostel was that there was no guest kitchen for us to use.  It turned out okay though because they had an all you can eat breakfast buffet downstairs in their (super trendy) basement bar (that I'm mad I didn't get any photos of because it was such a cool space).

The hostel interior.

That leads me to the food.  We didn't really know what to expect from Czech food before we arrived.  We found out very quickly that the food here in Czech Republic involves a LOT of meat.  Grilled kabobs, pork roasting on a spit, bbq'd sausages, burgers, etc. We don't normally eat a lot of meat at home (considering Zack is vegetarian) so this was definitely a treat.  I was reading some general information about Prague at the hostel, and it noted that it'd be difficult to get by as a vegetarian in this city.  Unlike at home, there are rarely many vegetarian options at restaurants.  And considering we had no where to cook our own food, we dove right in.  We ate mostly street food, because a) it's cheap and b) it's so good!  There are so many outdoor vendors and beer gardens where you can get a grilled kabob or something tasty.  On our last day there, we checked out one of Prague's largest markets and purchased a smoked pepper sausage.  Delicious!  I enjoyed this much more than the "Currywurst" we had in Germany.  We grabbed a couple of beers from the corner store (they were literally 75 cents each for 500 ml), sat down in one of Prague's many beautiful parks, and could not have been happier.  This is actually something we did every night we were here.  We would grab ourselves a beer and some food and head to the park where we could just soak in Prague's beauty.  It seems to be what a lot of people do here as well.  Sometimes it was difficult to find our own patch of grass (especially when watching the sun set over the castle.... that view was just breath taking!).

Grilled sausage and grilled zuchini.  Typical food you'd find at one of Prague's Beer Gardens.

I know it really doesn't look appetizing, but I promise you it was good!  This is the peppered sausage we bought from the market.

We also toured around Prague's old town, and explored the Castle grounds.  The history in this city goes back so long ago that I find it hard to comprehend.  Some of these buildings still standing here were built in 1300s and there are legends that tell of Medieval Kings and Queens.  Like I said earlier, Prague was not affected as badly as some other countries during World War II (apparently Hitler loved Prague), however there was still tragedy that occured.  There is a Jewish quarter in the Old Town that became the "ghetto" of Prague during that time.  Living conditions became so poor that the entire quarter had to be demolished to the ground because none of the buildings had been inspected to be "safe" to be in.  That area was re-built in and now is one of the most expensive areas of Prague. 

The astrological clock.

The Charles Bridge.

John Lennon Wall.

Czech Republicans are very proud of their independence.  They have their own currency (now we've used FOUR different currencies... that's why we stand there like idiots trying to count out our change wherever we are.  Not fun.) and their own language (but so does pretty much every country in Europe).  We definitely found that there were less English speaking people here compared to the other places we've gone.  Any time we went to a convenience store or grocery store, communicating involved a lot of actions and pointing.  Apparently we're not that good at acting out "where is the nearest ATM/Bank Machine?" because they would usually just stare at us and shrug their shoulders. haha.

Though there are always a few bumps here and there (I forgot to mention how we almost lost our phone in Berlin.  It was returned to the reception desk in the building we were in!), there is definitely someone watching over us.  I sometimes forget to thank God for how fortunate we are, but sitting by the river in Prague, looking at a beautiful castle in front of us was definitely a reminder of just how lucky we are.  Prague is a beautiful place.