Well, my first solo trip was a roaring success, and frankly I can’t wait to do it again. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I got to just relax, knowing that if I got lost no one would be mad at me or if it was that Prague is the BOMBINGEST place on the entire planet, but I had an AMAZING weekend. Prague. Is. Incredible. I fully intend to go back there as an adult and just spend time—hopefully with some fabulously handsome man—wandering and exploring and enjoying. I just got back to Maastricht a few hours ago, and already I’m missing Prague. That’s how much I loved it.
Thursday after class, I walked my booty over to the train station and jumped on the bus to Aachen. This was not only my first solo trip, but it was also my first loooooong train ride. From Aachen, I caught a train to Cologne and I jumped on the overnight train from Cologne to Prague. Overnight trains are a trip. I was a cheapskate and just booked the seat rather than the sleeper because it was 16 euro cheaper. On the way there, I really regretted that decision. I was in a compartment with three other people and I didn’t even have a wall on which to lean my head. I got, at best, three hours of sleep. That wasn’t only because of my discomfort though. There was a dude in the compartment with me who was probably pushing 50, spoke very little English, and had a staring problem. I kid you not, I would close my eyes for the briefest of moments and have to snap them back open because I could feel him staring at me. It wasn’t a malicious thing; I didn’t think he was going to harm me or anything. But it was just unnerving to have him just looking and looking and looking. Maybe he hasn’t seen too many Americans? Maybe he hasn’t seen too many Americans too scared of thieves to let go of their backpacks on a twelve hour train trip? Who knows? Okay, maybe I was a little weird. I might have stared at someone who cradled her luggage for the whole trip too. Haha… Also, this was the first time I was using my Eurail and the conductor at the German border messed it up! She marked the 26th on the 24th which then caused a slew of problems later on. More on that later…
Anyway, the train reached Prague around 9am and even without much sleep I was really excited to get going. I jumped off the train and headed to the atm so I could get some Czech Crowns. After waiting almost 20 minutes in line, I withdrew 2000 crowns because I didn’t know what the exchange rate was and that seemed like a friendly number. Really. There was no other explanation for why that was what I pulled out. I bought a ticket from the lady at the counter and attempted to follow the directions to the hostel. I made it to the metro station at which I was supposed to end up, but then I got on the tram going the wrong direction. I figured it out when the third tram stop wasn’t what it was supposed to be and I got off and got back on in the opposite direction. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but I had just been on trains for the past 15 hours. I had drunk a liter and a half of water on the train, and I hadn’t peed since Maastricht. I was hurting. But I wanted to wait until I got to my hostel because….well, really for no good reason. It was just the order I had set up in my mind of doing things. First find the hostel, then do anything else. Haha…
I finally made it to my hostel, the Czech Inn, and managed to not pee my pants. That hostel is incredible. The Czech Inn is what a hostel is supposed to be. It has a really modern, hip décor and the staff are all really young and helpful and fun. The place is (gasp—can it be???) incredibly clean. I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all when I climbed into bed that night. I was there way too early to get into my room, though, so I just dropped the things out of my backpack that I didn’t want for the day in the locker room and headed out.
Sean and Tiff had purchased a book called Prague Day by Day from Frommer’s when they came to visit. We thought that the three of us might be able to visit Prague when they were here, but unfortunately we didn’t make it. They did, however, leave that book with me. Hooray! I highly recommend those Day by Day books to anyone who is traveling on a time budget. I think they’re written for older travelers since there aren’t a lot of mentions about hostels and living cheaply, etc. They also overestimated the time it would take me to do certain walking parts of the tours, but really the book was fantastic. I got to see all the important sights in a really time efficient manner and with great maps and commentaries.
The first day I did the “Best of Prague in One Day” and the first half of the “Best of Prague in Two Days” tours. I started at the Powder tower and walked the ancient coronation route of Bohemian kings because it covers almost all the big sights. The Powder Tower is part of the original city fortifications. From there, I saw the Municipal House, which is a big deal for art nouveau fanatics. I didn’t think all that much of it. Apparently they do concerts there too, but that’s not uncommon at all in Prague. Everywhere I went there were signs saying, “CONCERT TONIGHT IN THIS CHURCH!! Greatest hits of Mozart!” (Or whichever composer was the theme for the evening) That was one of the things I loved most about Prague; it was basically just a huge celebration of classical music.
But I digress. I moved on from the Municipal House to the Estates Theatre which is this awesome little opera house in the middle of everything where Mozart premiered and conducted (!!!) Don Giovanni on my birthday (!!!) in 1787. I was pretty impressed by that. That theatre was doing a concert that night of Mozart arias from the most famous of his operas, but I had already purchased tickets for that evening. More on that later.
From the Estates Theatre I detoured from the tour a little bit to wander through this really neat market that was set up in the street. I bought a pretty painting of the Charles Bridge and Prague castle and then headed to the next stop on my tour: The old town square. The old town square is the oldest area of the city still used for its original purpose (according to my tour guide the next day). It’s really something to see. Everything is so old and you can see the Baroque and Gothic styles of architecture contrasting against each other really clearly there. It’s what a town square should look like, basically. Haha…The town hall tower is at one end of the square and I clambered to the top to see the view of the square from above. It was really neat.
Then I clambered back down to catch the astronomical clock at the top of the hour because my book told me that something cool happened at the top of the hour. Frankly, it’s overrated. Haha…This skeleton rings a bell and these two windows open and the 12 apostles file by looking disapprovingly at all the people to tell them not to be vain, greedy, or Turkish. (No joke, this is what our tour guide said. Apparently it was because the Turks had invaded Prague at that time and they were seen in a really bad light, but still…) The little show thing really was less than impressive, but the astronomical clock itself is way cool. It was put together in the 1400s and it still works. I don’t understand how it works exactly, but it shows the position of various stars and the moon and stuff. It’s interesting because the earth is in the middle of the design on the clock and everything else is around it. This clock, that still works, was built in the time when they still believed the earth was the center of the universe!!! AMAZING. That kind of makes the little apostles play thing more impressive since it was from 1400-something... 
The famous church on the square is the Church of Our Lady before Tyn. It’s the very gothic church with the two spires set behind the very baroque buildings on the square. It’s a really funny juxtaposition. I couldn’t get in the church, but I’m sure it’s beautiful inside.From the square, I followed Karlova street to the Charles Bridge, one of the most beloved sights in Prague. It’s this really old, really long bridge that goes over the river and was really quite a feat of engineering back in the day. It was built in the 1600s and it (obviously) still is in working order. It was unfortunately under construction when I was there, so I couldn’t get the full effect of the huge statues that are spread across it, but it was still a wonderful place. There are vendors that line the bridge making portraits, and caricatures; selling paintings, jewelry, little ceramic flutes, etc.; and playing music. It’s just an incredibly charming atmosphere, although it was awfully crowded and the construction efforts on either end took away from it slightly. The Charles Bridge is really cool, though.
From the bridge, I walked to St. Nicholas Church (where I was asked if I wanted to hear the Verdi Requiem that night—had to say no. Already had tickets for the evening…). This church is 18th century and really, really opulent. Honestly, though, I liked it a lot. This is the church on the skyline of Prague that has the big green dome. From St. Nicholas, I started up Nerudova street to get to Prague Castle.
I say started up because it’s basically the steepest street I’ve ever seen. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but it is terribly steep and terribly long. I am embarrassed to admit that I was TERRIBLY winded when I finally made it to the top. Haha…It’s a cute street, though, with a lot of baroque palaces lining it. Okay, that’s from the book. There are a lot of houses there, but honestly, they weren’t impressive enough from the outside for me to have called them palaces, but apparently they are. Haha… Next stop, Prague Castle. I went into the castle compound and first toured the St. Vitus Cathedral. It’s the most important church to the country because the crown jewels are kept there. I couldn’t find them though. I don’t think they’re on display for the public. St. Vitus is an almost overpowering old gothic church. It’s very somber and beautiful and stately. And HUGE! The stained glass in there was also really beautiful, and it the light came through in such a way to make the walls look all colorful.
It was really neat, actually. There’s also a huge tomb made entirely of silver for a saint who was thrown from the Charles Bridge after being killed for something. The whole huge tomb thing with all these sculptures of angels and stuff around it is made of silver! The audio guide said the number of tons of silver that went into it, but I can’t remember exactly. (The audio guide was BORRRRRING…)
Anyway, after St. Vitus I took a look at the palace, but I couldn’t get in because of some construction or something on the second floor. Apparently there was still a way to get in, but I never figured it out. Bummer. Apparently there’s this really huge room in there where they used to have jousting matches. That must be a pretty big room. Haha… St George’s Basilica was the next stop in the castle grounds. This place is from the 900s and it’s got the Roman look to it: pretty neat. I walked down the Golden Lane which is where the castle guards were permitted to build these teeny tiny little houses that are pretty cute, but I can’t imagine living in any of them. After that, I was all castled out, so I headed out.I walked down to Wenceslas Square and looked in some of the shops and had some dinner to kill the time before my show. Earlier, when I was walking to the Powder Tower I passed the box office for the State Opera of Prague. Out of curiosity I went in and asked what was playing that evening and if there were any tickets available. I fully expected that even if there were tickets available that they would be way too expensive or that it would be some opera that I had no interest in seeing, but no! It was Madama Butterfly, and I bought a ticket in the first row of the second balcony with limited view (but if I leaned forward I could see the whole stage) for the equivalent of 8 dollars!! Unbelievable! Anyway, after I ate dinner, I headed over to the opera where I was shockingly underdressed.
People seemed to understand, but I felt sort of uncomfortable. I also felt gross because I’d showered in the morning on Thursday, but then I’d gone to class, spent 15 hours traveling, and then walked around Prague all day. I felt all grody, but Madama Butterfly was beautiful. I’d never seen it, and I didn’t even really know the story. I do know that I love Puccini, though, and that was enough to get me there. My goodness, it was beautiful. It’s funny because compared to the Lyric, for instance, the sets were awful. The set was very minimalist. Honestly, it looked like a set that Mr. Stevens would be able to put together for a PHS show. He puts together fantastic sets, but they couldn’t hold a candle to the Lyric. The stage hadn’t even been painted and all the marks were just there in tape for everyone to see. It was kind of funny. But the music was so beautiful. The woman singing Butterly had a lovely voice and she really carried the show. It’s a heartbreaking story, really, and I bawled like a little baby at the end (of course…)haha…
After the opera, I walked back to the tram stop where I could jump on the 22 to get back to the hostel. I got back around 10:30 or so, gathered up my stuff from the locker room and headed upstairs to (finally) get some sleep and take a shower. I was in a twelve-bed dorm, but there were only two other people in it. As I said before, the place was pristine and lovely. The two guys in the room were these 27 year olds who didn’t know each other before. One, Matt, was traveling before his MBA program starts in the fall. The other, Albert, was traveling before starting a job with an investment firm somewhere in Africa. It was sort of funny that they ended up in the same room. They were going out, but I was way too exhausted so I went to bed. They came home around 4 and woke me up actually and then we all sat around talking for an hour or so. It was really fun. In the morning when I was packing up my stuff to go, Matt was in the shower room shaving and that was when I received my strangest-ever hostel request. Haha…Matt had forgotten his mirror and needed help shaving his neck. Really hilarious.
Anyway, I headed out with the intention of doing the second half of the “Best of Prague in Two Days,” tour which includes all the Jewish sights in the Jewish Quarter. Unfortunately, I am a huge fool who forgot that Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath. Everything was closed and I saw NONE of the Jewish history stuff that’s there. Bummmmmer. So I moved on to the next tour that I was going to do that day, the “Gardens of Mala Strana,” tour. This tour is put together to help the reader find these slightly hidden gardens in Mala Strana. So I set off. These are beautiful gardens, yes, but I think I’m terribly spoiled after living in the Netherlands. The gardens in Prague are Baroque style gardens with statues and fountains and everything, but they’re just not Keukenhof. Haha…They are pretty incredible though in that they are terraced and it must have taken a great deal of planning to get so much landscaping into such small areas. It was nice to walk around a bit.
After I had had my fill of Prague’s gardens, I went to find the John Lennon Peace Wall. It’s a big wall filled with graffiti. After John was killed in 1980, and during the communist period, citizens of Prague started protesting using this wall and graffiti art as the media.
It’s really something to see. Some of the art on the wall is quite beautiful, and it’s strangely moving to see so many Beatles’ lyrics painted up like that. My book says that the secret police tried to wipe it out and stop the graffiti writers, but that every day the wall would be covered with messages extolling Lennon over Lenin. Pretty neat.
After the wall, I decided to head to this park that the book said was really nice and just relax for a while. It’s called the Kampa park and it’s right on the river. The weather was so beautiful the whole time I was there that I wanted to be indoors as little as possible. I just dropped my stuff in the grass by this big tree and laid down and enjoyed the sunshine. It was really nice. There were tons of people doing the same thing in the park and it was terribly relaxing. When I was too hot, I got up and walked back across the Charles Bridge where I had my caricature drawn by a really nice guy who has been doing caricatures and portraits on the bridge for 20 years! It turned out to be pretty funny. ☺
At this point, it was about 3 pm and I wasn’t sure what to do until my train left at 6:30. I wanted to stay outside, but I had walked all the sights on Friday already. So I found one of those tour offices and asked if they had any offerings for the late afternoon. Luckily for me, there was a boat tour down the river with a small walking tour component at the end. It would take about two hours and started at 3:30. Awesome. The boat tour was nice. It was relaxing and the tour guide sat with me and told me all sorts of neat stuff about Prague’s history. I learned a LOT on the tour. After the boat tour was over, our tour guide walked us back to the old town square via the Jewish Quarter. I was thrilled because she gave us a bunch of history on the Jewish Quarter that I felt like I had missed out on because of my poor planning and ignorance. She showed us the one corner of the cemetery that can be seen from the street and told us all about the synagogues and the history of the quarter. She was very informative and also very nice. I had a great time with her.
At this point, it was time for me to make my way to the train station for the looooong trip back to Maastricht. Luckily, it paid off for me to have only booked the seat on the way back because I had a row of three seats to myself! Hooray! There was a really nice old man in the compartment with me who spoke no English and we had a very pleasant journey. I was able to lie down on the seats and sleep like a normal human being. It was awesome. Just one creepy thing happened, I was sleeping and I woke up all of a sudden to find this slightly creepy looking 30 something man in our compartment. Now nice old man and I were the only ones who had reservations for this compartment so I was already weirded out. But then, as soon as I woke up and looked at him, the guy left our compartment all sheepishly. Thank GOD I woke up because in retrospect I feel like he was casing our compartment for stealing stuff. I had my bag locked closed, but I don’t have a big enough lock to lock it down to the luggage rack, so it was just sitting next to me on the floor. He could have easily taken it and that would have been terrible. So anyway. For the next train trip, I’m definitely buying a bigger lock to lock my bag to my seat so that I can rest a bit more easily. Oh, and all that Eurail pass garbage happened too. Since the dumb conductor marked the 26th on the 24th, it looked like I didn’t have the 26th written in on my pass. So this other conductor was trying to be helpful and before I could stop him had written in the 26th in another calendar box! AWFUL. Basically, he just stole one of my ten travel days because when you make a mistake on those things you can’t fix them. You just have to live with it. So then I was upset because I have all of those days planned out. But it ended up working out because when our train got into Cologne, I ran to the Eurail help desk that’s there (it’s the closest one to Maastricht) and explained what had happened. They told me that normally that’s a “too bad so sad,” situation, but for some reason they drew in a new box for me and validated it so that I could have my day back. I’m SO glad.
Basically Prague is a fantastic city. Terribly romantic (even though I was there alone…haha) and classic and timeless. I just love it. When I go back when I’m older, I want to make sure I get to go into the Jewish Museum and I also want to see the ruins of Vysehrad Castle (the original seat of government there dating back to the 10th century). But I really loved Prague. This weekend was definitely my favorite weekend trip yet. ☺ We leave for London on Tuesday!!! Woohoo!!
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