Prague

About a week ago, I returned from a long and tiresome journey that lead me to Prague, Amsterdam, Dresden, and Weimar (with some really quick Berlin stops in between). I started off in Prague and then went to Amsterdam with my dad and stepmother, Alice, when they were visiting, and then immediately moved on to Dresden and Weimar with the Hampshire in Berlin group.

I'll break it up by place so that it might be easier to follow.

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Prague

When Dad and Alice came to visit me, we spent only an afternoon and evening in Berlin before hustling to Berlin's Hauptbahnhof early the next morning to catch a train that would take us to Prague. The four hour train ride was gorgeous; we got to see all of the mustard fields, the beautiful green, rolling hills, and even some amazing tall rock formations that had these little bridges connecting them way up high in the air. Riding the train in Europe is always lovely. You get to experience a whole different part of each country that you would have probably never seen otherwise.

Alice looking out the train window on the way from Berlin to Prague.

The reason that my parents picked Prague to travel to during the short time that they were here is because their good friends from Scotland and California were going to be there, and they wanted to meet up with them. When we arrived, their friends (who had already been there since the day before) were waiting at the hotel and no more than five minutes after we checked in, we were already out and about exploring the city. This was wonderful, because they had already had a whole day to get familiar with the city and scope out the best places to visit. None of us had ever been to Prague before, so without that, it probably would have been a bit daunting.

We immediately got some drinks and then decided to walk across the Charles Bridge in the mid-afternoon haze, and to check out Prague Castle once we got to the other side. The city was beautiful, unlike any other I've ever seen. Prague is also the furthest east I've been (in Europe, not counting China) and I've heard that the further east one travels, the more different things become.

Prague felt interesting to me because it was beautiful in a way that was also very sad. It was left untouched during the second world war, so the original city in almost its entirety is still in existence. It had a warm, dark, medieval feeling to it, with almost all cobblestone streets, and small, wandering alleyways in between many of the buildings. The river running through the middle of the city was also absolutely stunning, and even though the weather was a bit rainy and foggy while we were there, and we couldn't necessarily enjoy the sunshine, I felt a true sense of being somewhere special.

Entrance to Prague Castle

Once we got up to Prague Castle, Dad, our friends Gavin, Morris, Susan, and I all climbed the supposed 288 steps (though upon Morris' counting while walking back down them, he swore that there were only 284) to the top of the St. Vitus Cathedral, which itself is housed atop one of the greatest hills overlooking the entire city of Prague. The narrow, tightly-wound, hand-carved stone staircase to the top seemed to last forever as we climbed it, but every once in a while there would be a small window in the wall of the stairwell and we could peek through to see views of the church's enormous stained glass windows and the church's enormous cast-iron bells.

When we finally arrived at the top, we were greeted with one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen in my life. Even though the day was a bit cloudy, we could see all of the city, and beyond, sprawling into the distance. With Prague Castle and the elaborate flying buttresses in the foreground, it was impossible to not be taken by the entire scene.

View of Prague (with the Saint Charles Bridge right in the middle) from the top of St. Vitus Cathedral

View of the cathedral, with some of the castle in the background

When we finally made it back down to the bottom of the tower, we walked outside and wandered to the back of the castle grounds, where we found a beautiful terrace overlooking the city from a different angle.

View from the castle's terrace, overlooking Prague

Dad and Gavin also found a spot where they decided to do some impromptu performance art for a group of other tourists who only looked slightly amused - we thought it was hilarious, though.

Gavin and Dad as living statues... or something...

The rest of the trip, we hung out and just explored parts of the city little by little. We ate some really great food - including some amazing Indian food that I would recommend to you if I remembered the name of the restaurant - drank lots of good drinks (I did get my Czech absinthe, even though that almost didn't happen) and enjoyed each other's company. We were only there for two nights and one full day, though, so I would definitely go back in the future to spend more time there.