Czech Me Out - Prague Weekend

Czech out Prague!!

Since I had two 12 hour bus rides to think about everything and anything; I've already mentally written and rewritten this blog about 7 times. So it will be long. And I may ramble. You've been warned.

First. I have random facts/statements I feel the need to share with the world:
1. Prague is in the Czech Republic (since not many people seem to know that). Their currency is Crowns and they speak Czech (which I did not know was a language... I had to ask my Italian teacher.)
2. Traveling Europe is A LOT of math. 200 Crowns = 8 Euros = 12 USD (US Dollars). Try doing that math every single stickin time you want to buy anything. Even a post card.
3. I think I am funnier than the rest of the world thinks I am. For example I said "czech yourself before you wreck yourself" and I thought I was so punny that I laughed hysterically. The other 4 people with me didn't even chuckle... Oh well. I got a kick out of it. Still do actually.
4. In Italy, when they teach WWII they mainly refer to the Civil War because Italy was in the middle of their Civil war. Their territories were divided by the Arno River in Florence. All bridges where destroyed except the Ponte Vecchio which is how it got that name, which translates to "The Old Bridge".
5. Even in cultures that don't speak Italian I still find myself saying "ciao" and "grazie" ... gonna be a hard habit to change in May.
6. I found an even more popular Italian song. It was even played in Prague. It's huge in Europe. Everyone here even knows the same dance for it. Click Here for the Dance

Alright now on to Prague:

So American... 

Thursday night around 9 PM we left for Prague and after a rather boring bus ride we arrived at 9 AM on Friday. We checked into our hostel and immediately began to wander around the city. Our first stop was Starbucks because it had been over a month since any of us had seen a Starbucks and I was traveling with some avid coffee drinkers so to them it was like seeing Heaven... I just got a hot chocolate to make my roommate Kendall jealous because she wasn't with us and LOVES Starbucks.

Chair in the Sex Machine Museum

Then we headed to Old Town Square to see some of the famous sights such as the Astronomical Clock Tower, but we decided to wait a day to climb up it because we were staying literally a block away. So instead we followed Kristi (who had the map and surprisingly did an amazing job with guiding us) to the famous Charles Bridge that would lead us across the river towards the Prague Castle and the fake Eiffel Tower. Along the way we ran into some strange sights....
We saw more churches, which we stopped in but to be honest I feel like all of the churches are starting to blur together. They are amazing and beautiful, but I'm kind of getting a "been there done that" feel about them. Whoops. Then we passed the Torture Museum, the Chocolate Museum, the Sex Machine Museum, and the Wax Museum (just to name a view...).
We got a tour of the Chocolate Museum and got some free chocolate from my new friend who worked there. He asked me to marry him... said he finds Swedish girls very beautiful. Everyone in Europe assumes I am from Sweden... I wonder what they would think if I was in Ireland. Guess I won't know though cause I'm not going to make it to Ireland :( Anyways. After seeing the chocolate museum and the sex machine museum we randomly found some massive guns they just hung in the air. The trigger gets pulled on of the four guns about every 30 seconds and a huge bang is heard. Modern art these days.... fricken weird. Anyways, after being typical tourists there we left and finally we reached the Charles Bridge.

One of the Statues

The bridge had this huge entrance to it that had a guard standing inside and beautiful statues on top of it. On the bridge there were statues lining it left and right. Later we were informed that all the statues on the bridge are actually just replicas while the original statues are being held in a museum. They looked pretty real to me though. There is one statue that has a woman on the right and a dog on the left. Supposedly if you rub the woman and make a wish it will come true, but if you rub the dog you will forever have bad luck. I was told this just in the knick of time. Sooooooo close to touching the dog, because obviously that's what my dog loving instincts told me to do. After we crossed the bridge we looked up a huge hill and saw the Prague Castle.

This castle was still a good 40 minute walk, all up hill, in not the most comfortable pair of shoes. It was a struggle. What kept me going was that the castle reminded me of Hogwarts... I'm such a nerd. Finally we made it to the top and thought there was a beautiful scenic view (this view would soon be put to shame) so we took pictures of the view and the castle (which was absolutely stunning. Not like any other castle I could think of... and also the largest in Europe) Next we asked the Police, who don't speak much English... shocking

Prague Castle - Gothic Architecture

how to get to the fake Eiffel Tower (I don't remember the actual name of this tower...). He informed us it was about 30 minutes away, all up hill, again. So we started our hike up hill to make it to the Tower. It closes at 6 PM and we made it there at 5:34 PM.  However, the worker told us that they stop letting people up at 5:30 so that they can close at 6 sharp. I was sweating my butt off, as was Kristi, because we had virtually just ran all the way up there to get there before 6. We begged him to please let us go and he looked to make sure no one was around before he said, "you have 15 minutes. Go." ... this tower has NO elevator. So we began running up the stairs... again. I was wheezing by the time we got to the top. But it was an amazing view! Totally worth it. The entire city was lit up and I felt like I was on top of the world. We snapped some pictures, stood for a minute to take it all in, and then ran back down the stairs! This day was the best workout I've had in months.

View from the Tower

The Tower that we RAN up

Then we were heading for the Tram to take us back to the Charles Bridge when we met the worker that had let us go up the tower. He helped us figure out the tram and then even offered to show us where the John Lennon Wall was. He is studying in Prague from Russia, so I'm making international friends. I know, stranger danger, but we were in well lit areas with crowds, he didn't creep me out, and it was always me AND Kristi with him. I was being safe Mom... no worries. Plus at the John Lennon Wall and American mom and her daughter came up to me and warned me about foreign boys. It actually made me really happy because I could totally see my mom doing the same thing to total strangers she sees with foreigns boys. I reassured her there was nothing to worry about, explained the situation, and she told me "Good. You were raised well. Now I can sleep well tonight knowing nothing bad will happen to you two." So there you go parental unit... you apparently did a good job with me.

Any ways, we were at the John Lennon wall for awhile. It's this wall covered in graffiti because back when John Lennon was murdered someone painted him on this wall, which was illegal. The police kept painting over it but it would always reappear the next day. Eventually they gave up and now the wall is covered with quotes and pictures, people sign it from all around the world. I wrote "Bre and Kristi '12" and "DJBJ" (just for you Dani and Jackie) and "AGD" because my Alpha Gams needed to be represented on the wall (Miss you girls). We didn't have a sharpie or spray paint... but Kristi had nail polish. So that's what we wrote with. It worked.

Mole Character

After that eventful day we said goodbye to our little Russian Tour Guide and walked back to our Hostel and just kind of crashed. We woke up bright and early the next day (aka 9 AM) to head out for more fun. We did all of our souvenir shopping... the shop owners in Prague watch you like a hawk. They seem to have a zone defense going on. Once you leave a certain section of the store the worker backs off of you while another one quickly begins breathing down your neck. It's really annoying actually. Also, every single store had this little stuffed animal mole. Apparently he is a huge cartoon character in Prague that has something to do with wars... I didn't really understand the story but I was going to buy him solely because he seemed so important to the culture. He was an expensive character... even in key chain form. So instead I just took a picture with a really big version of him. It works.

Next we went to the top of the Astronomical Clock Tower. More stairs... It had an amazing view. Nothing too exciting happened but I took a ton of pictures. It was beautiful.

 After walking around some more we found the Jewish Cemetery. This cemetery is the largest in the world because under each tombstone is about 10-15 people. You're supposed to pay to get in but it was closed by the time Kristi and I got there... so I just kind of climbed on top of the stone wall and took pictures of the inside... I think that's probably frowned upon. Whoops.

We began to walk around Prague to see the night life, and I was singing The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars because it was stuck in my head all day, when some random man comes up to me and Kristi and says, "Oh! Michael Jackson!" and then proceeds to dance like Michael... including grabbing his crotch and hip thrusting. Wrong artist, but I'm glad even in the Czech Republic they associate that dance move with Michael Jackson. After he danced he simply walked away... This wasn't a street performer. Just a "normal" man who danced and left. It was soooooo strange. Next our new friends from our hostel (Armi, Andre, and John) came with us to find a peeing statue. It was hilarious. 1. Armi and Andre are from New Zeland so they're a blast to talk to naturally. and 2. we found a peeing fountain. I took pictures and videos with it because it had to be the funniest thing there was. The butts and penises of the men peeing move all around. I died laughing.

... drinking from the fountain. ;)

Casually taking a leak

After that we went to a night club that is 5 stories high. Each floor has a different theme, which was pretty cool. I was forced to dance by Kristi and John.... I don't dance. Silly children. But on one floor there was an Abba poster... so I had to take a picture with it for you Mar Mar. Hope you like it. I think that was everything for Prague. For those of you still reading this, I give you props. I think this is even longer than Siena. If only I could write my papers this easily. Next weekend I'm going to Switzerland. I'll try to sum that one up shorter. No promises though. Ciao! 

"Long Hair Don't Care" -- Just for you Jackie