(2-28)– So this weekend was really exciting! We have had some worries recently with the coronavirus making its rounds that we wouldn’t be able to travel at all. Although the worst of it is centered in Italy, there are a lot of programs being recalled to the states and it seems the SUNY’s are nervous about students being quarantined. But we still decided that the one trip we had already planned– Prague– would be safe since there were no reported cases in the Czech Republic.
We started the day pretty early since we had to get from the flat to the airport. It first started around eight, and Nicole and I packed our bags and went to get coffee. We tried a little place down the street that we haven’t gone to before, and its menu was actually expansive. They had smallish servings, but it was good coffee and the place itself reminded me of colorful shops I know back home. Marjani was running late but then we all headed out and got on the tube for a couple stops to Liverpool Station, and bought insanely expensive train tickets to Stanstead. We didn’t make it quite in time for the one that was departing, so we got some coffee and used the toilets. Nicole and I went over to use them and left all of our stuff, but since the train was leaving at 11:25 and we finished at 11:23, there was a miscommunication. The other’s with us ended up getting on the train with our tickets and all our stuff, and so Nicole and I almost missed the train! But thankfully, we called Jacob, who ran back one of the tickets, and then the nice security guard let us through. The ride to the airport was pretty calming, though, and we were hoping that would be the last trouble of the day.
But when we got to the airport, of course, there was more. First, we all had to get through passport control, customs, security and all that jazz. Ryanair made us print off our boarding passes and only carry one bag of toiletries, both annoying complications. When we finally did get through all the checks, we lost Marjani and had to run to find our gate, which was only announced like 20 minutes before they started boarding (I guess those cheap tickets are like that for a reason!). Thankfully, we found her and got in line.
The weirdest thing about the flight itself was that we had to walk outdoors to board the plane. There was no jetway! It was sort of cool to see the whole plane from the outside since I’ve never done it before. Once we took off, I was expecting it to be a bit bumpier, but it was actually relatively calm (more like Frontier than Spirit, it seems). And the trip itself was actually really nice since the weather was good. The view was phenomenal! It was interesting to see how the landscape changed; there was so much noticeably different and it almost felt fairytale-like with the forests, canyons and, once, a giant section of white-capped mountains with a noticeable crater in the middle.
When we landed, the weather was still pretty good and the sun was starting to go down, so everything had a golden tint. We worked our way through the airport, which aside from the man checking my passport not speaking a lick of English to me, was surprisingly easy to make our way through. In fact, there wasn’t even a customs check, which was very strange. It took us a bit to get to all sorted, but when we made it outside we each bought a pair of bus tickets to get into the main city. It was a little intimidating, and since it was a little dark, everything seemed a bit ominous and haunted.
We transferred over to the subway and took a couple stops to get to the one closest to our hostel, which let us out at a big lit-up church and a gate with giant golden angels.
This turned out to be the Church of St. Ludmila, a Neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church built between 1888-1892. It seemed extravagant and well built, the two towers and the portal window adding a dimension of height in the square (most of the buildings nearby are much shorter) and Frankenstein-esque unease.
It was fully dark when we got to the hostel, but thankfully it was much better than our last, from right off the bat. The reception was a little gruff, but we got a private room, which we weren’t expecting at all. The beds were bunks, the bathrooms were cleaner, and all the amenities were provided, although the bathrooms kept running out of the soap. I really liked it all, and we were all bouncing off the walls (even though we had just spent all day traveling).
Some other good things about the hostel: they had an ATM, which made it easy to switch our money. I got out 2000 Crowns (or Czech Koruna), which literally comes out in two bills. That single bill in the picture is worth about 42 dollars (so I got out about a total of 85 dollars). Their money isn’t anything extraordinary, but the people all on it look large and scary, which isn’t that surprising. A lot of the people that were speaking Czech were actually still intimidating, even today.
For example, we went to this restaurant called Restaurace Historie that the receptionist recommended, and the waiter seemed to really hate us. Maybe it was just a language barrier, but he almost seemed like he couldn’t bother with us. We were tired and couldn’t read the menu, so we also couldn’t really decide what we wanted; he basically forced the boys and me to get beers (which were actually pretty good, the foam was sort of milky and the beer was a little sweeter than normal). When everyone finally decided what to get– Czech food like fried cheese, pretzels and lots of beef– he came back and rushed through our order. I got seasoned trout and table pretzels, which I was expecting to be a fillet but came as a full fish with eyes and tail!
It was pretty well cooked and fell right off the bone, although it was actually a little light on seasoning. I didn’t mind it, but the rest of the table had a little trouble since it was all such heavy foods. The tap water also costs money here, so drinking beer and fried foods without the buffer was a little much. I was getting so nervous that I even ran into the wrong bathroom by accident and got yelled at by a stranger.
Anyway, we walked back up the hill to the hostel to settle our stomachs and found out that there is actually a bar underneath the living space. Even more exciting, the bar was hosting an open mic! We decided to go down, hoping to meet some other people our age and grabbed some more beers. The atmosphere, and even more importantly, the bar itself, was super nice and obviously well taken care of. It had the distinct feeling of being campy, even a little artificial, but with the stage and the chatter, it was still very nice! Everyone downstairs was also much nicer to us than the people at other places.
What was even cooler about the open mic was that you didn’t have to preregister or anything, so we were able to convince Nicole to go up and sing on the stage! She was really great and made all of our nights so much better. One of her songs was an original, and if I had to be completely honest, I think she was the best singer/songwriter up there. Good job Nicole!
After a bit, we all got pretty tired and slowly went off to bed. It was really nice to feel a bit warm from the alcohol, be in a new country, and fall into a bed that was actually almost more comfortable than my one at FSU! Even though it was a really busy/stressful day, I think it was still a super good start to our trip.
(2-29)– Happy Leap Day!
We woke up today after sleeping in a bit and got to see the hostel and view a bit more. It was really nice because my bed was right by the window and the sun coming up (with the blue sky) was different than most London mornings. We also all had a pretty good night of sleep, and it was fun to have a kind of “sleepover” with my friends.
We got ready sluggishly, since the hour time change, traveling, and staying up late was clearly hitting us. The first cool thing that we noticed was that the roads are all paved with square, colored stones. It looked nice set up the way it is, with some sections shaded grey and others this reddish and black color. They definitely lend to that indulgent, fairy-tale vibe that the city gives me. Maybe it’s because everything seems so planned?
The buildings are also really colorful, and many, especially the modern or national buildings, have sculpture art or are gilded with gold. There are even a ton of statues of important historical people. It’s somewhat like other cities, but there is something special and different about this one.
we kept walking down the long promenade in front of the National Museum and eventually found our way to Old Town Square, which is in the older part of town. It is full of a bunch of buildings that have a lot of history, like the Gothic Church of Our Lady of Tyn (the main church since the 14th c.), the Baroque St. Nicholas, and the Old Town Hall and it’s Prague Orloj, otherwise known as the Prague Astronomical Clock.
It houses the Jan Hus Memorial, who was burned at the stake in the square; the location also had a bloody history as the Habsburg’s chosen execution place of 27 Czech Bohemian Revolt leaders.
Despite its history, there’s an air of revelry that must come from the beauty of the buildings and a fading of that history. Shops line up along the walls and the alleys leading to the Square. Many serve traditional Bohemian snacks, like mulled wine–warm, spiced and very sweet— and trdelnik, rolled dough that is spun around a stick, fire-roasted, and topped with sugar and sometimes filled with ice cream or chocolate. I got some of each and loved them both, although it was definitely too early and too much sugar. I also sneezed with the wine in my hand and managed to spill it all down my shirt. I even got the chocolate all caught in my beard. I didn’t think it was going to be so messy or so heavy, but I guess I should have expected it!
Then we went to a little medieval town just off the square to do a little shopping. We found some really interesting stuff that’s known as Bohemian– Prague ladies (clay or glass figures), absinthe, and handmade glass (here in beads form). A lot of the stuff is tourist-based, but some of it is still pretty regardless. The handmade beads, for example, were the only glass items I could find that wasn’t factory-made.
We spent some time wandering before ultimately deciding that we wanted to do something else, so we walked the opposite direction to Charles Bridge. The bridge crosses the Vltava River and was actually built from 1357 to the 15th c. for Charles IV (not the one we know and love– originally Wenceslaus, the first King of Bohemia to become Holy Roman Emperor).
This stone bridge was the only way to cross the river until around 1841, connecting Prague Castle to the Old Town, and is decorated with statues, about 30 baroque-style replicas. It’s quite beautiful, especially in the sun, and used as a pedestrian bridge, so it is always bustling with people. It has a wonderful view of the rest of the river that runs through town, and the many bridges that now cross the river on both sides. While we visited in the winter, I’m curious to know what it would have looked like if we had been here on a warm day after rain, with steam rising off the water. It would have most definitely fit the mystical air this whole place sort of has.
There’s also a whole lot of art and performers around here. There’s a slideshow below of some of the cooler art that I found, such as the Lennon Wall, which is the only legal place in Prague to graffiti. It started in the 1960s with love poems and short messages against the regime; after the 1980 assassination of John Lennon his face became a symbol of freedom, and so those began to crop up instead. It has been whitewashed and painted over many times but is now a protected site.
We got lunch– Caprese sandwich for me and huge franks/hot dogs for the others that really filled them up. The waitresses here are either a lot meaner or there is a language difference (miscommunication?).
We headed up, after wandering for a bit, to the hill of Prague Castle, which is where the President’s house, St. Vitus Cathedral, and St. George’s Basilica are all located. The President’s house is pretty fancy and has a lot of gold on its spires. They also have a castle guard in Czechia, who are doled up in a much more military-style dress (cadet hat, colorful uniform, guns) than they are in the UK. We’re planning on visiting the rest of the complex later, so I’ll talk some more about them later.
Eventually, we started heading back down the hill when it was getting a little dark. We circled around the back of the complex and got kind of freaked out because they used giant shards of glass to protect it rather than something normal like barbed wire. Something about the glass just seemed a lot more brutal for some reason, I think.
Anyway, we took the long walk home and saw some more cool views before getting back to the hostel. The sun had pretty much gone all the way down, and somewhere along the line, Marjani had gotten separated from both groups. Thankfully she was able to find her way back alone since almost all of us had really spotty reception and couldn’t use our phones for the weekend.
In the hostel, we all took a little nap and relaxed for an hour or so before there was an event to go to in the bar. Brian, Marjani and I went down and found out it was a “Burlesque” show, but it seemed more like stripping to us, and with a lot of male patrons, we got uncomfortable pretty quickly. I think I was the first to go (regular burlesque would have been fine, but there was something just a little too weird about this, honestly) and they followed suit pretty fast.
We went out with the others after and decided to go to an Italian place for dinner. We always have trouble finding a place that can seat all of us, so we tried a few different ones before finally settling down at one– I’m not even sure what the name of the place was. The highlights from this place; well-oiled pasta that wasn’t enough to fill me up, pork knuckle (the knee of a pig) for Brian, Rhyana ordering a salad and getting gnocchi because of the language barrier, and really good chocolate souffle (their word for lava cake). It wasn’t extraordinary food, but it was much more our speed than the traditional Czech dishes we got on the first night.
We headed home afterward and played cards for a bit. With the time change, I found I was having trouble sleeping even more than normal, so I stayed up for a bit and played cards and then eventually dozed off. I made plans to wake up early with Brian to see Olsany Graveyard, so hopefully, that happens tomorrow.
(3-1)– We actually woke up early and got around to going to the Cemetery. It has a lot of art nouveau gravesites and is the biggest in Prague, supposedly laid out for two million burials. It started construction in 1680 to accommodate plague victims and then became the main cemetery to keep the bodies outside the city walls. It actually contains 12 cemeteries, with picturesque trails and beautiful monuments. I really think it’s a lovely way to commemorate the dead, from the famous to the unknown, and I could have spent a lot of time here, just calmly and peacefully observing all these lives of the past. Even though they’re all written in Czech, there are parts you can’t help but understand– dates of death and lives cut too short, loving families who leave flowers and candles, lists of names of families extinguished.
It’s sobering to remember that this is what lays in store for us, but I can’t help but be amazed at it, and my morbid curiosity finds beauty in even the graves desecrated and destroyed. Maybe it calms me to realize that there’s finite in this world– things nowadays can seem so infinite, so rushed, and frankly exhausting– or maybe it’s just the need to see the connections people have with others, so strong that they last even after bodies have melted away into the dirt. Either way, I think this cemetery is a beautiful visit. It’s another one of my must-see’s, although I understand that things related to death just aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.
We got lost for a bit on the way back and found some cool graffiti and a view; there are also pictures of some sculpture and the overground tram that runs through most of the city on the rail. These types of cosmopolitan life will always amaze me; I think it’s so great to have such handy travel access, and you can go anywhere and find something new. Maybe it’s from living in small-town America (or what I consider to be, anyway) but that kind of thing is always cool.
We went back to the hostel and waited for the others to get up. I actually ended up falling back to sleep for a bit, but when the others were finally ready we went out to get breakfast. This tiny place called Vanille had some beautiful dessert/coffee and it’s about halfway back down the hill to Old Town Square. We stopped in and I bought this cute little parfait-ish mango breakfast and a latte. It was almost a candy, but it was pretty good, like a mixed-fruit yogurt bowl.
We went back down to the Town Square. Adding on to our unhealthy food binge, we also tried another Prague classic, which is handmade potato chips. We had them in a bag, but you can also get them as a spiraled potato on a stick. The ones we had were almost fries in terms of thickness, and really salty. I mean it’s hard to mess up potato chips, but they were pretty good. I can definitely see myself getting these in a moment of craving weakness.
We headed back over Charles Bridge and noticed something else that’s really different here; the homeless or poverty-stricken people almost all beg in a prayer-like position as if they are bowing to Mecca. They also mostly don’t say anything. It was really sad to see, and I hated how much more serious these people had to be. I wonder if it is because of the nation’s attitudes, a religious reason, or if tourists are more likely to give money that way, but the difference was really noticeable.
Once we went back over Charles Bridge, we stopped at a little market and bought a few souvenirs, and we split off into groups. Jacob and Nicole went and looked at antiques, Mia and Rhyana went shopping and go on a boat tour, and Marjani, Brian and I went to see the Infant Jesus of Prague. The 16th c. Roman Catholic wax-and-wood statue is located in Mala Strana (the Lesser Town) at the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady Victorious (what a name, huh?). It holds a “globus cruciger,” has a golden crown, and is clothed in imperial regalia (of luxurious fabric) by Carmelite nuns. Legend claims it belonged to Saint Teresa of Avila.
It was really so fun to see it! I feel like everyone knows about it, even if only a little, and it’s almost funny to see it in person. I feel conflicted about it almost; in many ways, it does feel royal and religious, encased in glass and gold and dressed so finely, but it’s also just a doll, and its spiritual significance is still a material one. How do the things that we find to have greater meaning get those histories? I think there’s something to be said about innocence and human desire in this need to find importance in the world we live in. People need something to care about, so they give it to the most innocent, the most untainted (I.E. an infant, and furthermore, a child’s toy). As odd as it is, something about it also strikes me as endearing. If anything, it definitely makes me laugh at how creative we as people can be.
We hiked it back up the nineteen flights of stairs that get us to the top of the hill overlooking Prague and got this pretty view. We planned on going back to the castle but decided we wanted better daylight for the hike up to Petrin Hill, which isn’t far but is definitely higher up.
So we detoured over a bit to the park that lay at its base and started the voyage up. It’s about 327 m above sea level and has a funicular railway car that we could have used, but didn’t. The green space is actually quite nice, and it reminded me of some of the hillier parks near Binghamton, with a lot of running paths and people exploring. There are even some sculptures here that add to the artsy, tranquil quality.
At the very top of the hill, behind two large stone walls, lies the Petrin Lookout Tower, which strongly resembles the Effiel Tower. Another 208 ft and 299 steps up, it was built in 1981 as an observation and transmission tower. Its views are, like everything here, quite stunning; a 360 view of the city, surrounding forests, Prague Castle, and the river. This was definitely my favorite view, although the sun setting by the time we came back down (while visiting Prague Castle) on the orange tiled roofs was quite a beautiful sight to see as well.
Halfway back on the path to Prague Castle, we found another sight that I thought we were probably going to have to skip, which was Strahov Monastery. The abbey was founded in 1143; during the Hussite Wars, it was relatively unused but eventually regained its footing by focusing on creating living space for monks, a garden, a brewery, and even a hospital. The Basicilia of the Assumption of Our Lady was used as the main cloister church. Under new leadership in 1670, the Theological Hall was built; then, once again in 1779, the Classical style Philosophical Hall and its library were built, completing the last big project at the abbey. From 1950 to 1989, the communist regime controlled the abbey and restricted the religious manner which it had previously enjoyed. After the fall of the regime, it was finally reconstructed to its former glory and now holds 200,000 volumes.
Gosh, all I can say is I really love libraries, even tourist ones were I can’t touch the books.
We finally made it over the Castle but only got to walk the grounds since many of the buildings were shut by then and it was a Saturday. Still, seeing St. Vitus and St. George’s was just as cool from the outside since both are so beautifully ornate and detailed.
Nicole always says churches remind her of the overwhelming presence of God, but I like to focus more on the people. When they get along and when they believe in something for real, people really just make some of the most beautifully intricate and amazing things. I feel like it has been a long time since we’ve had that. Of course, the style has changed, but sometimes I wish we could have this again. There’s nothing like time that will show you what it means, and what it meant, to be human. Seeing things like this just solidified for me how important unity is for us to continue to foster growth and learning.
After a nice little walk, it was starting to get dark and we decided that it was probably best to start heading home. On the way, we ran into this protest (?) and we still aren’t really sure what it was for. It seemed like a pretty strong community thing, though, and by the time we made it back to the Town Square, there was a giant demonstration going on. We steered clear of it, but it was still interesting.
Marjani and Brian got some tredlnik that was way better than the stuff we got the first day (softer and less sweet), and I got “black ice cream” with was really just chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cone. The others grabbed pizza for dinner and everyone seemed really tired so we went home and napped; when I woke up I was starving so Nicole and I got falafel from a place around the corner that was actually surprisingly really delicious. I’ve been eating a ton of falafel on this trip.
We got some money out for the cab to get to the airport in the morning, and then messed around for a while; since we had to leave at 3am to get there on time, we all packed up and hung out. It was already midnight, so I couldn’t really fall asleep, and I just messed around for the rest of the night. I hope I can sleep on the plane!
(3-2)– Thankfully, today went exactly as we planned. The taxi to the plane to the train to tube to the walk home took FOREVER, especially since we had to wait through security (a rock I wanted to bring home got confiscated and it was surprisingly easy amid virus concerns to get through customs, but otherwise nothing new) and we got home around 10:30 and all crashed. The others that had a later flight also got home, although they got a ticket for not validating their bus tickets (DUH). For us, It was a really long morning, but we worked through it together and got to see a really amazing city. Nicole keeps making jokes that she’s going to run away there and open an antique store. She found Prague “charming,” and I’m pretty sure most others would agree. Everyone had a very nice trip, and I’m super glad we went! Cheers to the next adventure!
Ethan Knox 
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