Prague: Last Day

*Disclaimer: Our last hotel did not offer internet connection in our room, thus this blog on our last day in Prague is three days late. Sorry!

Sadly we are leaving the ornate city of Prague. And we are riding out in style, on a European train to Vienna. We will only be in Vienna for three days so our stay will probably not be as relaxing as Prague, but just as exciting. I’ve decided to sing Sound of Music songs until we arrive at our platform in Vienna. Alex probably won’t be too happy about that, oh well.

Our final day in Prague was the most relaxing of them all. Only restaurants, souvenir shops and the Christmas markets were open on Christmas day, so there wasn’t much to do around the city. So we spent all day watching Christmas/Old movies on youtube and google videos. We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, WHAM music video to “Last Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Nightmare before Christmas, Babes in Toyland, The Shining, and ended the night watching comedy clips.

Sometime in between laying around and watching tv, I took a stroll around Wenceslas Square. Alex wasn’t feeling well and I was restless so I went out for a brat for lunch, then took the 9 Tram to its end, and back. I saw another part of town and realized that all of Prague isn’t like the city center. The city center is very nice, and outside of it the architecture becomes bland and it looks more slumish…like any other country I guess.

Even now, as we are leaving the country we are just beginning to see how most of the country is. There are areas where it looks like a shanty town – just shack after run down shack. Some of the suburbs we are passing do not have paved roads and some of the houses are literally falling to pieces. It kind of puts a damper on all the beauty we saw in the city. Not that Prague’s image is ruined, just a reminder that there is a reality behind the well-kept city center.

Also I mentioned to Alex two days ago that I could count, on one hand, how many black people I’ve seen since being in the Czech Republic. Or Arabs, or any minority markedly different from the Czech peoples. I’ve seen many Asians, and many European looking people, and that’s all. I’m not sure if there is a significant minority here with a significant difference in skin color, or if the minority is something more like a community of people who identify themselves with Slovakia.

Coming from a country that is so diverse, it sometimes amazes me that places I’ve traveled to have populations that are so homogenous. I realize that America is much bigger than small countries like Lebanon, Czech Republic, etc, but it still amazes me.

Now off to Vienna!

Prague: Day 4

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! According to custom in Prague, Alex and I celebrated Christmas today. Like many Christmases before this one, I got up much later than usual. It must just be something about the day, where you just want to lay around and just enjoy doing nothing.

After a big breakfast we went back to our room to lay around again. I’m telling you, its just something about the day.

We began our Christmas adventures by walking over the Charles Bridge. It was a beautiful structure, lined with stone carvings of individuals and scenes. From there we walked to the Jewish Quarter. One of the synagogues was closed, but the Old-New Synagogue was open.

The Old-New Synagogue was filled with history, from its architecture and all it had been through. There are also many legends attached to it.

Afterward we just walked around Wenceslas Square, drank some mulled wine and enjoyed the cold weather. Then we returned and took a long afternoon nap.

Finally we ended the night with a nice Christmas dinner at the restaurant around the corner from our hotel. They had a Christmas special of Christmas Chowder, Duck leg, Cabbage, Dumplings and Apple Strudel. It was my first time eating duck and I really enjoyed it.

After we ate our fill, Alex opened the gifts I bought for him. This year I got him some special gifts to last a long time. A black leather Business card holder with his name inscribed on it and a matching keychain with an engraving. I also got him a nice tie clip and a flask with engraving, so he can be a handsome and smart business man!

We are now relaxing and watching Christmas movies. We just saw Babes in Toyland, another first for me, and now The Nightmare before Christmas. Definitely a classic. Hope everyone’s Christmas is going just as well! Miss everyone and Merry Christmas!

Prague: Day 3

Not breaking our Sunday tradition, we woke up late today and took our time to eat breakfast and get ready. Unfortunately we missed Mass, but we are planning to attend one in Budapest. Around noonish, we stepped out to confront the cold and do some more exploring of Prague.

It was nice to just stroll around the city and see all the Christmas shoppers. We even saw some people carrying Christmas trees back to their homes. Getting a late start, I guess.

Our first stop was the Museum of Communism. It outlined a brief overview of the history of big communist leaders, but also communism in what was Czechoslovakia. Much of the museum focused on communist propaganda, either to promote the lifestyle or against capitalist states like America, and it was very interesting. Propaganda infiltrated even sports and such. They also had a short film of demonstrations against the communist regime in Prague, which was really moving. Alex really liked the museum and I would recommend it to anyone interested in history.

Next we passed by the Astronomical clock, which is a clock on the side of a church with significant historical significance. There are turks on the clock, and one the hour all these mechanical figures move and a Turk wags his head. The turk is supposed to represent the bad, it’s interesting to say the least. Supposedly the man who created the clock was blinded by the ruler at the time so he could never make another clock like it. There was a huge crowd to see the hourly ritual, so it was hard to see everything happening.

We sat down for some lunch at a cute little restaurant. The soup we ordered was great, but the cokes were $6 a glass. That was a bit of a shock.

Somewhere in between that and the Christmas concert we attended I bought a very warm wool hat, always a must. Anyway, the Christmas concert was a lovely find. It was in a small church with a pretty small crowd. The musicians, however, warranted a bigger audience. It was just a string quartet, three violinists and a man playing a big stringed instrument (maybe a cello, but I really have no idea). Despite my ignorance of the instruments used, the music was beautiful and moving. We heard some Handel, Mozart, and two versions of the Ave Maria.

We finished off the night with a visit to the Sex Machines Museum. We were on our way back to the hotel when we came across the reddest building I have ever seen, with an even more interesting title. This museum showcased toys and machines for sexual enhancement, devices for the opposite effect (including chastity belts and anti-rape devices) historical pornography, and much more.

Most of it was either interesting or funny, except for the third floor. That floor covered all things sadistic and masochist, and very disturbing things for the alternative lifestyle. I will leave it up to your imagination. This is a great stop for those who don’t take life too seriously!! But if you must choose between this one and the Museum of Communism, go with the latter.

We are really enjoying Prague! We forewent brats again tonight, but tomorrow it’s a must. The Jewish Quarter is on our agenda for tomorrow, as is a trip to the Charles Bridge (which, by the way, we bought a nice painting of today. It was exactly what we were looking for!).

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas Eve, and hope you enjoy the beginning of parties and celebrations!

Prague: Day 2

Despite the cold, our first full day proved to be really satisfying. We woke up pretty early, ate a fulfilling Czech breakfast and we were out the door by 9:30, ready to do some exploring.

We first walked up to Petrin Hill, which is a little touristy village very close to our hotel. We rode up a funicular tram to the top of the village where there was a small replica of the Eiffel Tower. Two hundred something steps later we were overlooking all of Prague, and had the most beautiful views of the city.

Also I made Alex pay for tickets for a mirror labyrinth. It was exactly what you would expect – a small building with a small mirror maze, probably more for little kids, one historical painting to justify the building, and another room with silly mirrors. I though it was great…Alex was a little less enthusiastic, but it was still a fun time.

Afterward we walked around some nice village-like streets, walking in and out of little shops. We also visited a small art gallery, we are thinking about getting a piece of art as our souvenir but Alex has a specific idea, like a painting of Prague during the winter as we are here during that time. We have a couple days, hopefully we will come across something really nice.

To warm up, we stopped for a bit in a little café an enjoyed a great cup of cream of mushroom soup and really rich hot chocolate. We finished in time to witness the changing of the guard at Prague Castle, said to be Prague’s most popular tourist site. The guards are much like the British guards, unmovable and fun to take pictures next to!

We paid for the long tour in the castle, which included passes to the Old Royal Palace, the Story of Prague Castle, the Basilica of St. George, the National Gallery and the Golden Lane. And everyone had access to the Cathedral. The Cathedral was really something else. It was like pictures you find in history books of really beautiful churches. This one was in the Gothic style and it took five hundred years to complete it.

The Cathedral was huge, over 160 meters long, and housed some of the most beautiful displays of stained glass and artwork I have seen. This is not saying much becuase I haven't seen many ancient cathedrals, but it was definitely worth seeing. It was pretty crowded, but all of the artwork and mini chapels surrounding the nave justified the crowds. We invested in the audio tour of the Castle and the Cathedral alone took up soundbits 1-25. Most of it was history of the cathedral, and the saints, members of royalty and patrons buried there, or memorialized in mini chapels.

The artwork in the National Gallery is alone worth the visit. A lot of religious-themed paintings are housed there, but there were a lot of Bohemian historical paintings as well. In the Story of Prague Castle they displayed skeletons of people buried in the castle community, as well as the artifacts and dress they were buried with. The displays, among many other things, illustrated some very interesting parts of their historical culture.

We will post pictures as well, but here is a link with some history and pictures of Prague Castle: http://www.prague.net/prague-castle

By the time we left it was getting dark already. Alex wanted to buy our tickets to Vienna ahead of time, just in case, so we utilized the public transport (which is almost as extensive as New York’s) and rode the metro down to the train station.

Then we finally headed out to get lunch/dinner. We were both in the mood for Italian, and after a brisk stroll trying to find the nearest tram we luckily found a restaurant called Pizzeria Coloseum, and sat down to eat. Alex ordered Lasagna and I had the best plate of Spinach Ravioli with Cheese…one of the best Italian meals I have eaten. The price was really good as well. Unfortunately, we ate pretty late so we didn’t get brats today, but I am definitely looking forward to one tomorrow!

So our long day ended with a brief tram ride back to the hotel, us immediately jumping under the covers to warm up, and almost directly after lying down we feel asleep for a refreshing two hour nap.

Our itinerary tomorrow includes attending mass (not sure of the church yet), hitting up the Jewish Quarter, Christmas concert in Wenceslas Square and who knows what else!

Prague: Day 1

We safely landed in the snowy city of Prague, after a comfortable 5 hour flight from Beirut. Leaving Lebanon at four in the morning was ideal – I slept through the whole 3 hour flight to Milan, and through the 2 hour flight from Italy to the Czech Republic.

Our first view of Prague from the plane was what looked like a blanket of snow covering the whole country. Literally it looked like nothing but thick snow…no buildings or anything. We actually couldn’t tell if we were close to the ground or still above the clouds. We soon realized, after flying through the thick sea of whiteness, that it was the fog that had settled over the whole city. The sun that was warming us in the plane could not be seen anywhere from the ground.

And of course it was FREEZING! In Beirut this year, like every year before it, there will be no snow. And it can be warm enough to wear a jacket out sometimes. But here it’s a totally different story. I was definitely not prepared for the -9 degrees Celsius (Farenheit?).

Otherwise we had no problem getting off the plane and catching a tram and metro to our hotel. Well, that is, after we missed a stop because I didn’t know how to work the tram door. Four frozen thighs later we found our hotel and dropped off our luggage before heading out for lunch.

We ate lunch at a homely warm (keyword) restaurant right next to our hotel. By this time we were dead tired and really just wanted to take a nap. However, Alex got it into his head that he wanted to walk down to the Charles River and take a peek. Not being very well dressed for it and a little cranky, I wanted to nap first then do some sightseeing. But Alex was suddenly incredibly hyper, and it was just so cute. So I got some pics of him being silly and looking out at the River.

After a couple hour nap, which turned out to be really refreshing, we layered up and went out for a little stroll. We crossed the river and walked around Wenceslas Square. How fitting, eh?

As we walked it was impossible not to admire all of the beautiful architecture – it’s almost like stepping into a scene from two centuries ago, except everyone is wearing modern clothes. We also did a little window shopping, and found it very nice to be back in a country with outlets and department stores.

Best of all, while walking around an outdoor Christmas market in the square, Alex and I stopped for bratwurst sandwiches and mulled red wine. The wine was pretty strong, but warm and spicy, and the brats (which I cannot find in Beirut, and yes I have tried) were fantastic! We decided we would just buy brats off the street for dinner every night until we leave for Vienna, and go out for lunch instead. Supposedly lunch is the main meal here anyway, so it works out perfectly.

When our fingers told us it was time to get back to the hotel and thaw out, we bought a map and headed back. Now we are spending the rest of the night watching dubbed American movies and planning our adventures for the next few days.

Unfortunately I’m having symptoms of a small UTI so it is putting a damper on our plans for tomorrow. I’m trying to water it out, so hopefully it will just leave me alone for Christmas vacation. But I can’t let such a small thing get to me. To name a few places, we are planning to visit the National Museum, the Museum of Communism, the Jewish Quarter, a big castle (in Alex’s words), and a couple villages outside of the city.

We will try and get as many pictures as possible. Actually today Alex noticed my lack of picture taking, and rightfully pinned it on the fact that it is just too cold. If the sun peeks through tomorrow maybe we will get some good shots. Stay tuned for many Xmas vacation updates!!