Prague

I arrived in Prague after an amazing bus trip from Berlin. We had a "flight" attendant on board with free coffee, tea and hot chocolate. I found my hostel and had an amazing conversation with 2 of the people working reception. My room was an all girls dorm in the basement but was nice and clean. It was 28 beds but you couldn't tell as the bunk beds were all in alcoves. I dropped off my bag and grabbed some lunch in the hostel bar before going out to explore the city. It was already dark but I found the old town, and a beautiful Christmas Market with a real Christmas tree! I walked and found the Charles Bridge and a skating rink! I saw many beautiful buildings and at night Prague is spectacular! After several hours of getting lost in Prague I managed to find my hostel. I settled in at the bar, ordered some dinner before getting to bed for an early night.

Waking up early on Wednesday I ate an amazing all you can eat buffet breakfast at my hostel. They had eggs, sausage, potatoesm fruit, veggies, meats, cheeses, and several breads, cereal, granola, yoghurt....best breakfast I've had so far and worth every penny. Afterwards I went to the old square for the free walking tour.  I met Lauren from Minneapolis and we set out on our way. Two fellow Candians from Toronto were also on the tour and we chatted while in between sights. It's always so nice to meet fellow Canadians.... We learned about the many dictatorships that the Czech Republic has gone through, for example if you were born in 1900 you would have lived through 8 different regimes if you lived until 1990. The country had one of the best European economies after WWI before it was invaded by Hitler. But because he loved the city of Prague so much he kept the fighting away. His hope was to one day retire in Prague. The most influential part of the tour was the Jewish quarter. After the Jewish people were asked to leave, the neighborhood fell into ruins as no one wanted to live there. Finally after several decades the government started to fix it up. So even though the buildings all look old, a lot of them have been redone and almost all the insides are new. We learned about the Golem at the old new synagogue, which was a figure made of mud that a rabi would give truth to and in this case every night the golem would be given words to protect the streets of the neighborhod. In the morning the words would be taken away, except one night the rhabi forgot and the golem went crazy and the words were taken away for good. Now the golem sits in the attic of the synagogue, still protecting the Jewish neighborhood.  We also learned about the Jewish cemetary which holds 50 000 bodies in a tiny graveyard. Because the government wouldn't give the Jewish people more land for cemetaries they had to start burying the bodies on top of each other. We also learned about an amazing woman who was taken to a Concetration camp and upon seeing the devastation it was having on the kids she did secret art therapy with them. When her husband was sent to Auschwitz she volunteered to go as well so she took the 1000 peices of art from children 5-17 years old and left them in a suitcase with a friend who later buried it. Sadly, this woman died only a few weeks later hut her husband survived and later went and dug up the art which is on display at a synagogue and the Jewish museum. They estimate over 15 000 Jewish children were sent to concentration camps and less than 300 returned home (not sure if this is from the Czech Republic or in total or from Prague). This is such a sad reminder of the innocent being pursecuted.

The city is so colorful and has been though many hardships as one dictatorship or another ruled the people of Czech. The people now have only been living freely for 20 some years. I can't even imagine.

After the tour I crossed the Charles bridge and headed to Lennon Wall. This ever changing wall of graffiti is dedicated to John Lennon who many saw as a hero for his stand against communism. Spray cans of paint sit at the wall so you can add to it. On my way back I passed a courtyard with some statues. It was two men facing each other having a peeing contest. Their hips swiveled as they did this. It was so cool. I had just found Kafka's Piss statue! I walked back over the bridge, trying desperately for a neat picture but there were too many people! I wandered through the streets some more before heading to the hostel to thaw out. It was a truly freezing day. I decided to go that night to Don Giovanni put on with Marionettes. I dressed up and headed out but when I got there I found out there was no show that night. So instead I found a restaurant and ordered Czech Goulash. It was tasty but unfortunately had no veggies so I ate a meat and gravy stew in a bread bowl! I guess I at least got some protein! I wandered the Christmas market before heading in for the night. I met some American girls on school break working on a project in Europe that their private University is paying for! I sure went to the wrong school!

Thursday was a busy day! The receptionist at the hostel helped me plan my day and I bought myself a day pass for the city transportation as I wanted to traverse the city to see many things! I started with a tram ride up to the palace. I wandered around and saw a beautiful cathedral on the huge grounds of the palace. I saw the changing of the guard and a marvelous view of the city. My next stop was Petrin Hill which I walked to. They have a mini Eiffel tower and a maze of mirrors. Another beautiful view of Prague and the castle awaited me. I walked part of the way down the high hill before taking the venicular the rest of the way. Amazing! I grabbed a tram and took it to the train station where I bought my ticket to Kutna Hora (home of the bone church) for Friday as well as my ticket to Krakow. Another tram ride took me to the bottom of Vitkov Hill. I had trouble finding the way but saw the huge horse statue from the street below. I did end up finding a way up but I was running out of daylight and had much to see so I headed to my next stop....the Zizkov TV Tower and home of Kafka's Babies sculpture. I could see the tower for a long time and I knew the sculptures were of giant babies but I was surprised when I turned the corner and they were climbing the tower! There are about 10 of them all over the tower! It was quite a sight.....Moving quickly now I caught another tram back to the old town and the Jewish cemetery. But when I got there the entrance fee was astronomical and I decided not to go in. I wish now I had but it'll give me a reason to go back! I made one last stop to Vysehrad. It seemed to be an old area of town that was kept like a village. It was dark so I saw the cathedral and a great view before heading back. My feet were killing my by this point and I think I may have been limping!

That evening I met Susie, from Australia who wanted to come with me to Kutna Hora. We headed out the next morning only to find we still had an hour before the train left. Susie had just arrived so we walked to the town centre and then realized once we got there that we pretty much had to turn around and go back. As the minutes ticked by I started to realize that we were quickly running out of time. We got to the station with 2 minutes before departure..,.and we still had to find the platform! Running towards what we hoped would be the right number we raced up the stairs and hopped on the train! We sure hoped it was the right one! The time matched but the destination didn't! As luck would have it we made it on the right train! Whew! We arrived in Kutna Hora but weren't sure which stop we needed. A kind woman helped us and even gave us a ride to the Bone Church. We had both heard of this place from other people but didn't really know what to expect. The admission cost was low and when we entered it was hard to believe it was real human bones decorating the ossuary. A monk had brought with him, from a holy land, some dirt that he sprinkled in the cemetery, making it a very popular place to be buried. Soon they ran out of room and had to dig up old bones. It has to be seen in person to get the full impact. I was fascinated but also had this sense of sur realism. Why would they decorate the basement of a church with human bones! St. Barbara's cathedral was another stop in Kutna Hora so Susie and I headed that way. We were both underwhelmed with this small town which I had read was an amazing place to see. We wandered around and were about to give up when we rounded the corner and saw this amazing building. It was so detailed and huge. We both just stared and said "Wow". We went inside but the outside is much more beautiful. After a quick visit we decided to head back to Prague. After a small amount of confusion we managed to find our train.......and more than 2 hours later we arrived back in Prague.....we had hopped on the slow train! :(

We went to the old town square to watch the astronomical clock do its thing on the hour. I had heard it was pretty lame but wanted to see it for myself. We had a little laugh at the clock as it struck 7 pm and then walked back to the hostel for dinner.  Shortly after that I was on my way to the train station and Krakow. Prague was a beautiful city with lots to do and see. I enjoyed my time there and would love to see it in summer!