Cameron, one of my best friends from my time in Kenya and therefore a experienced travelling buddy, came out this past week to visit. A few months ago, she had come up with the fabulous idea of going to Prague and, having never been there but hearing only amazing things, I decided to join her. After a day of whirl-wind London sightseeing, we left on the strenuous 1.5 hour flight to the Czech Republic.
Prague was, in one word, AMAZING. Mercifully preserved from WWII, it is a reflection of architecture over the last 500 years. Baroque, Art Nouveau, Roman, Gothic, Prague has it all- sometimes in the same building. The end result? You feel like you're in the city that inspired Disney World.
If I had to use a second word to describe Prague, it would be COLD. Cam and I braved the snow for all of the walking tours, but I would recommend holding out and going in warmer weather. After walking around for about 8 hours every day, we replaced all those burnt calories by eating loads of traditional Czech food. "What is traditional Czech food" you may ask? Meat and potatoes, what else? We ate enough dumplings to feed a small army, but it was delicious!
As usual, I find it easier to talk about travels by posting pictures, so here goes.
At the top of the hill is Prague Castle. It is one of the biggest castles in the world and that hill is much steeper than it looks.
Here's me and Cam on our walk to Prague Castle.
Me in front of St. Vitus Cathedral (part of Prague Castle). It took almost 600 years to build- construction began in 1344 and it wasn't completed until 1929!
This is me in a tiny house on Golden Row- a row of little cottages used by King Rudolf II to house his alchemists (hence the name). Later, Franz Kafka lived in this one.
This is Old Town Square which I think is the most beautiful part of Prague. I love the church towering above all the more modern buildings. It was especially beautiful at night with everything lit up.
This is the famous astronomical clock in Old Town Square.
We found that we were lucky to be visiting right before Easter because all the markets were selling these very traditional, very beautiful, very real and fragile painted eggs.
By visiting Prague right before Easter we also discovered the amusing Czech tradition of the Easter Monday Whipping Stick. On Easter Monday, boys will hit the girls they like with this wooden stick. In return, the girls will offer them one of the painted eggs. Yeah, we have no idea what this tradition means either, so if anyone knows, please enlighten us.
So that's pretty much it. There are tons more pictures, but I think these are the highlights. I'll post the rest on one of those photo-share website sometime soon.
Miss you all!!
