A little behind here, but we are currently in Prague, also known as Praha! I've been waiting to post about Prague since Caroline and Virginia met with us on Friday (we've been here since Tuesday). Be prepared for a lot of pictures over our 4 days here.
Day 1 and 2
Our first day, we checked into our Timmy Apartment. We weren't sure what to expect since it isn't a hotel, but similar to an Airbnb. Our host is very kind and makes us breakfast every morning. He was a chef and had a restaurant until he closed it to rent out properties to tourists. We are in a cute old town home in a small neighborhood in Prague with cobble streets.
Getting to Prague was an extremely stressful day. Amsterdam Schipol Airport has so many airline terminals since each country basically has their own. It took us a while to find our EasyJet one and check in. We tried to do the mobile boarding pass but it wasn't working. Then we had to find the gate. I got pulled over at security because my phone bank, jewelry, and electric toothbrush were "suspicious" in the scan. Then, in Prague, we used Google Maps to get to the apartment. However, it was telling us the wrong bus to get onto so we randomly got onto another one to see where it would take us. For the connection, it did not say we had to go to an underground to make the connection, so we circled around for about 15 minutes before asking for help. The lady didn't really help us though.
Eventually we arrived and Timmy (the host) showed us the apartment and made sure we got there safely. After settling in, we walked around to look for food. Since it was a small neighborhood, we thought it was actually the city of Prague until we looked out onto the city from a few blocks away. We are up on a hill and the view is gorgeous! It was sort of a hike to get down to the restaurants and walk up since it is so steep. There are also a lot of policemen around here. This is the city with the most cops that we've seen.
Day 2
We went on a free walking tour and only had to pay for tips for the tour guide. She was amazing and funny! I learned a lot on the tour. For example, America accidentally bombed Prague during World War II, thinking it was Germany. There was also an old Jewish Synagogue with a clock that kept time in a counterclockwise direction. The Astronomical clock was very interesting in the way she explained what each symbol and statue meant. There's so much to it, but basically it can tell the months of year based on the position of the circles and dials. There's more hands to it and outer numbers than a regular clock. The sun and moon on the hands move up and down, depending on the time of day. 4 statues that represent vanity, greed, death, and lust sit on the sides of the clock. The vanity, greed, and lust statues shake their heads "no" while the death statue nods "yes". This is to represent that the clock is ticking and you should not be caught up with those sins. The tour guide said that the creator made that clock which is the only of its kind to still exist and work today. However, people cut his eyes and tongue out so that it could not be replicated.
We also saw the Castle church. There are 2 towers on it. Both look similar and different. The tour guide said that when they started building it, the blueprints got lost at one point, so they tried to build the other side without directions. If she never mentioned how unbalanced the towers were, I wouldn't have noticed. The right side tower is taller, thicker, and has windows at different heights than the left side (refer to picture below).
Madilyne and I also found a Hamley's toy store! We probably spent way more time than we should have in there, but it was so much fun! It was 3 floors with many interactive games, playgrounds, toys, etc. In the picture below, there is a mole with us. He is very popular in Prague because he was an original cartoon mole featured on TV. Every souvenir show sells him. There was also a giant Lite Brite (throwback! See if you can see Flat Stanley in it), Legos, a slide, merry-go-round, and optical illusion room.
Day 3
On Thusday, we went to the Praha Zoo, which is supposed to be one of the best zoos in the world! It was really cheap to get in with a student discount. However, a lot of the animals weren't there because of the cooler weather, so it was probably an off season price. We still got to see some animals though! What's amazing about the Prague zoo is that you can get very close to animals. There's also minimal glass and fencing around the animals, so it's easy to jump into their habitat, if it was allowed. The zoo is on a major hill, so it required a lot of walking and hiking. At first, we were gradually taking our time because we thought the first part we were in was the only part of the zoo. But, once we found out it went up the hill and we had only covered about 1/4 of the zoo, we realized we needed to pick up the pace. Besides it being a great zoo, there didn't seem to be an order to the layout there. Animal exhibits were everywhere and branching off to the sides in multiple directions. It would've been easier if it looped around.
My favorite exhibit was the monkeys and giraffes. We got super close to both of them! The monkeys had a little baby monkey they were fighting over, so it was interesting to see how protective they got over their young. I would have loved the wildcat exhibits if the cats were out more. They were hiding a lot.
Later that night, we went to the Dancing House, which is a renovated building that is slanted and looks like it's being pinched. It is part of a building that was destroyed where the US accidentally bombed Prague. So they restored into a cool looking building. However, when we went, it was sort of anticlimactic since there was nothing to see inside it, except a hotel. We also found a Sigmund Freud statue hanging from a building. He is holding on with his hand and hanging off the ledge. It looked eerie at night when we saw it.
We also had Chicken Schniztel which is basically a breaded and fried flat chicken breast. It is cheap and very tasty. I've been getting my protein in while I'm in Prague.
Day 4
Friday was our overlapping day with Virginia and Caroline!
We followed their itinerary and saved some sight seeing to do with them. Virginia had found this Kelmentinum Library Tour. It is this giant library with old books, giant globes, and clocks (think Beauty and the Beast). The Baroque library is from 1722 and is considered "The Most Beautiful Library in the World". All of the books have been digitized and they are kept in a dark, climate controlled room. It was disappointing because we couldn't step foot inside the library. We had to stand in the entrance way and look in. We also couldn't take pictures, so I am attaching one from Google below.
We also climbed to the top of the tower on some very old and shaky steps. We were skeptical of the steps and the barely sturdy railing. However, the view was amazing and beautiful. We got a 360 degree view of the city!
After lunch, we walked across the St. Charles Bridge. It is extremely crowded and decently long. When walking across, everyone is along the sides taking photos of the view and of themselves.
After the bridge, we headed to the Castle. The Prague Castle is on our side of the river, while Caroline and Virginia are on the Old Town Square side of the river. The castle is free of charge to enter. You can walk around the grounds and go into the cathedral. However, to go inside the castle areas and parts of the cathedral, you had to pay or get a tour package.
At the end of our adventure today, we went to the John Lennon Wall. It is the only area I've seen that allows graffiti legally. I wish I'd brought a marker to sign my name on it. I found this angel wing and halo graffiti and was the perfect size for it! You'll also see an "eyeball selfie" where you just get the pictures of your eyes instead of your whole face. I did not know this was a thing until Caroline and Virginia showed me. It was funny because we did the eyeball selfie in front of eye graffiti art.
We are now off to Copenhagen, Denmark!! It'll be a short time, but a good time. So long Prague!