Hey friends, family, and acquaintances,
So I CZECHED another country off the list this weekend when I visited Prague in the Czech Republic. ****PARENTAL WARNING- things got a little messy this trip and I will be nothing but brutally honest in this post hahah**** On Friday I woke up early and hopped on the Dublin Bus to take me into city center where I was catching the Aircoach. The Aircoach is an awesome service here in Dublin where a shuttle bus will pick you up and take you to the airport for around 6 euro. I was meeting my friend Paige from home and her roommate who are studying at UCD. Because we had checked in using the Aer Lingus app we could bypass all the typical waiting around and head straight to security. The flight itself was a little over two hours long. Upon arriving in Prague there were immediate signs of the communist and soviet era. Everything seemed a little colder and there was certainly a feeling that the country was playing catch-up in their post-communist state. I continued my tradition of tasting the McDonald's in every country before hopping in the cab towards the hostel. One of the biggest difference in the Czech Republic is their currency; they aren't members of the European Union and therefore don't use the Euro. Instead, they use the Czech Koruna. I took out about 2000 koruna which equates to about $97 US dollars. We got to our hostel, The Czech Inn, which is on the newer side of Prague. Ironically the newer part is not as nice as Old Town because it was built up during the Soviet Era. After settling in we tried to venture out to find food. There wasn't much around but we found a Chinese place. Even that was a struggle though. The shop owners first language was Chinese and her second language was Czech, so we ended up pointing to the menu and hoping for the best. We got back to the hostel and met up with our nine other roommates who were on the trip with us to get ready for the Clock Tower Bar Crawl. Prague is the nightlife capital of Europe and the thing to do on Fridays is crawl. This is where the trouble started. This crawl was 18 euro and included a four hour open bar. I felt like I was back in an international frat party. We played beer pong with people from Spain and Liverpool among other places. By the end of the night was had the whole bar chanting USA as we dominated every opponent in pong. They also just carry around trays and trays of free shots for you to grab as you party. We left the first bar and walked across the street to stop number two. Did I mention that at every bar they give you a welcome shot? This one was an underground dance club type experience where everyone was on the stage dancing around enjoying their 3 for 2 euro Jager bombs... The third bar was about a 20 minute walk. Along the way we almost got hit by the tram; that was the first near death experience. The third place got really weird, really quickly so we didn't stay long. We decided it would be best to hop off the crawl before the last stop so we wouldn't be too hungover for the next day. After cabbing it back to the hostel I attempted to get back into the top bunk but missed a step on the ladder, kicked the bed HARD, and fell, injuring myself pretty badly. In all honesty I probably should have gotten stitches but they aren't so easily accessible in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. I went to bed and dealt with it in the morning . Everyone woke up around 9 to go to breakfast and get ready for the walking tour. My injuries forced me to walk a little slower but I toughed it out and made it through the day. We went down to the water and viewed the city, saw the Charles Bridge, and even made a stop at the John Lennon Wall. The wall was my favorite part. During the Velvet Revolution, which was the movement to pull away from communism and eventually allowed the country to become a republic, young activists and students would come to this wall and write secret messages about protests and meetings. Every day the communist forces would come to the wall and paint over them. If you were caught writing on the wall you would be arrested and tortured. Today though, the wall serves as a symbol of the country's progress and people come from all over the world to leave messages. Our trip leaders brought some spray paint for us to write our own messages. Paige and I decided to leave an Irish message and wrote Slainte. I also put #NBLB on the wall in memory of Sara. For lunch we had a traditional three-course Czech meal which was, well, interesting. The first course was a weird soup, followed by beef goulash. Not horrible but not my favorite European meal. For dessert we had apple strudel. After lunch we traveled by tram up the hill to Prague castle. The castle itself is pretty small and is really just a group of building surrounding what people thing is Prague Castle, St. Vicar's Cathedral. St. Vicar's is a huge Gothic building and is actually the second largest cathedral in the world. We explored there a little bit and had Starbucks on the side of the cliff. Then we headed back to the hostel for a rest. For dinner we found a place by the metro where some of us had burgers and other had more traditional Czech food like pork knuckles and cheek. Very bizarre. On the last day in Prague we woke up and headed to Old Town Square to see the Astrological Clock which was voted the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe, next to the Mona Lisa, While beautiful, the clock doesn't do much except the parts move on the hour for a small show. Each piece of the clock represents something which was interesting to learn about. We stopped at a place called the Bakeshop for a light lunch before heading off to the airport. One interesting fact about the Prague airport is that there is no security until you get to your individual gate. Each gate has its own mini security check. While I had a very fun time in Prague I am always excited to go home. It's actually starting to scare me that when I think of home I think of Dublin instead of America. It is just such an overwhelming feeling every time I get off the plane in Dublin knowing that I am back in a place that brings me so much happiness. I have had very few bad days here and I'm not ready to come home. I wish I could just come home for Christmas time and come back for the spring. In any case I am going to live it up for the rest of my time here and I know I will be back as soon as possible. Berlin next weekend!
From Dublin with Love.
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