Czech it out

  Prague, Bohemia, Czech Republic
Monday, August 18, 2008

Exactly a week into my trip, I took a 4 hour train ride from Berlin to Prague.


Unfortunately, Prague has become very touristy over the past few years. Its full of Spanish people and Koreans (thanks to a Korean drama filmed there a couple years ago)


I was determined to get the most out of Prague though. So the next morning, I woke up at 5:30 to see the city. And what a difference that made! The picture above is of St. Charles Bridge at around 6pm. At 6:30am, it seemed like a completely different place.




It was so nice to see the city as it should be.


Later that morning, I explored the Jewish quarter. The building on the left with the funky roofline is the Old-New Synagogue, dating back from 1270. It's the oldest active synagogue in Europe. No pictures inside ;(


Prague is amazing because almost every time you look up from the street, you'll find a view similar to this.


The local market.


Old Town Square.




On the top of the hill is the Prague castle, which is more like a cathedral (St. Vitus) surrounded by buildings, rather than an actual castle. I arrived just in time for the changing of the guards.


St. Vitus Cathedral.


View of the city from the castle.


The Golden Lane, which dates from the 15th century, was named so because many goldsmiths resided here back then.




Today I swallowed my pride and went into a nice restaurant. I ordered duck. When it came, EVERYBODY in the restaurant turned their heads and looked at me. Wanna know why?

The duck I ordered turned out to be HALF a duck!! Good lord, how embarrassing! All alone at a table with a giant mug of beer and half a duck. Hahaha. Worse yet, as I was eating, people kept peering over to see if I had finished, which, I'm sure you all can guess, I did. ;)

Prague castle at sunset.