Please forgive me for the amount of time in between posts recently. If it wasn't clear, it has been quite a whirlwind of the past two weeks, and I'm finally just getting around to getting my feet back under me. I realized that I had promised a post by last night, but a cold that I have been fighting off with alcohol and adrenaline finally caught up with me, and I hit the hay pretty early.
Let's get right into it. Prague. I haven't been to many, but it might just be the best city ever. Easy, efficient public transportation, beautiful architecture, AMAZING food, delicious beer (and wine for that matter), cute shops with great clothes and shoes, a fun nightlife, friendly people, and completely walkable. I traveled with my friends Lauren and Mo, and as soon as we arrived in Old Town Square after a quick bus ride and a few stops on the metro, I knew that I was going to love Prague. Here are the highlights:
1) Our bartender friend and Lucerna: The first night we were walking around after dinner looking for a place to just sit and have a relaxing evening, but we weren't exactly sure about the pub/ bar culture. There were definitely drinking establishments, but they all seemed like small, personal gatherings. As we were walking, I saw this empty hotel bar with this bartender all alone and I said, "Why don't we go in there and chat up the bartender?" My friends agreed, so we just sat down and started talking to him. We don't know his name, but we definitely learned a lot about him, and had the BEST NIGHT EVER because of him. He asked us what we were doing later on, and I just said, "we have no plans. Do you have any recommendations?" And then he said, "well, there's this place right up the road called Lucerna. It's an 80s and 90s dance club. It's very fun." Mo then looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and said, "I love 80s music!"
So we head over there and we walk in to the sound of "Be My Lover" by La Bouche. We just danced the whole time because we knew every song. There was certainly more 90s music than 80s, but some of the highlights include "We Like to Party"(of Six Flags marketing fame), "Summer Nights"(Grease) , "Time of My Life" (Dirty Dancing), "Mamma Mia", "I'm Too Sexy"(Right Said Fred), and "What is Love?". After we had been there for about three and a half hours I said to the girls, "Next song we don't know we're leaving." A half and hour later, we pulled ourselves away from the awesomeness.
2) Mulled Wine, Beer, and Czech Sauvignon Blanc: AS we were walking up the hill to see the castle and St. Vitus (two big landmarks across the river) there was a man with a cart and a percolator of mulled wine every 100 feet. I couldn't help but think, "If Notre Dame had mulled wine carts scattered around campus, it would be a much happier December through February". There is also very delicious beer ( or pivo as the Czech say) all over the place. My personal favorite was the beer they had at U Fleku, which was a dark brew, but tasted like the cross between a Guinness and a Duvel. At the risk of sounding like I have a problem, the girls and I split a bottle of Czech Sauvignon Blanc at 7 Angels, the restaurant my parents recommended to us, and it was some of the best wine I've tasted (but again, in the grand scheme of things, haven't tasted much wine).
3) The Architecture and the history: Prague is amazing because it has survived all of the political unrest that has surrounded it throughout the ages. There is a stunning church on every corner, and there are establishments that have been in service sine the 13th century. As I previously mentioned, we crossed the Charles Bridge to get to St. Vitus and the Castle on Saturday, and then we went to the Jewish Quarter on Sunday. The Jewish quarter is fascinating because Hitler collected all sorts of Jewish artifacts and sent them to Prague to make a museum of stupidity, but when Prague did not get bombed, all of the things were saved. The Jewish museum was shocking because it is a synagogue with all of the names of the Jewish victims of World War II painted on the walls. Picture the names on the Vietnam Memorial painted on the walls, but with more wall space in a smaller font. We also saw the Jewish cemetery, which - without trying to sound dramatic - almost made me cry. There are 12,00 tombstones piled together in this tiny cemetery and it is thought that in some places the cemetery is at least twelve people deep. Heart-wrenching.
4) Old Town Square: I would have spent five days in Prague just so I could eat everything in Old Town Square. We decided to make our last meal an Old Town Square meal, so we got sausages and crepes. There were also all sorts of pastries and kebabs and I just wanted to stay there forever. It was so delicious and there was always an accordion player, who simply completed the ambiance.
All in all, my trip to Prague just gave me this burning itch to travel. The feeling of seeing new places and eating new foods and meeting new people is indescribable, and I'm dying to do it again.
But for now, my goal is to get back in touch with London. My mom asked me when I got back on Sunday, "Do you still feel like you're on extended vacation or do you feel like London is home?" and I had to answer the latter. It almost feels so much like home that I realized that I was starting to take it for granted. However, I went back to the Tate Modern yesterday and I went for a run through the parks today, and I'm planning on hitting the Imperial War museum this weekend as well as another market, so hopefully London will forgive me.
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