Czech This Out

Buongiorno!! I am back from Prague and already getting ready to leave again tomorrow, so I barely have time to blog, but I know I have at least a few people reading so I thought I would fill you in on my latest adventure:) So last Thursday, me and my roommates went to our favorite sandwich place by our apartment called Antico Noe and then walked to the train station where we were to meet our tour leader before getting on a 12 hour bus. We left around 730pm from Florence and got to Prague the next morning at 830am. It was a pretty rough bus ride, but I did manage to sleep for around 3-4 hours. We got to our hotel, "The Fusion Hotel" where we were able to go up and freshen up and then eat breakfast before we left for our walking tour. On our tour we saw Wenceslaus Square, the Jewish Quarter, and also went to the main square where there is an astronomical clock on one of the towers. Every hour, the clock chimes and out from these two windows pop little statues of the apostles. It's kind of creepy but cool that it does it every hour. Despite the weather, Prague was so beautiful and unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's like stepping into a fairytale with all the colored castles it felt like I was in the Shrek movie! Our tour ended at Bohemia Bagels which I was so happy about...not only because I love bagels, but I also hate being cold and Prague was SO cold! Like 30 degrees the whole time with no sunshine at all. But, we still made the best of it and tried to stay warm when we could. We got hot tea and bagels and soup and it was great. When we had first gotten there I had exchanged some of my euros for Czech Koruna. For 100 euro, I got 2,500 Crowns. The currency amounts really threw me off! My lunch at Bohemia Bagel was like 180 crowns! But really that's just 9 dollars. So, after Bohemia Bagel, we met up with Dana's friend from high school who is studying in Prague and she took us across the Charles Bridge to the other side where the Lennon Wall is. The pictures really say it all.

Astronomical Clock

Wencenslaus Square

View from the Charles Bridge

Me at the Lennon Wall:)

So after our sightseeing for the day, we were cold and exhausted but still wanted to do one more thing so we went to the Communist museum that was near our hotel. It was interesting to read about everything and understand how Prague was affected by Communism. Fun fact....did you know that Stalin's right hand man's name was Klement Gottwald???? Weird....also, I hate when people mis-spell my last name like that but it was still funny to see it. So maybe the Gottwalts are some descendants of communists??? Not sure about that one haha. So after the museum, we were exhausted and went back to the hotel to nap before dinner. I had pretty low expectations for the food in Prague, especially since loads of meat and potatoes really isn't my thing, but our dinner was exquisite! Some of our guy friends from Cornell are actually studying in Prague and we wanted to get dinner with them. I think we may have gone to the nicest restaurant in Prague. It was called Mlynec and it is famous for its Bohemian cuisine. The restaurant was so cool and swanky it felt like we were eating in an intimate lounge or something. I ordered the salmon with celery root puree and an herb oil. And for a starter, they brought out a fennel-mushroom mousse. And anyone who knows me, knows I HATE fennel. Literally one of the only foods I cannot stand. So, needless to say I didn't eat that. But the salmon and the wine we had was amazing. The boys got veal schnitzel which looked delicious as well, if I ate veal. And Dana got duck which was good too. Our dinner was 7,000 crowns....you do the math haha but it was worth it! You're only in Praha once....right?

So, after dinner, we went to a giant pregame at one of the boys apartments where we met up with a ton of other guys and girls from other schools either visiting or studying in Prague. And then we headed over to an 80s-90's club called Lucerna. The music was the best: think Spice Girls and Britney Spears all night long. It was such a fun night and it was so nice to go out with boys we knew because we always felt safe! Overall, great first day and night in Prague!

Day 2, Saturday. We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and then met our tour leader in the lobby where we were going to be led over the Charles Bridge and to the Lennon wall, and then see one of the huge castles across the river. Even though we had gone the day before, we figured we could go again and take more pics at the wall. Oh, and another great thing about Prague, they have Starbucks!!! Oh how I miss Chai Tea Lattes:)

The guards at the Castle

View from the top of the Castle

After all this sightseeing we were hungry and decided to be adventurous and try the Prague street-food (but my roommates will tell you I was the least adventurous) I got the mulled hot wine which was delicious and tasted like hot cider only with red wine. The other three got sausages with sauerkraut and ketchup. I did have a bite of one tho!!

Me with my Hot wine!

So, that was pretty much the extent of our sight-seeing that day. We went back to the hotel and got ready for another night out. We first went to a traditional Czech pub called Kol Kovna where I ordered chicken noodle soup...yes I know boring haha. It was good tho and we got free beer! Then we walked to our friend Roberto's apartment for another pregame before we went to a five story club! There was different music on every floor and it was so much fun!

And that was Prague in a nutshell...it was truly such a beautiful city and we were so glad we made the trip! Even though the 12 hour bus ride home on Sunday wasn't so fun. And now we get to do it all over again tomorrow when we head to Interlaken for a weekend of skiing and eating Swiss chocolate in Switzerland! Only this bus ride will be around 7 hours:)

Stay tuned for an update on all the food I've been making in class! Oh, and mom and dad you'll be happy to know I am doing some academic things, I had an Italian quiz yesterday and a paper due in Chocolates about diabetes and chocolate! See, I am doing some work......

xoxo

Alli