I have always wanted to go to Praha (also known as Prague), after hearing so many tales of its beauty. So early in my semester abroad in Rotterdam I had booked a flight on Smart Wings, a low-cost start-up airline, to Prague and invited classmates to come along. A few weeks ago, Smart Wing decided to cancel the flight. Weary from so much traveling already, the couple of us from Rotterdam decided not to go to Prague after all. Last week, my fellow exchange student Gretchen, also from Berkeley and who is now studying in Barcelona and traveling all over Europe every weekend, emailed me about our plans in Prague. Of course I had forgotten she had considered going to Prague as well, and now she had a confirmed plane ticket and would be the only one going after I had invited her. As I felt bad about the situation, I bought a ticket last minute to come to Prague. Boy, am I glad I did! Prague is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to the desperation of Alitalia, which is holding a thin thread from insolvency, the flight was not astronomically expensive and also gave me a chance to visit Milano (see previous blog).

I landed in Prague at about 10:30pm. I had been rather apprehensive about coming to Eastern Europe on my own at such a late time of the night. In preparation, I exchanged some Euros into Czech crowns while in Milano at disadvantageous rates, and I printed directions to the hostel. As it turned, I did not need the crowns, at least for transportation. The bus driver ran out of change and so let me and a few people ride for free. The subway was on an honor system, and given that the gate agents had already gone home, I hopped on without a ticket, risking being caught and fined. Perhaps as payment for this transgression, it started drizzling when I got out of the subway station. I also took the wrong exit, so I went round and round looking for the hostel, passing the same drunkards, prostitutes, and other vagrants several times. I made a big sigh of relief when I eventually made it to the hostel and the room. Despite the lukewarm shower in a curtain-less bathtub and the freezing temperature, I was exhilarated at being able to sleep in a warm bed safe and sound.

The next day, I checked out of the hostel and moved on to the one Gretchen had booked. Again, I went round and round looking for it, though this time the hostel was in a much nicer area. In fact, it’s quite centrally located a stone’s throw from Staromestske nam., the center of old Prague. One the way over, I stopped to watch the hourly procession of wooden saints in the clock tower (kind of like a cuckoo clock).

After checking in, I went to the main train station and bought a ticket to Karlsteijn, a castle located 33 kilometers outside Prague. The ride gave a glimpse of suburban and rural parts, complete with idyllic farmscapes and abandoned industrial sites. When I got out of the train station at 1:15pm, the first thing I noticed was that there was no castle to be seen. Neither was there an information booth. I started to worry, but I controlled my panic cells and started looking around for signs. After following a few people, I saw a sign with a picture that looked like a castle. I was in luck! After a long climb up past a town hidden in a valley with numerous souvenir shops reassuring me that I was in the right direction, I made it to the castle. As it was due to close at 3:00pm, I rushed up and started to sweat. Turns out I did not have to rush, as the next English tour, the last of the day, was not to start for another thirty minutes. I had me a latte and looked around.

The tour guide was named Hunsla, or something like that. He gave an enthusiastic and informative tour, at least as far as he could, given his obvious introversion. Apparently Karlsteijn was built during the height of the Czech nation, when the Czech King and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles, had control over land three times the size of present-day Czech Republic, reaching almost the North Sea. The castle was built to house his crown and religious relics. You could definitely feel Hunsla’s national pride when he was talking. Overall the castle was magnificent, though not nearly as decorated as the other castles I have seen. Its site, near the top of a hill, was perhaps its most exciting attribute.

On the train ride back to Praha, I ran into Hunsla. He and I talked about recent events in the Czech Republic. Turns out he is a university student with a particular interest in modern history. Thus he was a perfect person for me to pick his brain. Hunla told me about the close connection of the Czech culture with the German culture and the differences from other Slavic nations. One of things he mentioned was that now the Czech people cared more about their community and are less self-centered as compared to when they were under Communist regime. It’s ironic in that Communism stressed the community over the individual, whereas their present capitalist system should in theory cause people to be self-centered. Hunsla had also studied for a year in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, famous for its champion Little Leagues baseball team (its chief rival being the team from my own Taiwan). Hunsla reflected on the corruption of the current government regime and hoped that a change of leadership would come about with the next election. After the train reached Praha, we parted company. I love talking with perfect strangers sometimes, as I think they could be more frank. I definitely feel like I learned a lot about the Czech people. At least the next time I see mentions of the Czechs in the newspaper, I will pause to read the heading before flipping to the funnies.

I was supposed to meet with Gretchen at 6:00pm at the hostel. When she hadn’t shown up at 8:00pm, I had the bright idea that I should check my phone messages. Sure enough, she called to say she wouldn’t get in until midnight. So then I went for some dinner. As cold as it was, I instead just picked up some KFC and went back to the hostel for a gorge fest. At about 11:30pm Gretchen showed up in a cab. Turned out she missed her flight from Barcelona and so had to buy another flight to Prague via Paris. And then she missed the airport bus so she took a cab. Then the cab took her to the wrong hotel before finally crossing the city to the right one. Seems there are many obstacles to us traveling to Prague together. Gretchen said that it was meant to make us work for being in the magnificent Prague. Given the city’s beauty, it was well worth it. That first night though, we did not tempt our fate anymore, and we settled down for the night.

The next morning we woke to a nice day. When we walked outside, the ground was wet. She thought it had rained. When we looked up, it was instead snow! We were quite excited of course, this being our first snow in Europe this winter season. Hunsla had told me that in the Czech lands the weather had been unusually warm. The weekend though was usually cold. The high was forecasted for zero degrees Celsius. Luckily I was dressed in four layers plus scarf, hat, and gloves. In my mind, Eastern Europe is a cold place. As luck would have it, it was this weekend.

We stopped for some breakfast, Gretchen with her continental breakfast and me with a Czech beer. The server gave me a look that said, “Um, okay, that’s usual but sounds like a good way to start the day.” Gretchen and I amused ourselves by making fun of the pack of American girls at the next table. As touristy as Prague is, this was the first of several conversations of this sort. I believe I heard more English than Czech while I was in Prague. The city in fact offers little of local Czech culture. It felt more like the Prague is the new Amsterdam rather than the new Paris. Fortunately the beauty of the city makes up for the touristiness. Hopefully someday I can go to another Czech city to sample Czech culture.

Gretchen and I then crossed the famed Charles Bridge. After a while, we stopped for some tee at this Asia-cum-Spanish-themed teahouse, quite appropriate for us. She had some good chai and I some Lady Hana’s Tea (elderflower tea with Carolane, a kind of liquor). Sitting at a café watching snow falling outside is simply one of my favorite things to do. After a while, we made our way to the St. Nicholas cathedral, which was beautiful. We then hiked up a hill, giving us a nice view of the city. After that we stopped for lunch, where we were seated in a semi-private chamber in the back. We pretended to be English duke and duchess. When Gretchen heard the Spanish conversation coming from the nearest table, she cringed. Having been in Barcelona for a few months, she had developed an irritation about the Spanish. Similarly, I felt that way about the Dutch. I believe this is part of culture shock.

When we finally made it to the Prague Castle, it was already getting dark. Though it was quite nice and elaborate, it was far too cold to stand around to admire it. We walked quickly through the castle, looking for heated souvenir shops to warm up. Afterwards, we stopped at a cool café where I tried Becherovka, a Czech herbal liquor. Gretchen described it as cinnamon schnapps plus nutmeg. I quite liked it. Next to us was a Czech couple with a Chihuahua that was ham eating out of a bowl on the table. It was quite cute. In fact we saw many tiny dogs in Prague, most of them shivering in the cold. Sad.

After some more strolling through the entertainment district, some souvenir shopping was in store for Gretchen while I bought a cheap Communist-era-looking hat from H&M, the Swedish retailer that I have been buying clothes throughout Europe (unlike in America, clothes actually fit my small frame in Europe). For dinner we went to a former brewery turned restaurant, which featured a live strings quartet. The Norwegian ladies next to us each had half a roast duck on wooden plates. While I though it was enormously appetizing, Gretchen thought it was exceedingly disgusting. Unfortunately she did not tell me that before I ordered the same, which turned out to be quite delicious. Gretchen had roasted paprika stuffed with cheese (reminds you of chile relleno?) and soup. The soup was fabulous, but the cheese was unusually salty (mental note: don’t get Czech cheese, it tastes like a weird form of string cheese). As usual, it was impossible to get the servers’ attention, so she suffered from thirst. Her mood after that was decidedly cranky. In medical terms, she was going through americustouristius stuckineuropious, subform impatientus. After that, we turned in early once again. Despite the opportunities for partying, it was too cold to desire it. Instead we had a nice long sleep.

In the morning we checked out of the hostel, had brunch, and wandered over to the Jewish quarter, Josefova. We checked out some synagogues featuring exhibits of Jews in the Czech Republic before and after World War Two. One featured walls covered in names of Czech Jews who passed away in the Holocaust. The exhibit that struck me was one explaining how Jews tried unsuccessfully to assimilate into the Czech Society. Back when the Czech lands were in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Jews were encouraged to speak German (among them was Freud, who was born in Moravia, the eastern part of the Czech lands, and moved to the buzzling Vienna). The German language drew resentment on the part of the Czechs, who had a very different Slavic language. When Prussians (part of Germany encompassing Berlin and parts of present-day Poland) came to conquer the Czech lands, the German-speaking ability of Austria-affiliated Jews was no help, as the Germans had picked the wrong German-speaking people to ally with. Seem that things only went south after that for the Jews. Interestingly, the Czechs were among the early advocates of a Jewish state, as they had hoped the Jews would develop a communist state in the Middle East. It was obviously not to be.

Gretchen and I headed to the airport early, given our previous bad luck. We were supposed to fly to Milan together, and then take separate flights back to our respective host countries. When I was checking in, the agent told me to rebook unto a nonstop flight back to Amsterdam because the Milan-to-Amsterdam flight was overbooked. Unfortunately this meant Gretchen had to fly on her own, though for me it bought extra time to work on my homework in the Netherlands, as well as a chance to fly on Czech Airline, which I hadn’t taken before (turns out it was relatively un-luxurious like Alitalia). And so it was, another interesting weekend drew to a close.

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