This is My Prague-ative

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I had an amazing weekend with two of my closest friends...in Prague! Kelsey is studying there for the semester, and Marie and I wanted to see that part of Europe (and Kelsey, too, I guess 😊. So the three of us found ourselves together in the Czech Republic on one of the most memorable adventures of our friendship yet.

It was my first time traveling out of England by myself, and everything went really smoothly. Marie and I landed in Prague at almost the same time on Saturday afternoon to be met by Kelsey. It was one of those really sweet airport moments where people run into each others' arms and, all around us, people smiled and laughed. We were just so thrilled to be together! Just when I was starting to feel a bit homesick, being with my best friends for the weekend was exactly what I needed.

While riding on the tram to Kelsey's house, we met an American student who was also visiting his friend in Prague and had overheard us talking. He had been on the same flight as me out of London. And to top it all off: it turned out that he's from St. Paul and goes to school at St. Thomas, right next door to Macalester. We even knew some of the same people. Small world.

We settled into Kelsey's house, located in Nové Město (New Town) near the Tančicí dům (Dancing House), which was my favorite building in Prague, actually. It was designed by an American architect, Frank Gehry, and was made to look like it is gently swaying. The unique architecture was revealed in 1996, and ever since then it has been kind of controversial with Prague citizens; some (especially the older citizens) think it is an eyesore and not respectful of the traditional Czech architecture while others consider it an excellent example of postmodern design. I think it is beautiful and kind of ties together a bit of both the past and the future; it really does resemble the older buildings that surround it, but its glass exterior and shine make it stand out, and its presence adds a bit of fun to the area.

Kelsey then took us for a walk. It was gently snowing when we first started, and all of the lights made everything look like Christmas. We saw Praský Hrad (Prague Castle) in the distance, magnificent with its golden lights and nighttime mystique. We passed by Karlovy Lázně, one of Prague's most popular nightclubs known for its five levels of differently themed dance floors, next to Karlův Most (Charles Bridge). We walked to Staré Město (Old Town) and saw Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square), which is really gorgeous because it's surrounded by eight towers and composed of several architectural styles. At this time, it was snowing a bit harder, and the big snowflakes made the Staroměstské Radnice (Old Town Hall), in all of its brightly-lit beauty, look even more magical. Týn Church is pretty, and nearby is located the famous astronomical clock, on which is featured a skeletal representation of Death that pulls the hourly chime. According to one of Kelsey's housemates, who is taking a Czech art history course, the crosses featured at the bottom of the clock represent the Protestant priests who were beheaded when Catholicism became dominant in Prague.

We wandered into a lot of souvenir shops in the more touristy areas, which was probably the most entertaining tourist experience I have ever had. Every single shop owner was so completely weird. They were nice and funny, but also really bizarre. One man, when we walked past, got our attention by pointing behind us as if we had dropped something on the ground, and the three of us confusingly walked back to double-check that we hadn't dropped anything. He started laughing and then snapping his fingers in our faces when we realized that he was just joking. Another shopkeeper, a young intern working in Prague, kept persisting that we guess his origins based solely on his looks and accent when he spoke English. We had no idea, and he seemed very peeved that we couldn't guess. It turned out to be Armenia. No offense, but since when do we get to interact with many Armenians to know their accents? My favorite shopkeeper that night was a jolly man who saw the three of us having a really fun time together, laughing and smiling a lot, and exclaimed, "Are you from America? Happy people come from America!" To finish our walk that night, we headed to Václavské náměstí (Wenceslas Square) in New Town, which is a big commercial area. My favorite sight was The Palladium, a large shopping building that perfectly represented European Christmas dazzle.

Later that night, we went to a club called Radost FX, a short tram ride from Kelsey's house. According to my guidebook, it is considered #1 in Prague. Kelsey had never been, so it was fun and new for both of us. Marie was worn out from jet-lag and stayed in for the night, but two of Kelsey's housemates - Michelle and Brittany - joined us. We were all pretty excited to party at Radost because it is the club where Rihanna filmed her music video "Don't Stop the Music." And, yes, we did take some pictures at the sink/mirror where she danced in the video. For the first hour or so, the music wasn't too great because there was a featured r&b artist whose music was difficult to dance to, but a student from France who was interning in Prague struck up conversation with Kelsey and me, so that kept us entertained until good music started playing. The DJ who took over for the rest of the night turned out to be really amazing - probably the best DJ I've heard since being in Europe - which reinforced Radost's reputation as a Top 5 club in Prague.

The next day, Kelsey took Marie and me on a walking tour of Prague. The most significant part of the tour was the castle. We spent a lot of time outside of it, taking in the most spectacular views of Prague from up above. We toured St. Vitus's Cathedral, which is one of the most amazing cathedrals I have toured yet. Every single square centimeter was intricately designed, there were amazing stained-glass windows, and the outside architecture and detail was breath-taking. It will be difficult for Kelsey to come home after being surrounded by so many beautiful places this semester.

Apparently, the Czech have a really different sense of humor from that of Americans. For example, at Christmas, in order to scare young ones into being good, instead of telling them they will only receive coal from Santa if they are naughty, Czech people make it tradition to completely scare their kids. Someone will dress up as the Devil and scare the daylights out of the child. Kelsey's Czech friends said that they literally peed their pants when their parents did that to them every Christmas as a child, and what's funnier about all of this is that parents can't wait to get to do it to their kids, and the goal is to actually make the child cry! Our coal thing must seem so lame! So, that's the reason why there were so many Devil statues scattered around Prague, instead of statues of Santa or elves.

We also spent a while walking across Charles Bridge. The 27 statues on the sides of the bridge were a bit of a disappointment, however. The authentic ones were replaced by look-a-likes for conservation purposes, but apparently Prague citizens are not happy with how the new ones were made. They look way too nice and thus don't look real, and people consider this sort of disrespectful of the famous architecture. Also, there was construction being done to the bridge, which sort of took away from how spectacular it could have been.

We got to meet more funny souvenir men (funny - I just realized they were all men) that day. I bargained for a really beautiful painting of Prague from a nice man. He was amused that I couldn't decide because they were all so pretty, so I think that made him like me enough to give me a pretty significant discount. At another store, the guy kept making up stories about his souvenirs, like that they were made by starving 13-year-old girls. And he kept showing us really creepy-looking dolls and other knick-knacks, ignoring us when we told him we had to leave. Kelsey hadn't visited the souvenir shops before Marie and I came to visit, so the whole experience was really funny for her, too.

Our tour lasted basically the whole day, and then we headed back to Kelsey's house when it started to get dark. We were all exhausted, so we put in a movie and took a long nap. We woke up for dinner and decided to take it easy for the night instead of trying to go out again. It was nice to just hang out with each other and have gossip time like we usually do when at home. And then on Monday morning Kelsey accompanied me to the airport. It was such a short trip! I'm always sad to leave the cities that I visit, but it was really difficult this time to say goodbye. There really is nothing in the world like being with best friends.

Upon landing, I bumped into two of my friends from UEA who had just gotten back from Munich. We were all taking the same coach bus back to UEA, so it was nice to not have to travel back alone. We exchanged stories; it turned out that Melissa and Tina (one of the girls on the Amsterdam trip with me) were also visiting some friends from home, so we had fun talking about how surreal it felt to hang out with our best friends in Europe.

This week, I have lofty goals to finish at least two papers - these due dates are looming in the near future, and I don't want to be stuck paying the price of procrastination. I will be having a proper Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday; my lab partner, Lily, invited me as her guest to a huge feast that her study-abroad program is hosting. I've never not been with my family for Thanksgiving, so this will feel a bit weird, but I'm looking forward to being with a bunch of Americans, celebrating Thanksgiving in England.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy family-and-friends time.
Be thankful for every moment.
Cheers!

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Photos

souvenir shops!
funny Teletubby-like hats

Russian-inspired
praha-hahaha

Palladium!
in Wenceslas Square

Rihanna herself used this same mirror!
*exciting*

there was a dance contest onstage
you better believe a couple of Wisconsin girls were up there to represent :)

Prague statues
taking us under their wings

Comments

[WKF]

Aside from the general love I've developed for hearing about your amazing travels, I love how you always take care to include proper names with proper spelling and accents from the places you go. I think that really does them an honor - most Americans wouldn't bother. You're turning into quite the traveler.