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Published: March 11th 2008
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view from the castle hike Ahoj! It started at 1:00 am. I got a taxi around then and proceeded to the train station a little outside of the city. Around 1:45 I caught a train from Florence to Bologna, where I changed trains at 3:15. Besides being sketched out by random older men in my first train car, I met 3 very nice American guys studying in Greece on their way to Milan who let me hang out in their train car from Bologna to Milan. Once in Milan I finally got to the airport for my flight only to be surrounded by a fieldtrip of 40 Italian teenagers who took over our plane. A hellish hour and 45 minutes later, I finally landed in Praha and met Erin!! Instead of catching a quick nap like I had hoped, we dropped my bags off and immediately met up with 2 other friends visiting Erin and in Prague. That day, we visited the Charles Bridge with a million other tourists and then headed home to shower and get ready for the soccer game going on in the arena across the street from Erin’s apartment. It was a good game that we only saw about half of because
we were a little late trying to get all 10 of us out the door. The fans were pretty crazy, but nothing compared to Fiorentina and the chaos that ensues from a game there! Once the game finished, a few of us went to a jazz club not to far away from the stadium and enjoyed a really cool, laid back atmosphere and an improv jazz group that played for a few hours and then chatted with us until closing time…a great first day in Prague! On Monday, we went to the National Museum at the end of Wenceslas Square and stayed there most of the day. The building itself was overwhelmingly gorgeous inside and out, and I could have stayed there all day just looking at the architecture. We did however have a look around and found tons of great exhibits including one dealing with bipedalism and things we covered in Anthropology. I totally loved it and bored the other people to death explaining how we humans are able to walk today. There were also lots of stuffed animals and exhibits on sea life and geology. We left there, got a quick coffee and returned to the museum to
watch a classical concert after hours! We literally sat on the inside steps and were feet from an amazing Austrian quartet that played pieces from Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorak. We dabbled in a little different kind of music when we went to a nearby bar for Karaoke Night. I did stand up there and sing a few songs later in the night, but for the most part I played the part of cheerleader in the stands, which was probably appreciated by those that had to listen to me sing. Tuesday we used as a recuperation day for our voices and minds and bodies by sleeping in and ordering Chinese. Wednesday we wandered around the Tim church and accompanying cemetery which was just like a garden: beautiful and sunny and not at all dark or depressing; a celebration of life instead of a lamentation. Dvorak is also buried there, which was cool to see. To top things that day it snowed and we played in it for the 20 minutes it flurried. We perused the open air market and found super cheap veggies and ended up making delicious fresh stir fry for dinner and later going out to a few establishments
that night, one of which was an infamous cave bar which was quite a ways underground through tunnels that twisted and turned. Two more friends arrived into the afternoon on Thursday and we had time to squeeze a visit to a real castle in the outskirts of the city. It was beautiful and a really steep walk! After that hike, we decided we needed a reward so we got food at a small place near the apartment. There I had the best burger ever made…goat cheese and pistachios!! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Absolutely delicious. Friday was our last full day in Prague, so we decided to take a tour of the Pilsner Urquell factory in the small town of Pilsen. The tour was really cool and I really enjoyed the town and seeing the tallest steeple in the Czech Republic, which was conveniently located in Pilsen, right outside the factory doors. That night we made it home and went out for a little while on the town. Before I caught my train, we visited the John Lennon peace wall and did a little graffiti of our own. It was amazing to see what a few drawings could do. There were lots of Beatles
lyrics and references along with some original sketches and comments and overall a really powerful image that I won’t soon forget. I grabbed a quick Starbucks (thank goodness!) and got on my overnight train full of guess who?? 50 Italian teenagers that would not let us sleep at all. It was definitely a really long, restless ride and I was glad to be home in Florence.
Sorry about the lack of paragraphs...it was a long trip.
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mom
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What a Spring Break!!
M...Your week sounds absolutely amazing. Just seeing the pictures of the tribute wall to John Lennon is very moving, so I can only imagine how it would be in person. So glad you got to leave your mark! This was just one more stop along the way on this trip of a lifetime. xoxoxo mom