Prague, Czech Republic

Our commute from Amsterdam to Prague went flawless. And by that, I mean it went very poorly. The plan was to take an overnight train from Amsterdam to Cologne, Germany, then get on another train that would take us all the way to Prague. Our train broke down in Berlin at four in the morning, leaving us stranded at the train station until we found a new train at six in the morning. Tired and frustrated, we walked to the hostel we had booked thinking the worst was over. We were wrong. When we arrived to the hostel, we were informed that our reservation was actually set for the day before, meaning we forfeited the reservation and had nowhere to stay (thank you Ryan Kisner). Eventually we were able to reserve an Airbnb that was only a fifteen-minute walk away. We settled in and officially began our trip in Prague.

My favorite part of Prague was the authentic local cuisine. In every other country we visited, while we did have a good amount of local food, a majority of the food seemed to be Americanized to some degree. However, every single meal we ate in Prague was authentic and delicious. For instance, my first meal consisted of potato soup and creamy beef stroganoff. Also, it didn’t hurt that a full meal with a couple of beverages was only eight dollars.

One of our day journeys was hiking up to the top of the Prague Castle. After climbing an intense set of stairs, we had an amazing view of the entire city (pictured below). It provided some prime snapchat opportunities. Once we got to the actual Prague Castle, we hiked up another 287 spiraling, and seemingly endless, flight of stairs that provided an even higher vantage point of the city. After trekking back down, we continued to wander the city with no destination but all day to do it.

Other highlights of the trip involved crossing the Charles Bridge and the Lennon Wall. The Charles Bridge connects the old town of Prague with the new town and is covered with religious statues. The Lennon Wall is covered with images and passages inspired by John Lennon. We made the great decision of letting Ryan lead the way because he “knew his way around the city.” We set out for the wall and walked for about 45 minutes before he told us he did not actually know where we were going. After we arrived and experienced the wall, we turned the corner to realize we were literally 15 feet from the location where we started. The rest of our time in Prague went smoothly.

A few thoughts about Prague:

1.) A solid three course meal with a drink can cost as little as $12.

      2.)  Wandering into “locals only” restaurants results in reading a menu in Czech and pointing to items blindly while people laugh.

      3.)  Street performers are everywhere.

      4.)  Prague is the oldest established city we have visited thus far.

      5.)  Beer can be found for less than a dollar.

      6.)  A “meat plate” consists of a rack of lamb, ribs, sausages, duck, potato dumplings, gravy, and can fill up three people. Don’t pretend you can eat it alone like one of our crew attempted to do.   

                                                  -Kevin Loquaci