Semester in Madrid 2011: Spring Break 2011: Next Stop- Prague, Czech Republic

Kenzie, Liz and I hopped on the night train from Krakow and the next thing we knew we were stacked three high in bunks in a tiny little train cabin on our way to Prague, Czech Republic. Slightly to our surprise yet much to our happiness the beds were extremely comfortable and we all slept quite peacefully until our wake-up call at 7:00am the next morning.

Couldn't resist...

We arrived at our hostel pretty early and couldn't check in yet so we dropped our bags and went to explore the city on foot. After converting some euros to kroners, we walked to the main square where we were pleasantly greeted by yet another eastern Europe Easter market! Everything smelled wonderful and the food definitely rivaled Krakow's with the sausages and sauerkraut, potatoes with fixings galore and a tasty version of shish-kebabs. After exploring the market, we went to see the Astronomical Clock, the oldest working one still in existence. Later, we wandered over to the Charles Bridge which was very crowded but had a very pretty view of the river and part of the city. That night, we went to the Krizik fountain show which was choreographed to tunes from Dirty Dancing and so of course we really enjoyed singing along to all of the songs. The only problem was that we chose to go to the early show without looking at the sunset time so half of the effect was marred by the fact that lit up fountains aren't as cool when it's still light out. All in all, though, it was still a very enjoyable evening and on the walk home we found a really pretty overlook of the entire city at night which was beautiful.

Easter Market

Astronomical Clock

I wanna dance with somebodayyy.. a little later in the night next time though

The next two days were spent exploring the city from end to end and taking in the sights. We crossed the Charles Bridge again and went up to the Prague Castle and caught the tail end of the changing of the guards which was really interesting to watch as it was so intensely coordinated and the music made it quite a show. We saw the John Lennon wall which was a big symbol of the Czech youth's desire for freedom and change while under the communist regime of Gustav Husak. Even when we weren't seeing specific historical or tourist sights, we were enjoying just taking in the vibes of the amazing architechture mixed with sprawling parks full of colorful flowers in full springtime bloom. Prague was definitely one of the most aesthetically beautiful of any of the cities I have seen thus far and I enjoyed taking it all in immensely.