Prague, Czech Republic

Our experience in Prague began with perhaps one of the most absurdly uncomfortably hilarious human exchanges I have ever experienced in my life. When we arrived at the Art Hole Hostel we were greeted by it’s owner, some man of about 50 years who must have been on some mix of highly illegal drugs… for his own sake I hope he was because if any human being normally interacted with other humans the way he did that day I would be worried for the future of our species. It is difficult to describe in words just how he was strange… I wish I had it taped. Whenever you asked him a question or attempted to make conversation he would stare at you for a good 10 seconds before bursting into laughter and delivering a string of barely coherent words completely unrelated to that being discussed. He insisted on showing us the artwork on the walls of the bedrooms and became overly excited when we entered the “black hole” room where we were pressured into staring at the wall for a moment of time that seemed like an hour.

After unpacking our bags (we had to ask where our room was and if we had keys… I think he forgot that was part of his job) we headed to a typical Czech restaurant that resembled a medieval pub. We ordered goulash, which, I wish I had enjoyed more. Afterwards we walked towards the center square of Prague and were met with live performances, music, sunshine, and roughly 30 different outside market stands selling everything from meticulously decorated Easter eggs to grilled sausage, to chocolate bananas on sticks. Safe to say that it was impossible to walk by the square without indulging in some sort of sweet.

Kyle and Maxine in the Czech Restaurant!

While in the square we met up with Bath and her sister and all ventured across the bridge to the John Lennon wall. If you know me well enough you know that in this moment I was as excited as a young toddler on Christmas. John Lennon is, in fact, my boyfriend… he just doesn’t know it yet… well, I guess he will never know until I pass through those pearly gates and we consummate our love. Needless to say, I enjoyed the wall.

The Famous Bridge in Prague (Charles)

John Lennon Wall

That night we climbed to the top of the famous clock tower that overlooks Prague and had an amazing view of the sunset and Prague by night! Each hour the clock does an intricate changing of the hands and is accompanied by a man at the top of the tower playing a trumpet. We ended the night at some sketchy Czech casino where Maxine bet it all on roulette and hit big while Quiño wasn’t so lucky… kid doesn’t know when to stop.

Beautiful View of Prague!!!

The next morning we did the New Europe walking tour of Prague (the same company I had recommended in my Berlin post). Perhaps the two most interesting things I learned about Prague were as follows, (1) Prague was intended to be Hitler’s city of retirement after the extermination of the Jews. For this reason the Jewish neighborhood, it’s buildings, etc were never destroyed during his reign because he hoped the neighborhood was serve as an exhibition of an exterminated race for centuries to come. (2) There is a famous cemetery in the heart of the Jewish district that is extremely elevated in comparison with its surroundings. Reason being, during the early stages of the Holocaust, the Jews were not allowed to leave their neighborhood. People continued dying and their request for the construction of an additional cemetery was rejected. Thus, they were forced to bury bodies on top of bodies on top of bodies. I found that the majority of my Semana Santa vacation around Europe was very influenced by the Holocaust and Hitler’s reign. Every city I visited, minus France, was crawling with memories of that time.

Later that day we walked around the Prague Castle and did a pub-crawl during the night for Krasker’s birthday. I had never done a pub-crawl before so it was really cool. A young American opened the first place so the place was full of tables for flip cup and pong! Perhaps my favorite was bar number three. The night ended at a night club in Prague! Because Art Hole Hostel overbooked, Kevin, Quiño, and I shared two mattresses on the floor of the living room. Below is what our bedroom for the night looked like! Haha.

What I like to call... Europe on a Budget

The next day we ate at a Mexican restaurant (when you’re in Europe for a while you begin to miss these things and eating locally becomes less and less of a priority). We enjoyed the sun on the Charles bridge, watched some more dance performances in the square and ended our Prague experience at a beer museum. Prague was probably, overall, my favorite European city we visited during La Semana Santa. It was absolutely beautiful, gave us two days of great weather, and was so authentic… so much so that the entire production of Euro Trip (the movie) was actually filmed solely in Prague. For a beautifully authentic Eastern European experience I would DEFINITELY recommend Prague!