Weekend in Prague

Prague was one of the places that was on my bucket list for Europe, and I was so lucky to get to go. It’s pretty crazy to think that I was just in the Czech Republic. No way! Sometimes it doesn’t register that I am so far away from home.

Our travel time took forever because all flights in Rome were delayed by almost two hours. The Rome airport had a pretty bad fire a week ago, which is causing delays, but I blame Italy in general for lack of time management.

When we finally got to Prague, we went to dinner right away. We were so hungry from traveling! Plus, my lunch was nothing but crackers and nutella. I ordered a whole meat platter to share with Olivia. It had sausages, ribs, ham, and chicken wings. It was so satisfying! A much needed break from all the carbs that I consume everyday in Italy.

Since Prague is known for really good beer, I got a beer even though I have yet to acquire the taste for it. I hear that you have to try beer about six times before you finally enjoy it. This would be the fifth? Maybe I should just stick to Italian wine. It was good…I guess.:) People in Prague were drinking it like juice. In the morning, the workers at our hostel offered us beers instead of coffee.

We lucked out with our hostel. It was cheap, it didn’t smell weird, and it was conveniently located right next to the famous Charles Bridge. The bridge has beautiful statues of saints and the crucifixion along both sides. We walked across it many times and took gorgeous pictures of the river.

The next day we got to explore the city. We found the John Lennon wall where people write graffiti inspired by John Lennon and Beatles songs. During the Communist regime in the 1980’s, young people would rebel against the government by writing there grievances on the wall. Today, it is a symbol of love and peace to the people of Prague. While we were looking at the wall, we met this hippie guy from California who gave us his marker so we could write our names on the wall.

We did a lot of walking around the rest of the city. We saw the bell tower and the powder tower, the infant church, took a boat tour along the river, and ate a lot of food. In the main square, there were a lot of food vendors selling skewers and homemade rolls. We loaded up.

The last thing we did was hike up to the castle and stroll through the castle gardens. Prague looks very pretty from above.

There must have been some sort of festival going on because we saw many people wearing traditional clothing, pouring beer from huge jugs, and dancing in the square. Then the streets were closed so people could parade through the streets carrying palm branches. I’m not sure what this is about because Palm Sunday was a month ago. We asked the people at our hostel, but even they said that they couldn’t keep track of all the festivals that go on.

Although this weekend was super fun, I was really tired when I finally got back to Rome. I accidentally fell asleep at 9:30. I honestly don’t remember the last time that I went to bed so early. Now, the semester is starting to wrap up, and finals are just beginning. I can’t believe that I will be coming home in one week!

Love from Roma, Lizzie