An Easter Adventure to Prague

During Easter Break, myself and one of my floormates, Erika, headed to Prague from Tuesday - Friday.  As you can tell from our jackets, hats, and scarfs, there was nothing springy and warm about this break, but we were in Prague - that was good enough.  My navigating skills were put to the test this trip - I was the holder of the map!  Because of this, we did a lot of walking and only got lost once.  I call that a success, a major success.  After taking a train, plane, bus, and metro to get to our hostel we were ready to explore Prague.  We were especially ready to explore because we wanted to see the pretty parts - let's just say that the ride from the airport was not in the least bit scenic.  We headed to the center of Old Prague, and lo an behold there was an Easter Festival in the main square!

We sampled yummy treats at the Easter Festival!

There were eggs hanging in the tree, a folk band playing - it even looks like the buildings dressed up for Easter!

Just to the right of my head is the castle - it was our destination for that evening as well as our last full day in Prague.

From the square, we walked on to toward the St. Charles Bridge.

On St. Charles Bridge.

The massive cathedral inside the castle/palace complex.  The picture is tilted because I am not a photographer and because it is too tall to fit in a picture.

These are a few of the steps that we had to climb up in order to see the castle.  Note that I said "only a few of the steps"  - there were lots.

View from the top.  Worth it?  YES.

As we walked down from the castle/palace, night began to fall.

We think that we are in the old Jewish Quarter here...but I was navigating, so really you can't be too sure that that is really where we were.

 The next morning we woke up and headed to Cafe Louvre.  It was recommended by our map (which was created by locals) as the best place to get hot chocolate in Prague.  BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER.  It was literally liquid chocolate.  For breakfast, I ordered a traditional czech breakfast which included the egg, meats/cheese, bread basket, and slice of apple cake seen below.  I am thankful that I joined the gym.

The best hot chocolate ever ever ever.

How can normal buildings be so beautiful and old?

How can buildings be so strange and ugly?

We wandered around Prague a whole lot on our first full day there.  In need of a break, we went to a coffee place recommended by the map.   Although the coffee place was lovely, my coffee was not lovely.  I decided to be interesting and order something new - an arabic coffee.  NASTY.  Whoever decided to mix cardamom with coffee was not the world's smartest person.

My unfortunate coffee.

 On our last full day in Prague - day 2 - we rode the tram across the river over to the Prague outdoor market.  They have many Vietnamese vendors selling typical market wares as well as a large food market.  In the food market I indulged in a homemade pastry.  We also saw this strange machine pictured below...

On the left, is a machine that dispenses milk bottles.  The bottle on the right dispenses milk.  How cool is that??

 Day 2 ended up being all about food, because after the market, we headed to a place called the Milk Bar.  According to our ever handy map, they are known for their milkshakes.  The sad news is that here, milkshakes have fruit, milk, and yogurt in them - basically a smoothie.  It was still good though.

The Milk Bar. 

 After lunch and "milkshakes" at the Milk Bar, we headed to the castle/palace (I really just don't know how to accurately refer to this massive complex) for round two.  This time we were there during opening hours and bought tickets to go to the museums/churches there.

This is Golden Ally, where artisans lived inside the castle's walls.

The outside of the large cathedral pictured earlier (the crooked picture).

The inside of the cathedral - SO SO HUGE.

Such a huge organ!

 After leaving the palace, we walked to the John Lennon wall which is a wall where the citizens expressed their dislike of communism.

 We finally made it back to our hostel, and I don't think we could have walked any more...until we had a short rest and walked to dinner of course.  We finished our cultural experience of Prague with a traditional meal at a beer hall.  I had roast beef with cranberry and sour cream and white bread in gravy - yummy and hearty.

Prague was a beautiful city, and I can only imagine how much better it looks when the sun actually shines.  Clouds seem to be a common theme over here!