I know, I know. It's been awhile. I wish I could say it's because I've been searching through vacation photos looking for just the right ones for the blog. I wish I could say that I haven't written because I can't find the words to describe how beautiful Prague was or how much fun it was to spend my birthday zipping around the city on a Segway. But the truth is, I've been busy. Busy saying goodbye to old friends and hello to new ones, working on assignments for my two online classes, subbing at the school, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, and trying to work off the weight that creeps on after 11 days in Europe... So the blog took a backseat for awhile, but I'm back with more photos to share with you all.
Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, has been near the top of my vacation list for several years now, so when Brian asked what I wanted to do for my 30th birthday, the choice was clear! We spent 4 days in Prague and took two day-trips outside the city, before heading to Budapest, Hungary to finish up the trip. I LOVED Prague. The city was beautiful, fun, safe, and surprisingly really affordable. Some things were downright cheap (beer! shooting crossbows! bacon!).
At a cafe overlooking the Vltava River
Commemorating our trip on the John Lennon Wall.
The Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia, was under Soviet communist rule from 1948-1989. During this time, the food culture in Prague (and throughout the country) screeched to a halt, as restaurants and grocery stores were told what they could sell and supplies were severely limited. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague's food scene has been revitalized. We had some very delicious and traditional food during our time in the Czech Republic!
Trdelnik, a sweet pastry flavored with cinnamon and other spices, slowly cooked over charcoal. Best served with chocolate spread throughout the inside.
Chlebíčky--These little open faced sandwiches are brought to potlucks, birthday celebrations, and office parties.
The Czechs love pork (as do we!), and this sampler plate featured sausage, meatloaf made primarily of pork (porkloaf?), and what we call "cracklins" in Louisiana.
We took a food tour in Prague that was not only super fun and delicious, but when they found out it was my birthday, they ordered me a special birthday cake with a huge sparkler at our last stop. So special!
Goulash was a must! In Prague, it is traditionally served with bread dumplings (which tasted pretty much like bread that needed to be baked about 5 more minutes).
Maybe not so traditionally Czech, but this breakfast place was amazing! A pumpkin and feta quiche, an apple and brie croissant, and a latte was a perfect way to start the morning.
The buildings, and especially the many churches, were fantastic. There's a reason that Prague is called the City of a Thousand Spires!
Looking out onto the city from the castle
Inside St. Vitus Cathedral, arguably Prague's most famous (and crowded!) church. For ~$4 USD, you could join a guided tour, which let you skip the line and get more information about the church (as well as several other nearby buildings in the castle complex). It was worth it just to skip the line, which wrapped around the length of the church soon after it opened for the day.
The stained and painted glass inside the churches we visited was magnificent!
The outside of St Vitus
A view from the front of St Vitus (taken above the heads of the throng of tourists)
Cathedral of St. Barbara, in a nearby town
We did visit a few more churches during our time in the Czech Republic. One was the Unitarian Church in Prague, where we went on Sunday morning and listened to the sermon (in Czech--it's safe to say we didn't get the message that morning). Afterwards, we had coffee and snacks with some of the members, who were so happy to meet Unitarians from America and talk to us about the history of the church. This church was founded by Norbert Capek, who created the flower communion (which we do at the Unitarian Church in Baton Rouge during Easter) before being killed by the Nazis during WWII.
Before the war and communism, the Unitarian Church in Prague had a huge congregation. In the years since, it has dwindled and now the members meet in the basement of the building. There were around 40 worshippers on Sunday.
Sadly, this is how the rest of the building is being used.
The other church we visited was in the nearby town of Kutna Hora. There were several interesting things to see there, including a mine, some other churches, and some cute little shops. However, the big draw for this little town is most definitely Sedlec Ossuary, better known as the Bone Church. The basement of this chapel is decorated with the bones of around 40,000 people.
Bones, bones everywhere
Coat of Arms of the House of Schwarzenberg, an important Bohemian family.
The chandelier in the center has at least one of every bone in the human body.
Not gonna lie, this place was freaky!
The artist signed his name in...what else?
So the Bone Church was pretty awesome. Also awesome? Shooting crossbows. On our tour of Prague Castle, we came across this booth that let you shoot a crossbow 3 times for $2.00. Obviously we had to try it!
Brian shot it twice and hit the target!
I shot it once and missed the thing completely (hence this face).
A must-see in Prague is the medieval Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square. Every hour, the clock comes to life, the tiny windows open, the skeleton starts ringing his bell, and 12 sculptures of the apostles march past. To be honest, it sounds much cooler than it actually was, but this was probably really amazing technology when it was created in 1410!
The clock tower in the middle of Old Town Square (on one of the only sunny days we had)
The windows are open and you can see the Apostles inside. The skeleton that rings the bell is on the right, next to the clock face.
Beer in Prague is supposed to be some of the best in the world. And it was cheap... really cheap. Definitely cheaper than bottles of water and diet cokes. Even I drank one! And I didn't hate it! Brian had a few. :)
Proof! A real Czech pilsner, not a cider.
These pictures were taken on different nights. We don't often go out in matching argyle sweaters.
Not the best in the world? The random statues we found while out exploring the city.
These giant babies in the park really spoke to me. They are also on the side of the TV tower, a fact that the people we met from Prague hate to talk about.
This one was called "In Utero." Clearly.
This one is called Piss. The hips move and the men (there are actually two statues!) are standing--and peeing--on an outline of the Czech Republic. So controversial!
Also not the best in the world? The Prague Zoo. We had a free afternoon and the weather was beautiful, so we decided to go check out the zoo since it was highly rated on TripAdvisor. It was fine; the animals seemed well cared for and the habitats were pretty nice, but I wouldn't make a return trip to the zoo.
I only stayed in the bat area long enough to snap this pic. When they started flying too close to my head, I ran out pretty quickly!
They had quite a few leopards!
This guy was scary!
The zoo got bonus points from me for having penguins.
In Prague we stayed in an apartment in the Jewish Quarter, which was an area of the town with a lot of synagogues and museums related to the history of the Jews in this area of Europe. We took a very interesting walking tour of several synagogues, and also took a bus out to a concentration camp about an hour outside of the city called Terezin. What can I say about the horrors of the Holocaust? Even spending three days at a conference at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC and hearing two different survivor's testimonies did not prepare me for actually visiting a concentration camp. It was sobering and emotionally draining, but I think important to see so that we don't forget the atrocities committed and allow them to happen again.
Victims names on the wall of one of the synagogues in Prague
A Torah in the Spanish Synagogue
The entrance to Terezin fortress, which says "work will set you free"
The best part of the trip for me was our Segway tour around Prague. We chose this company since they offered private tours--just me, Brian, and our guide Theresa, who was equal parts adorable, patient, and knowledgeable. We got to see parts of Prague that we could not have easily reached on foot.
It was scary at first!
Though it was a dreary and grey day in Prague, the views were still pretty amazing!
It took awhile for me to get used to the Segway, but pretty soon I was zipping around with ease.
We got super cool helmets, too.
Theresa took us to the John Lennon Wall. I appreciated that there was a dedicated graffiti wall, as it helped prevent a lot of graffiti all over everything else in the city.
We really loved Prague and thought it was a fantastic city, full of history, beautiful buildings, and beer. Upon leaving Prague, we took a 7 hour train ride to Budapest, Hungary, for the second part of our trip. Budapest post coming soon! :)
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