Bohemian Rhapsody: 4 Days in Prague

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Just two hours over the Germany-Czech border, lies the city at the heart of Old World Europe: Prague. (Or Prag. Or Praha, whichever you prefer.)

After our weekend in Dresden and Wittenberg, Melody and I boarded our train to Prague, which was in no way dirty, rickety, or a remainder from DDR times.  Despite the general shadiness of the train, the train ride, which follows the Vltava River was especially lovely with the changing leaves.

Needless to day, I had to attempt to snap some blurry pictures through the train windows.

Arriving in Prague's main station was quite overwhelming.  Unlike the Romance or Germanic languages, which bear some resemblance to English (making it easier to jump to some kind of assumption about what in the world that sign says), Czech is baffling and totally unrecognizable.

And while we're on the "baffling" front, let's talk about Czech korunas and how awesome you feel holding a 2000 koruna note (which is about 77 Euros or about 104 US dollars, for those of you playing at home).  Czech korunas have coinage, but the lowest value in their currency system is 1 koruna coin, so there are no "cents".  For example, the average price for a bottle of water is about 30 or 40 koruna.  

Needless to say, whenever you spend some money, you first start a bit at the idea of spending 100 + korunas for, well, anything, but then you realize that your 300 koruna meal is actually only about 10 Euros and then you feel really powerful.

And somehow spending money becomes really easy.

Turning away from the topic of me hemorrhaging a highly inflated currency and back to Prague, we arrived there after we struggled to figure out the subway station to our hostel.  When we arrived at our hostel, we met up with four other ETAs: Cathy, Dave, Tom, and Alex.   Cathy had a Czech friend who offered to take us out to his favorite Czech pub, so we all set out to grab some traditional Czech food. Luckily, our hostel was nestled in the district under the St. Charles Bridge and we were able to take a nice stroll through Prague.

One of the gates of the St. Charles Bridge

We arrived at the pub, which was surprisingly named The Pub, and quickly discovered why Cathy's friend liked it so much.  I'm not saying that having a tap in the middle of a table is a selling point, but I don't see how that's a negative.

I'm not really a beer person (at all actually - I tend towards fruity drinks that are pink, shocking, I know), but real Pilsner-Urquell straight from the tap is pretty tasty.  Also the fun of pouring your own beer is not to be underestimated either. 

Beer pairs perfectly with Czech foods, which are quite similar to German ones - meat, potatoes, bread, cheese, and the possibility that they all can be deep fried.  One of the Czech specialities is deep fried Edam cheese - also known as Smažený sýr.  (They tend to serve it with a small side salad to give the appearance that you're not just eating deep fried cheese for dinner.)

After our tasty dinner, we took a stroll around Prague before returning the hostel and planning what we were going to do for the next days.

Day Two:  A Day Trip to Kutná Hora

We had all agreed to take part in a day trip to the city of Kutná Hora, which is only an hour from Prague.  We planned our tour guide by the city center and the (vastly overrated) astronomical clock. The winding path to the town square is filled with shops, selling everything from postcards to matryoshka dolls to garnets. (Side note: Garnets and amber are very cheap and easy to find in Prague, for those of you who like bling.)  Even though it was the off season in Prague, you can see the masses of tourists in the square.

Our tour guide led us through the city on the way to the train station.

City workers refinish the cobblestones on
gunpowder tower.

(Definitely not a job for me!)

Although it looks like a mosque, it's actually the Spanish Moor
inspired Jewish synagogue.

After an hour long train ride, we arrived in the quiet countryside town of Kutná Hora.  Back in the day (and by that I mean the 13th century), Kutná Hora was the heart of the Czech silver mining industry. The town is mostly empty now, but in the 13th century, Kutná Hora had a larger population and was richer than Prague.  In 1420, the town was epicenter of Hussite Wars and the famous "general" Jan Žižka won some of his most important battles there.

After the veins of silver had been tapped, even dangerously so, Kutná Hora fell into the back of history books and was soon forgotten as Bohemia was eclipsed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Nevertheless, Kutná Hora still has many sights to see and its a very cute little town.

Yet one of its main attractions, which draws the tourists to Kutná Hora, happens to be very macabre.  A small chapel, the Sedlec Ossuary, is the last remnant of an old monastery.  

The chapel is, well, interesting to say the least.

A comforting sight when you walk in
for Mass.

Okay, so long story short, the chapel became a popular place to bury people after one of the monks brought soil from Golgotha in 1278.  And the bodies/bones kept stacking up, following the wars and diseases that swept Bohemia.  

Then in 1511, as the legend goes, they assigned the task of exhumation and bone piling to a half-blind monk.  Legend says that this blind monk was the one who began arranging the bones into intricate designs.

But since legends are mostly B.S. anyway, I would like to take a moment to tell you that the noble family of Schwarzenberg hired a totally not weird and crazy woodcarver in 1870 to rearrange the bones into the piles and sculptures (is that the right word? I don't know).  

It is estimated that the bones of nearly 70,000 people are on display for the nearly 200,000 tourists, the chapel receives every year.

Anyway, have some photos!  (You might not want to be eating while you read this post. Sorry.)

A good artist always takes credit for his work.

This the famous skeleton chandelier
which makes use of every bone in the body.

Fun.

The Schwarzenberg family crest, which in reality
looks like this. Also note that the lower right
hand image of the shield is of a crow
picking out a Turk's eyes.
Very PC.

Strangely, the upstairs chapel is quiet and bone-free.  The contrast between the elaborate and overwhelming bone chapel is striking.  Everything is minimalistic from the church pews to the modern Stations of the Cross that adorn the bare walls.

When you go outside to catch your breath from the macabre sight within, the views around the chapel are also quite interesting.

From the Sedlec Ossuary we walked to St. Barbara's Cathedral, which was built during the height of the silver mining industry.  (Okay, it took almost 600 years to build.)  

Anyway, it's a lovely Gothic cathedral dedicated to the patron saint of miners.

This old fresco depicts the many facets
of silver mining and coin minting.

This fresco depicts the punishment for thieves:
They have to hold the silver pieces in place
for the minter. Needless to say,
fingers were smashed in the process.

The vaulted ceilings are decorated with
the crest of families and guilds
that donated to the church.

Side altar dedicated to St. Barbara

A depiction of a silver miner, wearing
traditional mining garb.

The church is located on a high bluff and has a beautiful outlook over the valley below.

Our tour took us to a restaurant with a view back to the church.  Delicious Czech food (and beer) was consumed. 

In case you wondering, Czech Budweiser
is still in lawsuits with America's King of Beers.

After lunch, we headed back down toward the train station.  Our day trip to Kutná Hora was a success and I enjoyed myself (well, except for the Bone Chapel).

Leftover tower of the old Bohemian coin mint

Back in downtown Prague.

Day Three: Walking Tour Through Prague

The next day, we rose early(ish) and headed to the city center again to begin our walking tour of Prague.  Instead of recapping all the sights, I'm just going to include a little summary underneath and let the pictures tell the story themselves.  

Prague is a visual feast and I hope my terrible photos do it justice.

The Astronomical Clock, which does
a little show on the hour, every hour.

The Gothic Church of Our Lady faces one
end of the Old Town Square...

While the baroque Hussite church of St. Nicholas
is opposite.

A statue of Jan Hus who was the
 Hipster Protestant™: He hated
the Catholic Church before it was cool, Martin.

One of Prague's most beloved sons, Franz Kafka, is fondly remembered,
despite the fact that his works were not translated into Czech
until the early 1990s.

The Czech symphony orchestra house

Complete with a statue of Dvořák.

From the Old Town Square into the Jewish Quarter...

The Old New Synagogue
(And no, that's not a typo.) 

The Prague Metronome - actually does move back and forth!

It replaced the world's largest statue of Stalin that
looked down over the city.

The Spanish Synagogue

The Kafka statue.
Delightfully creepy.

Wenceslas Square

The Estates Theatre in Prague.
Mozart chose this theater to premiere
his opera Don Giovanni.
(Mozart also really loved Prague.)

A view to the St. Charles' Bridge from another bridge

WWII Memorial.

Note that the war is shown to begin in 1938
when England and France signed
the appeasement of Hitler, turning
their backs on Czechs. 

Statues to astronomers Tycho Brahe and
Johannes Kepler

One of the monasteries in Prague

View from the monastery gardens

Oh look, it's me.

The Schwarzenberg place near the old royal palace.

Another view of the stone work on the palace

A statue of the first president of Czechoslovakia,
 Tomáš Masaryk, looking over his city.

Entrance to the Royal Palace.  The President of the Czech
Republic is still in residence there.

They have a changing of the guard like Buckingham Palace
but with a little less pomp.

St. Vitus Cathedral
Construction began in 1344 and ended with its
consecration in 1929.

The interior of the church

Sorry for the crooked shot.

The only non-stained glass window is
the painted window done by Alphonse Mucha
(no link here, but he'll pop up later in the entry)

Many of the old gothic structures were covered
by baroque facades by Empress Maria Theresa

After our walking tour, we took our aching feet and our hungry stomachs to another Czech restaurant in the Jewish Quarter, which was in the basement of another building.  The restaurant was cozy and dark and the food was something straight out of the middle ages.  It felt like we had time traveled.

We spent our night at the hostel, where I finally learned the finer points of euchre. (Note to self: Don't lead with the Left Bauer.) And with the very generous help of Cathy and Alex, we crushed the boys.

Day Three was a success.

Day Four: Museum Day

Inevitability, all good things must come to an end.  Our last day was spent wrapping up the sights we wanted to see before we left.

Our first stop was in St. Nicholas church, which is a Hussite church.  The photos alone speak to the church's baroque beauty.

Our next stop was the Alphonse Mucha museum.  

It will probably not come as a shock that I am simply in love with art nouveau.  And for many years, Mucha has been one of my favorite artists and my favorite art nouveau artist.

Needless to say, I was more than thrilled to see Mucha's best works in person.  (Also, gift shop!)

"Summer" - One of a series of four
panel prints depicting the seasons

Another one of Mucha's quartet pieces: "Times of Day"
My favorite piece is the far left, "La Nuit" (The Night).

Mucha began as artist for the purely superficial and the commercial, but his career took a turn when he began to paint promotional art to support Czech and Slavic nationalism.

This poster encouraged Czechs to support
the arts in school in more, especially
music.

Anyway, if you love art, check out the little Mucha museum while you're in Prague. I guarantee you'll fall in love a little bit.  (And probably drop some cash at the gift shop too.)

Our last stop was the Franz Kafka museum, which was as weird, dark, and trippy as one would expect. 

Walking through the dimly lit museum, while listening to strange music and sounds, looking at display boxes, and puzzling through art installations was, shall I say it...a kafkaesque experience. (You knew that was coming.)

The museum was divided into two parts: "Kafka in Prague" (which described Kafka's personal life) and "Prague in Kafka"(which described Kafka's works and Prague's influence on them).  A good chunk of the museum is in Germany and isn't translated into English, so non-German speaking visitors beware.

Although I'm not the biggest Kafka fan, the museum was cool.  In a slightly overwhelming and sickening way, but cool nevertheless.

Prague, in a nutshell, is an amazing city. And I know we only scratched the surface of this strange and ever-changing city.  

It has culture enough to satisfy the most sophisticated, history enough to see the transformation of Europe throughout nearly time period (Also: defenestrations.  Yes, plural. There have been at least three or up to five, depending on how you count.), and beer and deep fried goodness enough to give you an excuse to walk around a lot.

Even though Prague is the go-to city for tourists to Europe right now, I highly recommend going! (But maybe in the off season, if you don't want to get trampled to death.)

Lots of Love,

Your Humble Blogger

NEXT POST: Tour of the North (Part I) - Bremen and Hamburg!

Hey Guys, I Think This Door Might Be Important!

Hello my dearest followers,

Two Saturdays ago, I met Melody bright and early on the train to Dresden. Actually, it was early, but hardly bright.  Chemnitz on winter mornings is a little like the North Pole - sad, cold, and penguin-less.
In Dresden, we caught up with Philip and Kitty and we (and our Saxony-Ticket) made our way to Wittenberg.

Now, every world religion has their religious sites; whether it's Jerusalem, Mecca, the Vatican, Bodh Gaya, the Golden Temple, Varanasi, or even Stonehenge (if Neo-Druidism is your thing), there's a religious site for everybody.

And for Lutherans, that site would be Wittenberg - the place where Martin Luther started it all.

Even though I'm not Lutheran, I can appreciate the fact that this city and what happened in it radically changed the Western world.  (Also, I think after about 500 years, they won't expel Papists from the city followed by mobs with torches and pitch-forks, right?)

Its importance to world history aside, I would also like to mention the fact that Wittenberg is also totally adorable and makes for a perfect day trip.

The Wittenberg crew: Phil, Melody, and Kitty

Photo Credit to Phil!

It was also a lovely, sunny day and the leaves were just beginning to change...perfect!

We strolled through the city, admiring the winding streets, the architecture, and the fall leaves.

The Hoffungskirche.
We tried to go inside, but it was closed for a 50th wedding
anniversary.

Ignore the garbage cans, I was photographing the leaves.

Wittenberg Town Square

Unsurprisingly, it's Martin.

Phil really wanted to visit the printing press that produced Luther's works, but it was closed.  And by closed, I mean, none of us were sure if the museum closed or if the museum actually existed.

The printing press was the home base of Lucas Cranach (both of them), who were/are pretty famous in their own right as painters and engravers.  You also have Cranach (the Elder) to thank for this now famous pictures of Luther. 

I mean, when you think Luther, you think of this picture.
Don't lie.
You know it's true.

So despite the museum confusion, we took photos anyway.

Phil decided to step into my photo.  Will the photobombing
ever end?

A statue dedicated to Cranach (the Elder).

The logo of the Cranach press

More fall leaves!  (Sorry I thought the colors on these were
just lovely!)

Of course, Luther makes an appearance nearly everywhere across the city.  And gift shops find many ways to attract customers from Luther wine to life-size cutouts (which aren't so life-size next to Phil, who is very tall).

As we made our way to the Schlosskirche, which is the most famous church in Wittenberg, if not Germany, we stopped at a side door to the church, where Melody was enamored by the pretty gold painting above the door frame. 

"Hey guys," said Melody, "I saw this door on some postcards! I think it might be important!" 

 They area around this side door was under construction and seemed relatively unimportant. 

And we kept strolling along, until Kitty found a post near the front entrance.  She read along until she buckled over with laughter.

In our ignorance, we had unwittingly passed the door where Luther had nailed his 95 Theses and had started the Protestant Reformation.  

Frightening some elderly tourists, we rushed back to the door, where we tried to take photos in between our laughter.

Just kind of important.

Our first attempts at selfies were a blurry mess
because we laughing so hard!

After we took some pictures (alas we couldn't get into the church), we were joined by another ETA, Chelsea!

We meant we had to take more photos, of course.
From left to right: Phil, Yours Truly, Melody, Kitty, and Chelsea!

Photo credit to Kitty!

A little bit chilled and very hungry, we wandered through the town, looking for the best place for lunch.  We stumbled onto a restaurant called the Kartoffelhaus (the Potato-House), which sounded wonderfully promising.

And it was!  

(Almost) All the items on the menu contained potatoes, including potato-schnapps!  I tried the popular Northern German dish, Kartoffelauflauf, which is as fun to say as it is to eat.  Basically, it's potatoes and meats baked over with cheese and sauce.  Yum.

I chose a Kartoffelauflauf done up with curry and exotic fruits.

Yeah, it was tasty.

After lunch, we wandered our way towards Luther's house, which is now a museum and a library that has an extensive collection of Luther's original pamphlets as well as contemporary books and pamphlets.

We also took silly pictures along the way.

Although we weren't allowed to take pictures in the museum (which was very cool, I highly recommend it), we got some good pictures of the outside of Luther's house.

In the later afternoon, we made our way back to Phil's house outside of Dresden.  

We spotted this hilarious billboard, which I suspect was intentionally torn, on the way to the train station.

The top of the billboard: Germany's new campaign to promote condom use
The bottom of the billboard: Election poster with Angela Merkel

Translation: I want it wild.  For Germany.

Kitty, Melody, and I crashed at Phil's house who was gracious enough to three girls upturn his basement apartment.  He also let us watch Love, Actually without complaining, so bonus points!

Needless to say, we were a giggly group.

The next morning, Phil's landlord (who has previously expressed concern about Phil's not having anyone over) was pleasantly surprised to see not one, not two, but three girls emerge from his apartment.  The landlord made a comment along the lines of: "Three girls! Well, they all look happy."  

Somehow, unintentionally, we raised Phil's street cred with his landlord.

We headed off to Dresden, where the weather cooperated for a little bit, before raining.  We also met a new friend, Sofia, who is a Russian ETA in the same town as Melody!

Kitty got this great picture of us!

From left to right: Sofia, Melody, Yours Truly, and Phil

Returning the favor for Kitty - got this action
shot of her as she scampered back up the stairs
to meet us!

To escape the rain, we ducked into the Dresden Kuntsthalle, which is inside the Zwinger palace.  

If you love art and you're in Dresden, this gallery is a must-see.  Even if you don't love art (how can't you though - are you a soulless monster?!), you should see this gallery.  It has a solid collection of Old Masters and Dutch Masters and is beautifully laid out inside the palace.

Two works of note are Rafael's Sistine Madonna and Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, but the gallery has lots of other gorgeous paintings as well.

Unlike the Mona Lisa, which is the most
overrated and underwhelming piece of art
in person, Rafael's art in person is breath-taking.

The weekend trip, which had been spontaneous, turned out to be a great success with great new friends!

The next morning, your Humble Blogger and Melody set out to meet another group of ETAs in the heart of old Europe: Prague! 

But that's for another blog post.  (Which will hopefully be coming soon!)

For right now though, I'll leave you with a pop song called "Applaus Applaus" by Sportfreunde Stiller, that was really popular this summer in Germany and became our unofficial anthem of the Fall Break trip, thanks to Kitty and Sofia, who sang it waaay too much and it got stuck in everybody's head.

But in all seriousness, it's a cute little love song, but because Blogger hates me, I can't figure out how to put a non-YouTube video onto the Blog, so just click the link.

Lots of Love,

Your Humble Blogger