Czech it out: a weekend in Prague

My life has become a blur and I can't even keep up with myself anymore!  Last weekend, after my second surgery, Jillian and I took a night train to Prague.  We left Strasbourg around 9:30, took a short train to Offenburg, Germany, where we had about 5 minutes to change trains onto our night train that would take us all the way to Prague.

Unfortunately, we had different sleeping arrangements and despite my best efforts in German to persuade the train guy to let us be in the same cabin, we had to stay separated.  I found my sleeping cabin and there were already two people inside, asleep at 10:30.  I was not at all tired.  Just my luck, my bunk was the third bunk, on the top.  The conductor told me that we have to stay in our specific beds because the train makes a lot of stops during the night and there would be more people coming on board.  So, with my hand in extreme pain and in a sling, I climbed my way up to the third bunk with my huge purse for the weekend.  It took me about five minutes to climb up there with my gimpy arm.  I woke up the girl in the top bunk across from me.  Woops.  When I finally got up there, I had to spread out the blankets, which was another awkward hassle with one arm.  I didn't get much sleep that night but when Jill woke me up, it was bright outside and we were close to Prague.

We arrived in the city around 10 AM.  We walked to our hostel from the train station, about a 15 minute walk.  Thankfully, our room was ready and we were able to drop our stuff off and refresh ourselves and plan our day.  First, we walked around the old town square and enjoyed the architecture.

Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square

We also wanted to find the blacklight theatre where we were going to see a blacklight show that night so we wouldn't be late.  It took us a while to find it and we got lost a few times.  After we found where we were going, we realized it was 12:30 and we were starving.  We ate a lunch that was traditional Czech food.  I had a pork, sauerkraut, and dumplings.  Very heavy but really good!

Jill with her goulash and dumplings

Pretending to cut my food.  I was unable to so Jill had to do it for me :/

After lunch, we made our way to Charles Bridge to go up to the castle.

cathedral

Prague Castle

Charles Bridge with the castle and cathedral in the background

 By the time we got to the castle and cathedral, they were both closing so we just walked around the grounds and enjoyed the view!

From the top of the hill at Prague Castle

Afterwards, we headed back across the bridge and back into the city center.

On Charles Bridge!

We walked to the Jewish quarter and looked into the cemetery but we couldn't go in because it was the Sabbath, so we made plans to go back on Sunday.  We did get a picture, though!

We did some shopping and then needed a break so as soon as I saw a Nespresso store, I dragged Jill inside. I ordered an iced Nespresso coffee and it was delightful.  Look at this delicious thing!

a scoop of vanilla, a scoop of chocolate ice cream, a double shot of espresso, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce

After my coffee break, we walked around some more until it was time for the blacklight show.  It was awesome!  There was no talking, but it was a mixture of blacklight performances and these two guys who did mute comedy sketches between acts.  They were really funny!  The blacklight dances/performances were beautiful and really trippy.  Apparently these are really popular in Prague; we saw a lot of black light theatres around the city and the show we went to was sold out!

When the show ended, it was kind of late and we were both pooped so we ate a quick dinner and headed home.  On the way home, we saw this:

This was about the time when I realized that Prague was a fairy tale and my new favorite city

We got to our hostel around midnight and I slept soo well that night.

Sunday morning, we woke up early (although it was an hour later than we thought... we had forgotten about daylight savings time in Europe) and set off towards the castle and cathedral again.  We took a tour of the castle and got to see all the really cool rooms with beautiful murals and furniture.  I even saw the window where the defenestration took place.  It's a long fall, I can't believe those nobles lived!!  We also went into the cathedral and went up the 287 steps to the top tower.  The view was incredible!!

Prague and Charles Bridge from atop the cathedral

Buildings in Prague

weird shaped building

After climbing the millions of stairs just to get to the castle's hill.  Jill wasn't too happy!

After the castle and cathedral, we had lunch and then went back to the Jewish quarter to get a tour of the old synagogues and the cemetery.  It was really moving.  In the cemetery, there were so many tombs and graves that there was no way there was enough space for all of the people who were supposed to be buried there.  I later found out that buying land to bury the dead was too expensive at the time, and if I remember correctly it was a Jewish tradition to keep their dead together, so they would bury their dead on top of one another, leaving earth in between them.  There were also several tombs that had been transformed into wailing walls with hundreds of little pieces of paper stuffed into the engraved tombs.  That was really sad.

Afterwards, Jillian and I had to start making our way back to the train station.  On the way, I did a little shopping and got a beautiful silk scarf from Mango as a souvenir of my weekend in Prague.  I can't wait to wear it!  We left Prague around 6:30, and I was so sad to leave!  The way back I didn't sleep much either, but the cabin was full and I find it hard to sleep when there are five people around you breathing heavily/snoring/shifting in their sleep.  We got to Offenburg at 6:30 AM, and then changed trains and we got back to Strasbourg around 7:30.  I arrived at the apartment as my host family was eating breakfast.  I told them about my trip and then went and washed my face/got ready for school and my doctor's appointment for my finger.  Despite the extreme exhaustion I felt the entire day, Prague was a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to go back there and spend more time there in the future.