P R A G U E

If you would have told me how much I would love this city, I wouldn’t have believed you.  This was the best started city to our European tour that you could ask for.  Old towne was breathe taking.  The freedom that comes with being in a city that nobody knows you is unmeasurable.  We originally flue into Prague prior to Olomouc, and then we ventured back last week with the school.

When we arrived the first time, the first night there we went out to eat at a true Czech restaurant.  Of course while being in Czech the first thing they do when you arrive is bring the PIVOS!  Our lovely waiter brought their original beer, which was to die for.  Dark beer is officially my go to for drinks.  He also brought two kinds of shots, one which waste their version of Fire Ball, and another that was a honey wine called “Sweet Honey.”  Molly of course proceeded to call our waiter Sweet Honey the entire night, and even went back after him the following night to try to get him to go clubbing with us.

Mosaic, the host that we stayed at put on a tour of the city our first day there.  Rob, our tour guide pictured below in front of the St. Nicholas Cathedral gave us the low down on all the historic building and myths behind them.

Above you can see the view of the castle from the Charles bridge.  One of my favorite things from the trip thus far.  You can also see two detailed photos of the Cathedral inside. It amazes me that attention to detail in every aspect of the city.  The artist made sure every aspect was not only ascetically pleasing, but near perfection.

You can definitely tell that Prague is a tourist attraction on comparison to the other cities that we have visited.  With this come pros and cons.  Personally, I love the art and the history behind the city, but I could do without the over crowded streets.  I did wildly enjoy the town square tho.  The smell of fried bread with sugar filled the air, rather than the smell of meat and cigarettes like most other places in Czech.  And the people their seemed to be more alive.  In the picture above you can see the HUGE bubble that were blown, and the young children amused by them.  For the older generations live concerts played American 90s music.  On a side note, few people here speak English, but EVERY store, restaurant, and student only listen to American music!

We one of the days we hike to the top of the Petrin tower.  The view on the way up and the view from the top were both like none I have seen before.  They say when you travel you learn a lot about your self.  That is so true in my case.  I found that I am terrified by stairs.  On multiple occasions I have thought I was going to pass out on the way to the top of buildings, however this Petrin tower takes the cake on the most scared I have ever been.

Forever Prague will be my home away from home in Europe.  It marks the start of the journey, the start to the friendships, and the start of the reality of this trip.  How extremely horrible the Holocaust was.

Yesterday was an extremely emotional day of me.  For our lecture a Jewish man came and spoke with us on the Jewish past, present and future.  It's hard to really explain the Czech culture and my observations in the past couple of weeks.  The place in general is just very cold and reserved.  And I was astonished to find that a country with SO MANY beautiful churches didn't have God in their lives.  But after hearing this man speak of the holocaust, I understand why they drink their days away.

In my mind the Holocaust was so far away in both time in location.  Because of the horrors we learned about yesterday and how false my thoughts on the matter are, lets just say I am running off about 20 minutes of sleep.  The man who spoke with us Grandparents had met in Terezin and been Holocaust survivors.  The horror of that alone would be to much for me to handle, knowing how many times my Grandparents were near death.  I will never fully understand the hardships that came from the holocaust, and are still effecting people in this region today.  And for that I will count my blessings twice.

Pictured above is a shot from a Jewish cemetery in Prague.  It hard to tell from the photo but the ground is elevated about 6 feet higher, this is because the bodies were buried on top of each other over and over again.  The most chilling factor about this part of Prague was Hitler's plan for it.  Prior to entering the cemetery we went through the Jewish Museum.  The Nazis systematically burned synagogues all over.  But as the story goes, they chose to leave Prague's Jewish quarter intact so that when the finished their plan of murdering all the Jews this would be the "Museum of the extinct race".  A chilling concept to grasp.

I will leave you with a preview of my experience in Dresden.  Next Blog will be full of Brno, Venice, Vienna, Rome, and Malta!  Hoppy (early) Easter!!