Praha!

Praha…hahaha… Felicia, Elizabeth, Nikki and I hopped on an overnight train and got to Praha on Friday morning. This gave us 2 full days in Prague, one of the most beautiful European cities, and we definitely took advantage of our time. We packed a lot in one weekend. Prague definitely has a lot to see and a lot to do – but I think I was ready to go after two days. After we checked into our hostel and grabbed a city map, we made our way into the Old Town Prague to check out the Jewish District. I wasn’t really sure what we would see or do there, but we heard that it was worth checking out…so we did. I had no idea that there was even a prominent Jewish society in Prague. But, there are some of the most amazing Synagogues – which was a good change from the all the Catholic cathedrals that I’ve been seeing. The main Synagogue had the Star of David built into the entire design, wall decoration, and even light fixtures. It was adorned with beautiful blues and silvers and golds. There was also a Jewish cemetery for some of the Holocaust victims (with tombstones piled all over each other…it was a little creepy) and even a synagogue that had 80,000 names of the Holocaust victims on the walls. Traveling in a smaller group of just girls was a nice change. We were able to eat somewhere other than McDonalds (all the guys always automatically resort to McD’s!) and we got to spend some quality time in smaller café’s. The author, Kafka, is really popular in Prague – so we decided to check out the Kafke Café. We also went to a Mucha Café, just because we could! We ate at a Bohemian Bagel place, a Lucy’s Café for Tex Mex…oooh the taste of a chicken burrito with rice, guacamole and sour cream was SO good! As for authentic Czech food, we got some spiced wine and the famous “cylindrical pastries” from a stand in the main square. Sabrina (my roommate) had already been to Praha and highly suggested the cylindrical pastries (with sugar, toffee and almond toppings)…so I spent the entire weekend following my nose. We finally found them on Saturday morning! They were definitely worth looking for…man…I kind of want one right now! Ok moving on…lets just say I ate really well this weekend. Really, really well (even though the two out of four of us are vegetarian!) Another highlight of my trip was the Castle area that overlooked all of Prague. We had to make the climb up to the castle on the top of the hill. There, you can walk through the guarded gates and explore a little town within the bigger city of Prague. Cobblestone streets, fountains, and statues were sprinkled all throughout the castle grounds. There is a huge Catholic Cathedral in the middle of this area. We went inside, took some pictures, and climbed up the 300+ stairs up the church tower past the church bells to see an amazing birds eye view of Prague. I’m kind of over decadent Catholic Cathedrals…they all sadly start to look the same. However, this view was definitely worth making the climb up the stairs. Going back to Pepperdine and climbing the 150 stairs up to the Communications building is going to be a piece of cake! The Charles’ Bridge was my last highlight of the trip. We went over this famous bridge a couple times – and it was the best place to see the sun over the river. Going in November was a great time because autumn in Prague was beautiful! It was cold, but the sun was out. Charles’ Bridge is lined with statues, and there are really cute jazz bands and street performers, and craft stands. I know that I’m leaving out a lot of details…but you get the gist! I loved Prague, but I don’t think that I need to go back…not for a while, at least.