Andrea and I Share Our Most Weekend In Prague

Let me start off our little weekend trip to Prague with a simple post. We woke up at 7:00 to catch the 8:15 bus into Prague. I’ll let you all guess, we missed the bus, I was in the store buying some provisions, not knowing what time it was, actually thinking we had plenty of time, and Andrea was outside the store right by the bus stop. However, I had not told Andrea that the bus for Prague loaded on the opposite side of the street. As I watched out the window watching Andrea I noticed she kept looking in the wrong direction. I guess I didn’t think much of it, she was just waiting for me, we had plenty of time, or so I thought. I exited the store and started to cross the street. She said, “What are you doing?”
I replied, “Going to where the bus stops to take us to Prague. Across the street.”
As we stepped onto the curb of the bus stop, Andrea told me, “Oh, this is where we get the bus to Prague. I just saw a bus stop here and take off.”
I asked, inquisitively, “What time is it anyway?”
“8:20,” was her response.
So, I just put my head down. Knowing it was my fault, I had not let her know where to look for the bus so she could warn me on it’s arrival and I had, also, not watched the time as I should have.
The positive was that we now had a chance to grab a couple of coffees, as I do not have a coffee maker in my apartment. We were at least able to wake ourselves up a bit. Then we walked to the train station where we purchased two tickets to Prague. A little bit more expensive, but quicker and the next bus did not leave until after noon. The train we are taking to Prague leaves in a couple minutes as it is now about 10:15.
As I had to stop writing as I finished that last sentence because we had to jump on the train, I am writing this last paragraph from Andrea’s Headmaster’s daughter’s loft. She is in Barcelona for the weekend and is letting us stay here. It is truly amazing, a fourth floor apartment completely redone with all hardwood floors; a state-of-the-art kitchen and I believe four bedrooms. There is also a loft over looking the living room. In the living room, there is a projector, which puts a screen on the wall close to the size of a movie theaters. It would be the perfect place for anyone, just minutes from downtown Prague on the tram.
I wrote the first section on the day we left for and arrived in Prague. Andrea, as you will see, wrote about our most recent trip to the capital city of the Czech Republic.
Hi, it’s Andrea writing now. I thought I would try writing a blog. We forgot to say that one of the reasons we were excited to go to Prague was because a few weeks ago we were sitting at a café in Prague and overheard some guys speaking English. We invited them to join us and although our visit was short, as we had to catch our bus back (that never came-my fault on looking up the schedule), it was very nice and we made plans to hang out next time we were in Prague. One of the guys, Matthew, moved to Prague hoping to get a job teaching English when he got there. We called him to tell him we were on our way into Prague and he said his visa was denied and he was being deported back to the U.S. the next day. So much for having friends in Prague! Hopefully we will become friends with my Headmaster’s daughter when we meet her.
After we got in we decided to take the bus to an outlet mall called Fashion Arena. We had heard rumors that this was the best place to shop in the area, as it is more affordable than the downtown stores. After a couple hours of walking around, we decided that it was actually a big disappointment. Although we did not have money to spend, the prices and the selection were not anything to write about.
For dinner we took the metro into the Old Town Square and wandered into a pizzeria in a small courtyard off of one of the dozens of cobblestone streets. To our surprise, everyone that walked in the door spoke English and the wait staff spoke it almost as well. It’s so crazy how many tourists there are from English speaking countries. We chatted with the couple next to us for a few minutes. They were from London and were very nice. After our delicious pizza, we walked through the town square filled with thousands of people. I cannot explain how beautiful it is, especially at night with the medieval churches and buildings all lit up so I will give you a quote I heard from a girl that walked past us in the square that night: “It’s just like a fairytale!” I turned to Matt and said, “She couldn’t have summed it up any better”. You will have to try to make it here to see the beauty of Prague. It truly is more amazing than I ever thought it would be. I am sad to leave today although I know I will be back a dozen more times and hopefully more!
My Headmaster’s daughter recommended we see an area called Vysrehad, which she says, is rumored to be where Prague was founded. We walked up about 500 stairs to the top of a hill to find the most beautiful church and cemetery. There was an outdoor café and, because it was yet again a perfect day, we sat down to have a latte and marvel at the church. At five minutes to noon, the church began playing the most beautiful song. It sounded like ‘O Come All Ye Faithful but was slightly different. Dozens of people stopped in their tracks to look at the church and listen to the song. It was a funny sight to see because it looked like the people were waiting for something to happen, like for the church to come alive and start dancing or something. Then the church continued to play about three more equally beautiful songs, and as I sat drinking my latte in the sun listening the music, I thought that this moment could not be any more perfect.
We walked into a cemetery, which apparently is where all of the famous authors, poets, musicians, and politicians are buried. Each plot was more impressive than the next, with giant statues and sculptures at the head of the grave and flowerbeds filled with the most colorful flowers. Some of the plots were enormous because entire families are buried together. I will have to go back just to take pictures because I forgot my camera this weekend. I have never seen anything like this cemetery. It was so impressive.
We then walked through a beautiful park filled with families having their Sunday afternoon picnics and came upon a view of the Vlatava River and the entire city that is indescribable.
The afternoon we spent walking through the city and having lunch (really appetizers because it’s all we can afford at most restaurants in Prague). We decided to try out the state-of-the-art kitchen I mentioned that night (and save money) by cooking dinner. I was eager to see Prague nightlife so cooking was the compromise if we were to spend money on drinks later. I researched and mapped out all of our stops for our mini pub crawl but had to change our route as we came upon a very large and rowdy pub crawl entering one of the bars I had chosen. We only went to two of the four I wanted to go to because the streets in Old Town are very confusing. They slant in every direction so it is extremely difficult to locate things. We found ourselves walking in circles for a good part of the night until we finally gave up. I will say, I enjoyed the bars we went to and I now know the area to go at night so it wasn’t a disappointment, but a learning experienceJ
This morning was rather uneventful. We cleaned up after ourselves and went out to a flower shop to buy a small thank you gift for our friends’ (although we haven’t met them yet) generous hospitality. We found a beautiful red flowering plant and a nice glass pot for it. We splurged a bit but decided it would look great in their very red kitchen and we would probably be staying with them many more times. Just as we walked in the door of the apartment, we noticed the same exact plant sitting on the counter! Maybe I had pictured the plant we bought in their kitchen because I had seen it in their kitchen! I don’t know but now they have two and we are kind of embarrassed. Oh well! Over all, it was a fabulous three day weekend and I can now say that I love Prague even more!