After the comfort and convenience of staying with family in the last two cities Prague took some warming up to. A new city, new language and new currency seemed like a lot of change. My hostel was a bit out of the way, requiring a tram ride to get to city center. The dingy part of town my accommodation was in and the beds stacked three high in my 12 bed dorm made me feel even less at home.

After getting settled (in a middle bunk, whew!) I met up with 3 other people from BusAbout- Amanda, Andy and Kate. We explored from Wenceslas Square down to the Astronomical Clock at old city center. From there we wandered to the river towards Charles Bridge walking through the silhouettes of buildings towards the most gorgeous sunset. After soaking in the last rays of sunshine we went on a hunt for dinner and some of the renound Czech beer. We were not disappointed- finding a place with taps built into the center of the table. It was nice to make some new friends in this city. Prague was growing on me.

The next morning I was determined to walk to Prague Castle through the vast Letenské park lands and castle gardens. I loved wandering through the shady greenery, getting amazing views of the city every few minutes. The park was much steeper then I expected, making what looked like a short distance on the map feel much longer. But remembering that I had nothing pressing to do and no where to be I took a breath and did my best to enjoy the journey. I wandered, sitting on benches looking out over the city speckled with red and blue copper roof tops. Reaching the castle on the hill was always my goal, I could tell I was getting close when I entered the gardens by the Summer Royal Palace. I walked through the gardens with a wonderful view of St. Vitus’ Cathedral right across the way. I entered the main castle walls through the Powder Bridge, which was wonderful luck because there was absolutely no line. Only when exiting through the main castle gates did I realize how fortunate I had been. I bought a ticket, feeling sneaky for continuing to take advantage of my student discount, which gave me access to 6 of the main castle attractions. The only one I found exceptionally notable was St. Vitus’ Cathedral. It was even more immaculate on the inside as on the outside. Its stained glass was made of the most beautifully saturated colors from across the spectrum. I’ve seen a lot of churches and cathedrals in these past weeks, but these windows were by far my favorite. I later discovered my favorite window was designed by one of my favorite artist Alphonse Mucha, who had spent much of his time in Prague. Glad to see my artistic taste has some consistency!

It started pouring and when all the exhibits closed around 5:00 I decided to head back to the hostel. Expecting a quite night of writing I went down to find a seat in the hostel’s cozy bar and was immediately waved over by another group of travelers. All 7 of them were also traveling solo and we swapped stories about our different travel experiences and the benefits and drawbacks of being on our own. One thing I love about staying at hostels is how friendly and welcoming everyone generally is. It’s easy to find other people to explore the city with or to give you tips for your upcoming destinations. I ended the evening with plans to meet another woman, Laura, the following morning for a free walking tour of the old town.

At the walking tour the next morning I was glad to have a buddy, the town was already extremely crowded and loosing our group in the crowd was a frequent occurrence. We luckily had an exceptionally hilarious, engaging tour guide- providing a good incentive for not wandering off. We covered a lot of ground seeing the astronomical clock, the Jewish quarter, Charles Bridge, one of Motzart’s many concert halls, Charles University and much more. After the tour I felt the need to be on my own and said goodbye to Laura and another hostel mate who had joined us. I Crossed Charles Bridge fully which was quite the battle, noting not to do that again for the rest of my visit. It felt like a battle of dodging selfie sticks and meandering tourists. I could hardly see the life sized statues that famously lined the sides of the bridge. I made my way back up to the castle intending to finish the last two exhibits my pass from the previous day still allowed me entry to. But the line at the main entrance was massive, and with no easy way to access the side entrance, I opted to head straight to the monestary and Petrín tower on the hill. This was an excellent choice, it was far less crowded and gave me the best view of the city I had experienced so far (which is really saying something considering the hills at the park). It was nice to be up above the trees looking down at the castle and the beautifully designed city below.

That evening I decided it was time to try one of the European pub crawls everyone was so fond of. I met with my friend Amanda and two of her friends, and we were greeted by two more familiar faces from BusAbout when we arrived. The first hour included unlimited beer, wine and absinth shots. First off, absinth is gross- it tasted like mouth wash and will never again touch my lips!  Then the growing group proceeded to 4 more bars/clubs with a free shot at the door of each one. In good company we danced and drank the night way ending at a club 5 stories high with a different theme of music on each floor- my personal favorite, the “Oldies” floor, throwing it way back!

The next afternoon I made it out of bed to meet Amanda for our 1pm Kutna Hora tour, just to find out the tour company had over booked and couldn’t take us along. Settling to go the following day, we decided to instead head to dancing house. This architectural masterpiece literally looked as if it was moving, swaying with the wind along the river. It was the perfect sunny day and the area surrounding dancing house was full of nothing but cute, cheap restaurants and parks and it was so empty compared to the crowded streets of old town. I said goodbye to Amanda and crossed the bridge on my way to Lenon Wall. It was a beautiful day to be strolling along the river. Lenon Wall, located near the castle side of Charles Bridge, was crowded but worth the walk. I had a good time looking at all the positive messages written on the brightly colored wall influencing people to “keep your head up” and “build bridges not walls.”

I strolled back towards the adorable dancing house area, my mind set on exploring a nearby monestary. Stopped for an ice cream from Angelato, hands down the best one I’ve had in Europe so far (Italy here I come). Crossing back over a different bridge I noticed music and detoured down the stairs on the side of the bridge to a little island in the middle of the river. There was a band warming up, possibly for a performance later that evening. People were in paddle boats on the river, others sat on the shore watching the water, reading, tanning, listening to the music, feeding ducks, walking their dogs. Such a relaxed and peaceful environment out of the crowds and rush of city center. After sitting on the grass for some time I continued to the monastery, which turned out to be nothing extraordinary from the outside, but was completely deserted providing me with an exceptional view from the huge front balcony. I stood there in the evening sun enjoying the solitude.

Friday rolled around quicker then expected, I couldn’t believe my time in this beautiful city was already coming to a close. In an attempt to squish everything in I headed to the Mucha Museum before the day trip to Kutna Hora. I’ve always admired this Art Neauvou artist’s dreamy, romantic work, especially his use of line and color. The women, flowers and ornate framing which dominate his subject matter are all so beautiful and intricately crafted. This is also where I discovered my favorite stained glass window at the Vitas’ Cathedral (and my favorite of all the many stained glass windows I’ve seen on this trip) was designed by Alphonse Mucha.

I’m glad I enjoyed the art exhibit because honestly the tour to Kutna Hora was a bit of a let down. It was pouring out, as I made my way to meet the Kutna Hora tour group, making me even more annoyed that if everything had gone as planned and I would have been on the tour yesterday in perfect sunshine. Our tour guide had a thick accent and curtly directed us to the bus. I was excited to see it would be an intimate group of 3 others, Amanda and myself. My excitement fell when our guide spent the remainder of the drive talking in a quiet monotone voice, ignoring questions from the other members of the group, and unsuccessfully attempting a bit of humor which I interpreted as rather sexist. Our driver also clearly though he was meant for NASCAR and spent the drive zooming into oncoming traffic trying to pass cars, then veering back into the correct lane at the last moment. The cathedral, while not entirely constructed of bones as I imagined, was still chillingly immaculate. Thousands and thousands of human bones, turned into artwork brought life to the tiny cathedral. Apparently, believing the land this cathedral was built on was sacred, people flocked from all around to be burried on this cite. The land was so full of bodies there was no room for more, so in an attempt to make more space the bones were removed from old graves and made into decorations for the inside of the church, creating room for new bodies to be buried in the surrounding graveyard. Strange logic, but I guess it worked out. We arrived back in Prague in one piece, our angry driver having several near misses causing him to throw his hands up at many terrified pedestrians. In retrospect I’m glad I had the  perfect day of sunshine to explore a new area of Prague instead of wasting the great weather on this less then fabulous tour. Maybe everything does happen for a reason.

Given how much I had grown to love Prague I was very excited to see more of the Czech Republic. Next stop Cesky Krumlov!