Pretty Prague

After Budapest came Prague, one of my favorite cities that I’ve visited. The Vltava River flows through it, similar to Budapest and the Danube. First thing we did was walk down to see the Dancing House, which looks cool if nothing else. And the view of the Prague Castle from across the river at night is beautiful.

There’s another free walking tour that meets in the Old Town Square that’s really good, this one is by Sandeman’s new Europe tours or something like that. It’s long, but it’s really informative and takes you to all of the main places on the east side of the river. After that we went back to the Old Town Square to see the astronomical clock go off (it’s disappointing) and go into the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn. It’s gorgeous on the inside, and apparently the outside inspired Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. The National Gallery is also on this square, but it’s much smaller than I expected.

The next day was dedicated to the west side of the river. We started off by crossing the Charles Bridge, it’s really pretty and a must see for sure. After that was the John Lennon Wall, an absolute necessity for me. It’s a really cool place because of all the art and love that manifests here, but you can also see it change over time if you look up older photos of it. It’s a living breathing monument, which you don’t see all the time. Then Klampa park, which is actually a small island right next to the bank of the river.

After that we went to the Museum of Music which is such a cool place! There’s all sorts of instruments across time and space in there, including one that Mozart played while he was there. The people of Prague love Mozart, the Estates Theatre in the Old Town is where “Don Giovanni” premiered and has a statue of a character from the opera outside of it now.

Then there’s the Prague Castle. You can enter the collection of buildings for free, and even get into the lobby of St. Giles Cathedral without paying! You need to pay if you want to see the exhibits or go farther into the Cathedral though. I was fine with just wandering around. You also get a really nice view of the city since the castle is so high up on a hill.

That’s everything to do in Prague, but then there’s also the food. Beer is very popular there, as are dumplings. Not the dumplings like in Chinese food, more like they took the dough from the pork buns you can get in dim sum, balled it up, and cut into slices. They’re delicious! Potato pancakes are also very common, as is Prague ham (it’s overpriced on the streets though).

The general atmosphere of Prague is amazing, every building looks so pretty and even the sidewalks are a work of art. The people are all passionate and care about their country and are very nice when it comes to foreigners. I loved it there so much, and fully intent to return for longer as soon as I get the chance!