We took an overnight train from Amsterdam to Prague! We opted to pay a little more to get a sleeping cabin, because we were on the train for 16 hours. However, this was probably just as cramped as a seat, except we were able to lay all the way down. When Stasia and I first got on the train it was just us, so we asked how many others were supposed to be in the cabin. When we were told it was only one other person we were delighted. We were much less excited when the 6th person arrived at 1AM and decided to turn the lights on. Nevertheless I slept surprisingly well, and woke up in the morning to the beautiful Czech Republic countryside!
Only one of us could fit in the little standing area at a time!
The effort it took for me to get out and Stasia to get in to take this picture was unbelievable
The second chair flipped down, so when it was just us we enjoyed being able to stretch out!
Soo much room!
After the train we went straight to our hostel. I was OBSESSED with our hostel. It was called Art Hole Hostel, and reminded me of a bed and breakfast more than a hostel. When we arrived the owner met us at the front to walk us up to the front desk. As we were checking in he gave us coffee, tea, and offered us the breakfast even though we were not supposed to have it until the next day! All of the rooms are decorated differently and there is art all over it! Even the bathrooms had elaborate handpainted walls! I have more pictures of the hostel later on in this blog post
After a quick change we headed to Old Town Square, where there were tons of Easter markets set up! We learned later on that amazingly only one building was destroyed during WWII in the Old Town Square. Hitler thought Prague was so beautiful so he wanted to spare it and save it for himself, so there was only one builiding destroyed!
There was lots of delicious food, so I got a sausage in a baguette and a delicious doughnut type desert! The food in Prague was so cheap! About 18 Czech Crowns was equivalent to 1 dollar, and this sausage was 60 Crowns, so $3.22. In the UK or Europe I have gotten food around the same size and quality for 3 or 4 Euros, before the exchange rate. So Prague was food heaven for me.
These delicious doughnuts were made fresh in tons of food stands, and then they would fill them with nutella! Stasia and I were obsessed with them, they were just too good
So delicious!
I see you
A little tree set up for Easter. Apparently during Christmas they have similar markets set up; my friend who came around Christmastime had pictures of the exact same markets, except they were selling Christmas themed products!
We made it up to the Castle! There were incredible views of Prague, my pictures really don't do it justice.
We were there on palm Sunday, so a cardinal was there presiding over mass at St. George's Cathedral
St. George's Cathedral-It had some of the most amazing stained glass I have ever seen. It is the home fo the 19th Century Bohemian Art Collection. These are some of my favorite stained glass pieces
Golden Lane- we headed here after spending some time strolling through St. George's. This dated from the 15th century and is called golden lane because of the many Goldsmiths that used to live here when the castle was in its prime years. There are 11 total houses that have period scenes inside of them. The castle did a good job of recreating a variety of scenes that would have been inside houses during the 15th century. It was really fun to take a look at all of these! We weren't allowed to take photos inside, and it really wouldn't have turned out too great because the lighting was awful.
This is a little European boy that was adorably dressed so Stasia and I decided to take a picture of him, and then he saw us right when I took the picture. It still makes me laugh.
After we took some time at Golden Lane we took the outer wall of the castle until we found this view of Prague! It was absolutely stunning and we could see the whole city so we stopped to take some pictures.
Stasia and I with Prague in the background
Prague
Myself with the castle. It was sooo cold even with the sun shining
Stasia hates birds, particularly pigeons. So when she saw this one she believes it was karma for all of the awful things pigeons have done to her.
After touring the castle area for awhile we headed to the John Lennon Wall. The John Lennon wall was originally started during the communism era in Prague. Radicals would decorate the wall with John Lennon quotes and drawings and the government would take them down. Then magically overnight more quotes would pop up. After the velvet revolution and John Lennons death the wall became all the more popular and people write there names on the wall and draw all sorts of things on it. When we saw it the wall was becoming a little messy; all of the really cool paintings were becoming covered up with people's names plastered on the walls which was kind of a bummer.
This heart was one of my favorite parts
After the John Lennon Wall we went to Old Town Square to see the infamous astronomical clock. We had both heard lots of things about the astronomical clock so we were really excited!
I loved all of the easter decorations! I will only go back to Prague during the Christmas or Easter season, the food and decorations were incredible and made for such a festive atmosphere. I also loved all of the delicious street food and Czech craft booths.
This is the astronomical clock it was made in 1410 and at that time was the iPhone 4 of the era. Every hour on the hour it has a little presentation where "The four figures flanking the clock are set in motion at the hour, these represent four things that were despised at the time of the clock's making. From left to right in the photographs, the first is Vanity, represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror. Next, the miser holding a bag of gold represents greed or usury. Across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour. Finally, the Turk tells pleasure and entertainment. There is also a presentation of statues of the Apostles at the doorways above the clock, with all twelve presented every hour." (Taken from Wikipedia-they described it quickly so I copied it over). So by todays standards, the little people ringing bells, the 12 apostles walking by, and a little crow cawing is nothing compared to angry birds, 3D tvs, and cars that are basically able to drive themselves sometimes was somewhat anti climatic. As soon as it finished Stasia and I looked at each other in disbelief that it was over with. Later on we heard someone describe it as the 'most underrated attraction in Europe' which we thought was quite fitting.
After spending some time in Old Town Square we headed to the famous Charles Bridge before we went to dinner. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century. As the only means of crossing the Vltava River until 1841, the Charles Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town and other areas. This bridge was also the main reason Prague was so important in transporting goods from Eastern to Western Europe. Since the sun was beginning to set we had an awesome view of the castle in the distance. There were lots of art stalls set up with vendors selling pictures and artwork of Prague.
We went to dinner on a boat that was permanently docked on the River Vltava. We called this our "fancy dinner" because it was around $12 for Wine, Entree, and a split desert! This is one of the cheapest meals I think I found in Europe!
For being pretty far away from Italy, they had delicious pizza with mushrooms and sausage on it! I loved it.
The view of Prague Castle and River Vtlava from the dinner boat
On the walk back to our hostel, we had to go through Old Town Square. It was beautiful at night.
After paddleboating Stasia and I got some roasted almonds, then headed back to the Hostel! Our hostel was having Czech cooking classes for only 125 Kc ($8) So we figured it would be a great way to meet people and learn how to make some Czech food, then eat it! We got back a little early so I used the time to take pictures of our amazing hostel. I already mentioned how much I love it, but honestly I would suggest it to anyone staying in Prague. It was just an incredible hostel. I took lots of pictures of the art! The picture above is my room, Stasia is on the bottom right sitting in my little bed!
Looking down the room from my bed
This cracks me up every time
Kitchen art "Before you go and save the world, how about a cup of tea?"
The kitchen. It was fully stocked with dishes and cooking utensils. If I was staying in Prague for a week or two I would have just bought food supplies to make dinner here!
Kitchen art
Looking at the kitchen from the window-the lobby is through the little door on the right
Bathroom decorations
Bathroom stall-I would just sit and look at it, I love random art like this that is unique
Hallway art
Stair art
All of the light switches had a lightbulb above them, but each lightbulb was painted differently which made for fun little cartoons
The lobby-every night this was filled with people staying at the hostel, everyone hung around talking drinking and listening to the fabulous soundtrack the hostel played. If you are a fan of Adele, Mumford & Sons, Muse, Florence and the Machine, MGMT, The Black Keys, or any alternative/indie rock you would be in heaven
These are the pictures from our Cooking class! We started off by sautéing onions. We had to switch who cooked them because everyone started crying. It was so many onions!
Then we added the chopped up beef to the mixture and slowly cooked it.
These were the beginning of the dumplings...remember the size of them in this picture.
We also made sweet dumplings for desert, and this was the beginning of those
We filled the sweet dumplings with plum, apricots, or raisins then stuck them in the oven.
I'm not sure what our instructor did, but when I came back this is what the Beef Goulash looked like! So delicious looking.
So remember those dumplings before? This is just TWO of them afterwards. Beforehand all 4 of them could fit onto one cutting board, and afterwards they took up the majority of a cutting board.
Dinner was served! Everyone who participated in the class got this classic Czech Beer
We cut up the dumplings
And everybody got some Goulash! It was a delicious meal and even better because we got to make it ourselves! It was such a great experience and I really enjoyed meeting and talking with people from all over the world. The chef who helped us was 25 years old and did this as a side job, so his recipes were true Czechoslovakian and absolutely delicious. Since everyone participating was from different walks of life it was nice to learn about different cultures and traditions.
The next morning we woke up to the gorgeous sun! It had been so dark and dreary lately and it was so nice to have a bright warm day. Since Stasia and I are both Arizona natives, we need our daily dose of Vitamin D! We were headed up to the Castle Quarter again to watch the changing of the guard and get some good city views, and while we were walking along Charles Bridge we just had to stop and take some pictures because it was so nice out!
Castle square, Prague
We got up to the castle quarter and watched the changing of the guard, then we looped around to the Petrin hill that has incredible views of Prague and gorgeous gardens. I was just happy to be walking around and not be freezing, so we took our time walking through the area.
It was absolutely gorgeous!
Of all the places we found, this was my favorite view of Prague. The pictures don't do it justice.
Looking out over Prague
After spending some time wandering through Petrin Hill we were getting hungry, so we headed back to our favorite spot, Old Town Square to get some grub. I was particularily excited about this food visit because I found the Czech version of Gnocchi! My mom makes homemade gnocchi and it is my favorite food, so I was very happy when I found this freshly made gnocchi with spinach for very cheap in Old Town Square. I scarfed down every last bite of it.
Stasia got some freshly made potato chips. It was really interesting to watch these be made because they had a drill attached to some sort of peeler, then they just put a potato on the drill and it peeled and uncoiled the potato very quickly! Then they deep fried the potatoes and handed them to you fresh, it was delicious. 
After lunch we wend paddle boating on the Vtlavan River. It was a lot of fun and peaceful. I really enjoyed looking at all the little buildings along the river.
After paddle boating we headed back to the hostel for a quick nap, then headed off to the Jewish Quarter. Of course we had to stop by the Old Town Square to get some delicious street food as a snack, these were deep friend potato patties that were incredible!
All of the names were organized by hometown, last name, first name, birthday, and last known date the individual was known to be alive. It was absolutely incredible how many names there were and how carefully they had been written.
The names covered every single wall of the synagogue.
This whole wall was filled with names. If you look carefully then you can tell. We spent close to half an hour in here looking at the names.
Next we headed through the Old Jewish Cemetry. There wer over 12,000 tombstones because between 1439-1787 this was the only place that the Jews of Prague were allowed to be buried. We learned that these tombs were laid 7 or 8 deep, and so there must have been at least 100,000 tombs in this graveyard, and we were unable to see many of them. It was mind boggling to think about how many generations of families could be buried here!
Because the graves had been put on top of each other, they began to tilt, which created an eerie effect.
The Pebbles placed on the tombstones were reminiscent of the old days when racks were placed on a sandy desert gravesite to keep the body covered. The little pieces of paper are prayers. Almost all of the tombstones along the walkway were covered in coins, prayers, and pebbles.
After the graveyard we headed into the ceremonial hall, then the klaus synagogue, maisel synagogue, and spanish synagogue. All of these were different museums that exhibited different parts of Jewish history, specifically in Prague. What I found very interesting was the museum of children's art who were detained in Terezin during World War 2. It was heartbreaking to look at all of this art, but eyeopening to look at because it made you look at concentration camps from the view of a child.
This was Stasia's last day in Prague, she was headed back to England to celebrate Easter with her flatmates. I had one extra day in Prague so I decided to check out the Museum of Communism and shop in Wenceslas Square
The Museum of Communism was really impressive! It followed the story of communism in Prague through the origin, the dream, the reality, and the nightmare It also included the Velvet Revolution. They did a great job at recreating pieces of what communist life was like in Prague, and I spent at least 2 hours wandering through here.
These were all busts and statues that used to be placed in Prague of the leaders who ruled the country.
Recreation of a Czechoslovakian Communist school
Some of the tools and supplies that were used by the military.
The museum was filled with tidbits like this, and so I took pictures of them to remember. Its even interesting to reread them now.
Some agriculture tools
Read below, then look at the details of this picture again.
A recreation of a communist interrogation room.
Statue of
As a part of the exhibit they recreated some parts of the Berlin Wall. This was one of my favorite quotes that was written on it.
After the museum of communism I wandered through Wenceslas Square and got some souvenir shopping done and spent a fair amount of time looking through all of the shops. This was the cheapest shopping I had seen in all of Europe, and I was in heaven. This is one of the scarfs I got and was my splurge in Prague. 100% silk and absolutely gorgeous!
After I had my fill of shopping I was wandering through the streets of Prague. On my way I found this burrito place called Burrito Loco. It was the BEST burrito I had in Europe. The place was created and owned by Americans, and was set up like Chipotle. The tortillas were delicious, and the food was actually spicy! One of the things I am missing the most is the spicy Mexican food that Arizona has everywhere, so I was incredibly happy when I found this place.
Such a good deal as well! $6.50 for a delicious burrito.
And after my burrito I went and got a delicious Nutella and Banana Crepe from the Old Town Square. It was delicious!
I spent the rest of the evening wandering around Prague and enjoying my last day there. I had an early night because I had to pack up and be at the train station by 7AM to head to Salzburg!