Praga: Where you're better off not pronouncing anything

Charles Bridge

Prague, Czech Republic was one of the top cities on my list that I wanted to see when I came abroad. I was upset at first because everyone in my program was going weekends I couldn't, but it worked out and I got to see two of my best friends from BC, Casey and Ericka! This was also the weekend after the Boston Bombings, so it was a true blessing to be able to comfort each other during such a tragic and scary time. My flight there was definitely the best flight I've taken in Europe. I had all three seats to myself, so I laid down and fell right asleep, which was necessary to prepare for a full day of sightseeing after four hours of sleep!

Main Sites:

Astronomical Clock & Tyn Church

- Jewish Quarter, seven(?) synagogues and a cemetery with ~12,000 tombstones but >100,000 people buried there. There was a lot of Jewish oppression in Prague and they weren't allowed to bury their own outside of their ghetto.
- Charles Bridge
- Prague Castle, eight(?) different sites to see on the Castle's grounds. My favorite was Golden Lane, which had a showcase of Medieval armor upstairs above the row of tiny houses where some famous people used to live, including Franz Kafka.

Top of Clock Tower

- Lennon Wall, which is a wall filled with graffiti dedicated to John Lennon and the Beatles but also has other graffiti on it now. It literally took us TWO HOURS to find where this was. We asked six different people who pointed us in six different directions, so we ended up
circling the area for two hours until we finally stumbled across it. We weren't about to give up at that point, even though we were exhausted and Ericka's poor knees were probably killing her. BC students were there earlier in the week after the Boston Bombings and spray-painted a huge "For here all are one" section of the wall (BC's fight song). I got chills and started tearing up when I saw this. I'm so thankful to them for doing that.
- Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock Tower, which was hands down the most efficient
tower I've climbed while abroad. For the last part of the stairs, they have a stoplight that tells the people on the bottom and top when they can go.

Beef goulash

Some Restaurants and Food:
- Lokal (beef goulash with dumplings, Pilsner Urquell "creme" beer)
- Konvict (pork and mashed potatoes)
- U Medcidku (toast with whipped beer cheese, Caesar salad, duck, 1466 unfiltered light lager)
- Trdelnik - a delicious spiral of heated dough in cinnamon, sugar, and almonds

Trdelnik

Overall, it was amazing to see my friends and so great to see my first Eastern European city. If anyone reading this wants to find the Lennon Wall, it's on a street called Velkoprevorske Namesti. Just try to say it!