Like any vacation, my stay in Prague felt extremely short, and I wanted nothing more than to stay for another day {or 10} before returning to the harsh reality of sitting at my desk and staring into an abyss of excel sheets. Needless to say I have the wanderlust bug after this trip, and I'm already thinking about my next escapade.
Prague was nothing short of beautiful, and it exceeded my expectations. I'll let my little journal and photos speak for themselves. I decided to spread out my days into a three blog posts over the next few days. Here we go!
{Day 1}
I was fortunate enough to have a travel buddy flying out with me from JFK. Kevin and I had a long travel time ahead of us, from JFK, a layover in Copenhagen, and to our final destination, Vaclav Havel Airport Prague! To my dismay, we had an hour and a half delay in JFK due to some issues with the airplane. Fortunately, we were able to make it to our connecting flight with no problems. Being the little fatty that I am {plus the food on the airplane was disgusting}, I was hungry when we landed in Copenhagen. After exchanging 20 US dollars to Danish krone (DKK), we went on a hunt for a quick bite of food. But of course, first, coffee. We stopped by a Starbucks and ended up paying the equivalent of 11 US dollars for a iced grande Americano. 11 US DOLLARS. This meant that most of our krones were used, and I almost didn't get to eat, but after asking the kind lady behind the hot dog stand, "what can I get for 35 krones" I was able to snag a regular hot dog with all the works. It was a decent dog for what I paid for, I suppose.
After a short and sweet flight from Copenhagen, we were finally in Prague! We headed off to our flat, which was located on a nice, quiet street in Josefov (Jewish Quarter). Getting into contact with our friends who were already in the flat was difficult since none of us had data or cell service on our phones. Luckily, the bar next to the flat had just opened and had free WiFi! We were finally able to make contact {after a beer, heh} and drop off our belongings in the cozy flat. We immediately went to have our first dinner as a group at a local Czech restaurant. It was a solid dinner with plenty of beer and pork {but I had pasta, oops}. And what's a dinner without a display of my clumsiness? I managed to spill my entire beer on Bo, who I had just met. No, I was not drunk, but of course, blame it on the alcohol. Even our waitress played along and cut me off before we even started eating.
We spent the rest of the night walking around the city. We wandered into Old Town Square, where I grabbed some trdelník. Later, I found better trdelník at another pastry shop; the one from OTS was burnt and hard while the one from the shop was light, fluffy, and delicious.
I'm a sucker for city lights, so wandering around the city made me fall in love immediately. It felt surreal; I couldn't believe I was actually in Prague after a failing to make it here for study abroad. We continued our walk to find a bar that could accommodate the 10 of us, and luckily, we were able to find one. Note to self: never eat the pretzels that are literally hanging out on the tables because they will charge you for them. And they're pretty disgusting to begin with. Someone — we're not entirely sure who, but I was also passing out from at this point — actually stole the pretzels from the two tables that we were occupying. The funny situation led to some confusion when the bill came around. After a few rounds and some bar games, we headed back to the flat to recharge for the next day. It was a successful first night, and I was excited to see more of the city.
{My travel buddy!}
{My $11 Iced Americano. Sigh. At least they drew me a little heart on the cup.}
{Copenhagen Airport during our layover}
{My 35 DKK hot dog.}
{On the way to PRG.}
{On the way to PRG.}
{Korean at PRG. A friend informed me that the Korean and the plethora of Koreans in Prague is because SK is trying to invest in land there for golf courses.}
{Some Czech Koruna.}
{Streets of Prague.}
{Cute little corner. Cafe Kafka by Old Town Square.}
{Tasted like lemonade.}
{Giant beer the size of my face. Before I spilled it all over Bo.}
{I wasn't able to capture proper photos because of the red lighting of the heating lights where we were sitting, but my first meal in Prague: pasta.}
{Old Town Square in all its beauty.}
{Trdelník spinning 'round and 'round.}
{Yum! You can also see that it's a little burnt.}
{Prague Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square.}
{Absinthe bar.}
{So many Absinthe variations...}
{We asked for the "sweetest" Absinthe, and it was still disgusting.}
{Swans chilling in the Vltava River.}
{Dark beers are my best friend after this trip.}
{Charles Bridge at night.}