I met up with my best friend from high school, Kyle, and some other Virginia Tech Hokies, to take on the city. To begin about Prague, whoever told me the city was a cheap destination must have been out of their mind. Maybe to them it seemed that way because of the currency exchange, I was using Czech Crowns instead of Euros. I learned my first lesson in Old Town Square where I ordered Prague-style mashed potatoes and cabbage with a bratwurst... after paying the equivalent of $20.
Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Prague for the couple days I was there. The city was unexpectedly different than anything before I had seen in Europe. Prague was full of art, but not in a Sistine Chapel in-your-face style, it was more subtle, and I have to say weirder. The city has a strange dark feeling about it, but an amicable darkness... must have been the full moon.
I went through all the typical tourist motions throughout the day, but with my own creative twists. I spent the morning on a walking tour absorbing as much of the history and legacy of the famous city I had planned on coming to see for months now, learning the story of King Charles IV and how Prague was shaped in the early 1300s. I got a peek at the Astronomical Clock, rated "Europe's most overrated sight", and have to agree with the stigma attached to the clock; I couldn't even truthfully read what time it was. Next, I grabbed a few famous Pilsner beers and headed to the river to paddleboat for an hour, enjoying the city sights. After managing to complete all of the "must do's" in Prague, it was time for some solo adventure-time and soul searching. I came to Prague with the mission of trying the famous Absinthe there, and took hours trying to decipher what was the real deal and what were fake tourist traps. Where I landed might have been a hybrid of these two ideas, but I was not unsure of the quality of their absinthe; I had done my research thoroughly. The place was called Absintherie, and there wasn't a single thing in the bar that wasn't murky green colored. I ordered the top-shelf French brand called "Amer" and was amazed by the fountain-style presentation, a show indeed. Absintherie wasn't my only desired stop, so I hurried off down the block to burn a couple hours at the Museum of Communism, which detailed the long history of Prague's enslavement to the Communist government. Watching film cut from the Velvet Revolution, I found myself starting to truly understand a city that I had known nothing about just a few days before my arrival. Together, along with the Prague Castle, I was getting quite the bohemian experience. Breaking from the group to find my own peace of mind around the Old Square was something I had been longing for the entire trip, and being alone in such a large city was overwhelming, but rewarding. Prague was my oyster, and I found all the little pearls of splendor that brought me happiness. As Frederich Nietzsche once contemplated, "the individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." This is why I came abroad in the first place, to "own myself". Now I'm just cataloging it.
At the Prague Castle with Kyle
Prague-style mashed potatoes with cabbage and ham
Clock Tower -- Old Town Square
Paddleboating and Pilsner
The Absinthe Bar -- Absintherie
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