🕰️🌚✨🥀☕️🌛
Before my time abroad even started, I had two destinations at the top of my list to visit; Prague and Budapest. A group of friends was planning a spring time trip to Prague and I was pleased to tag along. There were eight of us planning to go for a weekend, but I wanted a little more time since this was one of my big trips I had planned. Luckily, my friend Lizzie is part of this group and she was willing to go a day early with me. We planned and booked everything and set off for our first big trip abroad.
I had planned everything perfectly; the Munich metro trains open at 4:15 am and I had to be at the Central Station by 5:10 am to catch my Flix Bus to Prague. That gave me a whole hour to get from my home to the Central Station, a trip which usually only takes around 20 minutes. In theory, I had plenty of time and flexibility to get there safe and on time. In theory. As I’m sure you can tell, I would not have mentioned all the boring nuances of the Munich metro system for no reason. Unfortunately, in my planning I had failed to consider that despite the metro opening at 4:15 am, this did not necessarily mean the first train from my home station would be leaving at 4:15 am. Instead, I discovered, the first train of the morning would have gotten me to the Central Station five minutes after my bus was scheduled to leave. What a fun problem to solve at 3:30 in the morning!
Luckily, I am a Girl Scout so I immediately went to find a solution. I first went to Uber to find a ride but it was 3:30 in the morning and no driver would pick me up. Left with no other options, I found an electric bike to rent and ride to the station. Imagine me, with my giant stuffed turtle shell of a travel bag on my back, flying down the streets of Munich at 4:00 in the morning on an electric bike. I haven’t even ridden a normal bike in so long, let alone an electric one. I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West but you will be happy to know I made it to my bus with exactly one minute to spare!
Lizzie was waiting for me on the bus with a warm coffee and pastry in hand. Despite being pumped full of adrenaline at 5:00 in the morning, I was still able to sleep most of the five hour ride through Czechia until we arrived in Prague’s gorgeous Central Station. Due to my own American capitalist impairment, I was expecting Prague to be filled with the brutalist, concrete structures so typically associated with the former Soviet Union. I was astonished when we arrived in this city of intricate, colorful buildings. Spring was absolutely the most perfect time to visit Prague; the blossoming pink and yellow flowers on the city’s trees compliment the pastel, feminine façades of the surrounding buildings and bold, red, retro trolley cars cross the dark grey stone streets. Prague was very influenced by the Art Nouveau movement in the 1920s, leading to the intricate design of these impressive buildings.
Lizzie and I first made our way to the hostel I had found; the Czech Inn. I had found it as it was a sister property of the hostel I stayed at in Salzburg and booked it because of the name. The Czech Inn, get it? I would definitely return as we had the cutest little apartment all to ourselves. Our next stop was lunch and we followed the recommendation of the hostel receptionist. We were not led astray as the food, traditional Czech cuisine was incredible. I had pork belly which melted in my mouth with spinach and potato dumplings and Lizzie had a sort of beef strew with rice. I also enjoyed mine with a Czech classic; an ice cold Pilsner.
We then went to the National Museum, strolling along the sunny sidewalks and enjoying the cool spring weather. I thought the National Museum was going to be about the history of Czechia as a country, but it was more like their natural history museum. They did have some exhibits on their history, but it didn’t mean a lot to me since I don’t know a lot about Czech history. It would be cool to learn about the Moravians and the Bohemians and the seemingly five million people named Wenceslaus who seemed to have ruled this land, but unfortunately American history classes don’t cover that much.
Next we went to see the rotating head of Franz Kafka. Lizzie is a fan of his and I had heard about this statue, but it didn’t really move as much as either of us expected. We had some time to kill before dinner, so we made a quick stop in the Prague Hard Rock Café before heading to Havelská Koruna to eat. I had found the restaurant on Tik Tok and it said it was a buffet. It was pretty decent, but definitely a little touristy and not as good as the local suggestion we had chosen for lunch. We also enjoyed trdelník, traditional Czech chimmney cakes, which were also good but probably a little touristy too.
We headed back to the hostel for an early night since it had been such a long day. The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at another one of the hostel staff’s recommendations, Kavárna Šlágr. This café was so cute, strong 1920s vintage aesthetic with Art Nouveau decorations and jazz music playing as we enjoyed our coffee and pancakes. Before the rest of our group joined us later that day, we headed to the Museum of Communism. This museum was a lot smaller than I expected and covered mostly how communism impacted Czechia. I learned a lot, like how Czech citizens could have gone to bed one day owning $5,000, but woke up the next morning to that $5,000 being worth only $100, despite months of their government assuring them their currency was safe and stable. Definitely very interesting things to learn especially in this day and age.
There was a little Easter market outside of the museum which Lizzie and I walked through. Easter markets seem to be very popular here, similar to Christmas markets in Germany, but I was a little surprised that Czechia had such a strong connection to Easter as a former Soviet country.
We ate lunch at a little place Lizzie found which serves your food to you on little trains, then we headed back to the hostel for a little nap as the rest of our group was arriving soon. Once everyone else joined us, we gathered and headed to the Charles Bridge which connected the two sides of Prague over the Vltava River. The bridge is a popular tourist attraction, with Barque statues lining both sides of this medieval bridge, but we were here for a very important reason. The one thing I needed to do in Prague, the one thing which would have made this trip a complete waste without doing, was to recreate a specific photo of Depeche Mode members Dave Gahan and Martin Gore on this bridge. This is a popular thing to do by Depeche Mode fans (or Devotees, as they/we are called) but I’m not sure why this British band with a French name is so closely associated with this one spot in Prague. But regardless, I got the picture!
After exploring the city a little, we headed towards our restaurant for dinner. One of the girls in the group, Adele, is celiac and found a gluten free restaurant which still served authentic Czech cuisine. We had some time to kill before the reservation, so we stopped for a quick drink at the nearby “Bar Behind the Curtain.” In addition to an extensive cocktail menu, the Bar Behind the Curtain also served more trans-atlantic, jazz age vibes. Dinner was equally splendid, I would have never known the food was gluten free if no one had told me.
We headed back to the hostel for a quick nightcap at the hostel bar. The next morning, I went to Mass with Laila, another girl in the group who also goes to Purdue, at the Basilica St. Ludmila which was celebrated in both Latin and Czech, so I understood none of it. Still, I enjoy experiencing Mass in different languages and I can obviously still follow along with when to sit, stand, kneel, and repeat. We grabbed a quick breakfast before meeting with the rest of the group at the Prague Castle.
The Prague Castle consists of multiple stops within the fortress walls. St. Vitus Cathedral was especially impressive and was founded in 930. This fact was a little diminished by the Starbucks located right across the way from the church. We headed down to the Old Town of Prague to see the Astronomical Clock and explore that district for a while before our bus departure back to Munich. As testament to the beauty of Prague’s city architecture, I actually enjoyed the rest of the city buildings more than the ones in the Old Town.
Soon, it was time to head back to Munich. After a quick stop at a grocery store to pick up Czech snacks for the ride home, we were all back on the bus. Even though Prague was one of my top two planned trips for my time abroad, it still blew all my expectations out of the water and is now one of my favorite cities. I look forward to returning, especially in the spring again!
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