Don’t let the title freak you out too much! We made it back from Prague in one piece, and our first weekend away from Florence was definitely a success. After a long travel day through Milan, we arrived in Prague Thursday night, just in time to experience our first taste of Prague nightlife. We checked into the Mosaic House (stay there if you’re going to Prague!) and although our four-person room with bunk beds was small, it was extremely clean and had a great bathroom. We started our night at the hotel bar where we felt it necessary to order the most American food we could find: chicken fingers and French fries. Although we’re living in the land of amazing pizza, pasta and wine, we were all craving greasy American food.
Our first night out in Prague was essentially sixty percent of my Facebook friends together in one room. It seemed that almost every person who is abroad this semester decided to go to Prague the very same weekend. The smoky nightclub (Prague does not prohibit smoking indoors like the US) was filled with people from all different points in my life: fellow badgers, friends from high school, and acquaintances from summer programs that I haven’t seen in six years.
After a late night, we got an early start Friday to our jam-packed tourist schedule. We started our morning with a quick trip to a Starbucks in Old Town Square, which we were all very thankful for. There, we met our tour guide, Helen, who led us through the Jewish Museum tour. The Jewish Museum in Prague includes the actual museum, the city’s synagogues, the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish cemetery, making it the biggest Jewish museum in Europe.
Prague was said to be Hitler’s favorite city and was therefore only bombed once, debatably by mistake, during World War II. All seven Jewish synagogues in Prague remain intact, as Hitler intended the city to be a museum for the extinct race. My favorite site on the tour was the Pinkas synagogue, which is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. The names of over 80,000 Czech Jews who lost their lives are written on the inside walls of the buildings.
Our next stop after the tour was the John Lennon wall, which was definitely top pick of the weekend. We walked over the iconic Charles Bridge, and after walking in circles and struggling to make out the Czech signs, we made it to the wall. A site that I thought would take only a few minutes ended up taking much longer. Of course we had to take the perfect trendy, touristy picture, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the layers of graffiti covering the wall. Somewhere in between the wall and our hotel, we saw a peacock so naturally we chased it down to take a picture of it.
The next morning we got another early start for a general walking tour, where we visited both the Old and New Town sections of Prague, the Astronomical Clock and the Estates Theatre. After lunch, Brittany, Julia (my best friends from Wisconsin, both abroad in Florence), and I hopped off the tour to visit the Prague Castle and the Barbie exhibit at the Toy Museum. These two sites are every little girl’s dream. What’s better then a castle that looks like it’s straight out of a Disney movie and a room full of hundreds of Barbies?
For our last night in Prague, we headed to the famous five-story club, which is definitely a must see. Each floor showcased a different music genre ranging from oldies to radio hits. The club has five different floors but it seemed to keep going on forever and was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There’s no 2AM bar call like in Madison, so by the time we got home we only had time for an extended nap before we had to be up for our flight back to Italy.
After an incredible weekend that will definitely go down in my top abroad memories, we we’re happy to return to Florence, although we will be off again in a few days.
Ciao a tutti (I think I need a new closing line…)