me and z in front of the national museum
love locks
municipal house cafe
john lennon peace wall
jan. 2nd: we woke up early and moved to our next hotel which was in new town. the area was definitely not the prettiest but it was incredibly convenient. it was close to 2 different metro lines and a tram and within walking distance to a lot of sites. our room was a lot smaller, the tv was crappy and we only had internet access in the lobby. i know wah wah. it was still nice and i'm glad we got to experience both areas. we met z in wensceslas square and he took us to vysehrad which is just a couple of metro stops out of the city. vysehrad has a huge fortress system, a pretty church and a big cemetery that has some of the czech cultural greats buried there. z told us the history of everything ofcourse including these 3 random columns in the park. he told us a legend that the devil brought them from rome. :) he walked us through the cemetery and showed us all the important graves. he's simply the best. after our field trip he recommended that rob and i check out a nativity exhibit at st. bethlehems. don't have to ask me twice! i had already been loving all the nativities around the city. it's so different than at home. we went and got to see a new part of the city and see a zillion nativities. i loved it. i have seriously have never seen anything like it before. it's one of my main highlights of the trip. later on that night we went to radost fx cafe for which is attached to a crazy club that i spent my last night studying abroad at. the cafe had a great menu and we actually got a real salad - rare in praha! and rob got spicy spaghetti and i got penne marinara. it was a nice change of pace.
jan. 3rd: this was a big museum day! we woke up and enjoyed our first complimentary breakfast. it was pretty good. sausage, eggs, cereal, breads with meat and cheese and a few pastries. then we made our way to the dvorak museum. dvorak is a famous czech composer. rob even played some of pieces before! it was really close to our hotel in a little villa. it had some of dvoraks personal items, historical information and even his piano. pretty cool! after that we went to the national museum in wenscelas square. rob was really enjoying the history of prague and the taxidermy we saw at the strahov library so i thought we should go to the national museum. rob had his photo pass from the dvorak museum that happened to be the same sticker needed at this museum. he was really happy about that. first we went into a funny cave exhibit then an earth exhibit that i liked. after that it was the taxidermy. rob's fav. i swear they have every species there. when i studied there we called it the dead zoo. it's ridiculous. monkeys, a tiger, elephant, giraffe, tons of fish, bugs, flying squirrels, bears and even an okapi. i mean it was out of control. rob loved it though. after the museum we went to old town to find bohemian bagel. i always wanted to try it when i studied there but never came across it. rob got a caprese sandwich and i got a parmesean oregano bagel with cream cheese. YUM! after that we went to shop int eh xmas market for a bit and grabbed some cinnamon sugar sticks to go. later on we saw a jazz show at u stare pani. i didnt enjoy it as much as the other group but it was still nice to see live music!
jan. 4th: this is one of my favorite days! we went to the john lennon peace wall first. i had always wanted to go when i studied abroad but never got around to it. i really liked it! it's got john lennon lyrics, portraits and peace signs all over the place. we noticed that people around the corner were snapping shots of something so we walked over and discovered the love locks on the bridge! how exciting! it was covered in little locks with couples names written on them to show their commitment for one another. i left our mark on the pillar because i didn't have a lock. this site made me SO happy! what a great surprise to come across. next we went to the czech museum of music which is in a beautiful old church or monastery..cant remember. it turned out to be free that day which is always nice to discover! they had a jazz exhibit on the first floor, a weird jazz lounge/experimental exhibit on the next floor and then a tonnnn of old instruments. rob loved seeing all of the instruments. i've never been to a museum like that before. i loved it! we did some shopping on the bridge and in mala strana, took a walk along the water one last time and then headed back to the hotel. later on we went to pivovarsky dum (the beer house) which turned out to be just down the street from our hotel. i went there a couple of times when i studied abroad and had a very very good time! but i had never eaten there. the place was insanely packed! must have gotten a lot more popular since i studied there. rob ordered roast and smoked pork with dumplings and i had roast pork with spaetzles. ive had better but it was ok. we also tried their famous flavored beer. i got banana and rob got sour cherry. also eh. i preferred their pale regular beer which i also got and rob ofcourse got their dark. we also got streudal :). it was a great day!
jan. 5th: sigh, our last day. i was getting pretty anxious as i always do at the end of trips but i was also quite sad that it was all coming to an end. we went to josefev to see all the jewish synagogues. first we went into the pinksa synagogue which now serves as a memorial and museum. it has over 77,000 names of those that dies from the CZ in concentration camps. its a really powerful exhibit. the upstairs has an art display from children that went through terezin. i'm glad that we were able to go there. we also walked through the jewish cemetery, the old ceremonial hall, maisel synagogue, klausova synagogue and my personal favorite the spanish synagogue. i'm glad i got to experience the jewish quarters with rob. after that we went to my favorite museum, the decorative arts museum. they had a glass exhibit that was really cool and then we checked out their ceramics, decorative clocks, jewelry, art prints, old photographs and wedding dresses they always have on exhibit. pretty cool! rob even liked it! We tried to kill time before meeting z again by going to the puppet museum that was listed in my book. unfortunately my book is years and years old and the museum has since closed! sad! then we tried to go to the smetana museum which is closed on tuesdays! what are the chances! so we just kind of hung out and then met z for one last goodbye. he told us the story of the astronomical clock while it went off at 5 p.m. and then he walked us to the municipal house. so sad to say goodbye but i'm so happy i got to see him so much. then we grabbed coffee and cocoa in the beautiful municipal house cafe! i had always wanted to go there but never had the chance. there is beautiful art deco decor and a pianist - you seriously feel like youre in the 20s. then later on we went back to pivovarsky dum for one last czech meal. i got wiener schniztel and potatoes and rob got this crazy dish - pork loin stuffed with blue cheese and ham and potato croquettes. both were great!
and that was it! it was a fantastic trip and i'm sad it's over. i'm going to write about my overall thoughts and memories in another post soon!
jan. 3rd: this was a big museum day! we woke up and enjoyed our first complimentary breakfast. it was pretty good. sausage, eggs, cereal, breads with meat and cheese and a few pastries. then we made our way to the dvorak museum. dvorak is a famous czech composer. rob even played some of pieces before! it was really close to our hotel in a little villa. it had some of dvoraks personal items, historical information and even his piano. pretty cool! after that we went to the national museum in wenscelas square. rob was really enjoying the history of prague and the taxidermy we saw at the strahov library so i thought we should go to the national museum. rob had his photo pass from the dvorak museum that happened to be the same sticker needed at this museum. he was really happy about that. first we went into a funny cave exhibit then an earth exhibit that i liked. after that it was the taxidermy. rob's fav. i swear they have every species there. when i studied there we called it the dead zoo. it's ridiculous. monkeys, a tiger, elephant, giraffe, tons of fish, bugs, flying squirrels, bears and even an okapi. i mean it was out of control. rob loved it though. after the museum we went to old town to find bohemian bagel. i always wanted to try it when i studied there but never came across it. rob got a caprese sandwich and i got a parmesean oregano bagel with cream cheese. YUM! after that we went to shop int eh xmas market for a bit and grabbed some cinnamon sugar sticks to go. later on we saw a jazz show at u stare pani. i didnt enjoy it as much as the other group but it was still nice to see live music!
jan. 4th: this is one of my favorite days! we went to the john lennon peace wall first. i had always wanted to go when i studied abroad but never got around to it. i really liked it! it's got john lennon lyrics, portraits and peace signs all over the place. we noticed that people around the corner were snapping shots of something so we walked over and discovered the love locks on the bridge! how exciting! it was covered in little locks with couples names written on them to show their commitment for one another. i left our mark on the pillar because i didn't have a lock. this site made me SO happy! what a great surprise to come across. next we went to the czech museum of music which is in a beautiful old church or monastery..cant remember. it turned out to be free that day which is always nice to discover! they had a jazz exhibit on the first floor, a weird jazz lounge/experimental exhibit on the next floor and then a tonnnn of old instruments. rob loved seeing all of the instruments. i've never been to a museum like that before. i loved it! we did some shopping on the bridge and in mala strana, took a walk along the water one last time and then headed back to the hotel. later on we went to pivovarsky dum (the beer house) which turned out to be just down the street from our hotel. i went there a couple of times when i studied abroad and had a very very good time! but i had never eaten there. the place was insanely packed! must have gotten a lot more popular since i studied there. rob ordered roast and smoked pork with dumplings and i had roast pork with spaetzles. ive had better but it was ok. we also tried their famous flavored beer. i got banana and rob got sour cherry. also eh. i preferred their pale regular beer which i also got and rob ofcourse got their dark. we also got streudal :). it was a great day!
jan. 5th: sigh, our last day. i was getting pretty anxious as i always do at the end of trips but i was also quite sad that it was all coming to an end. we went to josefev to see all the jewish synagogues. first we went into the pinksa synagogue which now serves as a memorial and museum. it has over 77,000 names of those that dies from the CZ in concentration camps. its a really powerful exhibit. the upstairs has an art display from children that went through terezin. i'm glad that we were able to go there. we also walked through the jewish cemetery, the old ceremonial hall, maisel synagogue, klausova synagogue and my personal favorite the spanish synagogue. i'm glad i got to experience the jewish quarters with rob. after that we went to my favorite museum, the decorative arts museum. they had a glass exhibit that was really cool and then we checked out their ceramics, decorative clocks, jewelry, art prints, old photographs and wedding dresses they always have on exhibit. pretty cool! rob even liked it! We tried to kill time before meeting z again by going to the puppet museum that was listed in my book. unfortunately my book is years and years old and the museum has since closed! sad! then we tried to go to the smetana museum which is closed on tuesdays! what are the chances! so we just kind of hung out and then met z for one last goodbye. he told us the story of the astronomical clock while it went off at 5 p.m. and then he walked us to the municipal house. so sad to say goodbye but i'm so happy i got to see him so much. then we grabbed coffee and cocoa in the beautiful municipal house cafe! i had always wanted to go there but never had the chance. there is beautiful art deco decor and a pianist - you seriously feel like youre in the 20s. then later on we went back to pivovarsky dum for one last czech meal. i got wiener schniztel and potatoes and rob got this crazy dish - pork loin stuffed with blue cheese and ham and potato croquettes. both were great!
and that was it! it was a fantastic trip and i'm sad it's over. i'm going to write about my overall thoughts and memories in another post soon!
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