Central European Tour, Part 3: Prague

Hello again! It's been a while since I've last blogged. Over the past week and a half I've been making my way around Central Europe - in Budapest, Munich, and Prague, each for three wonderful days. As you can imagine, I have a lot to share. Here is part three, Prague, in pictures and captions:

First meal in Prague: Excellent bock beer and a pork chop. An excellent start to my Bohemian experience.

The famous Astronomical Clock of Prague. It also bears a striking resemblance to one of my all-time favorite fictional places.

The Church of Our Lady before Tyn. Looks a lot like a Disney Castle, doesn't it? It's actually a church...

I think it looks better at night, but it's still pretty cool during the day.

We spent a lot of time just hanging around in Old Town Square, which is where the clock and other sights are. I really really like clock, by the way.

Our tour guide claimed that this is one of the only still-standing structures where Mozart performed. Unfortunately, as I have been finding in my travels, wars have taken quite a toll on historical buildings. This one was lucky.

Wenceslas Square in New Town (conveniently located right next to Old Town). It's a pretty busy area with shops and performers. To protest communism in the 1960s, a few students would light themselves on-fire at the top of the square for all to see.

This is a statue by the Jewish Quarter to commemorate Franz Kafka, who was Jewish and also from Prague. Coincidentally, this past fall I read a lot of Kafka for class. He writes quite interesting and absurd allegory-type stories. I highly recommend "The Metamorphosis", "In the Penal Colony", "The Hunger Artist", and "The Judgment" if you have time for short stories (Metamorphosis is a little long but worth it).

This is the Spanish Synagogue. It is quite a wonderful piece of architecture in the Jewish Quarter. In general, the architecture of every building in Prague is really interesting - there are so many blends from different eras that it makes for a lovely walk around town.

In the distance, you can see the Prague Metronome, standing where a giant Stalin statue once stood. It represents time lost under communism, which is a touchy issue for many Czech people.

This is the Jewish Town Hall, located in the Jewish Quarter. Believe it or not, the Quarter actually used to have high walls around it and was nearly its own city within Prague. Even more suprisingly was, according to our tour guide, that many Jewish people appreciated the walls because, while they were a mark of inequality, they at least provided some protection from hateful citizens looking to scapegoat.

The Old New Synagogue, probably the most famous in Prague.

The entrance to the Old Jewish Cemetery, which we didn't enter. It's 12 feet off the ground and has nearly 12,000 tombstones in a fairly small space - its quite a historic site.

Pinkas Synagogue is home to a Holocaust Memorial for those victimized from Prague. It was our last stop in the Jewish Quarter and one that served as a reminder of the cloud of WWII atrocities hanging over many of the places I have visited in Europe.

Another dark cloud present in my travels was communism. Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in 1968 to protest the Soviet Invasion. He is remembered fondly by many Czechs.

Behind me is the Charles Bridge, which crosses the Vltava River.

One of my favorite places we visted was the John Lennon Wall. Serving many purposes, it has ultimately been a place for people to, well, come together.

BC Students studying in Prague bought some spray paint and wrote one of our school slogans "For Here All Are One" in support of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. I couldn't have been prouder to see this in person!

Katie actually wrote our names on too, which was pretty cool. It's a living piece of art to be a part of.

We also wanted to show our support for our friends back home. As I've said before in this blogspace, the Marathon bombings were crazy to follow from so far away. I'm glad the situation has come to an end.

More Lennon Wall.

More Lennon Wall.

Hanging on the Charles Bridge, a pedestrian-only entrance to Prague Castle Town aka Hyrule Castle Town. (If you haven't noticed, I think everything in Prague resembles fictional places)

A good view of Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral from the bridge. It's fun to explore over there (as you soon shall see).

One of my good friends, Tyler, has been studying abroad in Prague. Of course, we had to meet up for some fine Czech beer and food.

This is a statue of Jan Hus, one of the first church reformers. His death and martyrdom lead directly to the Hussite Wars in the 1400s. Prague has all kinds of history - from Hussite Wars all the way through the fall of Communism, it has seemed to somehow be involved in many historical events in Europe. Often times, it can be quite bloody. As our tour guide said, "I hope that the future of Czech History is boring, uninteresting and safe".

This is the entrance to the main grounds of Prague Castle, located in Prague Castle Town.

This is St. Vitus Cathedral aka the Temple of Time. For those of you scoring at home who love the Legend of Zelda (like me), Prague is home to the likeness of Clock Tower, Clock Town, Hyrule Castle Town, and the Temple of Time. It's a great, great place to be.

Hanging in front of St. Vitus

The view from the top of the hill where the castle rests is really great!

We went to a Starsky & Hutch themed bar, which was hilarious as it sounds. It was nearly as awesome as this.

We also happened to witness a May Day protest. Seems like our cue to leave.

Headed to the train station, we admired the National Museum, which is currently closed, from the outside. It will reopen in 2015. Maybe I'll get to return and go inside someday!

So that was a lot of traveling: Budapest, Munich, and Prague in 9 days. Prague was really a fun time, and Budapest was ok, but I think Munich was my favorite. Currently, I'm here in London for a few days before flying to Marrakesh, Morocco and Barcelona, Spain for a 6 day trip that will take me ever-closer to my return home date of May 15. Less than 2 weeks left abroad. Better make them count! Hopefully I'll blog again before Marrakesh/Barcelona...hopefully.

Til then - Cheers!