Heather (was) in Hungary: Prague (part 1)

Prague... What to say? I LOVED the city. It was beautiful, had plenty to see (I didn’t see it all), it was definitely a tourist destination, and everyone spoke English... including the ridiculous amount of Americans in town. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who decided to go to Prague for Thanksgiving.

I spent 8 hours on the bus from Budapest to Prague, watching chick flicks, drinking hot chocolate and talking to my friends Dana and Ben along the way about our experiences in Hungary. I took the metro to Lesser Town and wandered around trying to find my hostel, only to eventually give up and hail a cab. (I was so close at one point!) I had printed a map, but I left it in my school bag in Pápa—turns out it was wrong anyways. I showered and got dressed to meet Megan (a friend from the honors dept at CSUF) and her friend Kate for Thanksgiving Dinner. We started walking through Prague, trying to decide where to eat...which ended up at a crappy reheated-pizza-to-go place... Not my ideal Thanksgiving dinner, but what are ya gonna do? So, I started Friday off with sleeping in before hitting the hostel’s breakfast and heading out into the cold. I decided to do the Jewish Quarter first, since it would be closed for the Sabbath, and then wander around old town and new town until the end of the day, then do the castle and lesser town on Saturday. I had plans to meet Megan at her apartment for a party with her new friends from her TOEFL program Friday night, and dinner with the Hairgroves for Saturday night. So, even though I was travelling alone for the first time, I wasn’t really alone. I had friends in the city and people to hang out with.

The Jewish Quarter was incredible, in a historical, tragic sort of way. I paid for the big ticket, to get access to all of the synagogues, cemetery, museum and holocaust memorial. Unfortunately you can’t take pictures in any of those places, but I’m content with that, because I don’t think that pictures are appropriate. There is NOTHING that can describe the feelings evoked when seeing and being in these places. I know I’ve heard it a thousand times, that you can’t comprehend the magnitude of those events, that visiting any of the sites of the Holocaust is an incredible experience. The crazy thing about Prague is, the Prague Jewish Quarter was “preserved” through WWII by the Nazis to later become a museum of the Jewish race/religion. Sick and twisted as it is, this historian appreciated the fact that these centuries-old buildings are still here, telling the story of the people and culture that aren’t.

I had lunch in a Christmas Market, and wandered all around town, taking pictures and enjoying the sights. I attended a German choir exchange Advent concert in an old Hussite church in the Old Town Square. I went back to my hostel and changed to go out, stopping at the Hard Rock Café for dinner. I am pretty sure it was the first time I’ve ever eaten alone in a restaurant... but it was a much quicker process, as I ordered, ate, paid and left within 45 minutes. I then caught the metro to Timbuktu, and hiked up the hill to Megan’s apartment, where I had some nice conversations with various people. It started snowing, and before the metro stopped running I said my goodbyes and headed down the crazy hill to the metro station alone in the snow. I figured if I didn’t slip and die or didn’t get kidnapped and die, Someone was definitely looking out for me.