every city seems to have its animal. berlin's is, naturally, a bear. every time leff and i saw one of these we would raise our hands and say "i dunno! i'm a bear!" because of the wonderful bim. (see also: "what even is my life, right now?")
but it was auf wiedersehen, germany and AHOJ, CZECH REPUBLIC as this particular morning we had two tickets on the early europa-spezial! FOUR HOURS OF NOT WALKING BLISSBLISSBLISS
this train winds through some very scenic territory. you think you're going to get tired of awesome mountain villages YOU NEVER GET TIRED OF AWESOME MOUNTAIN VILLAGES
since the czech republic is part of the schengen area, there was no passport control. you realized you were in a new country because the architecture changed. also, the announcements and train station signs were in czech.
not gonna' lie to you, i was SO EXCITED to be going to prague. i was a cold war kid, right? I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ALLOWED OVER THE BORDER I'VE GOT THE WRONG PASSPORT HAHAHAH i'm such a loon.
this was our first view of prague station.
inside, it's really very nice with a stained glass dome and etc but i have no pictures, sorry. i was having a hard enough time trying to find appropriate coinage for the pay toilets. HAHAHhahah :/ AND THEN we had some crossed wires and ended up not finding our driver PLUS there were some sketch dudes starting to mill around (luggage. we take so little of it but it still makes you vunerable/an obvious target. grrr) so i said FUCK IT WE ARE TAKING THE SUBWAY and marched over to the info booth where the WONDERFUL EXTREMELY HELPFUL LADY sold me two tickets, confirmed that we had to validate them in the yellow machine and gave me a map. THANK YOU PRAGUE FOR HAVING SUCH FANTASTIC INFO BOOTH EMPLOYEES
so yeah, it was red line hlavni nadrazi to muzeum, transfer to green line, then two stops to staromestska. EASY about three blocks and a gauntlet run across the EXTREMELY crowded charles bridge CHARLES BRIDGE!!!!!!!! and THIS IS WHAT WE SAW
you guys. this view. THIS VIEW. I WAS SITTING UP IN BED WHEN I TOOK THIS MOVIE
(this was our hotel and i am telling you IT'S INCREDIBLE. book three months out, GET YOUR ASS OVER THERE breakfast is included AND IT IS VERY VERY GOOD! staff is sooooooooo, SOOOO exceptional as well. BEST. HOTEL. EVAR!! WE HAD A HALLWAY IN OUR ROOM A HALLWAY i still can't even with this place.)
leff and i had been running full stop for about a week at this point so we did what every short circuiting, overloading person does. we took a nap. and when we woke up, the moon was rising over charles bridge.
my feet. MY FEET I DID NOT RECOGNIZE MY FEET couldn't see my ankle bones! D: D: so leff went on his own to find food. ON VALENTINE'S DAY. IN PRAGUE ON VALENTINE'S DAY
god, you guys. just. it was SO CROWDED. leff said the old town square was SWAMPED with couples being all weird. BUT he found a place that sold apfelstrudel and some other meaty pastry thing AND IT WAS SO GOOD THANK YOU LEFF FOR BRAVING THE WEIRDOS YOU ARE THE GREATEST
the next morning. leff and i agreed before we left the states that we would need to get up very early one morning to see charles bridge when, in his words, "it's not flooded with motherfuckers". i think it was a wise decision, don't you?
i fell hard for karluv most. WHO DOESN'T by the end of our time here, i was calling it "charlie", we were on such good terms. IT WAS THE BRIDGE WITH THE MOST GEDDIT A CZECH BRIDGE IS A MOST HAHAHhahhah that's pretty much my only czech language joke. :/
so, hey. if you're gonna' touch the st john of nepomuk bronzes for luck, make sure to do it with your left hand.
otherwise NULL AND VOID (or not.)
karlova street. in the morning, this place is empty. leff tells me that it gets very crowded and horrible at other times though. (he's telling the truth. at one point we cut through an arcade (entrance on right in this photo) to avoid crowds and i danced/sang along to "call me maybe". FINGER GUNS MAY HAVE BEEN UTILIZED i am nothing if not camp.)
but back to the splendor. IT IS *SO* SPLENDOROUS THERE IS NO OTHER ADJECTIVE
these little maze-y streets
will eventually lead you to old town square.
while i was never at the astronomical clock on the hour when all the bells and whistles happen, it was still SO IMPRESSIVE
and then, you look in the other direction and there is this
with jan hus standing watch over everything. it DID NOT seem real. i kept having to (figuratively) pinch myself. how had i POSSIBLY been able to make it to prague??
but i had. oh, had i ever.
and i bloody double hearted every damn minute of it!
with early morning sightseeing completed, it was time for breakfast! SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THIS BREAKFAST THERE ARE VEGETABLES AND WHITE SAUSAGES WITH HORSERADISHY MUSTARD AND DARK CHEWY BREAD BREEEEEEEEEEADDDDD
AND WE ATE IT IN THIS VAULTED ROOM!!!
hahahhahahaha. prague. seriously, prague. HOW ARE YOU SO BEAUTIFUL PRAGUE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU IS JUST PHWAR I LOVE YOU
i had overdone the walking that morning so i had to rest my feet again. (VERY MUCH RELATED--i have a serious question: why are there so few water fountains in europe? i usually have a refillable bottle with me but HAHAH WATER X 2 EVERYWHERE BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK AMIRITE I AM SORITE and i was massively dehydrated during most of this trip. pro tip: you can spot the americans in europe very easily-- THEY ARE THE ONES DESPERATELY GULPING VERY LARGE BOTTLES OF WATER LIKE THEY ARE DYING
but seriously, water at stores/restaurants/bars/hotels only unless i'm missing something (that is entirely possible))
ANYWAY, since i was in for a while, i put our house in order. it was at this point in the trip where i started saying COINCOIN. no reason.
leff went adventuring since his feet were fine. he brought back lunch!!!
AND most importantly, the knowledge of TWO CERNY SCULPTURES! how could i possibly stay in the hotel any longer? CERNY WAS ONE OF OUR MAIN REASONS FOR BEING IN PRAGUE
the pissing guys are located at the kafka museum.
you used to be able to text a message to them that they would then piss (i was going to text "glitter" YOU KNOW BECAUSE OF THIS HERE BLOG HAHhaha :/) but the number is no longer on the statue. ah, well. it was still a really great piece.
also in kafka museum courtyard is the double k. leff took a picture of me standing between these two (as my real name starts with "k") BUT YOU WILL NEVER SEE IT
a word with you derivative shitheads. CAN YOU FUCKING STOP DOING THIS IT'S NOT ORIGINAL IT IS FUCKING LAME
also, if you have to proclaim your relationship in this way, chances are it's going to be over before you can even finish clicking the fucking lock. dumbasses.
ah, the second cerny of the day! these babies are located near museum kampa.
they are very popular so it is hard to get a picture of them without other people in the shot. sorry. just know that there are three of them and that they are great!
also nearby are the cracking art group's penguins.
these are illuminated at night, as you will see in a bit.
we did not go to kampa as i was ABSOLUTELY MUSEUMED OUT you didn't think that was possible, did you? HAHA IT IS still, we visited the courtyard.
I DID NOT KEEP THIS GUY HANGING HIGH FIVE LITTLE DUDE
i have not fallen so much in love with a city since london. and i am not kidding you when i say that it is virtually impossible to take a bad picture of prague.
this is HANDS DOWN my favorite tag of this trip.
ok, no, maybe this one is.
we wandered around for hours, stopping in parks, watching people and their dogs. just generally absorbing as much of praha 1 as we could.
before heading back to the hotel area for some grub. see, told you the penguins were illuminated at night.
i was also fairly lit up as well. CZECH BEER I LOVE YOU
TOMORROW ON RAKKA AND LEFF CONTINUE TO FALL HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH PRAGUE: we go on the hunt for MORE CERNYS, THE TOP OF CHARLES BRIDGE TOWER, even MORE SUBWAY STATIONS EVERY ART DECO CAFE IN THE CITY PLUS I KEEP FORGETTING THE NAME OF THE FUNICULAR AND JUST CALL IT THE FUN COOKER CZECH BACK CHECK BACK hahah now THAT is the only other czech language joke i have. :/
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