Czech Republic

Today - April 30 - marks the 50th day of my trip! 
Side note: No I did not forget about the Germany entry, I still have Munich to visit, so once I make that visit, the Germany blog entry will be up in one part not two!


After the blink before my eyes that was Berlin, I got on a train to Prague, Czech Republic to my CS host Elisa. When we arrived, she already had plans for me - going straight to a CS gathering at a generous man's house. His name was Rolf, and he was with the Swedish Embassy living in Prague. Rolf was hosting (he hosts occasional gatherings) a soup party and it was vegetarian/vegan, which was really healthy and delicious! I met several people from Prague and some other fellow CSers at the party, chatting with them by notebook and pen which was quickly filled out!


At that same party, I met four Italians - Valeria, Lorenzo, Robert and Anita, who invited me to join them in exploring the Jewish Quarter of Prague the next day - I said sure (Couldn't say no to a visit to Jewish Museums/Synagouges) and so we agreed to meet at noon.


We looked around the Jewish Cemetary, four Synagogues and a hall - it was nice to see more history as it was about my 8th different Jewish museum in Europe, all of them were different and has great history of their own - and I always see/learn something new every place. Jewish history really is strong and has deep roots in Europe before, up to and after the 1940's.

After looking around, we went to eat dinner, Robert was a vegetarian, so we had to find a vegetarian place. (Yes, I became a vegetarian just for 24 hours, i survived!) the food was good at a cafeteria-style restaurant.

Afterwards, they wanted to go to a museum, and I wanted to explore more of the city so we said farewell and parted ways. They were so friendly, and taught me some Italian gestures which were funny and some similar to sign language! Hopefully when I am in Milano, we could meet up again!


So I walked around the old town Prague and some sights were the Astronomical Clock, Tyn Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church and the Powder Tower before meeting up with Elisa and going to another CS meeting. This time it was at the Hrom De Police bar which brewed its own delicious Czech beers! There was a CS meeting regularly on Thursday evenings along with more notebook conversations and some sign teaching.

The next day I took a day trip to nearby Kutna Hora where there was the famed Kostnice Sedlec Ossuary - http://www.kostnice.cz/ -  which turned out to be my most favorite visit of the entire trip. Worth the trip! I also saw the St. Barbory church and ate at a local resturant with their own beer - Gambrinus but my mind was still at the Ossuary. Over 40,000 to 70,000 skulls & bones! Truly was an awesome sight to see.


Later that evening, I arrived back to Elisa's place and saw on the internet about the royal wedding.... oh, didn't notice. That night we went back to the old town at night for some walking around.


Today I went to the Prazsky Hrad - Prague Castle - and walked around the gardens, courtyards and castle. At noon, there was the changing of the guards with swords, guns, flags and the usual guard changing stuff. Not as spectacular as the Buckingham Guards in London but still nice to watch.


From the Castle, I went down to the Old Town and walked across the famed Karluv Most - Charles Bridge - which had 30 statues, 15 on each side on the bridge to the western side of Prague. There, I walked to the John Lennon Wall which had cool graffiti art. 


After that, I went to another CS meeting at Kinskeho Zahrada (garden) where we were celebrating a guy's birthday with a nice picnic. The weather was getting gloomy so it ended earlier than we would like but I still enjoyed the break at the park.

On the final evening, we went to Carodejnice, a witch burning festival to signal the end of winter and the witch's spell. There were music, beers, food and lots of fire and fire spinning. There were also fireworks, but the fireworks' shit was weak compared to Independence Day fireworks in USA, sorry :) 


It was all fun until it rained and everyone rushed back home, I guess the witches weren't too happy about the festival!


Prague treated me well, and so did my CS host Elisa, but it was time to move on. Tomorrow, I will be going to Vienna, Austria and continuing the trip!