Prague I

 Sorry for the month long break! Things got busy as I wrapped up my last 'class' for Auburn University.  I turned in 2.5 papers in the month of December on solar energy and received an 'A' for the class.  It didn't feel real to actually be done with official school work- so I called the registrar and they were able to confirm that I in fact graduated.

After Thanksgiving and before the craziness of December, I took a weekend trip to meet up with my buddy Alex and his friends in Prague.  They were on the last two days of a seven day long euro tour they planned to celebrate their graduation from UC Santa Clara.

Euro tour crew

 I got in at midnight on Friday and met up with them for the second half of a pub crawl.  Pub crawls in European cities often target the Hostel crowd, which is usually a thirsty group of internationals between 19 and 25 years old.  I showed up at the halfway point and the tour participants were already very jolly.  It was great to see Alex and we ended up staying up very late.

Day 1: Wandering

We decided to try and see Prag by foot- it isn't a very big city (the Altstadt at least) and the buildings and streets are very beautiful.

First we saw a new street act that blew my mind for 10 seconds longer than normal:

 

 Then we went to a Christmas Market to get delicious Czech ham, potatoes, and Cinnamon-roll-on-a-stick.  The market was only just getting set up:

Then we walked to the Castle/palace on the hill.

... But it wasn't too many kilometers before we needed a break and some water:

 

We took the advice of the bar(water)tendress and approached the castle from the 'Old Stairs':

Sometimes I'm not even sure what I'm taking a photo of but I feed off the energy around me.  I have noticed in my travels that if at least 3 tourists are taking a photo in the same direction, every other tourist will pull out their camera.  Whatever psychological condition this is needs to be named/studied soon; it has caused people to take a lot of pointless photos.

Prague Castle, according to Guiness World Records, is the largest castle in the world.  Besides the walled castle itself, part of the red-roofed village is also part of the compound.  Prague has been the seat of the Bohemia empire, Holy Roman empire (Charles IV or Rudolph II), and Austrian empire (Ferdinand I/V).

The Prague Castle has a row of houses, called the Golden Lane, that people lived in until World War II.  Apparently bathrooms and electricity never caught on, and eventually people left, were displaced by the war, or were bought out; the lane is now part of the historic castle and a period-musuem for tourism.

From 1914-1917, writer Franz Kafka lived in house No. 22:

I could see how the living conditions might of lead to his Nihilism...

If the biographies of Kafka weren't depressing enough, we ventured on into the medieval section of the castle, which focused only on warfare and torture:

Here Alex explains that a being hit with a metal ball swinging from a 4 foot long staff would most likely really hurt.

This chair was pretty self explanatory.

This was the only entrance/exit to a giant pit underneath the torture tower.  Apparently it was exclusively used as an entrance.

 We left the dark ages to head to the 19th century Austrian section of the palace/castle:

The Prague Basilica is pretty breathtaking.  It is surrounded on all sides by the administrative parts of the palace, which means you don't approach the church from a distance.  Instead, you turn a corner and BOOOOM it's right there looming over you.  It was a nice effect:

The main church of an empire definitely gets the best pick of relics and religious art.  We were blown away by some of the castings, statues, mosaics, and paintings:

 

From the church we headed to the interior of the palace.  I really enjoyed the ceilings of the thrown room and other royal meeting rooms:

If you squint or drink too many beers it looks like Alex has on the old crown and scepter.

 

At this point Alex and I realized we needed to take a picture for the Moms, so we handed my phone to one of the friends. The peanut gallery made it difficult to get a simple picture:

From the palace we headed to the John Lennon wall.  We weren't sure what to expect because just days earlier, the local art school white-washed the historic graffiti wall in an effort to give their generation a voice.  They apparently were no longer interested in the protest art related to the communist era.

 

And, the Lennon wall turned out to be the perfect Selfie backdrop.  People were going crazy to take new profile pictures and the like:

And if everybody else was doing it...

No shame. We aren't part of the problem- we're different.

 

From the wall we went over the historic bridge and back into the city.  The bridge is most famous for being the bridge that Vin Diesel jumps off or blows something up in the critically acclaimed film "XXX" (triple X). Others argue it is more famous for its history, impressive gate, and strategic importance to the castle and trade within the region.

Alex rubs some luck from the statue.

Alex barely resists the urge to buy the Mel Gibson drawing he's been waiting his whole life for.

 We took a group photo: 

 

And then walked around some more.

We spent the rest of the day exploring and visiting Czech watering holes.  The cost of beer and the quality of the food made for a wonderful combination.  Early the next morning Alex and his friends left to head back home. I stayed the day and explored more.