Je suis alle a PRAGUE

PRAGUE ou PRAHA

Beautiful city and friendly people! They mostly are able to speak English, so no worries. But you must change the currency to Czech Krown.  100 Kc was 4 Euro, so 1 euro is equal to 25 Kc. And a little surprise from our guide, that Prague was the first one who invented the contact lenses.

Well, because mostly my trips include the free walking tour, I recommended you to go to this web, http://www.newpraguetours.com/daily-tours/new-prague-free-tour.html.

I joined the free tour, and it included:

• Old Town Square,

The old town square was the meeting point of our tour. There you may see the astronomical clock, and St. Nicolas’ Church. Funny thing about this church and the astronomical clock, in Prague, there can be several wedding in that church for a day. But Czech has the highest rate of divorce, and mostly in their 3^rd year marriage. Okay, about the clock, it is already 602 years old, and the unique thing is that the clock was work by mechanical, no electricity involved. There was the sad story behind this clock though, the inventor was blinded by the mayor. The mayor did that as a present so that he did not need more work for that gorgeous clock. However, the inventor was not happy about that, and he took his revenge by damaging the clock, and the clock have ceased for 100 years. Well, luckily, after 100 years, there was another genius that can fix the clock, so now we are able to see the clock. However, the clock was not all time working properly, it is said that the inventor’s curse were still there. *well, a myth is a myth.

            You can climb the astronomical clock tower with 55 Kc. It is worth to visit, due to it has beautiful Prague panorama on top of it. And they have this photo both where you can use a costume and take pictures with it. It cost us 14 euro for 3 people. It is quite expensive, but if you have extra money, it can be a good souvenir for you back home. 

A little trivia from the tour, the clock was designed to be located in Prague, because if you put it in other places, it won’t work perfectly. The clock consists of day, months, zodiac, sun and moon rotation. The clock will be ringed every hours, but then after 10pm, it will stop ringing because it was the agreement that after 10 was the time to take a rest, so yes, it make sense to cease all noises.

• Church of Our Lady before Tyn

This church represent the gothic style, where you can see by the tall pointed towers, and also the curve and pointed window. It is told that it is tall so it became nearer to the god.

• Kinsky Palace

• Statue of Jan Hus

• House of the Black Madonna &

• Museum of Cubisim

• Powder Tower

• Art Nouveau Municipal House

• Czech National Bank

• Wenceslas Square

• Estates Theatre (First Mozart Performance)

Here was the famous Don Giovanni world premiere performance.

• Kafka Statue, the statue of a Jewish writer.

• Maiselova Street & Old Jewish Quarter

This street was used to be a Jewish ghetto slum area, but then now it became one of the expensive streets in Prague. History in world war 2 about Jewish being conquered and tortured by the Nazi is very heart breaking. After all the assassination, Nazi only gave quite a small area where all the Jewish buried. It is the Jewish cemetery, where it consist of 50.000 bodies being buried, with 12.000stone tombs, put in a very small spaces, and 12 layers of human bodies inside ever tomb.

• Rudolfinum – Czech Philharmonic

• Prague Castle & St. Vitus

Prague castle was called the Prasna Bresna

• Karlov Most – Charles Bridge

This is the most interesting part from the tour, because in this very bridge which joining the separated Prague by the Vltava river, they have the statue of St John Meponog. In his statue, which is the 8^th statue if you go from town square direction, you’ll see the shiny spot in the right place of the statue. If you rub this spot, then it is said that you’ll be back to Prague. And beside his statue, you will see the small symbols, a gold covered with picture of man lying down, and it is said that if you rub this, your wish will be come true. Yeaay I rubbed both of it. Hahhaa.

Next day, we went to see the Castle tour, you may also joined the Sauderman neweurope tour. It is worth to see where you may see the beautiful Prague castle,
• Malá Strana – the Lesser Quarter
• Hradčany – the Castle District
• St Vitus’ Cathedral
• Strahov Monastery and Brewery
• St Nicholas’ Church
• Domeček Gestapo / StB Prison
• Wallenstein Palace
• Amazing panoramic views

Here you may see the Prague panoramic views, see the small cities and great places to take pictures.
• The Loreto
• St George’s Basilica
• The Garden of Eden

In this garden, they have this amphitheater, and if a person who stands in the middle of the amphitheater and speaks, you may hear a weird echo in that place, but only you can hear it. You should try that place.

 

‘Mozart’s House’
• The Deer Moat
• Novy Svět – New World Street
• The Black Tower

Tips from Prague and other cities that I’ve been:

-       Make sure you get the mineral water with no gas. Because they have many kind of mineral water, and if you don’t adapt to the taste, you’ll find it horrible.

-       Make sure you bring chilly or other sauce, because if you don’t adapt the European taste, you’ll find it plain and less watery

-       Fruits are mostly expensive; make sure you find the right market that sells the right price.

-       The walking tour was only for screening purposes because it didn’t take you right to the tourism places where you can enter. But you can leave the tour if you interest to a particular place.

-       Not all city maps are free. Check the information center in every city you’ll go.

-       Have a good physical fitness. Backpackers or walking tours can be very exhausting.

-       Water in Europe is mostly drinkable, especially in Italy except Venice. Always bring a bottle with you.

-       Ask for the good restaurant, souvenir places, even other things with good prices there to your guide or your hostel people. They’ll give you a good recommendation, so you don’t spend your money for anything unnecessary. :P

-       Do not eat fast food unless you ran out of money, because well, you’re in Europe! You have to taste European taste, spend more to have more experience.

-       Check for any luggage store in the train station, you may need it if you want to transfer

Always take care of your belongings. If necessary, bring a lock for your bag or backpack, or bring your belongings in front of you. Beware of the pickpockets, since they are everywhere, not only particular races, but aslo tourist, they may steal something from you.