Prague: Paris of Eastern Europe?

I think I’ll break Prague into two posts for obvious reasons. Those reasons may not be obvious to you, but that’s beside the point. I am currently sitting in a train that has been stuck in Bad Schandau for over an hour, meaning that I’m going to get to Berlin a little late. (Bad Schandau is not an opinion, it’s the name of the station.) Maybe I’ll get both posts in while I’m on the way to Berlin.

First off, let me say that the street sausages are not nearly as good in Prague as they were in Zurich or in Munich. They were gristly and not particularly tasty. It’s takes something for me to complain about a sausage, but so it goes.

Other than that, I really loved Prague. I’m sure I’ll rank the cities that I’m visiting when I finish, because I do things like that, but other than Paris and London, it’s pretty much been my favorite. Certainly, it’s the most picturesque city I’ve been to since I left Paris a few weeks ago. (Has it really been that long?)

I’ll get into the hotel in another post, but I stayed on a side-street just off of (Good King) Wenceslas Square. Along with some museums, hotels and other older buildings, its is also an area with tons of restaurants and shops and about four dozen McDonald’s. (I exaggerate, but they are freakin’ everywhere.) Also, within a 2 km radius of my hotel were four sports bars and three strip clubs. Needless to say, there were mostly men in my neighborhood.

Since I didn’t know too much about Prague, I trusted my guidebook to tell what I NEEDED to see. My first morning was spent hopping on the subway and heading in the direction of the Prague Castle and St. Vitus’s Cathedral. Like the Bratislava Castle, these sat atop a hill and gave great views of the city. The Prague Castle was much more impressive that the Bratislava Castle, but Prague was just impressive, generally. From there, I walked down to the Loreto, but not knowing much about it’s history, it was just a cool-looking building to me.

I also went to the Strahov Monastery, even though my guidebook didn’t tout it too highly as a place to go. My guidebook was misguided. The monastery was interesting, but more importantly – at least to me, if not the monks – was that the area provided some of the best views of a great city that I’ve ever seen. As I was walking down, I tried to soak in as much as I could because I knew that the pictures that I was taking would never do justice to the beauty. The fact that it was a picture-perfect day just added to the effect.

I also walked down to the Charles Bridge while I was in that part of town. I knew I needed to rub the brass relief on the statue of St. John of Nepomuk for good luck, so I did. The problem is that I don’t know if I used the correct hand. I remember Samantha Brown saying that it only worked if you used the correct hand, but I don’t remember which hand that was. It rained for the first time since I’ve been in Europe on my final night in Prague, so that might have been bad luck. Or good luck for the people there. Hell, I don’t know. I used the right hand, if not the correct hand, and that’s all I’m sure about.

I went to the Jewish Quarter because I wanted to visit the Old-New Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Unfortunately, because of the timing of the trip, the only time I could have visited would have been during holidays that would have precluded me from making such a visit. It didn’t stop me from going, but it did stop me from touring. I did take a picture or two, however, for your viewing pleasure.

The Jewish Quarter is close to the Old Town Square, so I went there as well. Like other Old Town Squares that I’ve been to in Europe, it’s a square surrounded by old and/or impressive buildings, shops selling souvenirs and restaurants selling “authentic” “fill-in-the-ethnicity” food. There also was some entertainment, in the form of a ragtime band, and beer stands. It was the beer stands, selling relatively cheap Gambrinus beer, that made it special for me. Also, some of the food stands. I tried a food stand selling “potato pancakes,” but they were hash browns to me.

Okay. That’s it for this trip down the Prague road for now. More later.