Prague: Saturday, September 12

Dear Friends and Family,

While we weren’t able to wake up early on Friday, on Saturday we woke up bright and early at seven-thirty. We headed off in the direction of the Charles Bridge, in search of a bakery. However, we arrived at Charles Bridge without having found one. Charles Bridge, the oldest surviving bridge in Prague, was incredibly beautiful. Just to the right of the entrance to the bridge was an ornate statue of King Charles IV. The theme of ornate statues continued on the bridge with statues of various saints and other people (I didn’t catch most of their names). Lee and I touched the plaque which depicted a man being thrown into a river. Many people before had touched the same plaque for the spot was still bronze, while the rest of the statue had oxidized and was no longer shiny. I was told by my friend Wendy to touch this man being thrown into a river, but I don’t remember what it means. Maybe that I’ll return to Prague?

After walking across the bridge, we walked to Prasky Hrad (or Prague Castle). At this point, we were still hoping to find a bakery. Alas, NO bakery was to be found. When we arrived at the castle, we had finally given up on eating pastries, and instead ate the granola bars that was had packed (insert sad face here). We entered the castle, a little low on energy, bought tickets, and then upon seeing a ridiculously long line, we decided to wait in it (we figured it had to be good). While waiting in line, we noticed a little shop directly to our left, where we sent Kathy to get us some food. She came back with a panini sandwich, which was incredibly delicious and thus, we ate it in less than two minutes. Feeling sated, we entered St. Vitus's Cathedral (which we only found out the name when the line had moved closer). This cathedral was amazing, but then again, it had taken almost 600 years to finish. The cathedral was huge. I don’t even know if I was able to capture the scale with any picture I took. The stained glass windows were INCREDIBLE; they were so beautiful. Some of the windows were mosaics with tiny pieces. Others were painted. But all of them were amazing. The pipe organ was also incredible and took up almost an entire wall (and considering the size of the cathedral, this was ridiculous). In case you couldn’t tell, I loved this cathedral. I loved almost everything about it. The one thing that did bother me, was the fact that the Czech seem to like putting random buildings right in front of special buildings (Hopefully I'll post a picture soon). This happened at this Cathedral as well as the Tyn Church (See Picture with Tyn Church and Astronomical Clock)

After being stunned by the cathedral, we explored the “castle”. Strange thing is Prague Castle is not a castle. Originally the area was a fort, and then many new buildings were added. And while new stuff was being built, old things were beginning to fall apart. (New stuff being Cathedral and Palace like stuff and old things being stuff like fortifications) Today, the Cathedral remains, as well as some rooms that were used for royalty, and some new touristy places like the Golden Lane (which used to be a row for artisans, blacksmiths etc., but now are just tourist shops). When we went to the old royal palace, we found the rooms not very interesting, but the views of the city were amazing. We hadn’t realized how big Prague was until then. Also, as we were admiring the view from this terrace, we could hear the sound of an orchestra from the distance. It was pretty epic. We then walked to the Golden Lane, where we stumbled upon a mini Medieval Museum, with armor and stuff on display in the halls. Lee loved this place. He even got to shoot a crossbow. We took a leisurely walk back to the hostel, stopping by a little stand with pastries (FINALLY). We also stopped in front of a cool building (which I think is a concert hall) where Lee and Kathy looked for four leaf clovers. Kathy, being the expert on finding them, found one rather quickly. Lee tried really hard, but didn’t find any. When we made it back to our hostel, we took a much needed nap.

After waking up, we dressed for the opera! We ate some surprising good sandwiches (they were on baguettes) at the train station, where we had to go to do some errands (like validating passes and buying tickets). We then went to the State Opera House (a couple blocks from the train station) and watched Carmen, which just happens to be Kathy’s and my favorite opera. The Opera House was incredibly beautiful, with paintings and bronze work on the ceiling of the opera house. While we had only bought the cheapest tickets possible the day before (for approximately 20 dollars), we still weren’t too far from the stage (the opera house wasn’t huge) and the seats were pretty comfy. From the time the show began, I was in awe. I was already in love with the music, but it was still incredibly well performed and made me fall in love with it all over again. There was also a rotating stage, which was really cool and fit in really well with the staging of the opera. The costumes were also really cool and really well done. I am still amazed by the opera (I’m writing this about a week after) and repeatedly comment to Lee and Kathy how great it was. Unfortunately, we were not able to buy any champagne during intermission (It was 50 Kc; approximately 3 dollars). We had just bought a train ticket (they only accepted cash), which used up most of our cash, and then we used up almost all the rest buying programs. This also became a problem when we passed a couple ice cream places on the way back, but had yet to pass an ATM. Until next time.

Love,
Rosalie