Two Girls in Prague

   CET gives us a much-needed weeklong break after our midterms, which we all realized had to be planned promptly before October came around. While we all agreed that Paris was our first stop in our 10-day vacation, I thought that I needed to visit the previous Soviet bloc. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only person that wanted to venture off to Eastern Europe. Charlotte told me that she had to good friends studying in Prague and that we should spend 3 days with them. We didn’t think about it twice, and just bought our tickets. This impromptu trip to the Czech Republic turned out to be one of the highlights of our whole week off. After we were bombarded by museums (mostly museum lines) in Paris, we arrived in Prague wanting to just experience the city. Getting there close to the evening on Monday, I have to say that we were lucky enough to be introduced to the city in its night beauty. Surprisingly, Charlotte’s friends were also in CET, which we both took as a good sign to the days that were to come. Since they are also responsible CET students, they had to leave us alone as they had class until 9 pm. They recommended a couple of restaurants, and after walking around a bit; Charlotte and I decided to go to a Café Louvre (since we were still feeling Parisian) To say that Prague is cheap is an understatement, specially when you come out of a weekend in Paris. We ate a three-course meal and had four drinks for less than 25 euro each. Obviously we felt like millionaires. The food was amazing and the chocolate cake we had for dessert was the perfect reward we needed after running around Paris in order to make our flight.  After dinner, Charlotte’s friends, Max and Julianne, took us around the town and we decided to call it an early night so we could see as much of the city as possible the next day. We had another amazing and cheap meal for breakfast and headed straight to Old Town. The Nordic architecture that you see in Prague is nothing that we were used to seeing in Italy. The towers all looked like old castle pieces that you would imagine in fairytales. One big recommendation to anyone that goes to Old Town is that it is necessary to go up the Clock Tower. There you have an amazing panoramic view of Prague, where you can see literally the whole city.  

One of the many beautiful views from the tower

I really could not take enough pictures from this view. After we spent a significant time in Old Town, we met up for lunch with Max in the Beer Museum of Prague where we tried the true specialty that the Czechs have for beer. The five small samplers, with a side of chicken bites to nibble on gave us the energy to keep exploring the city. We walked towards the Charles’ Bridge and found ourselves once again with a stunning view of the river as the sun was starting to go down.

The river and the Prague castle in the background

We walked through the bridge at the most amazing time of the day, as the sun was setting on one side and tourist were starting to disperse. We decided to take in the moment and listen to a street band while we just looked around at the view and the bridge vendors. I think at that point we were completely sold on this city. We walked through the bridge and towards the John Lennon Wall, which is a wall full of graffiti and many John Lennon images. It’s a beautiful sight to see such a creative and modern space amongst the old city architecture.  

Just channeling her inner muse at the wall

Our day was done after the wall and even though we experienced the city greatly for just being there one day, there was so much more to be seen. We ate once again a great but also cheap dinner and very early in the morning I was headed to Spain. After we came back from the break, I kept telling Charlotte that I wished that we would have stayed longer in Prague and she definitely agreed with me. We asked people before we went to the city why they loved it and they never gave us a specific answer. Now we can say that we understand what they were saying. If anyone asks me why I love Prague, I would say that I just do. This is one of the most recommended places that I would give any college student coming abroad to Europe. (Shout out to CET kids in Prague, especially Max and Julianne, thanks for taking care of us!)

Paola Croce, UVA