Getting into Prague, I was already impressed by the architecture.
On Saturday morning I headed north through the city towards Prague Castle with some friends I made at the hostel from Northern Ireland and Canada.
The entrance gate to the Charles Bridge
A distant view of the Prague castle
A panorama of the city and the river Vitava from Charles Bridge
Charles bridge was unlike any bridge I had been on. An immense stone structure, it had countless stone statues lining both sides. Like the entire city, it was a historical and architectural overload.
Myself and a Canadian friend from the hostel on our way to Prague Castle
I was a rich man in Prague - the exchange rate was something like 26 Czech Koruna for every Euro, or about $1 for every 20 Koruna.
A view from the northwest end of the city.
There is a Miniature Eiffel Tower in Prague. It is much smaller than the real one, but because it stands on top of a hill to the west of the city it is technically 1 meter higher above sea level than the one in Paris.
The cathedral in Prague Castle. The castle didn't really remind me of what one might expect a castle to look like. It was more of a square fortress surrounding a cathedral. Granted, I didn't go inside the castle perimeter.
Inside the cathedral. I think I've seen more than enough of these for one month...
How nice, we ran into a statue of a boy with a shiny polished penis. There was another statue earlier whose foot you could touch for good luck and fertility. I assume this is the same.
Outside the Franz Kafka museum, there is a fountain with these statues. Their manly members are actually motorized; they move side-to-side, up and down. I was starting to think that I was back in Brussels.
These giant babies were sitting down near Charles Bridge. I missed it, but I guess on the TV tower in Prague these guys are actually crawling up and down the structure, which is actually pretty frightening. I'm not sure what the barcode means; I heard it has something to do with commercialism.
Lennon Wall. This is a wall actually dedicated to John Lennon. It was originally dedicated in the late 60s. It resembled Czech resistance against the Soviets because every time the Soviets would repaint the wall, people would come back to draw on it again. This continued even when guards were put up. Still today people are allowed to draw whatever they want on it - and they still do.
Hey look - Bucky Badger made it to Prague!
There is a tradition in Europe to put love locks onto bridges; this one is clearly saturated.
Another quirky aspect of Prague.
I found a cross embedded into the cobblestone, but I'm not sure who it was for.
Finally on Sunday the 29th of June I hopped on another day train. This time, I would arrive back in Vienna and complete my loop of central Europe, ending my month of nonstop city-to-city travel just in time for class.
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I have to say it was an incredible journey. When I left the states I wasn't sure how well it would turn out. But with great luck and a lot of excellent people everything went really well. In the course of 27 days, I visited (meaning toured for at least 3-4 hours) 17 towns and cities in five countries, and actually stayed in 12 of them. I suppose I moved a little faster than I had planned on, but it felt fine to me. With wonderful hosts I got to get a feel for different cultures as little less of a tourist. Special thanks to Wolfgang & Heidi, the Segers, Herman, and Silvia for taking me in for altogether 10 nights!
You may be quick to point out that I am not done traveling, which is most definitely true. But after Prague it was time to switch gears and focus for class. Think of the summer lab course I am taking in Vienna as a boot camp for chemical engineers. It is nice being in Vienna and actually staying in one spot for five weeks. Packing up every couple days to go on to a new city and maybe even a new culture was exhilarating, and I hope to do it again some time!
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