PRAHA!

Greetings from Eastern Europe and “The City of a Thousand Spires” – Prague. We left Heidelberg Saturday morning aboard three of the oldest trains in the Deutsche Bahn collection and returned (exhaustedly) on Friday around 2:00am.

Our trip was simply stunning with nearly perfect weather (hardly a cloud in the sky) and a wonderful hostel that resembled more of a Bed and Breakfast than a nomral hostel. There were only four bedrooms in all, which were managed by an old, semi-crazy Czech woman whose English vocabulary consisted mainly of “Tea or Coffee?,” “When you shower, close door,” and “Have a little bit of cake.” We loved her.

There are too many wonderful sites to detail, but we’ll do our best to cover the highlights. One of our favorite, and perhaps most glamorous, sites was the Prague Castle - parts of which dates back to the 9^th Century. The Basilica of St. Vitus, a 325-foot towering cathedral, stands in the middle of the castle with astounding glory. It took almost 600 years to build and was only completed in 1929…just before the start of WWII. Luckily, St. Vitus (unlike most of Prague), was spared during the war.

The castle was only one of a number of our favorite attractions, however. If you could identify Prague by one thing, it would be the cathedrals. It seemed as though every street corner held another enormous cathedral, each different, but just as impressive as the one before. Many of the gigantic cathedrals were inspired by the Baroque era, with copious amounts of gold and awe-inspiring frescoes adorning their interiors, while others were Gothic-inspired structures with towering stained-glass windows along stone walls and adornments that seemed to be painted on because they were so immaculate. Equally impressive in structure were the synagogues found in the Jewish quarter, including the Old-New Synagogue, which is the oldest synagogue in Europe.

Let us not forget, however….the beloved Czech BEER! Though many may consider Germany as “beer country,” the Czech Republic is the true home to many of the most famous beers in the world. The first pils (think Pilsner Urquell) was brewed in Plzeň, Czech Republic in 1842; and accordingly, the Czech Republic has the highest per capita beer consumption in the world, with the average person consuming 157 liters per year (we did our best to contribute to this).

This is getting ridiculously long, so at this point in our tale, we invite a few (or more) pictures to help tell our story:

Upon our arrival in Dresden (one of two stops on the way to Prague), we were surprised with the "29th Annual International Dixieland Festival" across the street from the train station. We're not sure what this meant...but we were happy to partake in the hot bratwurst, beer, and live jazz music for an hour or so.

Our "cozy" train (for lack of a better word) moved at a slow crawl at points...

On the upside, we got a private cabin to ourselves, complete with a pint-sized table, rattling door, and small window that provided little relief from the non-airconditioned cabin.

Our hostel however, was adorable and nicely located in a local, non-touristy neighborhood about 20-30 minutes from the old city by foot.

The classic view of Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge.

Old Town Bridge Tower separating the Charles Bridge and the castle district.

Remember the "City of a Thousand Spires?" Yea, now you know why...

St. Vitus Cathedral inside the castle walls...

Beautiful Gothic architecture.

"The Dancing Building" a.k.a. "Fred and Ginger" (named for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). This is one of Prague's many attempts to incorporate some modern architecture into the old city districts, but it's still highly debated...

Old Town Square

Inside one of the beautiful cathedrals on the square

The Astronomical clock in Old Town Square. At the top of every hour, statues of the Twelve Apostles come out of the top of the clock (from behind a closed door) and nod their heads. We waited to see this along with about 300 other people, but...(warning, spoiler) in the end it was a bit of a letdown.

"The Devil's Ring," one of several AWESOME dishes at Na Rychtě, a restaurant across the street from the hostel. It's a potato pancake (that we're dying to recreate), topped with pork, bell peppers, onion, lettuce, and the most delicious sauce in the world.

The very modern side of Prague (an edgy, five-storied mall full of designer shops)...

...and the side that reminds you why the Czech Republic is still considered a second-world country. Years of Soviet neglect have left many parts of town in great disrepair.

This was perhaps our favorite, and most unexpected, site in Prague. Please join us for story time: Below an unassuming church, nestled on a side street just outside of the touristy district, we discovered the final resting place of several Czechoslovak resistance parachutists who were responsible for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a Nazi SS leader and the proposed successor of Adolf Hitler during WWII. After the fall of Czechoslovakia at the start of the war, the exiled Czechoslovak government planned an assassination of Heydrich, who was stationed in Prague and responsible for some of the most atrocious crimes during the war - gaining him the nickname the "Hangman of Prague." Thus, on 27 May 1942, several parachutists were dropped outside of Prague who successfully assassinated Heydrich during his drive home. The aftermath of this assassination however, cost the parachutists their lives. Following the event, they took refuge in this crypt and stayed successfully out of sight for a number of days. Unfortunately, after one of their own betrayed them, their hiding place was revealed and a number of SS police surrounded the church, fought their way through the sanctuary, and then attempted to flood the parachutists out of the crypt. In the end, after hours of fighting, the parachutists all committed suicide before the SS reached them.

Though the church sanctuary since has been renovated, hardly anything in the crypt has changed. You can still see where the parachutists attempted to tunnel through the wall into the sewer system and where the SS police eventually entered and found them through the roof. It is now a chilling place and a solemn memorial...

Back in Heidelberg, we spent one of our lasts nights on a date in Vetter, a local brewery and one of my favorite restaurants.

Beer after dinner at Vater Rhein...my favorite bar in Heidelberg.

And at last, our last entry: a video taken by Ryan of the Old Town Square in Prague.

And with that we will (finally!) end our tale. Ryan leaves tomorrow morning, but Lizzie will update again after returning from Berlin next week.

Love you all,

Ryan and Lizzie