Czech out Prague

 
Prague took me by surprise. My backpacking group jotted it down on a piece of notebook paper directly after Vienna, Austria. It wasn't a conscious decision, really--everyone stopped in Prague, why not us, too?

Much of "free travel" is a blur of train rides, hostels, and peanut butter spoonfuls that we'd saved up all semester, but not Prague.

I have a vivid memory of stepping fresh off of the train, checking our backpacks--full of everything we had to our name--at the train station and walking into the sunshine that was the Czech.

We walked along a long expanse of shops, locals and tourists, and street vendors, and we made our first Prague food purchase of potato cakes.

We shopped in a few tourist shops, looking for things we were collecting from every county: a patch, pins, stickers, and something authentic. Prague was famous for decorative eggs and crystals. Sometimes even crystal eggs. (I didn't trust that I could make it back to America with a crystal egg).

Along our journey, we stumbled upon an outdoor market. There, we expelled our expenses on cheap leather and homemade treats, and a marshmallow consistency dessert that I can still taste in my mouth if I reminisce just hard enough.



As we left the market, we passed a pizzeria that smelled delicious and boasted of its cheap Czech prices. So we, consumers, consumed.

The food prices in Prague were so college-students-turned-backpackers friendly that we stopped in a shop for local pastries. We hadn't eaten anything substantial for days, so on this day, we made up for it.



The rest of the day took us across the famous bridge, with gothic like gargoyle statues and artists selling their original work; to the city square, with it's famous clock, and then we followed the narrow streets to the John Lennon Wall, where we left our physical mark in what became one of our most beloved cities.

 
As the sky started to turn gray, we stopped off at a castle, and then just as the rain started to pour, we found ourselves picking up hot dogs in the city square and then escaping the downpour in a creperie.

The day was beautiful--and even though we didn't have a hostel for the night, and even though we got kicked out of the train station where we attempted to sleep, and even though we got followed by creepy men, and even though we set up camp in a KFC until 4 a.m., and even though we got scammed out of money for a taxi ride to the train station in the morning
--Prague was unforgettable.