The Quick Trip to Prague

Original Post Date: July 06, 2019

Original Post Location: VED MØNTEN, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

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This week felt kind of weird because I had my last class for Session 2 on Monday, then three days of a break, and my first day of class for Session 3 on Friday.

Prague had never really been on my list of places to visit, but now that I have been there I would not mind going back. It was a beautiful city and I feel like we barely scratched the surface of things to do. Also, the cost of living is a lot cheaper in Prague than in Copenhagen, which made it an easy place to visit. The conversion between currencies is always hard when going between countries, but this on top of everything being a lot cheaper in Prague really threw me off. For example, 100 CZK (Czech Krone) is approximately $4.50 and at multiple places I could buy a full meal for 90 CZK.

7.01.19

This was the last day of classes for Session 2, and to finish out this class on Nordic Culinary Culture, we were going to be cooking a traditional Danish lunch at our professor’s house. We rode the S-train to the stop in Jonatan’s (our professor) neighborhood where he was meeting us to give us a ride in his car to his house. He only had enough spots for six of us, so Hannah and I volunteered to ride our bikes the 2.5 miles to his house. Normally riding my bike this far would not be a problem, except the wind was so strong we could feel it pushing us backwards. Once we finally arrived at his house, Jonatan introduced us to the various types of food that we would be cooking and split us into groups to work on each task. The food we were cooking was Campfire Bread and Hotdogs, Smørrebrod with potatoes, and Waffles with Rhubarb for dessert. We made each of these from scratch and even picked some of the ingredients from Jonatan’s family garden. We baked the bread on sticks over a fire, cooked three types of hotdogs on the grill, made homemade mayo, peeled and cooked potatoes, picked the rhubarb and herbs from the garden, cooked the waffles and made whip cream. I also walked around and took photos of everyone completing the various tasks for my photography assignments. When all the food had been prepared, we sat down and ate as we reminisced on the past three weeks. After we had eaten as much as we could we cleaned up the table and kitchen then Hannah and I made the trip back to the train station where we met the rest of the group to head back to the city center. By the time we arrived back in town it was pouring rain and Hannah and I still had to ride back to our apartments and when I got back I was completely soaked! We had spent most of the day at my professors so by the time I got back to my apartment it was after 3 PM already. I then spent the rest of the afternoon working on my photo submission and writing my weekly post. It continued to rain off and on the rest of the day. For dinner I ate at Raechel’s apartment to chat and afterwards I met up with Hannah to say goodbye before I leave for Prague and she leaves to travel with her family.

7.02.19

This was the first day of the short break between the classes for Session 2 and Session 3 and Natalie, Raechel, and I flew to Prague. We left out apartment at 7 AM to make our way to the airport. We arrived with plenty of time to go through security and buy a pastry for breakfast. The flight was packed, and thankfully I was on the aisle seat. It was a very quick one-hour flight. When we landed, we could already tell it was warmer than it was back in Copenhagen. While exiting the airport, we purchased our three-day Metro Cards and then made our way to the city center to fill the time until we could check-in to our Airbnb. While walking around we found a café called Sun.Day where we ate lunch and hung out for over two hours. This was an outdoor café located in the center of a group of buildings, with string lights, a cool breeze, and relaxing music. Later, once we had gotten checked-in to our Airbnb, we took a quick nap to catch up on some sleep because none of us slept well the night before. After napping we got ready to go to dinner with some of Natalie’s friends. We all went to an Irish Pub together where we chatted and watched the women’s soccer semi-finals.

7.03.19

It was the first full day that we had in Prague. After we got ready and ate breakfast, we headed out to explore. We started by walking along the main street and looking through the shops. We found a cute little street market with lots of souvenirs and fresh produce. While walking along the market we found a cute little café to eat lunch in. I was very pleased with the design of the restaurant and all the furnishings. I ate pancakes topped with some amazing fruit for lunch. After we had finished eating, people watching, studying architecture, and relaxing we went back out to explore some more. We walked past the astronomical clock and watched it strike the hour. Then we continued walking through the beautiful streets of Prague to cross the river towards the Castle. On our way to the castle we had to climb way more stairs than we were prepared for, but the views were so worth it. Once at the top we got to walk around the amazing castle and explore the other incredible buildings. We then made our decent back down the hill, almost falling a couple of times because the stones were very slick. When we made it down, we rode the metro back downtown. We then went into a few shops to see how the prices compared to ones in Copenhagen. After discussing what we wanted to do in the evening, we all felt pretty tired, so we decided to go to the movies. I chose to go see Spiderman: Far From Home, which actually had some of the scenes shot in Prague in places that I had been earlier that day! Natalie and Raechel went to a different movie, so while I was waiting for theirs to get over, I found a cool burger joint down the street where I got a bite to eat.

7.04.19

As to be expected, the 4th of July outside of America is not much of a party. The most American thing I did was eat at McDonalds. This was also our last full day in Prague and Raechel wanted to get a tattoo. She found a cool tattoo parlor down the street and we went right away because they only had a little bit of time left before they would be booked the rest of the day. Raechel worked with one of the tattoo artists named Aline to create the one that she had been picturing. Then, within 15 minutes she had the tattoo and Natalie had decided that she wanted one too. So we went through the simple process again and a little while later Natalie had her first tattoo. (In case you are wondering, no, I did not get a tattoo!) After they got their tattoos, we started walking towards the Charles Bridge and on our way stopped for gelato. Once we enjoyed our frozen snack, we headed to a cool garden to sit in the shade and relax for a bit. This was a beautifully manicured garden where there happened to be a concert which created a very relaxing atmosphere. Afterwards we went back to the downtown area and walked through a couple old camera shops. We then ate dinner at Parky Hotdogs and Burgers. After this we walked back to the Airbnb and went in and out of a couple more stores on the way. We hung out at the Airbnb for a bit while we waited for the sun to get closer to setting, and then we walked to Sunset Park to watch the sun go down. This park had an amazing view of Prague where we could easily watch the sunset. We were there for at least an hour just hanging out and people watching. On our way back to the Airbnb we stopped at McDonalds for a late-night snack and then went back to pack and get ready to leave at 4 AM the next day.

7.05.19

Our day started bright and early with a 6 AM flight back to Copenhagen. In order to get to the airport easier, we chose to Uber instead of trying to figure out our way there on the Metro at 4 AM. It was supposed to be a 40-minute ride to the airport with an Uber, but we arrived in 20 minutes. A couple of stats from our ride include; top speed: 139 kph, top speed around a corner: 92 kph, stoplights ran: 2, cars weaved between: 5, number of words driver said to us: 6. All this made for quite the interesting ride, but we sure got there in time. Security and everything went simple enough for 4:30 AM and we then sat and waited for the plane. Our plane ticket back to Copenhagen cost a whopping $25, so we weren’t expecting much class. When it was time to board, we were shuttled from the terminal gate out to the runway where we boarded the plane. I ended up being in the very last row and in the middle seat. Thankfully it was a quick flight and we were shortly back in Copenhagen. Again, we were not at a gate, so we exited the plane on to the ground and made our way into the terminal which is the farthest from the main entrance of the airport. We made the long journey back to the front and boarded the metro to ride it to our neighborhood. When we got back home, I had a couple of hours before class so I took a short nap, and then ate lunch. I then headed off for my first day of class for Session 3. This session I am taking “The Philosophy of Happiness.” In class we talked a lot about hygge (hooga) and what that means to the Danish people. After class I picked up the required books from the library, grabbed a pastry, and headed home. Later in the day I went down to the community room to help make group dinner and catch up with my friends and hear about where they went over the break.

7.06.19

It was a cold and rainy day, so I decided to stay in and work on some house keeping things. I also started working on my smashbook. I was starting to have a lot of tickets collected and I wanted to put them all together thus far before I started to run out of time. I also went grocery shopping, which is always an adventure when you can’t read the majority of the labels, and you also don’t have service in the store to google translate them. After I cooked dinner, I went over to a neighbors to hang out and chat with everyone some more. We all then decided to go on a walk to the canal to watch the sunset. Although we got there too early to actually see it set, and the wind was starting to slowly freeze us all, so we headed back to the apartment.

7.07.19

I started my Sunday with a brisk bike ride to church. Thanks to the Danish Summer I had to wear my coat today. After church I stopped by a cool flea market to look around and buy some gifts for people back home. Once back at my apartment I began working on my homework for class, which ended up being a struggle because half of the words in the reading are in Latin. Later in the evening, when Natalie got back from class, we went to the in-ground trampolines next to the canal with Raechel and Hazel to jump around and take some funny photos while also enjoying the cool air. We then took the long way home and shared more stories about our trip to Prague and how our classes are going so far.

Weekly Overview – Prague, Czech Republic:

1. Places Visited

• Sun.Day Café

• Beckett's Irish Pub

• Venue Café

• Astronomical Clock

• Prague Castle

• Charles Bridge

• Valdstejnska Zahrada Garden

• Sunset Park

2. Favorite Moment

Sitting in the Sun.Day café enjoying good food and good conversation with friends.

3. The Best Food I Ate

Loaded Fries from Beckett's Irish Pub.

4. A Helpful Tip

Before walking across the Charles Bridge, walk along one of the bridges beside it, this way you can actually see what it looks like.

5. The Best View

This is a tie between the view overlooking Prague from the top of the steps leading up to the castle, or the view from Sunset Park.