Prague Part III: On Historic Prague and “Family Dinner”

The morning, all of us were very thankful that we got to sleep in, some I think more than others, as certain members(aka, most of the program) had headed out late at night to check out the nightclub scene in Prague(more on Prague Nightclubs later). Not being in much of a mood to party, I had headed off to bed, and enjoyed a restful night sleep.

The next morning, well it was probably closer to noon when we finally headed out, was a walking tour of Prague at 4pm. First though, we had to hit up Tesco and pick up a bowl and some silverware for me, and two large cook pots for general use, as when we had made stir fry several nights before, we had discovered that the dishes we had were far too small. With these goods in hand, I headed back to the dorm, dropped them off, and headed back to the school.

After freezing my tail off for a few minutes, two Czech tour guides from ECES showed up with microphones and headsets so that we could hear what they were saying, even if they were far away from us. From the school, we grabbed a number 9 tram that took us into the oldest part of Prague, Malostranksa(probably misspelled, what it means is literally old city).

Back before Prague was Prague, it was a number of small cities clustered around the Vitiva River, which now runs for the heart of central Prague. In at about the 10th Century, a ruler of Bohemia decided that he wanted to build a castle in what is now Prague, that was Prague Castle, and it was located in what is now the old city of Prague (of course the new city of Prague is not that new, having been founded by Charles IV in the 12th Century). Prague Castle sits on a large hill (or small mountain) that overlooks the Vitiva and all of modern Prague. Though the Castle was begun in the tenth century, it wouldn't be finished until the reign of Charles IV.

The tram dropped us directly in front of the mountain on which Prague Castle sets. In order to ascend to the Castle, we had to broad what is essentially an enclosed ski-lift. As we discovered, Prague Castle is not the only thing that sits on top of the Mountain. Also up there are a very high TV antenna and…the Eiffel Tower. Seriously...remember all the quips I made about the French and the Czechs? Well apparently, the Czechs saw the Eiffel Tower, the big one in Paris, at the 1884 World’s Fair and decided that they wanted on for themselves. So, two years later, Gustav Eiffel built the Czech’s their own(smaller) Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately because we got up there at like 5 in the winter, the Tower was closed, so we couldn’t go up and see the view(but I expect that you probably couldn’t see all of Paris from there).

At this point, we were all freezing, so we headed into a small café that was between the Eiffel Tour and Prague Castle. After having a little bit to drink(Coke Light), we headed off toward the Castle, and discovered that there far fewer safety regulations in Eastern Europe then there are in the United States. As it turned, since the tour guided had been up there the day before, all of the stairs between the Castle and the Café had turned to literal sheets of ice. After trying to stay upright and dignified for about ten minutes, and slipping and sliding all the while, most people just gave up, sat down, and slid down the mountain. It was a really exhilarating experience(especially for people like Allie from South Carolina, who had so much fun sledding down the stairs, that she went back up and did it again). With are rear ends slightly wetter, the tour resumed and concluded at Prague Castle, and anxillary buildings, which are today mostly home to the Czech government and foreign Embassies(in case you need it, both the Czech Foreign Ministry and the US Embassy are right on the Mountain.) We couldn’t go into the castle, but I did manage to get some pictures of the changing of the guard up there.(no Dad, not every time they took a step:)).



After that the tour group more or less broke up. Allie, Jake, and Ian headed off to go to Tesco to buy some groceries, and Kate, Adrian, Stef and I headed back to the dorm. After waiting for about an hour, and drying a little, Jake, Allie and Ian came back and set to work. Using the large pot on our stove, and some water, Jake made some rice, and in a kitchen down the hall, belonging to Walt (another cool Texan) and Alex, also from Texas, Allie started to make Mango Curry Chicken. Once again, while Jake, Ian and Kacy busied themselves with cooking, I did my best to follow, and not be in the way. After about forty minutes dinner was ready, and the “family” gathered. In addition to the Curry Chicken prepared by Allie, Jake and Ian, Stef and Kacy pitched in to produce a bagged salad, dressing, and desert, and Adrian and Kate supplied what might charitably be described as wine(vinegar would be more accurate). In addition to this six, Diego, Ryan and Jordan, also showed up, and like me provided funding for the meal. Despite the quality of the wine, the food was really good, and surprisingly managed to feed everybody enough.

With our bellies full, and our clothes mostly dry, Adrian, Ian, Ryan and I headed back into Walt’s kitchen, while Stef and everybody else started to set up Planet Earth. After the four of us finished, we headed back into Walt’s room, and watched the Caves episode, as narrated by a British man nicked named, Mr. Nature. There are some really crazy things living under the Earth, including mounds of Cockroaches, and tons of really pretty colors. After that, the group mostly split up and head back to our various rooms, after all we had to get up at least reasonably early as we were heading to Moravia, the Southern Part of the Czech Republic in the morning…

Up Next: Moravia: On Wine, War, and Faith(couldn’t think of a third W for that one)