On day 3 in Prague, I set out to find a jacket. There are tons of second hand stores on the street Emma lives on, apparently they are quite popular in Prague. I visited several stores, but apparently everyone donating jackets lately are HUGE Europeans. Needless to say, while I found the most pimp, furry lined jacket, it was made for a woman about 5' 8" and 160 pounds, a category which I will most likely never fall into.
Fortunately, I don't get cold too easily. Instead a bought a pair of new boots for 250 kC. I was thinking this was about 20, which is not bad for tall, (fake) leather boots. Hen I realized this is actually 12 USD. Score. I also bought three pair of black socks, which should get me through the next month. The only problem with the boots is I cant fit them in my backpack so I have to wear them when I travel. In other words, I am now forced to look decent while travel. You cannot wear said boots with sweatpants and a sweatshirt basically.
After this, I put on my boots and headed to New Town. I was determined to find the castle so I wondered up the hill until I found about 250 steps, which always lead to something good in Europe. I climbed, in my sweet new boots, up to the top. I found myself in a square with a huge gate. There were two cute guards standing completely still outside. No offense to Praha, but if the castle was to be invaded, these guys were probably not the best to have on guard. They looked to be about twelve. I winked at one, but his stone face did not change.
I entered the gates and was soon approached by a cop. Uh oh. My first run in with the 5-0 in Europe. Did this cop want to stop me from entering? Check my bag? No, more like get my number. He started chatting me up! "Ah you are an american!" Yes, pal, now let me into the damn castle grounds! Well I got in and walked around the grounds. It was a gothic castle and church design and the place was huge. There was a beautifully decorated royal palace with a little cafe in the courtyard. I did not pay to go into the church, because I can only do so many churches and so many church towers with a ton of steps.
Later I walked around the area and down the hill back to the bridge. I did a little shopping and got some more gifts! I swear I have an even bigger buying problem in Europe than in America. I got Brett and Sami t-shirts solely because I can't wait to hear them try and pronounce them. I am also on a constant hunt for cool ornaments since most of ours got ruined in a flood at Dad and Tree's. So I bought some Czech dolls, because the gallery of Czech dolls was having a sale. Yes, I was very tempted to buy the Pooh Bear set, but I decided on a more traditional grouping of the dolls.
Next I grabbed a fried cheese sandwich (ok two, but I didn't eat the second bun, so no judgement), and headed for the Communist Museum. This had to be one of this strangest museums I have ever been in. They have a collection of statue busts, educational books, pictures, interrogation devices etc all from the communist era in Prague. In school, we never focused on communism in the smaller cow tries so it was very interesting to see a new prospective. I watched a video about the different eras of communism in the Czech Republic and the scenes from 1989 were incredible. I had just walked through the square where the main protests occurred and it's crazy to think that if enough people get together and they force the issue for long enough, change will happen. "Don't go quietly into the night..."
Anyways, later I made dinner and ate with Emma and some of her suitemates. It felt like I was back in college? Oh the good old days...
A little shout out to the fans and beloved readers... Thanks for reading! Wish I could share Europe with all of you in more ways than just pictures and this blog!
XO
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