Praha, Prague, Praga, Prag

Hello everyone!! Again, I am sorry for the break in posts- the past few weeks have been really busy. It’s crazy to think that it is soon time for me to return to the States- just next week! But, in the meantime, I will continue discussing my April trip.

An overnight train delivered Grace, Megan, and me from Amsterdam to Prague in a miserable, hot, uncomfortable 14-hour trip. I won’t go into my complaints about this overnight train, but in short, it was miserable. However, I do think it’s quite amusing that I have spent probably around 24 hours of my life in Germany (either in an airport or on a train), and have actually never truly seen any part of it! We did see the dome of Cologne lit up that night from the train window, so that kind of counts, right?

Upon our arrival in Prague, I had some moments of panic as we had slept through what was supposed to be our stop at the Prague-Holsevice station. Thankfully the next stop was the central Prague station, which is located in a much more ideal place than the Holsevice station.

It took us about fifteen minutes to walk to our hostel, a little hostel whose floors are split up by an embassy that sits just off a main road of Prague. It’s called “The Art Hole” and was actually a really great place; breakfast was offered every morning, the people who worked there were the nicest people ever, and it was beautifully decorated with several murals and quotes on the walls.

Part of the art in our room

Before I divulge the details of Prague, some insight behind my desire to see Prague: my high school history teacher, Mr. Kimbrell, always talked about the Czech Republic and Prague during the classes he taught. His mother was Czech and so he had visited the country several times and always talked about how gorgeous the country is and how nice the people are. All of his praise of this very humble country inspired me to venture into Eastern Europe, and so us three girls decided to explore Prague!

Prague surprised me. I had imagined a place probably more Western European, based on some photographs in my AP European History book. However, this city, in my opinion, represents a good mix of Western Europe and Eastern Europe. It was extremely welcoming, gorgeous, and well kept. The colors of the buildings range from typical tans and whites to mint greens, pale blues, and yellows. Among these buildings, however, were also darker stoned buildings and architectural hints of Eastern Europe. We also found wider streets and more open plazas in Prague than in Amsterdam.

Our first day was spent figuring out exactly the layout of Prague and also relaxing, as our overnight train really drained us! We did, however, get to see an art exhibition of Mucha’s works. Who is Mucha you may ask? He was the main artist for the Art Nouveau movement, which mostly took place in Paris (those famous Metropolitan/Metro signs!). I have always liked Art Nouveau and have really appreciated a lot of the posters from this movement, but I had no idea that the majority of the famous ones were made by Mucha or that Mucha was Czech! It was an absolutely delightful surprise and the entire exhibit was gorgeous.

One of Mucha's well known works

The first full day in Prague, however, we did not fail in our tourist role. We started by exploring the Old Central Square, which featured two churches, a belfry, several restaurants, several musicians, and a statue. The architecture kind of all clashed with each other as one of the churches is from the Baroque period, which sits directly across from the gothic church, and between the two is the Astronomical Clock, built in 1410. There were groups of street musicians scattered along the square and, actually, practically on every street there are street musicians. This was probably my favorite part of Prague.

The Old Main Square- aerial view!

One of many street musicians

The statue, with epic font on the bottom left corner

Part of the gothic church

The Baroque church

We decided to climb the old belfry/Astronomical Clock to see the bird’s eye view of Prague. It was truly the most gorgeous thing; the rooftops create a sea of orange and are scattered with gardens and cafés. The river with Charles Bridge is visible, as well as the Old City with the Prague Castle and Cathedral sitting on top of the hill. It was truly a really cool experience.

Sea of orange

The Cathedral on top of the hill!

The Astronomical Clock on the belfry

After the Old Square we ventured toward Charles Bridge through the winding Prague streets. Coming up to the bridge, one can see the river and a statue of Charles IV overlooks the water. The bridge itself is very wide and sprinkled with artists drawing caricatures, merchants selling mostly jewelry, religious statues, and, of course, more musicians. We saw a traditional Czech band playing alongside a jazz band, which truly was a clash of two eras.

Us girls on the bridge!

The traditional Czech band

The cathedral from the bridge

The bridge takes one directly into the Old City; the effect is kind of like a curtain being drawn to expose a different world. It probably helped that while we were in the Old Square it was a sunny, brilliant day and then once we made it to Charles Bridge it became very cloudy, but this part of the city felt like a different city completely. It all sits on a very steep hill and so one is constantly climbing, the buildings were darker and taller but narrower, and everything had a very old-world feel to it.

Entree into the Old City

Some more cramped buildings

Part of the hill!

We decided to go to the very top of the hill to see the Prague Castle and Cathedral. Despite the sun it was still a very, very warm day and so this definitely proved to be an athletic test for us. However, we made it to the top and were rewarded with another great view of the city and a really gorgeous cathedral. We have become very accustomed to seeing cathedrals, as they are kind of a dime a dozen in Europe, so we weren’t really expecting to be wowed by this seemingly standard one. However, it was definitely worth the exploration as the stained glass windows were pink and purple, a huge difference than the typical primary-colored stained glass windows in France.

Entrance of Prague Castle

The cathedral

Our descent from the cathedral and castle offered us more views of the city, as well as a walk around the castle’s garden. A wall surrounds this part, with all sorts of medieval fortifications, such as little slots for archers to shoot through. We had a good laugh with Grace, who is too short to be able to peer over this wall. (Don’t worry, she was in on it too!)

View of Prague from the hill

Poor Grace!

Hunger and fatigue overtook us at this point, and we decided to have dinner at this pizzeria near the Old Square. It was pretty delicious and Megan and I both had a Czech beer, which was very delicious. At the end of our meal, our check came and we all had a few seconds of panic, as the total was 900 koruna. The Czech Republic isn’t part of the euro currency; instead, they use koruna, or “crowns.” 1000 koruna is equal to about 40 euro, and so after a quick conversion input in my phone, we realized our meal was only about 30 euro! We joked that we were rich in Prague, even though we would have paid the same at a restaurant in France.

The evening consisted of us finding the theatre and spending more time in the Old Square. We like to people watch and enjoy the different buildings in different lights, so it was a very pretty and enjoyable evening.

The theatre

The cathedral at sunset

The Old Main Square at sunset

We took it very easy during our last day in Prague. My and Grace’s train left at 6:30 and Megan had to be at the airport by 6, so we decided to relax as much as possible before another night’s worth of travel. The main goal of the day was to find this gelato place we went to on our first day in Prague, which was the best gelato I have ever had. We succeeded and enjoyed our ice cream next to a fountain in one of many little squares hidden throughout the city. We spent some time at the Old Square and left the hostel for the train station around 5 p.m.

Our fountain

I truly enjoyed my time in Prague. It was an extremely different view of Europe than I had seen before, and it was really fascinating to hear a language not based in the Romantic or Germanic language roots. Prague is completely enchanting and, for me, its beautiful place outside of my European comfort zone has kept it in the forefront of my thoughts.

Some Czech!

Hi everyone!

Hello everyone!

I'd just like to apologize about the delay in blogs. Two of Grace's and my closest friends came to visit last Thursday and just left yesterday morning, and it's our last week of finals! So, I have been adequately busy and will resume writing posts this weekend sometime!!

Bisoux

Delft and The Hague!

As promised, now I will talk about our trip to Delft and The Hague, which we sandwiched between our two days in Amsterdam!

The three of us girls had easily agreed on seeing these two extra towns in The Netherlands, but I have always had a desire to travel to them due to my love of Vermeer and his paintings. He was born, grew up, worked, and died in Delft and so to I was psyched to have the opportunity to see this town that undoubtedly influenced his work. Also, it is the setting of the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier that is one of my favorites (and now I can put actual images to the scenes in the book!). As I previously mentioned in my last entry, I was really looking forward to seeing Girl with a Pearl Earring in person at The Hague, but as it is touring the States right now that won’t be possible. That was truly my motivation to visit this city, but we also decided we wanted to explore The Hague anyways, since we were so close to it. Delft is also known for its pottery- “Delft blue” is a known color and the city’s history is completely embedded in its production of this pottery.

We arrived in Delft a little after noon (it was about an hour and a half away from Amersfoort) and we set off immediately to explore it. We thought we were in the right area (pretty street, pretty church, pretty canal), but we ended up getting a little lost and had to ask for directions to the main square. Once we found it, however, it was breathtaking.

Shops surround the main square in Delft that is also bookended by a huge, gorgeous church and the Delft City Hall. People were enjoying the gorgeous weather on the square, there was a live band playing at one restaurant, all of the restaurants provide outdoor seating, and there was just a general festive atmosphere to the entire area.

The main square

Walking around Delft, one will find several beautiful canals and streets. According to Vermeer history lore, they either destroyed Vermeer’s house before he was famous or they forgot which one was his. We didn’t realize this at the time, so I spent a bit of time searching for “Vermeer’s House.” What is referred to as “Vermeer’s House” in Delft is actually a museum about his life, works, creative process, etc. It seemed really interesting, but we were also playing the poor-college-kids-traveling role and therefore decided to skip this museum and just absorb the city of Delft itself.

We ended up having a late lunch/early dinner at one of these outdoor seating restaurants and enjoyed the perfect weather and scenery. I also wanted to enjoy a Dutch beer but had accidentally ordered a Radler, which is not Dutch (by origin- it was the Amstel brand) and apparently is a “woman’s beer” according to our waitress. (She actually was a good waitress, that was just her English description when I asked about the types of beer they served.)

After our lunch we decided to continue our journey to The Hague before it got too late or before we became too tired. Upon arriving at The Hague, it has a very different feel to it than Amsterdam or Delft. With skyscrapers, it comes off as a very modern city, which makes sense, as it is the center of their government.

The Hague

Megan wanted to see The Peace Palace, and so we found it after about 15 minutes of walking (spoiler alert: there is a lot of walking in this entire trip). As it was a Sunday evening, the Peace Palace’s gates were closed, but we were still able to see it through the bars and enjoy the general peaceful atmosphere. It was actually really, really gorgeous.

The Peace Palace

Pretty gates

World Peace Flame

We then took a different route to return to the train station and ended up going by way of the Parliament building. This was another gorgeous piece of architecture and I was really pleased that we were able to walk through its courtyard.

Parliament

Before reaching the train station, we stopped for really delicious smoothies to refresh from our long, warm day of walking. Then, we returned to Amersfoort and rested up before our last day in Amsterdam and our overnight train to Prague- which will be the next entry!

Just a typical "parking garage" for bikes! SO COOL

Every Lane Is a Bike Lane! or, Amsterdam

For those of you who don’t know, my school in France has a two-week holiday in April from classes, which we are in the middle of right now. We had decided to travel during this break, and so I spent the first ten days of my two-week break going to The Netherlands, Prague, and Cannes, France. I didn’t realize it while planning this trip, but it turned out to be a pretty comprehensive tour of Europe: we discovered Northern Europe in The Netherlands, Eastern Europe in Prague, and the Mediterranean in Cannes! Overall, this trip was absolutely exhausting but amazing at the same time. I love having the chance to experience new cultures, and this trip did not fail me in this endeavor.

As ten days, three countries, and five cities would be crazy to cover in one blog entry, at least detailed enough to actually be enjoyable, I will be splitting the next few entries up. The first, this one, will focus on Amsterdam, then Delft and The Hague, Prague, and finally Cannes. So, without further ado, I will dive into discussing Amsterdam!

Grace and I left Arras Friday the 12^th around 1 p.m. to take a train to Lille, where our bus left for Amsterdam. The bus ride was comfortable enough, but we hit traffic and so didn’t arrive in Amsterdam until an hour after we expected to. This, in addition to having no idea where we were going, caused Grace and I to be about an hour and a half from meeting our friend Megan in Amsterdam Zuid. Once we shared our squeals and hugs from seeing each other for the first time since December, us three girls had to get a train to Amersfoort, where we were staying with my high school French teacher’s daughter, Tiffany.

Amersfoort is about a half hour train ride from Amsterdam, and Tiffany graciously allowed us to stay with her and her family for the three nights we were in The Netherlands. They were the best hosts and we had a really great time! She has a one and a half year old baby, and so we also had a lot of fun playing with her!

Just a quick side note- we didn’t see much of Amersfoort, our focus being Amsterdam, Delft, and The Hague, but it seemed like a very nice town!

A typical canal in Amsterdam

Anyways, our first full day in The Netherlands was spent in Amsterdam! I absolutely adored Amsterdam, which kind of took me by surprise. I was expecting to enjoy it, but I didn’t realize how much I would really come to love the buildings, the Dutch language, the people, and the overall atmosphere. Disclaimer: everything that we amused ourselves with in Amsterdam was 100% legal in the United States of America.

Our morning started by us basically walking around and getting a little lost. We did end up walking through the Red Light District when we first got there, mostly by accident, but it was definitely an interesting walk. It’s always jarring to see prostitutes standing in windows of a building next to a cathedral, but I guess that that is the way of parts of the world.

By getting a little lost, however, we did end up near a flower market, which we then decided to explore. Stretching along a canal, this flower market offered blooming flowers in pots alongside bulbs of hundreds of types of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. It was all absolutely gorgeous.

First stall of the market

We then stumbled upon Rembrandtsplein, a public square featuring a statue rendering of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, including a statue of Rembrandt overlooking his famous painting. There was also a special treat: Rembrandt himself! Ha… just kidding, although that would have been amazing. It was actually a person dressed up as the legendary painter, acting as a living statue. With children running between the subjects of the painting and around the stone square and families, couples, and individuals enjoying the fresh, spring air, it was one of my favorite places in Amsterdam. Later that evening it also served as a place to eat our delicious Belgian fries – double points!

Rembrandtsplein, with Rembrandt overlooking his Night Watch

AH! Rembrandt!!!

After Rembrandtsplein, we decided to go to the Rijksmuseum, which had been closed for 10 years. However, as Tiffany and her husband informed us that morning, Saturday the 13^th was the opening day of the museum, and visitors were allowed to enter for free. We arrived around 1 p.m. and the museum was not yet open, so we continued our ventures through the city. 

Returning 5 or so in the evening, we were then able to explore the museum! The Rijksmuseum features Rembrandt’s Night Watch, The Jewish Bride (which was featured in a 20-page paper I wrote sophomore year in my Rembrandt class), and The Sampling Officials. After studying this artist, it was truly amazing to be able to see some of his works, even if just for a few moments. We were also lucky enough to get to see a few of van Gogh’s paintings as well, especially one of his self-portraits (another fun fact about me: freshman year I wrote a 20-page paper on van Gogh titled “Van Going, Going, Gone” – it explored his mental health decline through his paintings). The Rijksmuseum also features some of Vermeer’s works, notably The Kitchen Maid. Vermeer is one of my favorite painters and his Girl with a Pearl Earring is my favorite painting. I was planning on seeing this painting in The Hague, which we were visiting Sunday, but irony of all ironies, it is currently touring the States while I am in Europe. However, the surprise, free opening of the Rijksmuseum definitely made up for this slight disappointment!

The Night Watch

The Sampling Officials

The Jewish Bride

Vermeer in person!

The Kitchen Maid, not in person

Girl with a Pearl Earring, I had to throw my favorite in here

Good ol' Vincent

Napoleon; I just had to find some way to represent France in this entry!

The Rijksmuseum was truly the highlight of the day, besides just physically being in Amsterdam. There were a few other places we enjoyed, such as the great green behind the Rijksmuseum and close to the Van Gogh Museum; we had a fun photo shoot and enjoyed the sunny day! In addition to the sights, we were treated to a traditional Dutch delicacy of sorts: the Dutch pancake. To use Tiffany’s description: if a French crêpe and an American pancake had a child, it would be a Dutch pancake. I nommed on a banana pancake, which was about a foot in diameter and truly was the lovechild of a crêpe and American pancake. In other words: DELICIOUS.

You can see the Rijksmuseum in the background, but this "I amsterdam" statue was just so cool

The pretty green between the museums

Part of our photo shoot, and again the Rijksmuseum in the background

After our day in Delft and The Hague, we ventured back to Amsterdam on Monday the 15^th to have a few hours in the city before our overnight train to Prague. As Grace wanted to stay in the train station, Megan and I ventured on our own for about an hour and a half.

Again, we pretty much wandered around in a circle, taking pictures and enjoying the sights. Our one goal was to see the Royal Palace (they have a QUEEN!), which we found rather easily as it sits on a very popular and crowded square. Here we saw many street performers, including a man making giant bubbles, and tons of pigeons. The atmosphere in the entire city that night was festive, despite it being a Monday evening.

We were also lucky enough to find a shop that made fresh stroopwafels. “What are stroopwafels?” You may ask, and I am here to spread the word. Stroopwafels are a type of cookie with a syrupy/brown sugar filling squished between two circular, thin waffle cookies. Again, DELICIOUS. The Dutch know what’s up with their food, I swear. So we indulged and inhaled these delicious, fresh, warm cookies while walking around and taking pictures, generally being tourists.

Awesome street performers

Dam Square

The Royal Palace

The royal stroopwafel

I actually hugely embarrassed myself in this tourist respect outside an apartment building, where I was in the middle of taking a picture of the decorative gate when one of the inhabitants rolled up on his bike. Tourists. Sigh. And speaking of embarrassing moments, a few minutes later I embarrassed myself yet again. “How in the world did you do that, Katie?” Some of you may be asking. Well, I was running across a street and tripped, falling “gracefully” (according to Megan) in front of several pedestrians and cars. As a result, I have a nice little scrape, still healing, on the palm of my right hand. I’m really not surprised that this one boy in middle school nicknamed me “Clumsy.”

The pretty gate that made me into the most obvious tourist

Monday night we left at 7 p.m. for Prague! But! There is still Delft and The Hague to discover in my upcoming blog entry before we arrive in Prague!

The Red Light District

What I see as the essence of The Netherlands, if we want to get philosophical/artsy