Man With[in] a Country: Velikonoce v Praze

I was getting antsy in Graz, so I knew I had to go travel somewhere for Easter. Luckily, some colleagues of mine were planning a trip to Prague during Easter vacation, and asked if I wanted to join them. Since Prague is on my travel bucket-list I jumped at the opportunity! We left Graz by bus on Maundy Thursday at 9am, switched buses in Vienna, and arrived in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, at 6pm. It was my first time booking through Airbnb and we got an awesome flat at a very affordable rate. This was also the first time I took a trip without having a ticket home ;-) That also worked in our favor, as we got train tickets home for lower than any price we saw before we left!

I digress, so we arrived in Prague in time for dinner, beer, and rest (as any good traveler does) so we could attack the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, the next day was rainy, but we ate at a nice little "traditional" restaurant around the corner from our flat. It was delicious! FINALLY on Saturday we had a beautiful day to go sightseeing! We started in Náměstí Míru, near our flat and found an Easter market!

The cathedral at Náměstí Míru

The boys wanted to sample
some "Easter wine"

Elma is not amused ;-)

Then we decided to head into the old city and go up the hill to the Prague Castle, which houses parts of the Czech government, and is one of the largest castle complexes in Europe! It houses the Office and Residence of the President of the Czech Republic. There are official guards standing at the entrance, and they change every hour. They don't flinch or blink or anything! The Bohemian Crown Jewels are supposed to be here as well. At the top is a beautiful view of Prague and all of it gorgeous Gothic-ness.

View of the castle

Our cameraman was.....talented?

Closer view of the castle

The boys and their soldier

Some Czech patriotism

Changing of the Guard

The Cathedral in the Castle

Inside the Cathdral

The Castle Grounds

One of the many entrances to the castle

View from the top

Walking down into the old city

So, I am a sucker for interesting architecture and Prague is like a pornographic movie. It has some of the BEST examples of Gothic architecture in the world! I wish I would have taken more photos, but I did capture my favorite bridge in the WHOLE world, and its named after me! ;-) Karlův most was built in the 15th century. Its name in English is Charles Bridge, but anything in Prague that is named after any King Charles bears some variation of the name Karl (Karlov, Karlovo, Karlova). It is a huge tourist attraction, and looks SO cool at night!

Gothic Porn

A very crowded tourist sight!

So beautiful!

The Vltava River

Gorgeous Tower on the other side

Easter Sunday was wonderfully spent at the Prague Zoo! I haven't been to a zoo in such a long time so it was really fun, afterwards we had a nice dinner and went to a heavy-metal bar. The next day, Monday, I got to meet up with my friend Martina who used to work with me in Ocean City, MD. Then we had another relaxing night, since we had to catch out train at 8am to come home. It was such a great trip! Thanks Deni, Elma, and Emil!