Before the Worst

On the weekend of April 9^th and 10^th, nine of us took a train from Berlin (at 5am for four hours) to Prague to have one final awesome weekend before the hell week of our final project.

Prague couldn’t have been any better. The weather, the food, the sites, the people—the city was just perfect. The hostel I booked (Hostel Tyn) was in the best location. After we dropped off all of our stuff, we turned a corner and found the old town square where there was an Easter festival that had just started that day. The square was filled with food and souvenir stands. Our eyes bulged at the sight of shishkabobs and kielbasa. We filled ourselves with barbecued food and trdelnik and ice cream. Food in Prague was super cheap compared to other touristy cities, and it was so good. We spent a while in the square just indulging in food and walking around to see the astronomical clock.

We didn’t have any plans for the weekend, so we wandered around and eventually hit the river and crossed the Charles Bridge (Prague’s most famous bridge). The bridge is only accessible to pedestrians, and it’s lined with several craft and souvenir vendors.

Once we crossed the bridge, we headed for Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle). We entered the cathedral part of the castle (not sure if they're actually the same thing...?) and only went so far before they made people pay. The inside is beautiful--everything we've learned about in lectures, from the rose window to the rib vaults.

After the cathedral, the group split into two. Four of the boys went off and rented a boat, and five of us hung around the castle area. Jeri, Sarah, and Kemal wanted to check out the castle's garden, so Erblin and I waited for them at the top exit. I sunbathed on a wall and took a nap (talk about relaxing!) as we waited. We ended up just sitting and and talking and taking it all in.

As we made our way back across the bridge, we made several little pit stops to get snacks (like soft-served ice cream) and buy souvenirs. We were supposed to meet up with the other guys at 7pm back at the hostel, but as luck would have it, we spotted them by the river drinking beers at a restaurant/cafe, so we all went down and got some drinks and enjoyed the sunset. 

We stopped by our hostel briefly to freshen up and drop off some stuff before searching for dinner. We only made it as far as the old town square before we entered Dezerty (a restaurant attached to the Hotel U Prince). Prices were cheap and the food was decent enough. The desserts, however, were fantastic. They looked amazing and tasted amazing. By the time we finished dinner, we were exhausted (Erblin and me especially since we pulled an all-nighter before our train ride).

The next day, we were out the door around 10am and ended up at the old town square again, eating from the vendors. A few people got crepes and shishkabobs, but I decided to try some potato pancakes. I can't emphasize enough how good their food is.

Two of the boys broke off from the group in search for a brewery (which they didn't make it to because of time constraints), so the rest of us crossed the bridge again in search of a tunnel (designed by Josef Pleskot) that we missed yesterday. We got side-tracked a few times along the way and ended up in some sort of garden.

Eventually we found the tunnel after going around in circles, and we somehow spent about in hour in there just admiring the brickwork and photographing everything. All of us were jumping off the walls, playing around in the little nook on the side. At one point, Kemal held me up so I could "write" on the ceiling with a piece of rock. Architects are silly; we find fun in the most random things.

We lounged around for most of the afternoon. We sunbathed on walls and on grass and didn't rush around. As our day was coming to an end, I rushed over to see Frank Gehry's Fred and Ginger building (I had to do something architectural. I wanted to see Adolf Loos' Mueller House, but no one else was interested). Unfortunately, it wasn't open, so I could only see it from the exterior. I enjoyed it much more than most of his other buildings though.

Finally, it was time to leave. John, Jeff, and I stopped by the square again for one last kielbasa before going to the hostel to pick up our stuff. All of us rushed to the train station (we were split into three groups at this point) and with our luck, we all found each other. We enjoyed our 5 hour train ride before arriving back in Berlin and pulling another all-nighter to catch up on our work.