Country #76 - Czech Republic Day 2

The Castle

Today I woke up to the quite unexpected (but very exciting) news that Doug Jones had won the special Senate election in Alabama, which was a great start to the day! We packed up our things and stored them in the Miss Sophie’s luggage lockers before heading to the restaurant for a very nice brunch. I had fruit, an omelette, and sausage, and it was all so tasty! We then made our way to the tram stop which we took towards Prague Castle. It took about twenty minutes to get to the base of the castle area, and we then had to climb the large hill to the top.

Our first stop (after figuring out how to buy tickets - I’ve never seen a museum not take credit cards) was to head inside of St. Vitus Cathedral. St. Vitus is incredible both inside and out, and we were sure to take tons of pictures. The gothic architecture is stunning and the stained glass was striking, quite literally as the sun was shining right through it. After St. Vitus we walked through the Prague Castle area that is open to visitors. It is really amazing how old the building is, with parts of it dating back to the 1500s. No pictures were allowed inside, unfortunately! We made our way to St. George's Basilica next, which is much smaller and very different from St. Vitus, but is beautiful in its own right. It is very understated but has some really unique architecture.

The last stop on our ticket was the Golden Lane area which is basically just a street filled with cute buildings and shops. We picked up a few souvenirs and gifts before heading to our last stop on Prague Castle, a classical concert performance in Lobkowicz Palace. My mom really wanted to see live classical music while we were in Prague, and this ended up being a great one-hour performance by a flute, piano, and viola. The performance was really good and it was set in a fantastic room as well!

After finishing our visit to Prague Castle we worked our way back down. We stopped by St. Nicholas Church but didn’t go in as we didn’t particularly want to pay, were running out of time, and I had been in on my previous visit to Prague. We then walked up Malá Strana (a popular street) where we each bought a small piece of glass. Before crossing the Charles Bridge we made sure to stop by the always colorful and inspiring Lennon Wall. We then crossed over the beautiful Charles Bridge, which offers arguably the best 360-degree view of Prague, before taking the tram back to Sophie’s Hotel.

We grabbed our bags, caught an Uber to the airport, and after a thirty-minute drive and moderate wait at security we bought some great Czech Republic chocolate as well as a snack to hold us over until Budapest. It was quite an annoying ordeal boarding the plane because Taylor Swift tickets went on sale literally the second we were climbing the stairs onto the plane. Luckily my dad was able to try and buy some from home, and we eventually succeeded (thanks again to my dad for the help), it was very stressful especially since I missed the presale while I was on the ferry to Russia. Anyways, it all worked out, and the flight was very short to Budapest, Hungary.

When we landed we took a taxi to our hotel, Fraser Residence Budapest. We were given a one-room suite with an incredibly huge balcony, full kitchen (even with a washing machine), and tons of space! It’s a great room and I cannot thank Fraser Residence Budapest enough for sponsoring this night of my trip! We decided to stay in, rest, and enjoy the room before we have a whirlwind last day of our trip spent exploring Budapest tomorrow!

76 countries down, 120 to go.

Read about my first day in the Czech Republic here.

To learn more about Miss Sophie’s click here.

To learn more about Fraser Residence Budapest click here.

Country #76 - Czech Republic Day 1

The Spires

Today was an early morning departure from Brussels. We took an Uber to Brussels Midi train station where we took a twenty-minute train to Brussels Airport (BRU). When we arrived the airport was super crowded which was likely due to almost half of the flights this morning being cancelled due to snow. It wasn’t a ton of snow, but apparently, it was enough. We were lucky, though, because we boarded our plane without issue and took off only a few minutes late. We watched an episode of Stranger Things on the hour and a half flight and before we knew it had landed in Prague!

We decided to take an Uber into the city because, having been to Prague before, I knew it was going to be quite the hassle to take the city bus into town on such little sleep. It’s definitely doable, but just not today. The ride took about thirty minutes and our nice driver from Bulgaria dropped us off at our hotel for this stop, Miss Sophie’s! The charming boutique hotel is located in the heart of Prague and we were greeted so warmly upon our arrival. Thank you so much to Miss Sophie’s for sponsoring this night of my trip! My stay was absolutely fantastic. Upon check-in, our room was not quite ready yet so we sat in the restaurant to plan out our day before heading out for our first stop - lunch!

We ate at a cute hamburger spot in the heart of Old Town Prague called Fat Cat Brewery. I was starving and had a super filling chilli cheeseburger, along with some nachos and fries to share. Like I said, I was starving. It was a nice break before setting out and seeing the city for the rest of the day. First up was to walk through the famed Old Town Square and see the Prague Astronomical Clock. The clock is cool (but nothing to get too excited about) and the square was especially great because the Christmas Market was going on! We had a great time walking through all of the stalls and seeing tons of mouth-watering trdelnik everywhere. We were so full, though, so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow!

After walking through the stalls and letting my mom stop and take tons of pictures of the square we went inside of St. Nicholas' Church which sits on the north-west corner of the square. It was beautiful yet very compact so it was a very quick stop. From there we then walked to get a closer view of the iconic Church of Our Lady before Týn before walking to The Powder Tower. The Powder Tower is really cool because it is one of the original city gates and you can climb up to the very top for an awesome view out over the whole city! My mom tried to get out of it at first, but she was definitely glad she did it - the views were amazing and so worth it! Also, as far as climbing towers in Europe goes, I have climbed much higher and steeper - it was not bad at all.

Our next stop was to walk to the Spanish Synagogue. I had attempted to visit on my last trip to Prague but it was randomly closed. This time it was thankfully open! It was a beautiful synagogue and definitely one of the most interesting spots in town, especially when coupled with the entire Jewish Museum ticket (the best option for seeing the Spanish Synagogue). After visiting the beautiful structure and reading the exhibits inside we then headed towards synagogue number two before making our way to the Jewish Cemetery. It was a unique layout for a cemetery; the graves were almost stacked one on top of the other as were the tombstones. It was a very interesting visit and I really enjoyed learning so much about Judaism in the Czech Republic. The last two stops of the museum were another synagogue and a museum on funerals. It was a great part of the day and I’m glad I was finally able to do it all!

After finishing our visit to the Jewish Museum we then walked to Rudolfinum, a beautiful building that serves as a music hall. Our last stop of the day was to look out over at the Charles Bridge which we will be visiting tomorrow. We then took the tram back to Miss Sophie’s where we snacked on the lovely welcome basket (chocolate, champagne, nuts, bruschetta) and finished season two of Stranger Things before calling it our first really early night of this trip. It was a super early morning but a fantastic day. We have a few more hours in Prague tomorrow before heading to Budapest!

76 countries down, 120 to go.

Read about my second day in the Czech Republic here.

To learn more about Miss Sophie’s click here.