On the train headed back to the airport in Düsseldorf, Germany, that's where I found myself as this entry was written. All major cities had been covered, all but one stop remained. Before we arrived at the airport, however, we decided to stop at Köln. If you remember all the way back to my first entry, our original plan of heading straight to Belgium was thwarted due to inclement weather, and we unintentionally ended up stopping in Köln on our way to Heidelberg. Köln was the first city we braved together--granted, we had walked around Düsseldorf for a few hours and even found wireless internet to let our families know we were safe. We didn't really consider that our first foray into our trip, so going back to Köln really brought our trip back full circle, but first: Praha!
We arrived in Prague Sunday evening, after spending a lovely day in Salzburg with Amelie and her boyfriend, Uli. By this time, we had mastered the Euro and Swiss Franc currencies, had become experts at reading train schedules, and were quite adept at getting right into the train as the doors slid open. Arriving in Prague, however, we realized there really was no way for either Anne or me to decipher anything in this very unfamiliar language. It all looked so beautiful, written letters with diacritical markers above, and sounds coming from people joining us on the train headed for Prague. It made Czech seem like such an interesting language, and I was excited to find out more about the language patterns.
We managed to purchase tickets to the metro but didn't end up using them, as the stalls requiring tickets to enter the station were wide open. We didn't know if after a certain hour a ticket was no longer required, or if our Eurail passes covered the metro and we didn't actually need to purchase a metro stub. We got off at our destination station and managed to climb stairs to be at street level. We had taken a screen shot of the directions to the hotel but walked up the wrong way down the street and we ended up taking a little longer than we had anticipated.
Our two days in Prague were packed with activities for us to do. On the first day, we took a free walking tour that led us through the old city and learned a lot of the history behind the buildings and the mixed architecture styles. Afterwards, and for the most part of the second day, we wandered the streets under the hot sun and/or the thunderstorms. It was a lot of fun seeing the force with which the rain drops smacked the pavement, often bouncing back up part of the way; at least, that's how it seemed to me.
Prague for me was a lesson in flexibility and spontaneity. While we didn't have set places to go eat, for example, just by walking around and exploring the city we were able to find great local places to have for lunch and dinner! We found great places to explore and even found a dessert we loved at a cheaper price. Sometimes, despite anyone's best intentions, it really is nice to just let loose and see where your walking steps take you.
For now, it's time to explore the city that first welcomed us as bonafide backpackers, time to enjoy our last breakfast as European travelers, and time to get off this electronic device and enjoy the last few hours in the city of Köln.
I bid you adieu with the words of a Swiss traveler I once knew before ever becoming international, "on se verra sur l'autre côté!
The central square in Prague! See the numbers near the bottom left corner? Those are dates commemorating when 27 men were beheaded in the square. Oh European history, you never cease to amaze me.
The juxtaposition of varying architectural styles are evident all around Prague.
Kafka was pointing fingers at me, so here I am ready to argue. He didn't take the bait...
Czech money! Isn't it pretty?
The library we spent a few minutes in, so many books and so many great finds:
Syntactic theory. Masters or no masters, this made my heart flutter!! A true linguist never dies, just ask Chomsky.
Um, yes please.
Speaking of home calling, this is a picture sent by an "ami" of a really really yummy-looking cheeseburger and French fries. Quand je l'ai vu, j'étais un peu jalouse. Maintenant, quelques jours après, je reste encore jalouse et j'espère que tu en profites de tout ce que ce beau pays t'offre!
No comments:
Post a Comment