Back in Bonn!
This past week and a half was absolutely exhausting, but I got to travel so much! Berlin and Vienna were followed with a weekend in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. This was my first trip leaving the Eurozone, meaning the Czechs use their own currency, the koruna, even though they are an EU member. Prague was very different from Germany, Austria, or the Netherlands. Not only was English less common, we did not even have the comfort of German, which I have been growing used to, since the main language was Czech. Also, Prague was felt much older than anywhere else we had been. The city is aptly nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Spires", because towers, cathedrals, and palaces seem to be the most common buildings in Prague. Again, Baroque facades decorated the majority of the normal buildings, and the cobblestone streets definitely gave the place an older vibe. The city was split by a river, but had the added bonus of being situated on several hills. I think the topography made the city even more beautiful, especially with snow decorating the hillsides and many of the rooftops.
I had a slight hiccup traveling to Prague from Vienna when I realized I had booked a different bus than the other six students traveling with me. So I had to navigate from Vienna to Prague alone, and after arriving past midnight on Friday night, I was very thankful the bus stop was only a block from our Airbnb. Saturday, we wandered the city seeing the important tourist "must sees" of Prague. The astronomical clock in the old town square, the royal palace and cathedral on top of the city, and St. Charles' bridge were our primary stops, but simply wandering the streets of this beautiful, ancient city was very enjoyable. We tried many of the local specialties, including mulled wine, trdelnik (a bread-funnel dessert), and Pilsner Urquell (the original pilsner beer, the first blonde beer ever brewed). We also hiked to the top of one of the hills overlooking the city to enjoy a panorama of the river valley. Shortly after sunset, we returned to our hotel and had dinner at a nearby Asian restaurant. Perhaps because of all the traveling, I turned in early and slept late Sunday. We woke up and explored the Jewish quarter of Prague, visiting a Jewish cemetery from the 15th century as well as several synagogues, one of which was devoted to the Czech-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
After lunch, it was already time to head to the airport to come back to Bonn. We were fortunately on time for our flight (between having trouble meeting up with everyone and traffic on the road, we were very worried about missing our flight), and a few short hours later I was back at Narzissenweg 4 in Bonn, eating dinner with my host family and glad to be "home".
