Czech it out: I went to Prague

It’s been a busy few weeks for me here in Eastern Europe, so I haven’t had a lot of time to blog about my traveling experiences. Let’s go back to mid-November for this post so I can tell you about my journeys to Brno and Prague, Czech Republic.

I went to Brno, CZ will my work colleague Alenka so we could visit a TWR partner office there-TWR-CZ. We stayed in the office guest bedroom, had some good interviews with the site director and a program producer, and spent a day exploring the charming city that is Brno.

While Brno was not incredibly large, it offered good shopping, cafes, restaurants, and, in general, a nice atmosphere. We even saw a large group of American Mormom missionary boys and I wanted to be their best friends (simply because it was a large group of Americans roughly around my age…not because they were oh-so-handsome in their suits and ties ).

Brno, CZ

Interesting architecture in Brno

St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral in Brno

St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral...beautiful!

After a quick trip in Brno, Alenka and I parted ways. She headed back to Bratislava and I took the train to Prague. Since I arrived in Eastern Europe everyone’s been telling me that Prague is the most gorgeous city there is in this part of the world, so I was excited to see it, for sure.

I stayed at a hostel near the Old Town and was able to see a lot of the city on foot in just three days. I saw the Astronomical Clock, the Municipal House, Powder Tower, Tyn Church, St. Nicholas’ Church, St. Vitus Church, the Charles Bridge (my favorite), Kampa Island, the Lennon wall, and more.

Prague's astronomical clock

St. Vitus Cathedral

Wenceslas Square

Prague Castle

Municipal house

Old town and Tyn Church (left)

View of Prague from Castle Hill

Standing on Charles Bridge

I also happened to be in Prague on the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution-November 17th (which is also my birthday ) so there were exciting things happening all over the place. I couldn’t tell if it was just memorial celebrations or something more along the lines of “Occupy Prague”, because the demonstrations I saw weren’t necessarily joyous.

Overall, Prague was a very beautiful city full of many different things to explore and see. I loved the architecture, the views from the Charles Bridge, the look of the streets, and, in general, the overall atmosphere of the city. It was just so alive and beautiful.

After Prague I made a short stop in Vienna, Austria to see Switchfoot in concert w/ two TWR guys Frank and Philipp. The concert was absolutely amazing and the band did a fantastic job at putting on a good show. We got to touch the lead singer Jon Foreman as he ran through the crowd and Philipp managed to get the bassist’s guitar pic which he so nicely passed along to me. Thanks, Philipp!

Philipp, Frank, and myself at the concert

Switchfoot!

Lead singer stage diving

On Sunday I had lunch w/ Philipp and Heike (a TWR gal and new friend) and had goose for the first time. Apparently goose is a traditional Christmas dish in Europe, but I’d never had it before. It was HUMONGOUS but fantastic!

Heike and I with our geese

After that whirlwind week I spent a quiet week at home in Bratislava before moving on to Vienna and Germany….but more on that later!

~ by aubreysadventuresabroad on December 9, 2011.