Trip to Prague

So my first spring break (yes, we have two) was spent on a whirlwind adventure through Prague, Vienna and Budapest during the week preceding Easter. Our first stop was Prague- Paige and I flew in from Sevilla to meet up with Danielle, who was coming from Rome. The first thing we noticed in Prague were the Easter markets. These are only set up during the week prior to Easter, and they include groups of booths around the city selling traditional Czech food and Easter trinkets. 

We enjoyed looking at the beautiful hand-painted Easter eggs, and eating the spetzel, potatoes and bratwurst from the booths. Our favorite booth was the one that was selling these circular pastries dipped in cinnamon or sugar and/or nuts. They were absolutely delicious- we had several throughout our two days in Prague.

Unfortunately, the famous astronomical clock in the main square was broken while we were there but it was still cool to look at.

On our second day in Prague, we started off the day with a Spider Bike tour of the city. A spider bike is hard to explain, so I will direct you to this link for some pictures so you can vizualize this 7 person circular bike: http://www.prahabike.cz/team-bike-tours.html. We had a great tour guide, and it was a fun way to get a quick historical tour of the city. Then we headed across the river and the Charles Bridge to do some more of the traditional Prague sight-seeing. 

This is not the Charles Bridge, but it does show the castle and cathedral in the background.

This is the entrance tower to the Charles Bridge.

Once we got across the river, we headed up the hill to the castle and the cathedral. There were some great views of the city and we stopped for another homemade cinnamon doughnut, of course. 

Although the cathedral was mostly under construction, it was still a sight to see. It was an interesting to visit a religious monument after hearing from our tour guide that Prague is one of the most atheist cities in Europe (he claimed close to 80% of the population). 

On our way back down the hill, we stopped at the Lennon wall for some photos. This wall was a symbol of hope during the communist regime with messages of love and peace and democracy, often quoting the Beatles. The original picture of John Lennon is completely covered with paint and other expressions by this point. 

We spent our last night in Prague at an International House of Beers before an early Sunday morning bus to Vienna.