An Unknown Stop
I was really sad leaving London. It was so nice to be with my friends, in a city again. Even so, those friends have lives, and I cannot couch crash forever, so on I went.
I planned to spend an overnight in Prague. Then I’d catch an early train across the border into Germany. UGH THO. I had spent so much time that week traveling – airports, busses, and trains- OH MY!. It also appeared like it was going to be lots of train changes and then busses and walking to get to this little farm in Germany. It sounded exhausting, and I was already tired. When I walked into the Prague hostel for the night, I realized how much I needed a night or two on my own terms, so my overnight in Prague extended into a 3 day adventure!
- Side Note: Traveling alone is kind of bad-ass. You can just do things like that on a whim.
The RoadHouse Prague Hostel
At this hostel (which I definitely recommend), I looked through the booklet on recommendations for the city. At first, I was only going to stay one extra day, so the agenda I made for myself the next day was VERY ambitious. We will get to that.
The hostel was really cool that it offered a vegetarian dinner for 100 Czech Crowns (≈ $4.50). It was a great way to meet some people and not think about what to have for cheap food. After dinner, anyone could join in the the hostel organized outing for the evening. That evening… drunk bowling.
Side Note: For anyone who knows me….I kind of hate bowling. When you grow up in a family of competitive bowlers, you either need to become a competitive bowler, or you quickly stop enjoying the sport. I was the latter. But I was willing to give this one a try.
I knew I had a packed agenda for the next day, so I figured I would be a good egg. I’d have a nice beer at the bowling alley and then go to bed. I probably should have seen the words drunk bowling as a warning. The rules are designed to get you sloshed. Someone gets a strike or spare…they select another person to down a drink. If you got a gutter ball, you had to buy everyone in your lane a shot. (Mom and Dad.. please be proud of me… I did not have to buy any!) Anyways, I got home at 0030, chugged a bunch of water, and then I slept like SHIT.
- Side Note: I actually despise peer pressure with drinking. I got annoyed at one guy when he tried to tell me I HAD to down my LITER SIZE beer since he got a strike. Reminder, you don’t HAVE to do shit. You may just get called “a wussy American who is afraid to drink” .
- Side Note: I met some other folks who were also not trying to get plastered that night, and we had a good time:)
- Side Note: Sorry this blog post has so many of those. I think its maybe gonna be a theme.
McDonalds & Walking Tours
Alas, I did NOT wake up at 8am to go running. I pulled myself out of bed, changed, and headed to the other important stop. MCDONALDS!
McDonalds in Prague has some special offers! I got a classic Egg-McMuffin (why fix what isn’t broken) and coffee. However, there a sore sme neat things such as a “Lucina McMuffins” which is cottage cheese, lettuce and tomato. They also offered Croissants, McToasts, McBagels, and little pancake fritters:)
McDanks in hand, I headed to a free WW2/Communism walking tour. The tour was really informational. One of my favorite parts was learning about the Stolpersteine or “Stumbling Blocks” you can find throughout Europe. They are small brass squares, embedded into the cobblestone streets. Each commemorates a Holocaust victim outside their last-known, freely chosen residence. We passed the stone for Emilie Klingenberger, and I decided to research more into her life.
Emilie Klingenberger
Emilie was born July 8, 1880, in Central Bohemia. She had four children. By age 34, she was a widow and had lost one daughter as well. Overwhelmed by hardship, Emilie decided to give her children over to a children’s home while she tried to survive on the streets of Prague. During her time on the streets, she became pregnant with another daughter, Markéta, who she also gave up to a local maternity hospital’s foundling asylum.
Emilie, age 62, was living at Zelezná 20 when the Nazis arrested her in May 1942. They deported her first to the Terezin concentration camp and then to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was murdered in the gas chambers.
There are no known photos of Emilie, and she has no grave. The 4x 4 brass block outside her residence is perhaps her only permanent memorial.
Not much is known of the rest of her children, except that the last child, Markéta, fled to the Netherlands and lived out her life there, marrying and having children. Markéta’s descendants still reside in the Netherlands!
Petřín Hill, Lighting Lamps, and more!
Although I did not wake up early and run the hill, I did walk it later-on!
Petřín Hill is a beautiful recreational area in the center of the city, with great viewpoints. Apparently, the best viewpoint is from Petřín Lookout Tower, a loose copy of the Eiffel tower (at a ratio of 1:5). It’s also at the same altitude as the real Eiffel Tower. I did not pay to go up, but it was pretty to see.
Afterwards, I met some new friends from my hostel for the lamp-lighting on the Charle’s bridge in Prague. The lamp-lighting is an advent-only event, reflecting on the traditional gas lamp-lighting of the city. While walking back, we actually ran into the lamp-lighter himself!
TO BE CONTINUED
Part two is coming soon with the last of Prague, including a Christmas Market, a bar dedicated to Prague’s beer-loving superhero, and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra!
Čau,
Ashley
Creating Space 
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