Ciao! Sono Brianna: Praha

As I’m writing this week’s top 10 I am shocked that I am already in my 7th week here... WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!?! This past weekend I visited the Czech Republic and went to Prague. It was just Emma, Annie, and I so we thank god every day that we made it home in one piece. Before the trip, everyone had said when in Prague it feels like you are in a fairytale and that was spot on. If I had to sum up Prague in one word it would be enchanted. I will be spending two and a half weeks here in Milan and I start off my spring break (which is the whole month of April) with a trip to London to visit two of my best friends. And don't worry I just bought my Harry Potter TICKETS!

1. Security. To start off the trip on Wednesday, we created a commotion at the airport because we could not get through security. We all had to walk through the sensors about 5 times and I ended up getting frisked. This was the first of many bumps we experienced this weekend.

2. Kebab. After arriving in Prague we decided to take a taxi to our hostel because we got in around 9:30 pm and didn’t want to have to deal with two hours of public transportation. We ended up getting ripped off (is it that much of a surprise?) by the cab driver paying an extra 10 euro for our cab ride. After settling in to our hostel we realized we were starving but it was past 10 pm and NO ONES kitchens were still open. So instead of getting food we went to a restaurant right by our hostel and got a beer. While in Prague, it was cheaper to drink beer then water or pop. It was less than 1 Euro for a beer. We were so desperate for food though after this that we stopped at this Kebab place where they proceeded to tell us they had just closed. Instead of walking away like normal people, we begged them to give us whatever food they had left. What we got turned out to be WONDERFUL! It was a pita filled with some kind of chicken, cabbage, lettuce, cheese and then this amazing garlic sauce. With our bellies full we slept wonderful that night

3. Shower. Thursday Emma woke up and wanted to take a shower... the one problem was she couldn't figure out how to work the shower so her and Annie tried for a good 10 minutes to figure out how to work it. When they finally got it to work they ended up getting soaked.

4. John Lennon wall. We found a Starbucks to start off our morning Thursday and then headed to the John Lennon wall. The only thing I knew about the wall beforehand was I was destined to get some good pictures. We were told that John Lennon had never actually visited Prague and it wasn't till after he died they dedicated the wall to him. The wall was covered with quotes, pictures, stories and Ronald McDonald pictures. The best quote I saw was written on a door and it said "never stop exploring," which I find quite fitting for my time here in Europe. After that we crossed the Saint Charles Bridge. The bridge is lined with various street sellers and decorated with 30 baroque statues. One of the statues is called Saint John Nepomuk which is in honor of John of Nepomuk who was a priest in Prague under King Wenceslas IV. The Queen made a confession to John of Nepomuk. Unfortunately for him, the King being a very suspicious man, pressed John of Nepomuk for the Queen’s confessions which John of Nepomuk would not reveal, not even to the King, because it would be against his commitment of confidentiality. John of Nepomuk was therefore executed by being thrown into the Vltava River from the bridge and drowned.The plaque on the statue of John of Nepomuk has been polished to a shine by how many people have touched it over the centuries. Tradition says that if you rub the bronze plaque (the one depicting St John being thrown off the bridge), you will one day return to Prague.

5. Astronomical clock tower. After the bridge we climbed the Astronomic Clock tower in Wenceslas Square which offers a 360 degree view of Prague and a view of the sea of orange roof tops. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working. After, we walked around the Old Jewish Town which holds the Old Jewish Cemetery where the gravestones date all the way back to 1439 and ending around 1787. Throughout the cemetery there were over 100,000 Jewish people buried. The reason being that the Jewish inhabitants weren't able to leave the Ghetto. Because of this, they were forced to bury the citizens on top of one another--sometimes up to 10 layers deep. After this we started trying some of the Czech cuisine. We got a cinnamon treat, I'm unsure of the name, which was dough covered in cinnamon sugar and was in a tube type shape. For lunch, we got a bratwurst which had a big of a spice to it and this stick with homemade potato chips swirled around it. During this time we also got a beer and sat in the center of the Wenceslas Square. While we were doing this, a police officer approached us and said that drinking in the public square was illegal so we had to either throw our drinks out or drink them around the stand from which we got them. I quickly finished mine and threw it away. Annie had more than me so while she was drinking the officer turned around and saw her drinking again. He then proceeded to come back and start yelling at her, demanding for her passport which she had left at the hostel. What happened next was crazy! He said that he was going to have to take her to the police station and she had 48 hours to have her passport delivered to her. The fine would have been 1,000 Koruna (which is equivalent to about 40 euro). A mom from California saved her butt. She started talking to the officer saying Annie had no idea that she had to have her passport on her and she was just finishing her beer to throw it away. After arguing for a good 20 min, the officer gave Annie a 350 Koruna ticket. (During this time, Emma went and got gelato...like nothing was actually happening...) To blow off some of the anxiety we had all built up, we shopped around for a while and of course to make matters worse we got on the wrong tram when we wanted to go home... So we went 45min going the WRONG WAY. During this time we had an interesting experience. A man came up to us and goes, "Good morning, are you from another country," (mind you it was 6 pm) and we said, "Yes the USA," and he then started saying, "Horrible. Terrible. F-word," and walked off...

6. Fried cheese. That night we went to a restaurant Alex had recommended to us called Lokal. It had authentic Czech food and was wonderful! We had to wait for a table for about 20 min but we are so glad we did. We started off the meal with fried cheese. It was this block equivalent to a cheese curd but BETTER! I then had ordered roast and bread dumplings which I devoured so fast because of how amazing it tasted.

7. Petrin hill. Friday we woke up early again for another day packed with tourist activities. We started off climbing Petrin Hill which holds a miniature Eiffel tower at the top. The walk up the hill was our work out for the day because it was so steep and we were dying by the time we got to the top. The whole hill is covered with parks, a few restaurants, and mini statues. The view on top was so worth the soreness the next day. The hill raises 130 m above the left bank of the Vltave River overlooking Prague and on top of the Eiffel tower you could see everything. Also on top was a mirror maze which we bought tickets for. After the hill we went to Saint Charles Church which was breath taking. There was so much detail throughout the church and was outlined in gold.

8. Prague castle. After Petrin Hill we walked over to Prague castle which is another beauty of Prague. It is the official residence and office of the President of the Czech Republic and dates back to the 9th century. The castle has been a seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia. Prague castle is listed as the largest ancient castle in the world because it occupies an area of almost 70,000 m. At the castle, we walked around and were able to see the changing of the guards.

9. Pub crawl. That night we ate at the restaurant by our hostel and it was wonderful. I had chicken stuffed with ham and cheese and then a side of garlic bread. After dinner, we were told we had to do a pub crawl while in Prague and we chose to do that on Friday night. We were told you received t-shirts at the pub crawl but when we got there we were told we weren't able to wear them till after... I was close to just wearing my jacket and then changing into the shirt when I got to the pub crawl so thank goodness I wore a shirt just in case. The man in charge of the pub crawl almost didn't let Emma go on the pub crawl because she didn't have an id with her. For the pub crawl we went to four different pubs and ended at the 5 story club in the middle of Prague. This night was filled with various stories. One was Emma kept getting hit on by a 30 year old man from Dubai, a guy came up to me saying, "my friend is wondering how you are?" and then when I tried having a conversation with him it lasted about 5 minutes considering he barely knew English... We ended up making friends with these two girls who we later found out were 30 year old women. I guess Pub crawls aren't just for college people? Then on Saturday we woke up and left the beautiful city of Prague.

10 Parco Sempione. On Sunday it was 75 degrees in Milan so a few of us decided to grab a blanket and some snacks and enjoy the beautiful weather. Behind the Sforza castle and in front of the Arch of Peace there is the Parco Sempione which is the largest city park in Milan. It was days like that, lying in the grass surrounded by castle walls that make me feel like I’m in a dream.