The Magical City of Prague

Prague! What a magical city! A bit commercialized for my taste, but not bad for a short visit. Our first night after arriving by train we checked into the Hostel Mango, dropped off our stuff, and then trekked off into the night to check out the city. As we made our way to the St. Charles Bridge, which was just a short walk from where we were staying, I was completely enchanted by the Baroque architecture of the city. To me it felt very much like we were passing through a fairytale town more likely to be in a Brothers Grimm story than in a real city. As we began to cross the bridge with snow swirling around us and the twinkling of city lights before us, I felt so lucky to be able to be there and experience such a beautiful city with such a great group of people.

The next day we met with our tour guide, Mirka, who showed us the Prague castle complex (residence of the president of the Czech Republic), St. Vitus Cathedral and the iconic “Golden Lane”. The cathedral itself was magnificent both inside and out, having tall Gothic-style spiers, regal statues of Catholic saints,  towering stain-glass windows depicting biblical scenes, a gigantic organ, and beautiful decorated memorials to saints. The most interesting part of this church was that although at first glance it seems considerably old it was actually only completed in 1929 (granted that was after nearly 600 years of being under construction.)

Golden Lane was a relatively short but quaint street with a couple little shops selling odd commodities such as beer shampoo and also books about the myths of the Prague “Gollum”. It is actually the oldest street in Prague so there were exhibits showing what homes would have looked like in the 16th century. After that we ended up at an overlook with a breath-taking view of the city. We were very fortunate to have clear skies that day instead of the rain we were expecting; we were able to capture some fantastic pictures.

This particular day, January 21, happened to be my 21st birthday, which was both memorable and special thanks to my amazing  roommates! I did some souvenier shopping after the tour, but then afterwards they helped me celebrate by taking me out to a restaurant located near the main city square. All I can say is that being there in the historic city of Prague, surrounded by phenomenal architecture and the coolest roommates I could ever ask for, made this year's birthday very special indeed.

That evening we went to see Dvorak’s opera, “Rusalka,” at the Czech State Opera House. The theater's seating area consisted of main floor seating and four floors of individual booths on each side. The architecture was magnificent to behold with almost everything painted white and highlighted with gold. On the upper balconies there were cherub statues suspended as though they were there to participate in the entertainment as well. The only element I did not like about this production were the projections they used for backgrounds. The burning fire and “extra” dancers on the screen were of poor quality and seemed to be more distracting than anything else. Other than that I really enjoyed the music, especially Rusalka’s gorgeous aria in the first act. The singing was fabulous, the orchestra fantastic, and the set pieces enchanting; overall a very nice production.