Backpack and a Playlist

“Traveling is seeing. It is the implicit that we travel by”- Cynthia Ozick

Any place is a sum of your experiences. It could be about the things you do, food you eat or people you meet. This experience that is so unique to each person, be it a day spent or a lifetime, makes a place memorable for one while boring for another.

Prague is one of my favorite places. It has to be said that Prague countryside is absolutely out of a digital painting. It is almost as if each leaf of each tree and each ripple across the rivers have been carefully arranged to draw a gasp out of you. I felt like I had just stepped into a novel, almost sure of ruining it.

I arrived in Prague from Berlin at about 10pm. A step out of the train I was travelling in and I noticed that the temperature variation between Prague and parts of Europe even slightly northern is huge. Spring had been perfect timing for that chill in the breeze to make you want to snuggle inside a blanket. I had travelled to Norway, Finland and Germany before arriving in Prague. 

The train station is fortunately in the heart of the city, close to many hostels and most beautiful places you would want to spend time on. The beauty of Prague will overpower you, so it is best to prioritize on a few places before you reach and leave some room free for those spur of the moment choices.

Prague, unlike Germany, and like most other European countries does not have too many people who speak great English. One of the greatest inconveniences of getting around in Europe is that most of the signboards would be in the local language so carrying a map is of the essence; Google Translate would work even better. Most hostels in Prague have an 11pm rule where they require you to check in before that time else it would cost you extra. As I discovered by just making it in time, while almost twisting my ankle, the rule exists so that the care taker aka receptionist aka hostel owner can go out to party as most clubs close entries around that time. You can go out once you have checked in and come back to sneak into the bed allotted to you. 

The Prague Opera House is one of the best in Europe and if you have a couple of days there, you should try and attend one of the performances. The Charles Bridge over river Vltava is overlooked by the Prague Castle and connects the Old Town to the New Town. While the New Town houses most of the modern building and the main square, the Old Town will keep you walking up and down the cobblestone roads, the Castle and the Gardens. Charles Bridge overlooking both the old town and the new town is a different experience each time of the day. The best time of the day is early morning when the crowds are minimal and you can spend some time taking in the beauty of the surroundings and the sculptures lined on both sides of the bridge. Each sculpture is different from the other and you would want to spend a few hours just walking up and down the bridge and soaking in the moments. Come late morning though, the bridge is bustling with tourists, locals and those trying to sell their wares or art. Prague is a city of artists and you would find painters, writers, musicians, performance artists and sculptors at every corner of the city and all of them together on the bridge in the afternoon and early evening.

Going into the old town, I could have taken two alternate courses. You should figure out the kind of experience you want and have the plan drawn up accordingly. On one side were the John Lennon wall and the Furnicular Train at Uzehd. On the other side were the Franz Kafka Museum and the Prague Castle.

The John Lennon wall is filled with beautiful and inspiring graffiti by artists and people who came by over the years. It started soon after Lennon’s death with just a small square bearing a painting of his face and soon exploded to represent something much bigger, the freedom to choose and express that choice. If you talk to a few locals, they will tell you that no one has ever been stopped from writing anything they want on the wall, except by the police. However, they too have come to accept it as an integral part of Prague’s belief in artistic freedom and the urge to represent it. The Furnicular Train at Uzehd is a small toy train which elevates to Uzehd where you have the best and most landscape view of all of Prague. The train may look weak but as the driver would assure you, it is really strong and has survived many numbers of years and even more number of tourists. Prague also has its very own Eiffel Tower at the top of Uzehd for you to climb.

Kafka Museum is famous for one thing and one thing only, Pissing Statues. The Pissing Statues, as the name suggests are statues that piss. In an attempt to amuse himself on a boring day, David Cerny decided to create sculptors of 2 young boys pissing in a small puddle that strangely enough resembles the map of Czech Republic. Prague Castle has a short climb to reach the top and is completely worth the effort. The Prague Castle is huge and you can spend hours there just walking around and it even has spots to sit and rest while you do just that. The most beautiful thing about the castle is the paintings on the building walls and is bound to make you understand why wars are fought over years for castles across the world. The cobblestone roads are rarely on a platform so it should help you get all the exercise you have been avoiding through the year.

Prague Square in the Old Town is just across the Charles Bridge and has some of the best cafes on the road with performance artists and musicians by the dozen. There are lots of small stalls selling food as well. The city square houses the famous Astronomical Clock, which has performance at the strike of every hour. It’s a charming show that is bound to bring a smile to your face. 

Prague feels like an old lover. You smile every time you think of Prague and want to return to it one more time, just to feel exactly how you felt that moment.