Prague-ably the Best Weather of All

The decision to go to Prague was a last minute one for sure. About two weeks before hand, Kelly busted into my room and said "Flights to Prague are only 110 Euros roundtrip, wanna go?!" And I was like sure! So we booked a 3 day trip that night and about 3 days later, our friend Sydney decided to book a flight as well with us! It was the weekend right after classes had finished so it we joked that it was a celebratory trip now that classes were over! (And yes I did go to class quite a bit as much as people back in the United States think I don't but who wants to see pictures of me in class anyways, it's no different than the classes at any other college!)  Much to my surprise, two of my other good friends Lauren and Mary were also going to Prague on the same flight as us which was great! Once they got to Prague though, they were getting on a bus to go to Croatia.

Our flight left Dublin at about 1:45pm and we arrived in Prague in the late afternoon around 5. From the airport, we took an Uber Mercedes to our hostel and got settled. After many unsuccessful attempts to find a relatively inexpensive place for food that had space available (Thursdays must be the night to eat dinner out because every place was packed!), we finally decided to go to a Chinese place. We got three large plates of food and split it between the three of us; a whole lot of food and desserts for about 11 Euro a person- a great deal for dinner. While searching for a place to eat dinner, we walked past this place that was called a "Bed Bar" which looked intriguing. So after dinner, we went back there and it might have been one of the most unique bar experiences we had while in Europe. It was a room full of soft memory foam couches along the walls and small tables on top on the couches to put drinks. The lights were good, the music was hoppin', and the drinks surprisingly weren't too expensive for a place as cool as that. I mean come on, it was a combination of two great things: drinking and laying on a couch with shoes off and good vibes on :).

The next morning, we got up bright and early around 9am and walked across the famous Charles Bridge towards the John Lennon Memorial Wall.

Then I made the girls venture off from the original path and walk up what turned out to be a little steep and slippery for the shoes they had on but they still made it. At least I got a few laughs out of it even if they might have been yelling "Brian why'd you take us this way!!"

After reaching the top of the mountain, we climbed (even more) steps to get to the top of an old radio tower which offered breathtaking views of the city.

After getting our fill of these amazing views, we walked to the Prague Castle. We paid 12 Euros to get an admission ticket to see a few of the different parts of the castle and cathedral and such, pretty similar to all of the other billion castles and cathedrals we've visited while in Europe. Along with the castle, we also got a traditional Slovak dessert called a trdlenik, pronounced "turtleneck", which is dough wrapped around a stick, grilled, and covered in sugar and whatever other toppings.

After taking pics here and there by the castle, we scurried along to this park that Sydney had heard good things about. Just like the radio tower, it overlooked the city but this time from a different angle. It was cool to look in the distance and see the radio tower that we had just climbed and tall it really was.

After napping in the park for a bit on the warm sunny 70 degree day, we went to something that was unique to Prague and sure to cool us off- a bar made entirely out of ice! The hostel gave us coupons so it was only 8 Euro which included two free mixed drinks while we were in the bar. They only allowed you to stay in the bar for 15 minutes due to the temperature being so cold in order to keep the ice cold. It was another incredibly unique bar experience like the couch bar.

After getting back into the bright sun and warming up again, we headed back towards the hostel, got dinner, and got ready to go out. We went to this club that my cousin Noelle had referred us too and it didn't disappoint given that it was 80s and 90s themed night.

We got on stage and I tried to take an epic selfie with everyone looking but it wasn't too successful

After a night of dancing, we decided to try KFC because we had heard that KFC in Prague is SO GOOD compared to the American version. So we all got some chicken, savored it amongst the crowds, and unanimously decided that it was in fact better than the American KFCs. The outer shell of the chicken tender was just the right amount of crispiness, almost like frosted flakes consistency, there was the right amount of seasoning, and the chicken melted in your mouth. It was a little more expensive than American KFCs but worth it to test the myth.
On Saturday morning, we woke up at about 9am again, in order to get to this place by 10am. This place I'm referring to is something we saw the day before after doing the ice bar- it was a human hamster ball type of blow up ball that could fit three humans in and the goal was to walk across water. We knew we had to try it because it looked like so fun even if the whole time we were just falling over- and that's exactly how it went. We'd each take about 3 steps and then take a tumble, laughing the entire time.

In the final video that I compile, I'll be sure to add clips in from this ridiculous(ly fun) experience. After this, we took one final group picture on the Charles Bridge and then headed back to the hostel to grab our stuff and head to the airport via and Uber ride.

It was a great trip with great weather and even better people. Considering it was a sporadic trip that we decided to take, I'd like to think it was Prague-ably one of my best decisions while studying abroad.

-BR