Well, I started the day off by catching up with my cousin's sister-in-law (if that makes sense). She and her family have lived in Prague for quite some time now, and my parents had visited her when they came through as well. So I had scheduled to meet her for lunch. She is so sweet, she came to my train station, met me, and we ended up heading near the main square to have lunch in this cute bistro, and we just caught up and chatted. It was such a great break in my trip, because to be honest, by this point in the trip, although I was having a BLAST, I was starting to miss home, and my family, mostly because I haven't had a really great connection to anyone outside of my tour group while being on the trip. The wifi in most of Europe in these hostels SUCKS! So anyways, it was nice to meet up and hang out with someone who is "like family" and who knows you and you can just be comfortable with. Plus, I hadn't seen her in over 10 years when my cousin and his wife got married in India, so there have definitely been some years that had gone by.
After meeting up with her, she had to jet off and take care of some things, so she left me to venture around the city, and I wandered aimlessly to some of the places which I wanted to take another look at (without having to rush through), such as the Charles bridge and Old Towne Square, as well as headed up to Prague Castle to make sure I checked out the castle and the St. Vitus Cathedral. I swear, traveling is definitely my "thing", if I could do this every day, I would be so happy. I love venturing and wandering and just getting lost in new cities, there is something surreal about it, and it just makes you feel adventurous.
First I headed up to Prague castle, although I was not a fan of the fact that the castle has multiple entryways, and of course I chose the "long way" up to the castle (ie- walking in the direct sun, up a crazy steep hill, for quite some time), it was worth it to see the beautiful views from this entrance. I was able to see the whole city from the top, and it always looks amazing seeing any of these cities from a highpoint because you can just look out and see how big and vast the city truly is. I was also walking through a GORGEOUS garden, with little benches and alcoves every few feet.
Once I reached the castle, I didn't end up paying to go in, but I did walk around the courtyard and the grounds to take a look around. I also saw St. Vitus Cathedral which is a beautiful church in the courtyard right next to the castle. I went inside the church, and let me tell you, although Europe is full of museums, cathedrals and castles, so I've seen my share, I have to say, the stained glass in this church was absolutely beautiful !!!
 |
| Entrance to the Castle |
 |
| St Vitus Cathedral |
 |
| Beautiful Stained Glass inside |
After finishing with the castle, I have to be honest, in this HEAT, I was drained, however before I headed back to the hostel, I had a couple more things on my agenda: 1) Get some souvenirs 2) Visit the Charles Bridge again and 3) Find the lock bridge for my "love lock".
So I headed back down into the main part of the city, and walked around the streets observing, and taking it all in, while looking for some souvenirs, as well as walked back across the Charles Bridge to look at the statues, as well as admire the street artists painting and selling their work on the bridge.
 |
| Beginning of the Charles Bridge |
So the story behind my "love lock" for my trip: So before I left on my trip, I knew that I wanted to buy a lock and write my name on it and such to put on a lock bridge out in Europe. I had seen it done by Kourtney Kardashian and Scott when they were in Paris, and by one of the ladies from RH of Orange County, and I just loved the idea of being able to do that, and I told myself when I watched both of those episodes (whenever I finally go to Europe, I'm going to do this).....*without knowing I'd be going to Europe this year*..... So anyways, it's technically supposed to be done as a "lover's lock", where you and the person you love put your lock on it, and throw away the key saying you'd be together forever, etc etc. Well I decided that on this trip, I was going to do one for myself for "loving myself" enough to take this chance of doing what I did and going on a trip like this, and having the time of my life and experiencing such a thing. So it was a lover's lock still, just about loving ME, MYSELF, and I !!! :D
Okay so now that the background is out there....I didn't want to do it in Paris, because I thought that should be saved for when I return to Paris with someone I love, since it's supposedly the "City of Love", so I was going to do it in Italy and forgot completely, so here I am on the last part of my trip, with only a few cities to go, and realized I need to find a lock bridge ASAP or I'll go home without ever leaving my mark. Well, luckily for me, Prague has a lock bridge, and I found it and "made my mark" here, in a wonderful city, and one that I definitely want to return to, so I think it was meant to be that this is the place where my lock rests........
Do příště Praha (Till Next Time Prague).....
No comments:
Post a Comment