Pra hahaha ha

After an epic night at the beer factory and a healthy breakfast at Starbucks (we could afford to eat at the one in Prague), we found ourselves near Old Town Square for the very first tour of the day. A friend of Zach's told us that groups of college students run free day tours around the city and highly recommended that we check it out so we jumped on the opportunity, even if it was a 5 hour commitment. Once 11 o'clock rolled around, the tour guides began dividing the large crowd of tourists into groups of 30. Luckily for us, this meant we would have a more intimate tour with our guide, Karel (pronounced Carol). It took us about 30 seconds to realize that Karel was a champion. Definitely the best guide in the game. His energy was off the charts and his knowledge of the city bested any guidebook we could find. 

By design, our first stop was the Prague Astronomical Clock because of how close our starting point was to Old Town Square. At a glance, the clock looks like an enormous, stone tower with too many confusing dials to comprehend. But thanks to Karel, we learned how to make sense of all of the various parts. For starters, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial were constructed in 1410 by clockmaker Mikulas of Kadari and an astronomer from Charles University by the name of Jan Sindel. Pretty impressive. The three main components of the clock mechanism include: the astronomical dial, which represents the location of the Sun and the Moon; "The Walk of Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the apostles; and the calendar dial, representing the months.  We were also lucky enough to see the trumpet player that performs at the top of each hour. He was ok.

After teaching us all he could about the clock, Karel led us all over the Old Town and New Town of Prague, stopping at other notable sights along the way to give his two korunas on the matter.  Whether it was discussing the Tyn Church, the main church of Prague since the 1400’s, or the National Museum on Wenceslas Square in New Town, Karel quenched our thirst for knowledge. Other memorable stops included the Powder Tower, original entrance to the city of Prague, and the world’s only cubist café.

Moving away from the Old and New Town attractions, Karel decided to take us through Josefov, the Jewish quarters of the city, which was also remarkably beautiful.  Karel explained that Josefov is home to some of the oldest synagogues in Europe, the oldest being the the Old Synagogue of 1270. We found this hard to believe because of Prague’s Nazi occupation during WWII. However, Karel informed us that during the war, Hitler decided to compile Jewish artifacts from all over Central Europe and place them in a Josefov synagogue. Unfortunately, his goal was to create a museum for what he believed would be an extinct race after the war. Obviously this is a terrible reason for compiling such artifacts, but the collection turned out to be more positive than its original purpose. It is now seen as a badge of honor for the Jewish population in Prague and Central Europe for that matter. 

Next came Charles University and the Opera house.  While the opera house bored us, Charles University picked up where Josefov left off.  Founded in 1348, Charles University was the first university in Central Europe and is the largest and oldest university in Prague to this day.  The university was inspired by Charles of Luxembourg and is conveniently located near the Charles Bridge on the Vltava River. Once again, Karel dazzled us with his knowledge for Czech history. But our tour was approaching the end and Karel was about leave us right next to the Charles Bridge with so many questions left unanswered.  Karel first explained that tour would not include the bridge or the Prague Castle (2 of the oldest and biggest attractions in Prague), and then informed us that he would be accepting tips after his final story. Suddenly this free day tour wasn’t so free. Anyway, he began commenting on the Czech uprising during WWII and relayed extremely fascinating information to us. According to Karel, the Czech uprising after Hitler’s death came in the form of confusion and force.  To confuse the Germans, groups of nationalists organized the removal of street signs in the city. This disoriented the officers that were occupying the city and allowed the resistance to move around them with ease. The forceful part of the uprising occurred when a group of 30,000 Czechs took over the main radio tower in Prague, despite the 80,000 German soldiers that attempted to stop them. The Czechs were able to get in contact with the U.S, who informed them that Russian soldiers were on the way to help. Once the Germans caught wind of this, Prague was completely deserted by Nazi’s. Side Note: The U.S would have come to Prague’s aid sooner but the demarcation line of the Czech Republic fell just west of the city, meaning that Russia was responsible for Prague.

The tour was finally over and despite having to pay on a free tour, it was one of the most informative and fun days of the trip. Karel pointed us in the direction of the Prague Castle (largest in Europe) and said his goodbyes. We no longer had his guidance, but decided to push through to the castle and bridge before calling it a day. After walking up several hundred steps to castle’s cathedral, we realized that having no guide did not matter. The site of the cathedral was amazing the view overlooking Prague was breathtaking. We didn’t need words to describe it. We returned to our hostel via Charles Bridge content and ready for a siesta.

Our train for Amsterdam was early the next morning so we knew that it would be our last night to see the Prague nightlife and experience some authentic Czech food. For this reason, we decided hit a bratwurst sidecar for dinner on the way back to Beer Factory for the night. Amsterdam here we come.