Poland to Turkey 2010/2011: Prauge, Czech Republic, December 2010

My Turkish sister, Selin, and I decided that a weekend trip to Prague would be an excellent time, and boy, were we right. However, we hit a few bumps in the road on our way there.
Once I received my acceptance letter from Turkey I had to get my student visa ASAP. Since Selin is Turkish, she is an excellent companion to take along to Warsaw with me to the consulate. If I remember correctly we left on a Thursday morning train. Since neither of us are morning people, we pulled an all-nighter Wednesday night. Believe me, this is important for later. So we made it to the train in time, and had a nice ride all the way to Warsaw in a compartment all to ourselves :).
Once we reached Warsaw, Selin knew where to go (thank god) and we made our way to the consulate. Everything was going perfectly, I had all my papers in order, everything was okay! Then they asked for 118 AMERICAN dollars. I was a CANADIAN, studying in POLAND, at the TURKISH consulate, and they wanted AMERICAN cash. That was bump number 1. 4 or 5 banks later (all the while running with a big backpack) we made it back to the consulate with a little bit of time to spare and successfully... finally... got my visa.
Back to the train station and a bite to eat and we were off to a small city in Poland called Katowice. During our... I don't know the term for train layovers... we had some fun in the snow and boarded the train off to Prague.

Kafka statue

Our first night exploring

Bump #2. After not sleeping Wednesday night, and it now being early, early Friday morning, we finally got to sleep. I was sleeping on my bag, as was Selin. My camera was tucked beside me in my hand and Selin's phone was in her hand I think. We both passed right out cold. Selin woke up with the train conductor shaking us... I, of course, didn't. We got our tickets stamped and got ready to fall back asleep when Selin couldn't find her phone. We searched through everything and she asked if I was missing anything. I didn't think I was, at first. Then I realized my camera, with our pictures from Warsaw, the trains, and Katowice on it, was missing. We wound up in Prague with no camera and no phone to call around and help resolve the issue... limited sleep and a bed waiting for us in the nicest hostel I have ever seen... we headed straight to the hostel and slept. For a long time. In the most comfortable bed I have slept in since September. (ST. CHRISTOPHER'S--> they have hostels in... Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, and Prague I think. A-M-AZING)

Well after our nice long nap we explored Prague a wee bit :) grabbing dinner and headed back to the hostel for a good long na. Well the first order of business following our nap was buying a camera. Thank god I have a mom who bails me out :).

Old Town, Prague

Astronomical Clock, Old Town, Prague

The next day, Saturday I think it was... We joined a free tour, which was also an excellent choice, and visited the major points in the city. Beginning in the old town and working our way through. The astronomical clock... the Jewish quarter, Kafka statue... ect. you name it, we saw it. We ended near the Charles Bridge and switched tours and started the Castle tour.
I love castles. That's probably my favorite part of Europe... the castles.

Cathedral of St. Vitus

View from the Castle

The original Prague castle was founded in the year 880. Throughout the years the castle was added to and altered... making it quite a mess in an architectural sense.From the 10th century the castle was an important center for education and culture. In the time of King/Emperor Charles IV (ie: 14th century) it was a true time of prosperity for Prague. It became an imperial residence and the seat of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the Hussite wars the castle went into disrepair and building came to a halt. The castle went through a series of changes and during the renaissance times the Hapsburg family took over and began changing the castle into a renaissance seat. During the 16th century (the rule of Rudolph II) the castle became the seat of the emperor once again. The last bit of the 18th century a great rebuilding of the castle was undertaken and it once again became a prestigious landmark on the Prague horizon.

Castle in the background

At the pub

In 1918 following the foundation of the Independent Czechoslovak Republic the castle once again became the location of the head of state. The castle continues to be the location of the Czech head of state, as well as the location of many Czech and Bohemian artifacts, relics, and documents.
The Castle tour lasted past dark and we ended it with a visit to a monastery located on the castle grounds for some good, cold, monastery-made, Czech beers :).

Prague castle at night

Following the castle tour we caught a tram and headed on back to the hostel as fast as possible to make it in time for the pub crawl we signed up for! The pub crawl went, as pub crawls often do... in a messy, too much fun fashion... We met tons of fun Australians, most of which were dressed in Santa suits (I don't understand it either). We also met a few American and Canadian girls who were on their semester break. Needless to say, we had a time and made it back to the hostel with all our belongings and in one piece.

The next day Selin, myself, and our hangovers checked out of the hostel and headed over to an English bookstore my friend, Jaelynn, recommended to us. The bookstore was called "The Globe" and we spent quite a bit of time there... and walked away with a number of new books to make the train ride home a little more bearable.

Following our bookstore-venture we headed back to the old town for a quick lunch and some last-minute exploration. During this time we visited Charles Bridge.

The View

Charles bridge is one of the most important connections between the old town and the castle. The bridge is over 500 meters long and 10 meters wide and has 16 arches. There are about 30 statues over the whole of the bridge and a truly spectacular view of the castle. Construction of the bridge started in the mid 1300's and was finished in the beginning of the 1400's. The statues along the bridge depict various saints and patron saints. One statue has a picture at the base and it is considered good luck to rub it... so naturally we did :) see the picture =>

We then headed back to the hostel one last time for our bags and we were off on the last leg of our journey back to Poznan.