Although Vienna is about as far east as Prague, the two
cities differ in so many aspects clearly from the fact that one was under communist
power for so much of the twentieth century while the other was quickly snatched
up by western powers. Geographically, Vienna should have been under Russian
control after WWII, but the western allied powers kept this from happening.
What is now the Czech Republic suffered what seems to have been a worse fate as
a result of being under the red control. I was easily able to notice the
difference between Austria and Czech Republic simply from the state of the main
city in these two countries. For me, I can see little difference between
Austria and Germany from my short travels in both countries, but travelling
into what is considered Eastern Europe seemed to be a huge difference in culture,
cleanliness, language, and overall appearance. There’s more than just a
difference in accents, but most people still seemed to speak English well
enough to communicate. This is also due to the fact that Prague is such a huge
tourist spot for the English-speaking traveler such as myself.
I think the highlight of the weekend, for me, was the Hostel
(Sir Toby’s), which we were able to easily find after taking an underground
train and a tram a few blocks from the building. As soon as we walked in, the
Columbian receptionist was immediately helpful in every way he could possibly
think of. I couldn’t think of any questions to ask, but he kept spitting out
information that reminded me that I needed that piece of info. Everything
seemed to be already set up for us: We had our own room for 10, we shared a
bathroom with ourselves, there was free BBQ outside for dinner that night, we
all got a free beer downstairs at the pub, breakfast included make-it-yourself
pancakes and eggs along with anything else you could want, and there was a free
tour of the city leaving from the hostel every morning and a pub crawl leaving
every night. Sir Toby’s hostel in Prague is pretty awesome.
Leaving the hostel seemed like an adventure in itself,
departing from a warm, homely pub with a bed for a less friendly city than
we’ve been used to so far in our travels through Germany and Austria. Half of
our group went out the night we got into Prague while the rest of us hung
around the hostel to rest from the long day of travel for the following day of
city walking. After beginning the next day with a large buffet style breakfast,
all ten of us set out with the tour guide for the old city center. Our tour
guide was from Michigan, working or something in Prague for the last year or
so. He seemed to be about 4 or 5 years older than us, so everything he said
about the city came with a little added spontaneity and spark. One particularly
interesting church he showed us had a mummified forearm hung high on a wall
inside. The legend was that while a thief attempted to steal something out of
the church at night, the statue of Mary had come to life and taken hold of his
arm. Supposedly, no one could get his arm out of the grasp of the statue, so it
was severed and kept as a warning against thieves. We were also able to see (if
I remember correctly) some of the oldest existing synagogues and Jewish
cemetery in Europe. What interested me about this was that Hitler had not
destroyed them during the Holocaust, and the guide explained that Hitler had
planned to make these buildings into museums for what would have become an
extinct people group. I would have thought that Hitler wanted to wipe the very
memory of this people he hated so much from the face of the earth, but
apparently not.
If I ever go back to Prague, I will definitely try to stay
at Sir Toby’s and see more of the city. With only one full day of travel within
the city, we in no way were able to fully experience this key city in the most
western part of Eastern Europe.
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