Another week, another major European capital

Seriously, I don't even know where this week went. I can't believe I've been in Dresden for 3 weeks already and that I only have 3 more days before I leave to go to Paris and then (finally) Tübingen.

So, what did I do this week?

Tuesday was neat! There was a Goethe-organized trip to Dr. Quendt's, which is a bakery/factory a little bit outside of town. They are well-known throughout this city for a lot of different baked goods, but outside of Dresden they are pretty much just famous for Russian bread (which is actually a type of cookie). The factory visit was fun; it was like watching Unwrapped but in real life. The best part (outside of the free cookies and tea/coffee) was the room where they put the almost-finished cookies into big spinners and spray them with chocolate. Mmm, chocolate spray.

Friday during class was like Christmas Eve, or the last day of school before summer break... class was sooo boring, and seemed to go on forever (though that is also kind of because I got a new teacher who is not as good as the one I used to have... she's nice, but very German...). When it was finally 1:00, I hurried home, ate lunch, and packed for Prague! We took an afternoon train out of Dresden and got to Prague just as it was getting dark. If there was ever a more confusing, twisty-turny wait-do-these-streets-even-have-names-where-are-all-the-signs city, I have yet to see it. That being said, all the little tiny pedestrian-only cobblestone alleys lined with shops and cafes were super cute, especially once we got out of the tourist-heavy areas.

We stayed at a hostel called Hostel Tyn, named for the Tyn Church in Old Town Square that is in front of it. It was a little old, but not run-down at all; everything was really clean and comfortable. Thankfully we were the only ones in our room, which was tiny, but in a charming instead of cramped way. I would definitely stay there again... it was cute and clean but at the same time didn't feel institutional like my room here in Dresden (which has white walls, white kitchen, white sheets, white radiators...) and was off the beaten path of touristiness.

The food in Prague was fantastic. It tasted like my Eastern European ancestry. Breakfast consisted of a ham and cheese croissant and a cappuccino (on both Saturday and Sunday mornings - we went back to the same place because it was delicious and cheap). In Old Town Square there were a lot of street vendors, mostly for the tourists so it was a bit overpriced, but today I caved and bought a sweet dough thing that I don't remember the name of because Czech is impossible. But it was tasty! At the more traditional Czech restaurants we went to (e.g. not the pizza place we hit up for lunch on Saturday) there were a lot of dumplings and potatoes and meat, which was excellent. I think lunch today was the best meal we had. We went to this restaurant called Klub Architektu, which was next to the Bethlehem Chapel and one or two stories underground. It was really dimly lit and the walls and arches were brick so it felt sort of medieval. I had hot apple cider, chicken and vegetable soup, turkey with mushroom sauce and potato dumplings, and a slice of honey/walnut cake. Not only was it fantastic, but the entire meal only cost about 10 euros. Woo! If I ever get back to Prague I am definitely going back to that restaurant.

One of the things that surprised me the most was just how ridiculously touristy Prague is. Granted, we were in the most popular sightseeing neighborhoods, but even when it seemed like we were in less popular areas there were still shops full of keychains, mugs, tshirts, postcards, and the like. It's kind of surprising that all of these stores, selling literally the exact same things, can stay in business.

Prague itself is an absolutely gorgeous city. Like I'm pretty sure I only saw one ugly building. Everything has beautiful ornate facades, and the river runs right through the middle, and there are statues and cobblestones and hills everywhere... as soon as I get better internet, I will definitely put up pictures. We had perfect weather on Saturday - by the time we got to Prague Castle, it was sunny and even kind of warm! The sun made all the churches/cathedrals we visited even better because they weren't all dark and depressing like European churches sometimes are. I've never seen stained glass in such vibrant colors as in St. Vitus's Cathedral in Prague Castle. It was amazing.

Less amazing was the Astronomical Tower in Old Town Square... but in a kind of hilarious way. The tower itself was pretty cool, and it was totally worth the 2 euros/50 crowns to get up there, because you could walk around the whole thing and see the entire city from above. But the famous part about the tower is that every hour on the hour, the bells ring and figures come out and do things. We missed it when we were there on Saturday morning because we were on our way down from the tower itself and by the time we got back to the front of it, it was over. Later that afternoon, after a lot of planning, we decided that we'd go back to our respective hostels, nap, and meet at the tower at 7:50 so that we could see it do its thing at 8:00. The guys wanted to see it more than Alex and I did, so we took our time leaving our room and didn't hurry to get there in time. We ended up getting there at about 7:57 anyway, so we got to see the spectacular 8:00 show!

...which consisted of a couple windows opening and saints passing through them (inside the building - we could just see them through the now-open windows) for 30 seconds or a minute, followed by the closing of the windows and quite possibly the most anticlimactic trumpet sound I have ever heard. We had no choice but to laugh, not at the tower (though the trumpet was pretty funny), but at the hundreds of people watching it with us. The next morning we ended up there at the right time again, and one of the guys hadn't seen it yet, so we watched it again with him, and again laughed at the hundreds of people who had gathered to watch. Good times were had by all.