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It was raining my entire time in Prague; hardly the way to welcome a tourist… the difference is that in England, when it rained, nobody had an umbrella; it was like they were all used to getting rained on; here, everyone had an umbrella! Also, the Czechs have their own currency, and does not subscribe to the euro. Much like Britain, perhaps they think their money is too strong to be diluted with the euro, even though one Czech crown is 1/5 of a euro… It was a hastle, and I had to change euros into crowns, and I had to live off of about 2,000 crowns, which is 100 euros, including paying the hotel. I did not want to take out more money, and just budgeted it as closely as I could, and will leave with a bit of change from this irrelevant currency in my pocket.
The Old Square did have sentiments of being old, with things dating back to the 1200s. It is always refreshing to seeing things preserved from antiquity. Unfortunately, WWII did leave its share of scars, and there were remnants of certain buildings that were bombed, and also there were buildings that had to be rebuilt. Overall, the city was a history of a people that had been constantly ruled over since their early days in the Roman Empire. Ever since, they have been a part of a larger central European empire, until recently, in the 1990s, when Communism fell and they became their own republic, the Czech Republic. I saw the sights, and one of the must sees was the Prague Castle.
The Castle was cool, but I have seen half of a dozen castles now, so again, it was nothing special. It was certainly special to Prague; it was a medieval castle that has stood for hundreds of years, and looks over the city from one of its highest hills. If Rome is a city of 7 hills, Prague must be a city of 10,000 hills; it reminds me of San Francisco, but the city center is much flatter than the outlying neighborhoods. Anyway, the castle was nice, and offered some great views of the city, even if it was raining. Also, the church/cathedral that is encompassed by the castle looks EXACTLY like Notre Dame in Paris. It is almost like I was looking at an exact replica, from the front and back! Im not sure if anything is up with that, or if it was just a common design in that time period, but it certainly looked like there was some copying going on. After the castle, I went to the Petrin Hill, where there is a mini replica building and lift, exactly like the Eiffel Tower.
I didn't get to see the best Prague had to offer, since it rained on me, but I got a taste, and that is enough for me.
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