An Impulse To Wander: Prague, You're a Beauty (part. 1)

On Monday morning we headed off to Prague! I was not sure what to expect, since only a week before there had been major flooding and half of the animals had been taken out of the zoo.

Only reason I mention the zoo is because I really wanted to go, but couldn't since a lot of the animals still had not been returned :(

We arrived into Prague around noonish, and it was pouring rain.

wtf Prague...

We have had more than our fair share of rainy days on this trip... fyi Mother Nature, its summer...we will not be building another Arc.

In comparison to Cesky Krumlov, Prague is expensive...which was a bit of a shock since I was used to paying maybe $10 - $15 for dinner (usually less).

In Prague we were paying double and more. Now I am poor.

We did however find a really good spot that had lunch specials until 4pm for only 150 Ck...which works out to be $8 CD, but you also have to factor in drinks etc, water prices vary from place to place, but its usually around $2 - $4 CD

On the first night we decided to go shopping and get out of the rain.

The Palladium shopping mall was impressive...not West Edmonton Mall huge, but they still had stores like H&M, TopShop, Sephora, and of course, my beloved Starbucks.

Venti Iced Black Tea, light ice, half sweet, extra tea

On Tuesday we met up with Peter (he works at the Cesky Krumlov Castle and used to be a prof at Dal) to go on what he calls the Kings Walking Tour. Apparently back in the day the royal family/court in Prague did not actually live in the castle. Instead they lived in a palatial mansion in what is now the Old Town. The route that we walked was the route the soon to be Kings would walk. They would walk from where the royal court was held, through the old town, across Charles bridge, and up the hill to the Castle to be crowned in St Vitus Cathedral.

Not going to lie, it is quite the hike...if I was a soon to be King, I would hope that my coronation/crowning would be in the winter. Because walking up that hill in all those layers of ceremonial robes and capes would be very hot.

statue of Jan Hus -

famous religious historical Czech figure

only Opera house left in Prague that Mozart actually played/worked in

crazy astrological/regular time/bohemian time clock in Old Time Square

If you rub this, you are destined to come back to Prague

oblisk

view from the hill up to the castle

Me and H -

I was having a terrible day trying to choose an outfit,

so I went for comfort rather than style :S

shorts by H&M

tank by Tally Weijl

H's dress by Mango

In the afternoon we explored a bit more and did a little bit more shopping. We found Mango, one of my favourite European brands, and also Zara. Both store were MASSIVE. Very exciting :)

At 5pm I went back to the mall and had a makeover at Sephora. Chanel was giving free makeovers to test out some of their new products. Why not eh? We had plans to go to the opera that night so I figured a little pampering was in order.

Before!

After!

On Tuesday night we went to The Magic Flute, an opera by Mozart.

It was...interesting.

Originally it was written in German, but this production sung it in Czech. Luckily there was a board right above the stage that gave English translations. Good thing, or else I would have been so lost.