Kobra

It is only fitting that my last photo be at Kobra. It is the first place I went when I got to Prague. In hopes of getting the top room with a balcony, we arrived at Vervakova 25 an hour before check in thinking just maybe we wouldn’t get rooms assigned to us. Of course, no one was there at 10 in the morning and we sat on the steps that we would later sit on before the start of many tours. We had been in such a rush to check out of our hostel, we skipped breakfast. While sitting on the steps a man approached us to tell us about a theater nearby where we should go see a show (one of the many things I never made it to in Prague). We asked him where we could grab a coffee and he pointed down the street to Kobra.

While living in Prague, we were not quite tourists, not quite travelers and not locals. We were somewhere in between. We had an apartment where we cooked our own food and went grocery shopping and had to bring our own soap, but it was temporary. We are still guests in the city. We would get on the tram the wrong direction, have to go shopping because we brought clothes for the wrong weather and we forget that water costs money. As someone who grew up in Austin and who is going to school in Austin, getting to explore a new city has been an amazing adventure.

10 Miles

Ten-mile hike in Bohemia Switzerland, your guide will pick you up at 8am. My email read. I couldn’t think of a time when I had hiked 10 miles, possible in Israel? Or that time my family went to Colorado? I couldn’t remember the distance we went. At least every day in Prague, we hit our 10,000 steps mark. So, we must be prepared.

When we got out of the van, the air was cool. Much colder than that morning in prague. We were in the mountains of the Czech Republic almost at the border of Germany. So close they told us to bring our passports. On the ride over we were given complimentary snacks and water.

When the hike began, it was crowded. Everyone from groups of school children to older couples were hiking to the Pravčická brána, the rock formation that is featured in every advertisement of the park. Next to it is a restaurant for people to grab a quick snack on to refuel before continuing down the trail.

The park felt more accessible than parks I have been to in Texas. While we booked a guided tour, we could have easily taken the train to get to the park. The park also featured a boat ride to give hikers a break and for them to easily get a few miles further down the trail. The trail was clearly marked and there were little cabins that people could rent to stay in the park overnight. The only thing lacking was recycling bins, more trash cans and water fountains.

Breakfast at the Bakery

One morning, after getting off the metro, I walked through a passage way on my way to Winslow Square. I noticed a little boy and his grandmother walking out. They must have just gotten breakfast to start their day.

Breakfast seems to take on a different form here in the Czech Republic. Many people take their time to sit down and drink their coffee rather than at home where people drive through Starbucks running late on their way to work. Breakfast seems more leisurely here. Bakery’s here also seem different. At home, I would never think to run to a bakery to grab a croissant for breakfast though I would grab a breakfast taco. That is strictly an Austin breakfast though.

At home, if I spend a long time at a coffee shop, it is to study and do my homework. I will camp out for hours somewhere with good wifi and unlimited supply of iced chai lattes but here it seems less common to work in a public space with your computer. When wanted to work on our blogs outside of our apartment, we struggled to know where it was appropriate to pull out our computers and take over a table for an hour or two. Many places at home, don’t have free WiFi if they don’t want you to stay there forever. Here most have free WiFi but it is unclear whether you can stay a while. Specifically, if a waiter comes to your table to get your drink order.