Prague

On Thursday, we arrived via plane in Prague, capital of and largest city in the Czech Republic. After sleeping for a few hours, we decided to briefly explore the city at night.

The next day, we embarked on a walking tour of the historic city center. Our first destination was Prague Castle, a sprawling hilltop citadel. Within the Castle's fortified walls stand ornate palaces that once belonged to royals and nobles, as well as grand churches, schools, and monasteries.

The Cathedral of St. Vitus, which began construction in 1344, is a monumental Catholic cathedral that towers above the city of Prague. The church took over five hundred years to build, and it is famous for its intricate stained glass windows, which many prominent Czech artists contributed to over the centuries.

A hidden room, buried deep within the Cathedral's walls, houses the Czech crown jewels. As the Czech monarchy was abolished in 1918, today it is the President who holds the keys to the chamber containing the crown jewels.

After visiting the Castle, we descended from the hilltop and entered the streets of Prague's New Town. In the nineteenth century, large swaths of the city were demolished and rebuilt, newly featuring wide boulevards and buildings in the Baroque style, in an attempt to duplicate Haussmann's acclaimed master plan for Paris. This ambitious city planning project created the modern streetscape of New Town.

Formerly a royal residence, this palace, with its sprawling French-style formal gardens, now houses the chambers of the Czech Senate.

As we made our way towards Old Town Square, we crossed the Charles Bridge, the oldest bridge in the city of Prague. Built in 1357, it crosses the River Vltava as well as this medieval canal, hand-built to power a flour mill which still stands today.

Prague's Old Town dates to the Middle Ages, a history that is reflected in its wandering serpentine of cobbled streets lined with narrow houses, many of which are decorated with the heraldic crests of the noble families that once lived there.

The twin spires of the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn, built in the 14th century, loom over Old Town Square. This imposing cathedral was built to serve visiting merchants who traveled great distances to sell their goods in the square; unusually for a church, it can only be accessed by first passing through several commercial buildings. Famous astronomer Tycho Brahe is buried here.

The main attraction of the square, however, is the Prague Astronomical Clock. This mechanical marvel, constructed by master clockmakers in 1410, not only tells the time, but also gives the time of sunrise and sunset, as well as the positions of the Sun, Moon, and constellations of the Zodiac. Every hour, bells ring and mechanical figures representing Death, Time, the Twelve Apostles, and the Deadly Sins move in a choreographed routine. It is an impressive feat of engineering even today, and at the time of its construction, it was an unprecedented technological wonder of the world.

Today, we waited for a rainstorm to pass before again setting out across the city on foot.

Eventually, we reached the Josefov neighborhood, traditionally home to Prague's Jewish community. Though much of the original, medieval Jewish quarter was replaced by new buildings in the nineteenth century, six historic synagogues, some dating to the Middle Ages, still stand today, nestled between the newer Baroque structures.

The neighborhood is also home to the birthplace of Czech author Franz Kafka, as well as the Old Jewish Cemetery, the oldest surviving Jewish burial ground in Europe.

After walking through Josefov, we walked to Wenceslas Square, the commercial heart of Prague. This grand square lies at the end of the city's widest boulevard, and is dominated by the towering National Museum.

This eccentric-looking building is the Dancing House, designed by Frank Gehry. A controversial structure, it is equally praised as a postmodernist deconstruction of the Baroque typology and derided as an out-of-place, contrarian mess.

As gorgeous as Amsterdam is, it is often idyllic to the point where it can feel artificial, like a preserved museum attraction. Walking through Prague is full of subtle, but noticeable reminders that this is indeed a real city; cars and trams traveling at breakneck speeds, the occasional run-down or abandoned building, a wall peppered with graffiti or a road sign plastered with stickers. Prague has a grit, an authenticity to it, that the center of Amsterdam does not. It feels like a place where real people live and work. They just so happen to be surrounded by incredible beauty and elegance.

Tomorrow, we leave for Vienna.