If you are up on your poetry, or live in the state of New Hampshire, you'll know the title was a quote from Robert Frost. It's a beautiful poem, even if it gets stuck in my head from having countless friends who memorized it in class a few years before I moved there. If you don't know what I'm referring to, click here:
Frost Recitation
The sheer amount of walking I've been doing the past few days about ends the comparison to the Frost poem as it's been hovering around 70 here in Prague. Amidst the threat of rain and occasional shower and downpour, I've been surrounded by sunshine and the bluest skies I've seen in quite some time. It feels a bit like New England in the randomness of its weather. I think Prague's getting the rain out of her system now though, as a sudden storm formed and now rages against my clamped shut windows.
I know that it's been quite some time since my last post, a week to be exact, but I have been busy and exhausted. With our long classes and giving lessons and trying to remember to cook dinner, it's sometimes a bit hard to think about what I could possibly write about, unless you would like to read an entire entry about TEFL teaching, which I doubt. Nevertheless, find something to write about I have as it's Tuesday and I have a whole weekend's wandering through the orange rooftop city to report back on and to make up for my silence, I've got loads of photos for you.
With a promise of sun and maybe a few clouds, my coursemates and I made the trek to the basis of Petrin Hill and gazing up at the giant slope before us, laboriously clambered to the top. It wasn't a very long hike, perhaps 30 or so minutes, but it was incredibly steep. The view, as my guidebook promised, was very, very worth it.
That's the view from the ground. Did I mention there was an Eiffel Tower to climb?
My one coursemate and I chose to encourage our legs for another climb and took the stairs up Prague's own miniature Eiffel Tower. It was built in 1908 for the Prague Jubilee Festival and, as far as we could tell, if the highest point in Prague, towering over even the immense spires of St. Vitus' South Tower. It was easy enough to get to the first observation deck but as we continued on to the top (after some time taking countless photographs), we felt vertigo in our bones from the dizzying view below and the sudden swaying of the tower in a breeze we had not felt before. Nevertheless, we made it and what a view of Prague.
Look, mum, still smiling despite the butterflies in the pit of my stomach!
Swarms and swarms of nervous butterflies.
Despite the vertigo, it was wonderfully worth it and the most beautiful views I have seen of the city. Right after we climbed down, we wandered off to the rose garden and hid a bit from a short and (thankfully) light summer drizzle. Roses of every color imaginable were blooming everywhere. We managed to catch it in almost full bloom and my coursemate and I could not stop taking photographs. The buds were open to the sun and just gleaming...
This photo doesn't even begin to do them justice.
Imagine, if you can, hundreds and hundreds of roses all lined up in rows.
Despite being enthralled, we chose to head down the hill and give the rest of Mala Strana (lesser town, or old town) a stroll. The sun had come back with a vengeance and well, we couldn't get enough of the view and when in Prague...
We took a beer break and had our first Czech dark beers.
After cooling down and resting halfway down Petrin, we made our way back down the winding lanes and dirt paths until we found the bottom again. It began to rain again just in time for us to need our map, so we dodged in and out of overhangs and awnings to orient ourselves and try to stay a touch dry. We were three of almost everyone who took the same approach to the showers. It never got very bad and the lack of umbrellas told us it should be over soon, and it was. By the time the sun decided to pop back out, we had found our destination, tucked away as described, across from the French Embassy:
The John Lennon Peace Wall.
A living and daily transforming tribute to Lennon > Lenin and Love > Hate, this stunning wall is covered from top to bottom in everything from Beatles lyrics to names. First used while the Czech Republic was under communist rule, the John Lennon Peace Wall became a place for hope and protest. Despite its many attempts to cover it up and catch offenders, the Soviet Secret Police were never able to stop this wall from being repainted. A beautiful tribute to free speech in a country that truly embodies and deeply values the chance it now has to be democratic.
"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope one day you'll join us, and the world will be as one"
We concluded our Saturday by further exploring of Mala Strana on a quest for a good, Czech pub. My guidebook offered a promising recommendation for a pub we could not pronounce. Luckily, the author gave great directions and the pub had its name painted in giant green letters on the side. Our meander was not concluded and our grumbling stomachs not sated by chicken schnitzel and fried cheese until we had first had a photo shoot in front of the US Embassy.
Protip: I still have no idea what that other building on the hill with the US flag was.
Fun Fact: This building was owned by an Austro-Hungarian Prince before being bought by the US government in 1925. Most embassies in Prague was old palaces and are in the "Castle District."
If you are ever in Mala Strana in Prague and are looking for a good, cheap place to get good, Czech food and ice cold Czech beer, definitely hit up Vsebaracnika Rychta. The atmosphere is calm and friendly. It's a definite place for families and friends. You will not have to eat for two days after coming here and you won't mind because it's delicious.
All right, so I absolutely have to go to sleep or I won't wake up in time for class tomorrow. Look forward to the adventures of Sunday - Wednesday tomorrow evening, including some reactions to my one-on-one lesson interview (ah!).
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Until tomorrow, nasledanou!
Fallon
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