We arrived in Prague early that afternoon not exactly sure what to expect. It was Christmas Eve, but neither of us could remember a year in which it felt less Christmassy. We exited the airport under gray, gloomy skies, and caught the city bus that would take us into town. After a transfer to the metro, we emerged into the city center and were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful buildings and Christmas market that surrounded us. We oriented ourselves and headed off to the hostel a short ways away. We entered the tiny reception room, checked in, headed upstairs to drop off our backpacks and get settled in the very nice 12 bed room. We had a few hours until we were to meet up with my friends Julie and Melissa, and Julie's roommate, Margie, so we decided to take a little walk around the town center and stop for a delicious-smelling sausage at one of the stands. As darkness fell on the city, the Christmas lights came on, and the city was truly magical as I had been told it would be around Christmas time. All of the streets were decorated and families were out enjoying the markets together. Around 6:00, we wound our way over to the girls' hostel after cracking open a famous Czech pilsner and let ourselves in to their equally nice hostel. Within moments I was met by the easily recognizable long blond hair of Julie and we spent a bit of time catching up on everyone's adventures up until that point.
With that, we headed out into the city toward the Old Town Square, which was surrounded by beautiful churches, and which held a Christmas market to rival that of Freiburg. Gluwein, sausages, crepes, old Prague ham, candied nuts, and everything else you could image was being sold, and it was full of people in the true spirit of Christmas. After a cup of gluwein to ward off the frigid air and much time spent absorbing the festivities, we decided to look for a place to have Christmas Eve dinner. Without a reservation, this turned out to be quite the task, as we were turned away from every restaurant we could find. After hours of walking around, we finally found a place where we could get a table. And it couldn't have been better luck, with a very comfortable, homey atmosphere. We all ordered the Christmas Eve, traditional Czech special of pork and dumplings, along with the most delicious beer I have ever tasted. Some type of Czech ale named Kazel, it was sweet, dark, and made the taste buds do cartwheels. Even being thousands of miles from home on Christmas Eve, I couldn't have come up with a better way to get into the spirit of the season.
As midnight approached after hours of feasting and conversation, we headed back to one of the cathedrals near the Old Town Square to attend mass. A hauntingly beautiful, clearly baroque interior surrounded the mass of people that had already entered. As there was nowhere to sit, we stood near one of the giant columns supporting the roof and waited as the air grew even more frigid and the organ started to play. It was a beautiful service, although I clearly couldn't understand a word, and it made for quite a change from my grandmother's local Presbyterian church that I had attended every year since I was a baby and of which I had grown so fond. Tired, cold, but happily satisfied by my first Christmas Eve outside of Cocoa Beach, Florida, we parted ways with the girls and headed back to the hostel where we quickly fell asleep in our warm beds.
We slept in on Christmas morning for the first time in a few days and slowly set off to take another walk before meeting the girls in the afternoon. Everything was closed, minus a small, hidden store that we found along the way. I'm finding it to be a common theme during my time in Europe that life would be so much less comfortable without Chinese immigrants. Just as in Spain, they are the only people to keep their shops open at night and on holidays when you are desperate for something to eat. Bless their souls. With plastic bags full of fruit, bread, cheese, and Nutella, we set off toward the edge of town and climbed a steep hill up to the city's highest point where we ate our breakfast overlooking the gloomy-looking city that made us feel like we were unquestionably somewhere in eastern Europe. We met up with the girls and headed to the other edge of town, over the Charles Bridge and the Vltava River. Here we took a walk through the old fortress walls, but arrived too late to enter the large cathedrals, which had just closed for the day. Dave and I headed back to the hostel to rest a bit after some late lunch in the Old Town Square market, and got ready for the Christmas concert we were to attend that night at the concert hall nearby. The warm air and comfortable seats in the balcony perfectly complimented the sweet orchestra music that resonated from below for the next hour, and Dave was excited by the fact he had played many of the pieces during his time in the high school orchestra. After dinner in the Christmas market and a few beers later, we headed back to the hostel to await another chilly Prague day.
For our last day, Dave and I still had a lot to see, and returned across the river to look inside the gothic and baroque cathedrals and check out the riverfront. We picked up the girls and headed to the old Jewish quarter, stopped in for some much needed hot coffee, and again found ourselves in the Christmas market for dinner that night of more sausages and crepes, of which we simply couldn't have enough. Being our last night in Prague, we decided to head back to our favorite little restaurant for a few more Kazel beers before saying goodbye to the city in the morning. There we made friendly with some of the locals during our very very extended period of time comfortably enjoying the ambiance inside, and before we knew it, Dave and I were on our way back to catch a few hours of sleep before catching our early train to Berlin in the morning. While it didn't quite measure up to our short stay in Leysin, Prague was the perfect place to spend Christmas, and in the absence of my family, it was nice to be surrounded by Dave, one of my best friends of the last few years, Julie, one of my closest friends here in Madrid, and Melissa and Margie who are always great for some comic relief. We had spent just the right amount of time there, enough to see pretty much everything at a tranquil pace and really enjoy the Christmas season. Next stop, 12 hours in Berlin!
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