Lost in Praha: Storefronts & Tram 17.

So there are a number of signs on store fronts that have caught my eye so far. I just think they are so great.

"We love beef! Say yes."

"Dog's Bollocks"

Apparently Lupe Fiasco has his own restaurant.

And so does James Dean.

Yesterday, on our day off we decided to get on a random tram and ride it to the very last stop, and get off to wander around. Sometimes the best way to explore a city is to get lost in it. No map, no iphone app to guide you, no predetermined destination.  Our lucky tram was #17, and it didn't take us anywhere particularly exciting.  But just the thought of getting lost in some random residential area where there weren't any tourists was an adventure in itself.  Here are some photos I collected on the way.

I'm really happy this cat obliged for a photo opt.

(shot by Chris)

Chris, one of the 3 of us in the entire CET photography program....Hahaha.

Dumpster diving.

Golden hour.

Lost in Praha - The epic scavenger hunt.

(Charles Bridge)

Just imagine yourself getting lost in a beautiful, unknown city, walking down a street paved with cobblestones, with your warmest winter coat wrapped tight around your body.  In front of you, and to the left and right, endless cobblestone paths beckon you to explore what they have to offer.  And when you lift your chin up to the fresh winter sky, beautiful architecture scatters your line of sight. Little cafes and stores in a language you don't understand are just beginning to open their doors for the day.  And red trams come frequently, ready and able to take you anywhere your heart desires. Dogs walk freely by their owner's side, liberated from their leash, as if they were friends instead of mere pets. The dogs travel everywhere, they can go on the metro, in the cafes and bars, to the mall...It's really amazing how well trained they are.  These are just a few of the little things that have made an imprint on my mind, and it still feels so unreal.

The first weekend we arrived was one of the coldest Prague has experienced all winter.  Although, that didn't stop us from braving the icy and snow-filled streets for a 6-hour long scavenger hunt this past Sunday. CET split up the students in groups of 5 and sent us on our way to complete a page long list of various tasks and questions that forced us to explore the wonderful, unfamiliar Praha.  It was the longest, most interesting scavenger hunt I've ever experienced, and I was lucky enough to be put in a group of students that were just as excited and determined to win as I was. I think the coolest thing was the fact that we all came from different departments within the CET study abroad program (Film, Photography, Central European Studies, & Jewish Studies).  It was nice to meet people from the other programs that I would have never met otherwise.

(My awesome scavenger hunt group after we walked all the way to the top of a huge hill just because one of our tasks was to replicate a photo on a postcard we were given.)

And here is my winter rendition of a classic Praha postcard picture. How we managed to find the exact shooting location of the photographer, I have no idea. I literally looked up and told the group that the tall building on the snowy hill looks high enough to get a photo close enough to the postcard picture, and it was! We were pretty stoked.

(A wider view of our shooting location! It was so pretty!)

(a typical tourist photo opt, of course.)

On the other side of the tall building that led us up the mountain, was a beautiful snow-covered park where kids were sledding in the snow, and people were walking hand in hand with their significant other or their dog. It was really breathtaking.  Our group decided to take a short break and enjoy our surroundings, plus we found an awesome bench/swing to sit on.

(Jeff taking a photo of us taking a photo of him on the awesome swing.)

Another highlight of our adventure was the fact that we managed to get to the top of one big hill with out any complications, yet more than half of us fell and slid while attempting to climb this little hill.

I saved my camera, although my pants, socks, and shoes got soaked in the process...

(Eva trying to navigate us to our next destination while we had no clue what stop we were at, surprisingly she was a very good navigator and the reason why we did not spend the whole day entirely lost.)

Next, we made our way back to Old Town to tackle some of the other tasks we were given. For example, go to different bars and collect as many beer mats (coasters) you can find, go to Praha 1 - find a cafe and take a sugar packet, purchase matches from Bohemia Bagel, and bring back a receipt from the cheapest thing you can find.  We also were required to answer questions like how to say "I love you" in Czech, who is the president and prime minister of the Czech Republic, and what time is the next train to Berlin and where is that station located.

We were told we weren't allowed to use the internet (which all the other groups did anyways), but one of the girls in our group was very adamant about following this rule so I am happy to say that we did this purely on our own!! With the help of random Czech pedestrians and workers, of course.

(By the way, even the underground metro stations are beautiful.)

Finally, our last stop for the scavenger hunt was to find a famous writer named Kafka's grave in a huge cemetery.  The cemetery was beautiful and quiet. As we searched for the grave, reading a map in a language we have yet to understand, we wandered around for about 45 minutes enjoying the peacefulness of it all.  Near the end of our search, we realized how pressed for time we were (we had about 30 minutes to get to a restaurant for dinner - which we of course had no clue how to get to), we gave up and settled for an unnamed grave that we were about 50% sure was Kafka's.  Later that night, we were informed that we were wrong, however we still got points for attempting to find it.

And that wraps up my first adventure in Prague! I have a lot more to share, so check back soon! Oh - and if you were wondering how we did on the scavenger hunt, we came in 2nd place.  We lost to a group who spent about 2 hours in a cafe googling all the answers, wommp. We did win little Czech language dictionaries though! Which I assume will become extremely helpful in the future, especially for the Czech language intensive class we are all currently taking.

Cau!!