Prague: Habsburgs, Communists and Mariachi Musicians

Last week I went on a trip to Prague with about seventy other kids from mostly the US, but also Germany, Denmark, Thailand, Italy and Mexico. It was planned by my exchange program and after having lived in Germany's westernmost city for the past ten months, it was very interesting seeing a bit of Eastern Europe. 

It may look like Epcot, but it's the real deal!

Although I've been to Croatia once before, I didn't fully understand the historical background of Eastern Europe at the time. Prague, which is the Czech Republic's capital and largest city with a little over a million people, still bears reminders of its former Eastern Bloc ties. The first things visible as we drove over the rolling hills into the city were the painfully uninspired standardized apartment blocks that had somehow survived through the 1990s and 2000s after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. 

Our local guide explaining the Old Town's classical skyline.

Our first day in Prague, however, made it obvious how rich the city is culturally. We kept randomly running into music festivals and street performers around town. My total incompetence with any Slavic language also became crystal clear that first day. I saw a poster in Czech for what looked like a traditional Czech music show. Well, we go to it and the first act was a Mariachi band! I tried to learn the basics, but it'll definitely take more than just five days before I can keep Dobré ráno, Dobrý den and Dobrý večer straight.

Even Czech pictures were confusing-- can you or can you not moonwalk on the grass?

Language wise, though, we were fine. Almost everyone I interacted with spoke English, especially in touristy places. I only spoke with two older Czechs once, and they knew German rather than English, which is typical of the older generations. 

Day Two and going strong.

There's a definite Germanic influence in Prague what with the Habsburgs having been in charge for several decades followed by the Austria-Hungarian Empire. We got a pretty thorough history lesson our second day of the trip when we visited Theresienstadt. It's a fortress about an hour out of Prague that's been around since the 1700s. Walking through the narrow halls and underneath the compound in the labyrinth was haunting. The guy who shot Franz Ferdinand ended up dying at Theresienstadt and the Nazis used it as a concentration camp during WWII. Nazi propaganda was filmed there to demonstrate their "ideal Jewish community", which was of course a nefarious lie.

One part of the memorial graveyard in front of the Theresienstadt complex.

It's unbelievable how much Prague, or as they say in Czech Praha, has been through in its thousand years of existence. So many vastly different people have set foot on that land-- Celtic warriors, Slavic and Germanic tribes, Romans,  Bohemian royalty, the Habsburgs, Jewish immigrants, Prussian and Swedish troops, Franz Kafka, Soviet leaders, even jolly ol' King Wenceslaus himself-- and now I have, too. Prague isn't the kind of city you can really get to know in a few days. There are simply too many layers to the whole historically and culturally infused metropolis. 

Shark attack in the town hall square!

The spontaneity that I now associate with Prague, though, is something special. I wouldn't say it's my favorite European city, but it made for some unforgettable memories and for that I have a place in my heart for dear Praha. I mean, not every city do you climb the "Eiffel Tower" (aka Petrín Tower), get approached by a Buddhist monk from Lithuania, happen upon an African drumming troop, learn to use a Segway by a dude from Siberia, pass by an apartment block from communist times, see dozens of Kafka statues and get chased by a Czech man in a shark costume down a thousand-year-old street all in the span of about forty hours. Čau, miláček Praha!