Prague and Dresden

7) Field trip #1
Blog #2

The past four days our class went on our first field trip to Prague, Czech Republic and Dresden, Germany. This trip was full of several firsts for me! Including my first train ride, hostel and the first time I have walked almost 25 miles in a four day span wearing cute boots. We took a train early Thursday morning from Olomouc to Prague which was a little over two hours. We had huge comfortable seats, wifi, and pretty nice bathrooms. It felt like we were riding first class! (which we soon found out we were because the next several trains were not this impressive.) We arrived in Prague and got settled into our hostel and began touring the city with our teacher, Martin. He took us to the Astronomical clock, Charles Bridge and the John Lennon Wall. I had seen pictures of all these things before but they are definitely worth going to in person. We even showed up to the clock right in time to see the little show they put on. The windows around the clock open up and little statues are seen rotating around while bells play for the first minute at the turn of every hour. 

Most of our group trying out the selfie stick in front
of the Astronomical Clock!

The Charles Bridge was our next stop. It's a popular place so it was really crowded. The bridge was built between the 14th and 15th century and spans across the Vltava river. In the past, cars and busses were allowed to cross but now it is only for tourists. Vendors and musicians line the edge of the bridge making for some great entertainment as well. We walked across and admired all the statues as well as enjoyed the beautiful view!

The Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in the background!

Located not far from the Charles Bridge was the John Lennon wall which was our last guided stop for the day. The wall was not as big as I was expecting it to be. Although it is pretty long, it is not very tall. We learned that during the late 1980's when the Czech people were protesting to end communism, young students would come to this wall and graffiti it with messages of peace and hatred towards communism. Every time they would do this, the police would paint over the drawings. The wall is nothing like it used to be, but still has a very powerful message. 

The rest of the night was left for us to explore Prague! We picked a great weekend to be in the city because it was the beginning of the Easter celebration so there were all sorts of stands and decorations around the town. 

Trying a Nutella filled Trdelnik in downtown Prague
during the Easter celebration!

The second day in Prague we learned that getting lost can be a good thing! We started out at the Prague Castle. I can't even explain how much architecture and detail had to go into this place to make it such a breathtaking building. The most famous Czech saints were buried in the castle in some of the most elaborate tombs. We also saw the changing of the guards outside the castle at noon! After exploring the beautiful Prague castle we began wondering to find something to eat. We kept thinking we could find cheaper places to eat (because we are broke college students and 8$ is a lot for a cheeseburger here haha) and wound up in a suburb of Prague several hours later. Through this 10 mile trek we found what we thought to be the best view in Prague in a beautiful park, the best pizzeria we have ate at yet, and too many laughs to count. 

Looking out on the city of Prague!

The front of the Prague Castle.

A tomb inside the Prague Castle.

Day three was spent in Dresden, Germany. We took a train early in the morning and got there in good time to enjoy the day in the city! We started the day by eating at a restaurant where I got currywurst and french fries, a very German food! We then toured the Frauenkirche church and walked up all the stairs to the top. No pictures could do justice the view we had from up there. The church was reconstructed after WWII with fragments from the original church. We returned to Prague that night after touring a museum making it for another exhausting day of traveling!

Currywurst in Germany.

The view from the top of the Frauenkirche Church.

Sunday was our last day in Prague. That morning we went to the Jewish Quarters. The synagog we went into was covered in names of the 85,000 Czech Jews that were killed during the Holocaust. An interesting thing we learned was that many of the people who were killed did not even know they were Jews until they were taken to concentration camps because their ancestors were Jewish. We saw artwork by children who were in the concentration camps as well as the Jewish Cemetery. Both of these things were very heartbreaking. The people were only given a small space to bury their deceased so they had to bury people on top of each other instead of everyone having their own area underground. Thousands of people had to be buried in this area so in some places there are 6-8 people buried in one spot. 

Part of the Jewish Cemetery. They buried them wherever there was space, which a lot of the time was on top of many other people.

We headed back to Olomouc on the train that evening absolutely exhausted. It was such a successful first field trip with a perfect balance of organized touring and exploring on our own. 


The next few weeks are going to be packed full of more fun as we start our two week field trip/spring break. This weekend a group of us are going to London, England on our own for a mini vacation. We then will come back to Olomouc and leave right away to go on another field trip to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy for several days. From Venice we will take off on spring break! I am going to Naples, Italy and Barcelona, Spain for four days each. I am so excited to keep seeing more of Europe!