This is EuroChristmas part four of four. If you missed the first three, check out the recaps of Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna.
Before Ben and I ever moved to France, I decided that we would be spending New Year’s Eve in Prague, Czech Republic. Everything I had read said that Prague throws the biggest party in Europe to ring in the new year, and I really wanted to experience it once in my life. And the five days, including New Year’s Eve, that we spent in Prague certainly did not disappoint. I had the most exciting New Year’s Eve of my life and fell completely in love with Prague.
The language barrier is tiny. Tiny! Practically non-existent. I learned a few words in Czech and actually tried to use them when we went to dinner the first night. The waitress just looked at me like I was an idiot, and then when I apologized in English, she spoke almost perfect English back to me. I really think I heard just as much English as Czech in Prague. We heard German people, Russian people, French people, and Chinese people all speaking English, and Czech people speaking English back to them. It was disorienting and amazing at the same time. Of course I would still recommend learning a few Czech basics (please and thank you should suffice), but Prague is a very, very easy place to go if you only speak English.
During the winter, Prague is freezing. I lived through five snowy, blustery Chicago winters, and I don’t think I was ever as cold there (though I did conveniently miss out on the recent polar vortex). In Prague, I wore long underwear and 25 sweaters every day, and I was still cold. So if you visit in the winter, dress warmly! It’s such an enchanting city, though, that not even the bone-chilling cold can deter from its fairy tale quality.
The city is divided into quarters, and each is wonderful in its own way. Ben and I stayed in the Little Quarter, across the river from Old Town and just a couple minutes’ walk from Castle Quarter and the Charles Bridge. It was a fantastic neighborhood (with several vegan restaurants!), and I’m glad we stayed there. The hostel wasn’t fantastic, so we’d probably pick a different home base next time, but you really can’t go too wrong in Prague!
Little Quarter
This is the street where our hostel was located. Isn’t it beautiful?
Nativity scenes all over town!
Charles Bridge
The Charles Bridge starts at the end of the Little Quarter.
It is super long, wide, and packed with people, statues, monuments, performers, and caricaturists.
From the bridge, there are awesome views of both sides of the city.
Old Town
The Old Town square is filled with gorgeous gothic architecture including the Tyn Church and the Town Hall building.
Built into the Town Hall building is the Astronomical Clock.
On every hour, the figures surrounding the clock put on a little show. To be honest, it’s anticlimactic, but the clock itself is fascinating.
Although we didn’t arrive in Prague until the 28th of December, we were lucky to catch the tail end of some Christmas markets there. EuroChristmas indeed. 🙂
Castle Quarter
Instead of just one giant castle, Prague’s Castle Quarter is made up of several buildings and palaces.
You can get a pass to see the interiors of all these buildings, but Ben and I agreed that we’ve seen enough palaces for now.
We still walked around and enjoyed the exteriors. The architecture is fantastic!
Near Castle Quarter is a lovely little vineyard with great views of the city. You can see Charles Bridge on the right side of the photo.
The vines are obviously out of service since it’s winter, but this tiny vineyard was still a cool discovery.
Drinking through Prague
One of us, who doesn’t even like beer, sure enjoyed drinking his way through Prague.
Beyond Castle Quarter, there’s a monastery where the monks make several different types of beer. They sell it at the restaurant next door, so we popped in for a pint.
We also tried the Pilsner at a pub right by our hostel. I’m not sure it’s worth all the hype, but it was pretty good.
And one day as we were wandering about the city, we stumbled upon this little absintherie.
Ben decided we must go inside, and he promptly ordered the Tasting Plate.
Yep. That’s four shots of absinthe. Plus an absinthe beer.
The first shot went down hard.
But by the end, he was feeling pretty good. 🙂
I kept waiting for the drunkenness to slam into him, but Ben took it like a champ and got, at most, heavily tipsy. I guess he’d had plenty of training in Germany and Austria!
Other fun
One night, we went to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet at the Prague Opera House. We were underdressed and almost late – luckily, we made it just in time! It was a spellbinding performance. So, so wonderful!
Prague is usually quite reasonable price-wise, but since it’s such a popular New Year’s Eve destination, hotel prices skyrocket around the end of December. We decided to economize by staying in a dorm-style hostel, where we shared a room with six other people. Let’s just say, there are a lot of very inconsiderate people in the world. It wasn’t the worst experience ever, but we wouldn’t do it again.
Sometimes after a long day of doing absinthe shots sight-seeing in the cold, you just want to go back to your room and watch TV in bed, which is not exactly possible in this type of room. So we had to find creative ways to entertain ourselves until bedtime. Once, that meant playing Scrabble in the common room. It was actually pretty fun to see how much the scoring changes when you use Czech letters. 🙂
On our way to watch fireworks on New Year’s Eve, we passed the Lennon Wall. It’s completely filled with love-, hope-, and peace-centric graffiti. Such a wonderful thing to see in this politically tumultuous city.
Oh, is that a Harry Potter quote?
❤
Fireworks!
Finally, the real star of the show – New Year’s Eve fireworks! We bought some champagne and went to a grassy park right near the river to watch. And it was incredible! There were so many millions of people out, singing, dancing, and having a great time. Fireworks were exploding around us for hours. And then, right at midnight, all the boats in the river blew their horns at once. I guess that’s Prague’s version of the ball dropping? We kissed, cheered, drank champagne, and then I shot this little video.
Of course it was better in person, so just imagine this awesomeness times about 20. 🙂 We hung around the city and strolled the glass and confetti-strewn streets for a couple hours, enjoying the occasional independent fireworks show. When we finally went to bed, I was so happy. A bucket list item complete: New Year’s Eve in Prague with my favorite person, and one of the most exhilarating nights of my life.
Happy New Year! 🙂
Playful Rooted 
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