Living In Prague: Gardens, Parks, and Chocolate

My study abroad journey here in Prague as already reached its 5th week! My time here continues to improve each week as I discover something new not only about the city but myself.

Here's a quick recap of some of the places I've seen:

Every castle must have it's gardens, and the "Gardens Below the Castle" do just the job. Full of a unique arrangement of flowers, stone staircases, and wooden arches. It's a unique and quiet place to escape from the mass of tourists walking throughout the castle grounds. 

I escorted one of my roommates on a mini adventure to retrieve a package from DHL. After a few metro stops and a twenty minute bus ride later, we were dropped off on the side of the highway out in the middle of farm country. To our right was the DHL warehouse where we walked in and picked up here package. Simple as that. 

Three of my roommates and I went to a local wine festival. My lesson of the day was learning about Burcak. A young wine only available for a few weeks in September- according to one article it's deemed the "Most Dangerous Beverage in Prague" because of it's slow fermentation process that continues on after you drink it...But besides the loads and loads of people, it was nice to walk among the locals and observe the culture that is wine festivals. 

One of the more interesting classes I'm taking here is Prague Art and Architecture because every week we go out and walk around Prague to actually see examples of Prague's unique art and architecture. Our most recent excursion took us to Old Town Square where we got to visit the Church of Our Lady before Tyn. Tucked away behind the merchant builidngs, it's an interesting church with a lot of large, baroque type alters inside. 

It's kind of difficult to get into an exercise routine abroad. Luckily, I have this large park right next to my apartment building full of paths and more importantly, hills!  Several of the paths lead through the Hunger Wall and this one particular path surprised me with a view of St. Vitus Cathedral  perfectly centered through the stone frame. 

My hike led me up and through the hunger wall, and then down and around until finally I emerged through an opening only to find this view.

 The final destination of my hike was Strahov Monastery. I don't know a whole lot about it but it was mentioned in my guidebook so I knew I had to see it eventually. 

The doors here are amazing. They are all different in some way and it never gets boring to look at. I saw this cool-looking door next to a pink wall as I walked through the castle district. 

Caught a street performer taking a smoke break between acts. 

Old Town isn't complete without a huge blow up Campbell's soup can- a promotion for the Andy Warhol exhibit right up the yellow carpet.

Not only are the doors all different but the building exteriors vary as well. It's all very fascinating. 

We visited the Chocolate Museum and couldn't not have a taste test. Two of us got chocolate covered strawberries while the other two got chocolate covered apples. Delicious.

Another great street corner.

Ended the day with a walk through Kampa park to a failed bar-b-que hosted by our lovely university. 

Then there's me, feeling quite stylish. 

Prague is beginning to steal my heart. I love walking around and discovering all the cool little places, seeing the interesting building facades, and the nice weather helps too. I can't wait to see more!