Berlin & Prague pt. 2

Time for round two of the epic Berlin/Prague adventure! Ready - Go!

Prague
This is an amazing city, there are so many amazing sights and beautiful buildings everywhere you look. My camera is going to need a break after this. Luckily Prague was slightly warmer than Berlin and I didn't have to wear 5 layers at all times. Prague is a huge city which makes it hard to get from one place to the other unless you use public transportation, which is plentiful. We spent lots of time walking around the squares and streets and enjoying the excellent atmosphere. This is definitely a city I'd like to visit again soon. Here's the day by day rundown.

Wednesday
Though we arrived rather late in the evening (around 10 PM) we got to see the area around our hotel, called Andel (Angel in Czech) and went in search of some food.

Thursday
We were up very early for a quick breakfast and then a meeting with Juraj Chmiel, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs and his staff. We learned about the Czech position in the EU and their actions as a member state. The Czech Republic President (Vaclav Klaus) is a professed "Euro-skeptic" or one who doesn't believe in European Integration, which as far as we can tell is not the opinion held by most Czechs. 
After an excellent (and cheap) authentic Czech lunch, we headed off to the Institute for International Relations, a local "think-tank" on foreign policy. After that meeting we went on a city walk across the Charles Bridge, through the main squares, saw several churches, towers and other exciting landmarks. I accidentally dropped my camera on the Charles Bridge, but managed to fix it with a little help from my Leatherman (yay Leatherman, yay Canon - you both make excellent products).
That evening (after a nap) several of us ventured out into town in search of authentic Czech food and good beer. We found a place downtown with Goulash and Pilsner - a perfect combo. Fun fact: Pilsner beer was invented in Pilzen, Czech Republic, and the Czech Republic is also home to the original Budweiser (Much better than the "All American Lager").
Friday
Another early morning with excellent European style breakfast (Cold meats, cheeses, cereals, coffee, fruits and vegetables). After breakfast we headed for a meeting with Martin Ehl, the Editor for the Czech economic daily. We had an interesting conversation about the views of the EU by the Czech people (as opposed to government leaders).
That afternoon we went and did some more sight seeing up the the Palace overlooking the city and went inside the big cathedral on top of the hill. Prague has more churches per capita than most cities, but the Czech Republic is the most atheist country in the world.
That evening included a debreifing for the trip, dinner and then a trip to the largest nightclub in Central Europe, a giant 5 story club with at least 10 bars and tons of music. We danced until the wee hours of the morning, and hit on all the pretty Czech girls.
Saturday
The group stumbled downstairs for some breakfast, checked out of our rooms and headed out into the city for our final day in Prague. We strolled around the city streets and into shops during the afternoon. The weather was beautiful and we took full advantage by taking tons of pictures with blue sky for a background.
Unfortunately it was time for us to leave. So we headed to the train station and took an overnight train back to Freiburg, arriving about 7 AM on Sunday morning.

General Impressions
Prague is an amazing city, there is so much to see and it would be hard to see all of it in a month, much less 3 days. The opinions I had about the city and warnings I'd heard from others about the city turned out the be largely false (I didn't even get pick-pocketed!). It was really nice to see a developing country of the EU and their outlook on their position as a European state in comparison with the larger, more powerful Germany. The people we met and the places we saw were awesome, and there are so many reasons I would like to return as soon as I have a chance.

That does it for our first Field Study trip around Europe and now we're on to normal classes and school for the next 4 weeks. It's hard to believe that it's already February, and that we're already almost a month through the program. I've made some excellent friends and hope to continue to grow those in the near future.

Until next time - Evan