Prague 5 Years Later

If you have been following me for a while, you may recall that I have already been to Prague! Writing this is such a crazy feeling. I was typing about the same city almost 5 years ago from a different laptop in a different country. Now, I have to be honest. I was lazy and didn't finish my post until I had returned to America, but I'm determined to do it differently this time.

The only reason I ever had to go here was to visit one of my closest friends, Alex. We've been through a lot together and he still remains a really great long-distance friend. So so much has happened since we last saw each other in London before my cousin's wedding. It's his final year of uni and he even studied abroad for a whole year in Berlin last year. There was sooo much to catch up on, but we always end up back at "remember when" and recount out days at MMLA.

Honestly, my reason for returning hasn't changed much since the first time, but I knew I wanted to actually see some sights this time. This was made much easier because one of his friends from Warwick was visiting at the same time.

It wouldn't have been an Alex and Casey exchange without something going wrong, but thankfully we got that out of the way right at the beginning. I decided to get an overnight bus for time and cost-efficiency. I got to the place early because I was volunteering at a TedX event just across the street. However, I didn't find the bus lot until about 5 minutes before the bus came because there was no signage. My bus was late, so I knew I had time, but as it started getting closer and I didn't see any buses, I was starting to worry. I finally asked a bus driver, who pointed me to the area behind the regular bus station. Lo and behold, TONS of buses were there and I was terrified I missed my bus.

I immediately asked around and the girls didn't speak much English, but I tried using brief, simple language. When I asked if it had come yet, she said yes, but I saw that she had the same bus on her phone. I kept trying to reword the question and I was getting really scared, but then the bus pulled in and she pointed to it saying, "there!" All of my worries washed away and I knew I could rest easy. I got the "premium" seat with more leg room and was lucky enough not to have anyone next to me.

When I woke up, I was stunned by the beautiful surroundings. As we approached the first stop, I looked at Apple Maps and saw that it was in a more central area, so I decided to get off there instead of my planned stop at the end of the line. It was 6:30 AM, so I figured it would be easier to find places for me to stay in the city. At first, I thought the building was just nice and pretty, but small. There was also an unexpected sign of Woodrow Wilson:

I really had to pee and looked around for signs. Soon enough, I found signs pointed to the actual train station and headed over to explore. I was astounded by this awesome LEGO set that was an exact model of the station!

After two failed attempts at finding a bathroom (both out of order), I settled on getting breakfast somewhere else and using the bathroom there. As I circled around the place, I browsed my breakfast options. I started going on my phone as I was stalling making my decision, and then I saw it.

"Where are you?"

Oh my god. I scrolled up to see that he said he would pick me up. Whoopsiesss...

He was so nice and said he'd still come to me, so I told him to meet outside the cafe I was already standing at, so that made my breakfast decision easy.

I got my breakfast and then turned around to see him standing at a pillar where I took the picture he was staring at to try and find me. Now we could chill at his home until things started to open up, and, most importantly, I could finally pee.

When we finally got close to his home, we stopped at the Tesco Express. There were tons of unique things from bottled milk to cheesy breakfast pastries.

We hung out for a while and I convinced him to go to the Prague castle with me this time. I may or may not have had to pay for his ticket, but it was so worth it. We also got to skip the ridiculous ticket line because he can speak Czech and an employee told him about the other office that was completely empty.

One of the churches even had electronic candles. I guess it's better because they're reusable and don't emit smoke?

In one room, the flag was hung across the ceiling and Alex asked me which way the flag went. It was like someone asking which letter had which color in the Google logo. You could tell when it was really off, but it was very easy to second-guess yourself. It wasn't long before Alex told me that Czech kids are taught blood is heavier than foam, so that's why white is on top of red.

There was an especially cool building with armor and a dungeon, of course. I got some cool postcards as well to add to my wall.

Update: here's my postcard wall now that I've moved back to Chicago!

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On our way home, we stopped at our fav place to eat, Bageterie Boulevard. We both got the meal that comes with their fried potato wedges and tartar sauce and iced tea.

The last time I was in Prague, I got Bageterie Boulevard on my own because it was familiar, convenient, and sooooo tasty. I never would have thought of pairing potatoes and tartar sauce together.

I got the roast beef with horseradish, just like last time. Some things really don't change :)

At this point, I'm ready to take a fat nap. Honestly, we both are. We headed back to his place and I immediately changed into some comfy clothes. His friend across the hall and uni friend came over while I laid in bed on my phone for a while.

I came out from the room and chatted with his friends, who were a little not PC, but also chill. We all went out to eat at a mall and I got Indian food while the other guys got burgers and stuff.

Then, we went out to drink and couldn't find places to go that weren't totally packed. Eventually, we met up with a Czech girl who graduated from their uni and she was really sweet. She saved us a table and it was nice to finally sit down after all that working. She also set me up with a friend living in Luxembourg, so I'm really excited to meet someone my own age!

It was a really fun night and I'm so glad I got to go out with Alex and his friends while I was here. It's really cool to get a glimpse of his life. Last time it was either just us doing something or we would both go off and do our own things, so I was really happy to meet people from home and from uni.