My Switzerland Adventures: Prague, Czech Republic

On the Charles Bridge with the Prague Castle behind me

In mid February, all of the Americans on our team took a trip to Prague. It was somewhere that we all really wanted to go during last season too, so we were really looking forward to this trip. When you think Czech Republic, you don't really think...wow I'm dying to go there, but we heard such great things about Prague. It is a really neat old city with lots of great architecture. Along with my teammates from VFM, there were 2 more American girls that joined us. Emily's friend, Allyssa, who plays soccer in Serbia; and Liz, who plays for another volleyball team in Switzerland; both met up with us once we got to Prague. So, all NINE of us rented an apartment in downtown. Staying in an apartment with 9 girls got a little crazy, but it made for a fun weekend. The sightseeing in Prague was pretty cool. We walked around most of the city, checking out the neat buildings, the sights along the river, churches, and the Prague Castle . Jill, one of my teammates, had just severely hurt her ankle and unfortunately, she was in a huge boot with crutches. We felt badly for her, so we tried to take the metro when we could. Usually when we travel anywhere, its always nice to escape the cold weather of Switzerland. This was not the case in Prague, it was absolutely freezing. But, the cold weather didn't stop us from exploring the old city. The first day, we went and checked out an old fortress and church, walked along the Vltava River, and walked around the old town square before having an early dinner at an authentic Czech restaurant. The next day, we checked out the Orloj, which is an astronomical clock tower in the old town square that dates back to 1410. We watched as the clock struck noon and put on a little show for the big crowd in the main square. There was even a man at the very top of the clock tower playing a horn, it was actually pretty cool. Later, we walked across the Vlatva River on the Charles Bridge, which is lined with many old statues. Even though the walk across the Charles Bridge was so cold, it was really neat and I stopped to take several pictures along the way. We made our way up to the Prague Castle and checked out tons of neat stuff there. Of course, we made sure to mess around with the guards at the entrance. We also hiked up to the top of the St. Vitus Cathedral to get some great views of Prague. Later that evening, we all reserved a dinner cruise on the Vltava River. We had originally thought of this idea so Jill (gimpy), could see some of Prague without having to be on her feet. It wasn't exactly the best "sightseeing" cruise, but we still managed to have a great time. We were by far the youngest, loudest, and most fun group on the boat. And, I'm pretty sure we ate 3/4 of the buffet too, haha. After the river cruise, we all went out for some drinks to put a great ending to our Prague trip. The bar we went to had writing all over the walls, so we decided to leave our mark in Prague and gave it a nice VFM shout out :)