#// lennon is literally the second photo hahaha

[prague-lematic]

MER!

The time has finally come! I met Meredith and Matt at this little burger and beer joint by the center of old town square. We then walked towards the castle only to realize there was a huge czech bike race. So we watched as people came rolling down the long stairs leading up to the castle and up and over a wooden structure. It was bizarre. Then we wandered later that evening after having choir to get a drink in old town. We ended up finding the coolest rooftop terrace looking over all of old town and almost being close enough to touch the famous clock tower. We sat and got XL Mojitos which were delicious and Matt got a beer or something I’m sure haha. Then that was it for that day. We headed back and got some rest for the next big day ahead of us. It started with all the upcoming seniors of the group: Brittney, Kellie, Mackenzie, Becca, myself and Matt all running through the heat to get to the church right in the middle of Old Town: St. Nicholas Church to join a choir Dr. Foster knew the director of to join them to sing Dan Forrest’s Requiem which was near and dear to our hearts. We all sang with smiles and I know for myself, a fear teary eyed moments as the orchestra beautifully took off. It was such a magical place to sing a piece that we started with three years prior to at high point university. absolutely magical. Our performance wasn’t until later so we hurried across the bridge, even with Kellie’s awful (broken?) leg (Matt ended up carrying her across Charles in his dress shoes hahah) to sing for the Bohemian Bagel ladies. We ate there like every day so we sang “Java Jive” to them all about coffee and more. Dr. Foster said they cried. Everyone else in the restaurant looked pretty confused hahaha. but still worth running and sweating. Meredith was a lifesaver and got me a bagel to go as we hurried back to St. Nicholas to change into concert attire and perform a concert for all kinds of tourists and music enthusiasts or just to get out of the boiling sun that day. Afterwards, Matt, myself and Meredith found our way to the Prague Botanical Gardens which was absolutely green and stunning and peaceful. The skies were blue, the sun was out and the grass was greener than green. We parked our butts under some trees for the more pale and let Meredith sun bathe as we all talked about life and babies and weird stuff. The cutest baby crawled over to us and I don’t think I had ever been as happy as I was in that moment. That night, we brought Meredith to the jazz club which little did I know would be my last time. That was one of the first places I ever went. Bittersweet for sure. After listening to some good jazz, we headed out with Kellie and Matt to go to Nebe and get a fish bowl YUM. The pub crawl we wanted to go on at some point happened to be there so we got a flyer and watched it all go down around us as we sipped quietly and then danced and shouted to some Dancing Queen by Abba. MY FAVORITE. The next morning we had to sing near the Prague Castle which was pretty warm and some people felt faint but still a beautiful experience even though the lines to get in were crazy long. Meredith slept in so I ran back to grab her to get food with Matt and I. We got paninis and some got their coffee fix at a small little cafe right near the center then we lathered on some sun screen and got on a paddle boat to paddle around the Vltava River. It was such a beautiful day and there were swan paddle boats and car paddle boats and lawn chair paddle boats it was sweet. We got a normal one but it still felt nice and I let my feet dangle over at times to catch the cool, dirty water. We paddled up to a bar on the side and each got a drink to take with us as we paddled around. After taking some pictures, we almost got run over by the ferry.... you think we’re kidding but i’m being serious. The guy honked and was only a few feet away when Matt and I paddled like crazy to the other side- as our steering wheel literally broke. It was traumatic but awesome. A guy on another paddle boat was laughing watching it all and all I can remember is never realizing my legs could even move that fast. That night we got italian food down this little ally near the old town square and carb loaded for the Drunken Monkey pub crawl which quickly became our second family hahaha. It was fun! We ended up at this club that looked over Wencesles Square- pretty neat if you ask me. S/O to the British man that made my night just by talking to me- British accents are forever the most charming of all time. We made friends with English girls also and they stayed with us the whole night. Super fun. The next day we sang at a church near the dancing house for our last concert- though the “Road Home” got emotional we all kept it together and ate a big czech meal all together at the Municipal House one last time where the guy played the accordion and sang to us all in czech and then “My Little Sunshine.” Mer and I then split a yummy trdelnik with vanilla inside... so good. then we headed to the metro to go back for a bit. OH I almost forgot I tried Indian food and loved it- Chicken Tiki Masala.... yum I can taste it now. First we checked out some souvenirs though. We went to Roxy that night and met Rowan’s brother and then got a free trdelnik to take with us to walk back to the metro by malostranska. The charles bridge at night never gets old. The next day was a Mer and me day. We headed to Karlstejn, Czech Republic. It was only about an hour away from Prague by train and what a beautiful day we had to hike up to the castle. The town almost didn’t feel real, entirely based around tourism and so so small. It was basically a neighborhood leading up to the castle. That’s all! Meredith and I made friends with a coin vendor right near the castle and he ended up letting us make our own Czech Republic original coins ourselves by banging the big heavy hammer down on to the silver metal and putting it on a string for us. Pretty cool. Once we were done with our hike of a tour around the castle (tons of stairs!!!) we got some food. We accidentally got put on the Czech tour so thank god we had the nicest tour guide. He translated after everything he said to everyone else. Life saver. We learned a bit about the history and more about the infrastructure. There was even a door that you had to steer a wheel around and around to open- we both got to try it. The meal we had was awesome- Meredith finally got some goulash in a bread bowl while I had the best gnocci of all time with like fettucini almost and some chicken and spinach. to die for honestly. That night we met Matt to get some mexican food at Las Adelitas in old town square. The next day, Meredith and I walked around Letenske park with the metronome and popped some champagne and enjoyed the good weather. The open container law in America is really just going to suck. Then we made our way to the Royal Summer Palace/Royal Gardens and marveled at all the beautiful flowers. We made our rounds one last time to the castle and cathedral and then ending at the John Lennon Wall. There was a guy singing “Here Comes the Sun.” Loved it. We got some food right at the Charles Bridge on the bohemian bagel side. I got the yummiest greek salad and Meredith got a huge burger. YUM. Then we walked to the baby statue park and snapped some photos with the babies. We then walked down and across the street to go to the island where I studied a bit some vocab for my english final and Meredith tanned. I peered out every so often at the people paddle boating and laughing and the charles bridge filled with what looked like tiny ants and I couldn’t help but smile. The next day we woke up and Meredith and I grabbed breakfast from “The Art Cafe” in the flora mall/the atrium. It was yummy though not one of the workers could speak good english. Meredith had to catch her outgoing flight as I headed to my last final so it was a sad goodbye but i know i’ll visit her in New York City this summer so it was a see ya later. Thank goodness she visited. She came at the perfect time. Meredith, if you’re reading this: how cool it is to say I got to wander my favorite city with my favorite person. Love you always. Xo