Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I was in Prague!

I spent a summer studying in Prague in undergrad so it was a memory filled reunion for me and an intro to Prague for Ryan. Ryan and I were dating at the time I studied here so he heard lots about the country but had never seen it. He has also pestered me for 10 years for not taking many pictures of my dorm, classroom, or campus. 🙂 So… it was very fun to show him where I was in person!

There are definitely still examples of the country not being quite as developed. For example, the road from Vienna to Prague is primarily a 2 lane road… as there would have been no ability for Czechs to be able to travel outside the borders to Austria.

However, there are less and less of these examples now that two decades have passed without communism and the Czech has joined the EU. It was fascinating to see the advancement the country has made! Coming into the city, we saw new malls, housing developments, and major company buildings (particularly IT-based companies such as HP, Atos, and Microsoft). I also noticed many of the buildings had been cleaned and repainted.

We kicked off our time in Prague with a visit to the campus where I studied. We had lunch at the campus restaurant where I ate lunch each day, saw the dorm where I lived, and walked past the classroom we used. It was so fun to see it again!

This is the phone booth I called Ryan and my family over the summer!

This used to be a cinder track – they got an upgrade!

After visiting campus we headed downtown, and I took Ryan through all the typical Prague sites. We saw St. Wenceslas Square with its Horse Statue, which is a frequent meeting point and the site of Czech student Jan Palach burning himself to death in 1969 to protest Soviet occupation of his country. We then walked through the Old Town (an area filled both with lots of historical sites and tourists!), the Jewish Quarter, and an area with my favorite view of Prague Castle.

Jewish Cemetary

We also had a wonderful end to the day with one of Ryan’s friends from high school Church youth group. She is now a missionary in the Czech Republic and teaches English classes. We were able to meet up for dinner and had a wonderful time! It was so interesting to hear about the local culture, her work, and the challenges of working in a country that is <1% Christian. This was also Emily's first time meeting Stacy. Ryan had his first taste of traditional Czech food (Emily was never a big fan ;)), and we had such a wonderful time with Stacy! Thank you so much Stacy!

Our hotel had a fun program in which a hotel staff member would go for a run through the city and explain the history and culture of various areas you passed so I started off the next morning with a run. It was a lot of fun (and Ryan was happy I had another group for running so he could sleep in ;))!

We spent the rest of the morning exploring Prague Castle before heading to what is called the "Dancing House" for lunch.

The Dancing House was designed by Frank Gehry and has a beautiful view of the skyline. We had actually decided to eat lunch here because it allows you to go to a private observation deck on top of the building for free (after you pay for lunch…haha). Prague is a very beautiful city from above, with red roofs throughout the city and the historical buildings preserved. Since Prague and the rest Czechoslovakia were quickly taken by Hitler after the Sudetenland was ceded and the city avoided most of the airstrikes in WWII, architecture from multiple centuries remains intact today.

We finished off the day by visiting Vysehard, an old fort for the city that overlooks the river (thanks for the reco Stacy!), before going up Petrin Hill. Petrin Hill has an mini “Eiffel Tower” on top of a hill over the city. We went up at sunset and enjoyed a beautiful view! We finished off the night with dinner on Petrin Hill followed by a walk back to the hotel across the famous Charles Bridge, one of the most popular areas in Prague.