View of Old Town Square from the Astronomical Clock Tower

It's a rainy Sunday morning and "I want my 80's" music is playing on MTV. There's really no better time than now to sip on tea and share my Prague trip with you guys. I did question if blogging about it was even necessary since you guys followed me IRL on Insta Stories and Snapchat. But then again those videos were fleeting and finer details went amiss when only shown mere seconds of a much grander experience. Besides, this gives me the opportunity to relive my trip on URL.

I had no expectations for this trip. It was a one-off opportunity that I was invited to go and I jumped on it. Prior to the invitation, I had known Czech Republic to be one of the former Eastern Bloc countries that was occupied by Germany in WWII, and somewhere deep in the back of my mind I vaguely knew that it was a country with Jewish and Nazi history; that was about the extent of it. I also knew that the nation's capital of Prague was well preserved and the thought of seeing an old world in the new must be visually magical... And of course, the country's love for beer.

Old Town Square, the ultimate tourist destination in Prague and only within a few minutes of walking from where I was staying at on Dlouhá street. While, I quickly learned that the street that I was staying on was a crazy party street till about 4-5AM, I didn't let that information affect my overall experience of the neighborhood. In fact, it was a convenient area that didn't require one to stray far before you would come across a historical site, landmark, or a cute cafe. Perhaps because back at home in NYC I don't live in the heart of it all nor a stone's throw from cafes, I found my morning routine of breakfast around the corner then off to one of the many history classes that I would be taking that day, very comfortable and endearing – sans late night obnoxious drunks yelling down the street chain smoking of course.

There were several places in Prague that provide a panoramic view of the city from above and it's worth the trek, climb, or fear of heights to get there (Astronomical Clock Tower, Charles Bridge Tower, Prague Castle, and Petřín Lookout Tower – I've been to all). From above you can not only get a glimpse of what the old world may have looked like, but what it may have also felt like to those in power living above everyone else. This feeling was most prominent at the Prague Castle. With it's strategically geographical location on a hilltop that overlooks the city, I couldn't help but to imagine a King looking out to his kingdom via his window or from the balcony pondering about matters at hand or even seeing the city burning (maybe that's a bit too close to Game Of Thrones, but you get the gist). Having the juxtaposition of summer and bright sunshine in-conjunction with Bohemian and Moravian Gothic architecture that was beautifully looming throughout the city, allowed the past to be even more apparent to my eyes.

My favorite architectural building was the St. Vitus Cathedral in the Prague Castle district. Even though the cathedral was completed in 1929, nearly 600 years after it begun, it is considered a Gothic masterpiece. As I walked up from the courtyard towards the western facade, my stomach dropped and heart blossomed as I looked upon the most romantically haunting structure I had ever seen in person. You sometimes think, I've seen one epic cathedral, so I've pretty much seen them all... Oh no my friends, not this one. This was like a marriage of H.R. Giger's monochromatic, alien-esque, sci-fi landscapes with Tim Burton's dark goth – it was unworldly, beautifully nightmarish, and all of it made my heart sing while simultaneously making my head spin – the photos below and online will never do it justice.

St. Vitus Catherdral's western facade facing the courtyard

Main tower and Golden Gate of the Cathedral

Prague isn't just about Old Town Square and all of it's historical landmarks. One of my favourite neighborhoods was a hipster-ish district called Vrsovice. There, I discovered the cool Krymská and Sevastopolska street – a slope-y, quirky street that had old buildings in various colours and a cafe (Café Sladkovsky) that Wes Anderson would have approved of. As smitten as I had become of Prague's history and all of it's old worldly-ness, I was equally charmed by it's modern vibe. The seemingly endless options of "must visit" cafes and bakeries around Vinohrady, Vrsovice, Karlin, and Letná neighborhoods to delicious specialty cocktails that were cleverly presented at my favorites Hemingway Bar and L'Fleur, this city harmonized the old and new seamlessly to create a place worth visiting and revisiting.

Fun fact: Pilsner beer originated in the town of Plzeň (Pilsen).