Prague

My ancestry is predominately Czech and so I was abnormally excited about visiting Prague and the Czech Republic. I was not disappointed as this was one of my favorite European cities I've ever visited! Driving in from Dresden you pass many rolling fields of wheat, barley, and canola which immediately reminded me of my home state of North Dakota. Coming into Prague, "The city of 100 spires," you are immediately taken aback by the beauty of the city sitting on the Vltava River.
 

My second reminder of home came immediately upon checking into my hotel room when they knew how to correctly pronounce my last name, which has yet to happen once this whole trip. Speaking of my last name, I had a Czech tour guide who told me that my last name translates almost directly to "little Paul" meaning that I probably had a great, great, great, few more greats, grandpa named Paul who was a small guy! On a completely unrelated note, my tour guide has probably led one of the craziest lives of anyone I've ever met. He is an ultramarathoner who has ridden bicycle from Denmark to Morocco and has ran from Prague to London for the London Olympics (he ran approximately 26 miles a day every day)! Just thought I should mention this crazy guy.

I only spent 2 days in Prague but I feel like I could have spent weeks wandering the picturesque streets of Prague's Old Town. The first day was spent doing exactly that, followed by a dinner and medieval kind of show. The dinner was held in an underground cave-looking place where the only light was a few candles on the tables so I'm not really sure what I ate for the entire 5 course dinner (although the soup that I couldn't see was fantastic). Throughout the meal I got my first introduction to Czech beer as they just kept bringing out pint after pint of it.

Many people may think of Germany as the beer capital of the world, but actually the Czech Republic drinks more beer per capita than any country and they have had an enormous impact on the history of beer in the world. To learn more about this magical drink, I signed up for a Czech beer tasting where I got to try 7 different Czech beers and learned more about beer than I can write here, but here's a couple of highlights. The first pilsner style beer (so the first golden colored beer, thus the first beer that wasn't dark) was brewed here and now the majority of the world's beer is this color, thus we have the Czechs to thank for the beer that many of us know and love. There is also a beer named Budweiser here that is not the same company as the American brand many of us are familiar with. In 1876, Anheuser Busch began brewing a beer, Budweiser, in America using a technique developed in the town of Budweis in the modern day Czech Republic. However, a Czech brewer was also doing that and the beer there was named Budweiser as well. This led to one of the longest running legal battles in history for the rights to the name Budwesier which has been going on since 1907 and is still going on today. Beer in the Czech Republic is such an important staple, that many do not even consider it alcohol, but rather a soft drink and it is not uncommon to see a local having a beer at 10am or a father giving his 12 year old son a small glass with dinner.

Don't get me wrong, Prague has plenty to offer besides beer, I just focused on it due to it being such a large part of their culture. Other highlights of my visit to Prague include a trip to Prague's Castle Hill which dates back to the 9th century and offers some fantastic views of the city. To get to the castle, you have to cross over the famously beautiful Charles Bridge which unfortunately now is covered with street vendors. 

Another popular way of seeing the city is from the water, so I cruised around in a little paddleboat for awhile before going back to wandering the streets of Prague.

While wandering the streets of Prague, it is impossible not to run into a Trdelník stand. Trdelník, also known as a chimney cake, is a traditional Czech street food made of dough wrapped around a stick, grilled, and then topped with cinnamon and sugar along with other various toppings. It is pretty damn good.

Lastly, no trip is complete without finding a random panda in the central town square.