Friday 21 September 2012

Prague

One of the reasons that convinced me that it was time to move overseas was the upcoming federal election and the unavoidable political drama that every American gets sucked into every four years. Kidding! But seriously. I love not having to hear about it 24/7 and you can get your absentee ballot online now like a good citizen.

But really, the fact that I could get to some really interesting places in very little time was the icing on the cake when it came to packing up and moving.

In the same amount of time that it once took me to commute back and forth from Brooklyn to Manhattan, I can now hop a cheap flight and end up someplace kind of crazy.

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Like Prague.

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Thanks to cut rate carriers in high competition, you can book a bare-bones flight to a lot of places in Europe for less than $100. It's not going to be the most comfortable flight of your life, but at least it will be a quick one.

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Prague is a gorgeous city. It's a rarity in the fact that it was not heavily damaged in world wars, so maintains a lot of its medieval architecture. It's also the seat of the Art Nouveau movement. The combination of the two styles was a little mind-blowing. So many ornate facades!

It's an easy city to explore. Most of the sights are clustered along pedestrian streets. This creates a bit of a tourist trap atmosphere, but the streets are so picturesque and fun to get lost in, I found that I didn't really mind.

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The main Old Town Square was filled with tourist and buskers and cafes, and the lovely old Astronomical Clock and ancient churches.

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Walking around the square in the late afternoon and the lighting was just magic.

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Czechoslovakia isn't isn't exactly known for being a culinary mecca.

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It's heavy- lots of meat and potatoes in various forms, and it's one of those places that think you are joking when you say you are a vegetarian. It's kind of telling when the best restaurants rated on trusty TripAdvisor were all Italian, Indian and Thai. No matter, we immersed ourselves in the local cuisine anyway and lived to regret it. Pickled cabbage is the closest thing you'll find to a vegetable, and I ate more pickled cabbage in that week than I have in my entire life.

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