Due to the loud construction workers outside, I woke up early today. My friend from Tulane and Brentwood Katie texted me asking if I was awake and wanted to take a run. We live in the same building so she just knocked on my door and we headed outside. We decided to make our destination the Lennon Wall. She hadn't visited it yet and I was happy to go back and see it again. It was fun running across the bridges and through the small streets as the morning haze began to clear. We took a few detours to elongate our run, but eventually ended up at the Wall. We discovered a quaint little park and also found that wild peacocks roam the parks. Maybe they aren't peacocks? We stumbled upon what appeared to be the parliament building, but neither of us can read Czech so it may have been something else. It looked stately and official and someone yelled at us in Czech because we stepped on the grass. At 11:30, we met in the lobby of our school for a walking tour of Old Town and New Town (both in Prague 1). The tour was led by two of our program managers and was incredibly helpful. They showed us where the post office is, where the pharmacies are, where grocery stores are, etc, etc. As excited as I am to go on a tour that educates us on Prague's history, I was thrilled to have a practical tour. After the tour, the jumbled map of Prague in my head seemed to finally click and I now feel that I have an actual sense of the place. It's an amazing feeling. We stopped for lunch and then ran into H&M so that I could buy a warm winter coat. The weather has been much chillier than I anticipated so I wanted to get a good coat before it got too cold! I took a bunch of friends back to the Wall because they wanted to see it (I like this wall, if you couldn't tell) and we ended up running into a documentary film maker/director. The director was being followed around by a camera crew. The director's name is Josh Fox and his movie Gasland focuses on the damage of fracking in multiple communities in the U.S. One of the kids in our group (a Wesleyan kid, of course) recognized him and Fox's camera crew proceeded to interview us. There's a chance we'll be on the news! We stopped for coffee and meringues on the way back but then decided to head into town and go to a local farmer's market. The produce was all fresh and inexpensive and the experience felt incredibly authentic. On the walk home, I discovered a bunch of different shops that will be useful for the future (produce markets, a pharmacy on our block, etc.) and I'm really starting to feel settled in. I know that I still have so much more of Prague to experience, but finally getting a sense of Prague 1 is a relief.
We successfully cooked dinner (but in reality ordered take out and put it on plates) for our friends for the first time in our new place!
On our way to the Lennon Wall (crossing under The Charles Bridge)
A quiet, but beautiful memorial to 9/11 under the Charles Bridge
The note I left on the Lennon Wall
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