Prague, Czech Republic

Even on a rainy day Prague is one of the most stunning cities I have ever seen. I walked along the cobblestone admiring my surroundings while my cheap cloth shoes busied themselves with absorbing the standing water like a sponge. Every building seemed royal to me, but not in a frigid and untouchable way like when you walk into a house with white walls, white carpet, and white cloth everything. Royal in the way of summer palaces, that are warm and inviting while still holding their majestic ambiance. For this reason, and for the fact that everything is painted with pastels I’ve decided this was the perfect city to spend welcoming in the warmth with the festivities surrounding Easter. 

Flying in from the grey stone, red-lighted city of Amsterdam, the calming beauty of Prague was a welcome change of scenery. Our hostel situation was ideal and only a short 2-minute walk from the iconic St. Charles Bridge, which connects Old Town Square to Prague Castle. The bridge is lined with detailed statues of various saints. As I was walking across the St. Charles under the questionable protection of my 2-euro umbrella, I felt as though the men would hop off their pedestals at any moment and walk the rest of the bridge with me, each telling me their stories. The statues all had such a character about them and as we know all saints have a past so I’m positive every word would be captivating.

As I mentioned crossing this historic bridge leads you into Old Town Square where the buildings I described above reside. The colors brought delight and timeworn memories, I felt as though the buildings were painted with the type of chalk I drew on the sidewalk with when I was younger. The varying shades held subtle tones but nothing overwhelming or competing with the hues around it.

As the rain continued to fall down on the city, Taylor and I decided to do what all experienced travelers would do in this situation-find the nearest cafe and eat some apple strudel…”extra whipped cream please, waiter”. An Italian couple across at the table next to us kept throwing glances our way and soon enough they started a conversation in a mix of broken English and Italian, we did our best to communicate with them. I am always humbled by the experience of not being able to communicate. While I speak Spanish, and English, which is more than most native born Americans can say, every time I’m unable to converse with someone it gives me the craving to learn another language.

It may seem crazy but sometimes I equivocate learning a new language to a healthy food.  You know its good for you, you know you really should do it, and sometimes the experience is even enjoyable, but other times you hate it and want to indulge in what’s comfortable. I like to think everything in moderation applies here, but I must say there is no better feeling than expressing your feelings fluently in another language. To be able to speak a second, third or a fourth language gives you a better perspective on the world around you. It is also an incredibly humbling you experience helping you relate to a broader spectrum of people for example the difficulty to immigrants, where learning the native language of the country they moved to is not optional, but more or less mandatory. Its an interesting concept to let your thoughts create a web around.

After struggling through a 10 minute conversation in Spanish/Italian/English we said our goodbyes to the kind couple, and left the restaurant.  The rain had let up but my thoughts around the idea of being trilingual, and my craving to not only speak, but communicate with the Italian couple were still falling around my head. As I continued to think we made our way to the John Lennon Wall. The wall symbolizes world peace represented by the face of the pacifist John Lennon. After his death the landmark gained even more popularity in the Czech Republic and throughout the world. The bright spray paint and words written in sharpie fill the wall and tell stories of the importance of music, or the terror of weapons. Above all of the chaos is the handsome face of John Lennon, looking calm as the portions of the wall overlap and rewrite each other’s stories. Pacifism by definition is the belief that war and violence are unjustifiable and that all disagreements should be settled in a peaceful way, but how is it possible to resolve anything when everyone in the world is speaking a different language? We seem to think the only option is action. You don’t need to learn Spanish, German, French, Arabic, or English to live in harmony. In my opinion as long as you speak the language of acceptance and tolerance with a kind and merciful voice the rest is just, for lack of a better word, gibberish.

Thank you, Prague, for being the most wonderfully pastel washed city I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I wish I could stay, but Spain is calling.


Same Article Published Here: RealTalk