only day three?

well, it's officially my birthday in prague. i had a lovely day today. rain threatened throughout but never came; a fog descended on the evening but deposited nothing but vapor on us which was fortunate for my suede boots. we met in the lobby in the morning after a nice breakfast in the dormitory cafeteria. there was plenty of fruit (although the apples were too soft), pastry, yogurt, bread, meats, and cheeses. quite a variety but all in small amounts appropriate to the size of our group. then we all walked to and boarded the tram to the university, which took us down past the castle and let us off right by a bridge spanning the Charles River. It is necessary to walk across the river but on the other side one is directly confronted with the main building of the University, flanked by the Rudolfinum.

that's the main building of the university

That's the Rudolfinum, with which our main building casually shares the square. It's beautiful-- we had orientation in the cafe.

I didn't intend to capture the Czech gyro-eating man mid-bite, but meant to show the Uni building from afar. The Rudolfinum is on the other side of the square.

After the orientation, at which we were introduced to the other students who are spending a semester abroad at our school, we were given the opportunity to explore the area. The building is about 4 minute walk to the Old Town Square, which is arguably the main tourist attraction. It seems to be the Times Square of the 15th century. I took a walk around the neighborhood with some friends from my group and then went to a bookstore by myself. I couldn't resist purchasing Kundera's Book of Laughter and Forgetting (which was quaintly wrapped up for me in lieu of a bag) before meeting up with some other friends. We walked around for a bit; I bought two shirts at Zara after realizing I had only packed five tee-shirts and feel a bit more secure now.

After exploring the extremely touristy area I sat down for a cappuccino near the square. We were almost against the wall of one of the hallmark buildings in Old Town Square, the Church of Our Lady before Týn. It was beautiful and overwhelming to be amongst so much seemingly-ancient history. 

Church of Our Lady before Týn

We met back up with half of our group to get our Charles University IDs, which means tomorrow I can finally get a transportation pass. The public transit system actually works on the honors system in Prague, and apparently the authorities mostly confront foreigners and ask for proof of purchase of a ticket. One can text a number with a certain code to pay for their ride, but it is much more economical and sensible to have a pass.

We treked in a roundabout way and discovered a cafe which turned out to be only a few minutes' walk from the main building. A few of us got lunch for the cheapest prices I've yet seen (because we were on the road less traveled)-- about 20K, or $1. It was also exceedingly decent-- for a few beers and a potato pancake I owed 100K ($5 for you English majors). 

We returned to the dorm to collect ourselves and I went for a drink later (we were pleasantly lost trying to find "the pub on the steps"-- see below) with a few of the friends that I've made, meeting up with some other people from the program for a beer at the cafe we were exposed to our first evening in town. That place turns out to be open until midnight (or 0000?), which is later than most of the cafes in our neighborhood. 

We climbed many sets of stairs without finding our pub. When we finally reached the alleyway leading to our intended destination, the entrance to the place was covered with a metal grate as well as a mattress, so that potential patrons would be sure not to enter.

The eventual destination was favorable and, elated on our walk home, we broke into a rendition of Queen's "Mama." Six of us really did sound like this, sans piano.

very happy in old town square