I Said Yes! Prague New Years 2016

I know this is a long-awaited post (4 days to be exact), so I'll get straight to it!

December 28th, my best friend in the entire world, the one and only Kaitie Clouston arrived in Ktown to begin what was to be the shortest week in the history of weeks. Naturally, Bruce and I tried to make her as comfortable as possible.

Yes..that's maple syrup...

The first day, we took her out to have some real German cuisine at Spinnrädl where she tried some spätzle and beer. Also, the Christmas market was still up downtown so we wandered around and had her try some glühwein as well! 
I didn't let her rest too much, waking up early the next day to head to Heidelberg with another Bucheon, Korea friend, Angela!

Heidelberg is such a beautiful city, and I LOVE showing it off to people! (So it wont be a surprise when anyone comes to visit...). We wandered around, checked out the castle, saw that our favorite Korean place was closed (threw a fit...just kidding), then met up with Doro and Aaron for some dinner and a few drinks at the market before catching the train back home. 

The next day, December 30th, it was the day of travel! We hopped in the car with Bruce and Ryan to start the journey to our New Years celebration location, Prague! I have to say that this trip was probably the least planned/researched of all my previous trips. I usually have some sort of itinerary for each day with photos, maps, and plan B's. The only things that WERE planned was 1. New Years Eve, because planning anything for a group of 11, especially a holiday, is one of the most difficult things to do the day of. and 2. a Food and drink tour of the city (more on that later!).

When we arrived, we found our apartment, which was a perfect location close to nearly everything in the city. 6 of us would be staying there, which caused it to become the hub of activity and main meeting point for the group. That night we grabbed dinner at a local place around the corner. It was there I realized that being a vegetarian might be interesting. The only dishes served there that didn't include meat were fried cheese and potatoes. So-When in Prague! It didn't taste bad, but I knew it wouldn't be good for the waistline. Kaitie and I decided on an early night that night to prepare for the next day of New Years craziness.

The next day we just planned on exploring the city a bit, including the castle and church on the top of a hill looking over the town. Some of the buildings in the city are so ornate and gorgeous, despite going through some tough times. Others have a super simple, uniform style. 

"Kejdy" and "Braien" with their Starbucks

"Laura stop there for a picture! It looks like Harry Potter!"

Bro Love

"If you come closer, the space behind you gets larger. Move your feet and your body will follow. Don't be worried ladies, I am tied to this contraption."

The church in the castle walls is gorgeous inside, but super crowded so it was difficult to move, let alone take a good photo. Bruce brought out the nice camera for one, but decided against it.

Prague is a super walkable town with tons of stores, bars, and restaurants to look at as you go. The people there are friendly for the most part, barring the Chinese place across the street...(don't ask Ryan).

Dressed to the nines (after making sure we didn't get any Chinese food on our clothes) we walked into town to meet up with the Party Boat Prague pre-gaming party at a club called Coco. We booked this part of the trip a few weeks ago, and I had hoped it would be successful! They guided us from the bar to the boat, where we danced the into the night while floating up and down the river under the bridges. Our large group took over the bottom of the boat, despite everyone upstairs telling us that we were missing the party. We were having our own party enjoying each other's company and taking goofy pictures!

From the boat we were brought to a bus which would take us to the last party of the evening, "Church Club". The bus ride was a party of its own, with people belting out popular tunes ranging from Queen to Taylor Swift. While mostly everyone participated, a few (including the bus driver) weren't overly enthusiastic about the karaoke session. We danced the night away and counted down together as snow fell outside, ending a fabulous evening with amazing people! 

The next day, January 1st, 2016, the group woke up and started planning for the day. Kaitie brought up the Prague Library, which was supposed to be gorgeous, and after some research, turned out to be right across the street from where we would get breakfast that morning (this turns out to be an important piece of information for later). The breakfast was delicious, for anyone traveling to Prague! Check it out- La Bottega di Finestra. 

After eating our full, Kaitie suggests that the girls go and do some shopping while the boys check out the library and book us a tour for our group (another important piece of info, if you're keeping track). So, blissfully unaware of any secretive planning, the girls and I head off to wander around town once more.


We walked to the Jewish quarter and met the boys there after their side adventure to learn that we would have a tour of the library all together at 5:30. Fabulous!
The library, called the Klementinum, is one of the most beautiful libraries in the world (if I do say so myself). Photography is not allowed once you get in, so I'll put one up from the internets--

We get to the library and meet our guide, an elderly man, who began talking to us about the history of the library and what we would be seeing on the tour, including the astrological tower.

As we walk next to the library doors, the lights are off and we are listening to the guide talk about the old clocks that we will see in the room. He turns on the lights as he talks, and as soon as he does he loses the attention of every single one of us on the tour. I was in awe and just how beautiful the room was. Despite half of the books not being there due to the process of digitalization, the room was still magnificent! The globes and clocks, our tour guide said, would soon be online in an interactive 3D format to get a closer look. 

Once he completed his speech about the room, I moved to the back to let some others get a closer look (as I had sprinted to the front to see it first haha). I heard Bruce call me back to "check something out" and wondered what I had missed. When I walked back in the guide is standing there holding a large blue book, which doesn't look as old as the others by hundreds of years. As soon as he says "Hmm...what could this be?...I think it is for you!" I knew what was about to happen. As I take the book, I turn and find Bruce there on one knee waiting for me. Opening the book I see that he had cut out a square in the middle, the perfect size as a ring box. My hands were shaking as I handed them to him, and he opens the box to show me the most beautiful ring. Asking me to marry him, I of course said yes (as you all have probably seen on Facebook). Looking up to see the entire group of friends (and strangers) cheering and crying (Kaitie), I'm not sure if I have ever been so happy in my entire life. Endless hugging and crying and "congratulations" later, we realize we still have the rest of the tour to go! I can honestly tell you all that I have absolutely no idea what the man said for the rest of the tour. If you are interested, you should definitely book one for yourself!

At the top of some very precariously steep stairs, we reach the look out on the top of the tower which overlooks the entire town, lit up for the night. As we walk around we hear our friend call to us saying that there are fireworks, and sure enough, we look out over the city and watch fireworks explode in the sky. Bruce claims he planned this part (I'll give it to him). I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful evening with the man I love and my closest friends there!

[Apologies for the blurry pictures! Flash wasn't allowed...you get the gist though!]

 "She said yes!"

At least the library looks great!

Steadying my hand from the shaking

When we made it back down to street level, Jon and Julie pull out the champagne and we begin the celebrations! How better to celebrate then with an arabic feast for dinner?

How do you one-up a day like that?? I still get butterflies even just thinking about it. A completely wonderful surprise <3

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The next morning, waking up and pinching myself to check that last night actually happened (it did!), we had a relaxing breakfast in before Kaitie, Bruce and I went off to do something that is a top recommendation for when you're in Prague, the Beer Spa. When you go in, you change into a bathing suit (if you want), then get into a large wooden tub, and soak in the hops and warm water. It is apparently supposed to be really good for your skin, nails, and hair. Kaitie and I opted to keep our hair out, because we had the food tour right afterwards. Between the tubs is a beer draft where you can self-serve the local beer, Bernard, into a giant glass.

After 20 minutes soaking in a tub, we move to a small room with heated beds, pop music, and disco lights...we didn't think those things went together either, but oh well! It was a very relaxing afternoon, and after 30 minutes of letting the hops soak into our skin we definitely noticed that it was much smoother! As we left, they gave us a certificate of completion ( to be framed and hung next to my diplomas), and a free beer!

That evening we met as an entire group for the Taste of Prague Food Tour with our tour guide, Jan. He began with a quick, but insightful history lesson about Prague cuisine and its influences, and then we started the tour with a shot. as you do.

Luckily, after the tour, you get an email summarizing the entire tour, where we went, and what we ate! Less work for me--here you go!
"To sum up where we went today:

1. We followed with meatloaf on bread and sausage with mustard on bread at the Nase maso butcher shop."

Jan and his wife do an incredible job at planning for any dietary differences and personal preferences of the group. So I had a little tray of my own! One was a grape salad with goat cheese, and the other was some cheese and egg.

"2. We had beers, Kofola, pork schnitzel or fried cheese with potato salad, Prague ham with horseradish cream or mushroom goulash, at the Lokal pub. "

"3. We continued with wines at the Vinograf wine bar."

4. We went to the Cestr steak house in the old Communist Federal Parliament building. We had beef knuckle with mushrooms, beef golden muscle in goose fat, slow-grilled chicken with truffle stuffing and sauce, potato mash boiled in milk, potato dumplings, carrots, spinach, escargots in mushrooms with Sabayonne mousse, pickled fried carp with dill and shallots, and beer ice-cream! You also had the hard-boiled eggs with dill sauce, eggplant with spinach sauce, zucchini with red pepper and tomato sauce, and the sheep cheese salad."

"5. We finished with Becherovka shots and four Czech sweets: “rakvicka” (sweet “little coffin” with whipped cream), apple strudel, “venecek” (chaux pastry with vanilla cream and sugar glaze) and “laskonka” (two coconut merengues with a rich chocolate ganache filling) at Cafe Savoy. "

We couldn't decide whether we liked that we ended our incredible trip with the tour or whether it would have been better to start the trip with it, because he gave us so many cool ideas and tips! If anyone reads this blog, go to Prague and take the tour!!

That night we said our goodbyes to Jon and Julie, Rachael, and Scott and spent the rest of the evening playing cards before drifting off to sleep in a food coma. I want to thank all of you on the trip who came along and made it that much more special! I couldn't have asked for a better group <3

The next morning, Bruce, Ryan, Kaitie and I took off for home, stopping in Nurnberg for a quick falafel and some Mexican food (weird combo) before getting stuck in a crazy amount of traffic, therefore making us go straight to dinner with Harry, Beate, Tina, Rainer, and the gang! It was a fabulous dinner, but we were definitely zombies (sorry guys!).

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The next day, it was back to work for Bruce, but Kaitie and I still had a day for exploring! I decided we should get one more country checked off her list, and we drove to Wissembourg, France for the day! A quiet but beautiful town we walked around the streets, taking a peak at the pastry shops, cheese stores, and the church, before getting home.

Wedding diet starts tomorrow...

 For Grandad

Kaitie's trip came to an end when the shuttle came for her this morning at 4:20 (oof!). It was such a fast trip, but I'm sooooo glad she made it over here! She made the engagement so special and it was like no time had passed since we were taking over Korea together. I love you so much and hope you get back safely! (Luckily you'll be much more comfortable in BUSINESS CLASS!!).

To my friends and family- I love you all too!! To answer any questions- no, I have no idea where or when the wedding will be haha

Until next time!

German phrase of the post:

"Would you just look at that??""würden Sie nur Blick auf den!"