Eurotrip - Prague, Czechia and Berlin, Germany

And so we found ourselves beginning our very own Eurotrip in earnest. We didn't plan to travel through Central Europe but here we were -- funny how plans can change!

My only preconceptions of Prague had been vaguely informed by Architectural History courses and such high quality cinema as xXx starring Vin Diesel (which Vitali made me watch prior to our visit). Apparently after 15 minutes we stopped watching...

As it pertains to Berlin, I had only heard stories of it being liberal, relaxed, and matter-of-factly weird. Sounds like our kind of place.

Part I: Prague - July 28th to August 2nd

The rest of the night train ride was pretty uneventful. We thought the landscape rolling by at 155km/h looked like Ohio -- very unexciting. We rolled into the station only an hour or so late and found ourselves wandering the main station filled with shops and people in search of a grocery store since google maps showed one in the vicinity. How did we know there was one? We took to downloading the complete offline map of the city while we had wi-fi so we could look things up while out and about. It came in handy, although you can only use it for driving directions; for whatever reason, walking directions don't work.

We eventually found a station map that had a legend indicating there was a "you are here" red dot, but could not find the red dot anywhere on the map. The station was split-level and this was poorly represented. Our confusion only deepened so we gave up trying to find groceries and set about trying to find the metro station which was supposed to be accessible from here.

On the way to following the signs for the metro we found the Billa, and spent a rushed 10 minutes squeezing through hordes of tourists maneuvering with luggage (us included) to grab some essentials. Thus continued our diet of sandwiches, bananas, and yogurt.

We paid for our groceries then found the stairs to the metro and purchased a fare for each of us. We rode all the way across Prague and exited on the west side of the river, near the Prague Castle.

Our room definitely leaned in to a certain aesthetic. It came complete with a foyer! We opened the window and in came floating a song popularly used in American movies to set the scene as "Europe". Interesting. This hotel ended up being perfect as it was only a two minute walk to a tram stop and three minutes to the subway.

We settled in and then headed up to Letna Park to get some sunshine. It involved walking up a Very Steep Hill but it had a nice view across the river.

At the top of the park was a giant metronome, although it wasn't running.

The next morning we went on a walking tour on the west side of the river.

Our first experience with the Prague streetscape. It was about like I had imagined it but also much more interesting and dynamic. Prague, unlike Berlin, had survived WWII relatively unscathed. As a result, there are beautiful buildings representing all of the major periods of architectural history within the city. It is a wonderfully complex and layered built environment, filled with unexpected colors, sculptured facades, ornate entrances, and incredibly crafted fenestration. A feast for the eyes.

Our first stop was Vrtbovská Zahrada, an Italian Baroque terraced garden. The entrance was merely a tunnel leading from the sidewalk to the courtyard created by the buildings. That was something that intellectually I knew should exist -- the void created by buildings lining city blocks -- but to see it in real life was something different entirely. Most of the courtyards seemed to be private to the buildings that abut it -- although some were open and had businesses, hotels, etc. A lot of them had gardens and trees and green space, a wonderful respite from the chaos of the city.

This "ante-court" was well-manicured, and had beautiful vining plants on the building facades. Admission was a little steep to enter though, I think we paid $16 for the both of us.

The garden was lovely, spanning several terraces with hedges, flowers, topiary, pools, and sculpture. There was even a large cage filled with songbirds. We imagined how nice it would be to have a flat overlooking the space.

At the highest terrace we were afforded a view over red terracotta roofs and the nearby St. Nicholas Church.

We left the garden and continued towards the Prague Castle complex, passing by an almost ridiculous amount of highly decorated facades. Ice cream seemed to be quite popular; we ran across one every other block.

A love of ice cream! What unites us as humanity.

Getting up to the castle complex required a walk up a Very Steep Hill, but the view from the top was very nice.

The oldest buildings with the most privileged positions on top of hills are always the most extraordinary. Here, the complex was filled with various palaces, governmental buildings, and the Prague castle itself. All stunning examples of the Baroque, Neoclassical, and Renaissance time periods. There was even representation of Art Nouveau!

One notable exception was the Schwarzenberg Palace, which you can see in the second row right hand photo below. It appeared to be stucco with black patterns on a cream background. The painted patterns were beautiful but the architecture was a hack job. Windows were off center, and the mass had very strange proportions. I was looking at the pictures I took of it and I was like -- why are all of these photos bad? Because the building is ugly!

But we weren't here to see palaces; we were here for the Cathedrals. What greater expression of Architecture than the transcendent heights of the interior almost impossibly supported -- all in the pursuit of inspiring awe in the populace -- and whispering fear from the shadowy corners -- the threat of eternal damnation.

Behold, the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral; construction began in 1344 (upon older churches) and lasted for over a hundred years until the outbreak of the Hussite War. We had to pay a bit of money to get a ticket to see inside the complex.

The interior was pretty standard as far as Gothic cathedrals go, although this is one of the first we had seen in real life.

As is standard, a plethora of finely carved masonry and wrought iron abound. What is the iron portal in the top row upper right? It had sharp hooks mounted on the iron. For alms and to keep the poorest plebs out?

We finished admiring then headed to the Old Royal Palace, the oldest portions of which date to the 12th century.

The main hall below which was used for events of the Bohemian court dates to the 15th century. I did not like the stylized ceiling ribbing. It looked to me like the Architect was trying to be playful but it just comes off as jarring, since the ribs are supposed to be structural and instead they just awkwardly end in odd places.

BTW I didn't know until we visited that the term Bohemian originates from this part of the world.

There were some cool painted rooms and a very old collection of city records.

We then visited St. George's Basilica, a red hued Romanesque number, dating to 921. It had a nice fresco in the apse.

Then we walked over to the Golden Lane. These small houses were constructed in the 16th century against the castle walls for the guards to live in. Later, goldsmiths moved in. They were very, very, tiny. The doorways were hardly enough for me to walk through.

The interiors had a few displays of a typical blacksmith, chemist, and how the homes would look of various professions, including one of a Tarot Reader! The theme was life in miniature.

Inside the second story was an exhibit on armor and weaponry. I had to convince myself not to spend 5EUR to shoot a crossbow, although now I regret not doing it.

Further down the hall were exhibits on torture instruments! The ones you hear about from the middle ages where they'd lock you up in an iron maiden, draw and quarter you on a geared instrument, etc., etc. Such creativity.

The scariest part was when we descended into the Jailor's Keep. There was a hole in the ground where they'd drop the most heinous prisoners to rot...

After that we had seen enough and headed back to our hotel.

In the evening we met up with one of Vitali's friends from Israel. He now lives in Prague with his Czech wife. We met up in a pretty cool beer garden with a great view over the city.

The next day we had a day trip planned to Plzeň. My Dad had told us "We HAVE to go to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery", so we did.

I have to say I love transit architecture, especially subways. All the metro stations we visited in Prague were particularly nice.

We took the metro to the train station and looked for the departure board. Our train didn't have a platform yet -- so we stood around and waited until it showed up. When it finally showed up, it said "Platform 1J". But -- the platforms here were only numbered? We were very confused and walked from one end of the station to the other to see if it might be an ancillary track outside of the main structure. Nope -- and we were running out of time -- our train was 5 minutes to departure!

Then we saw one person, then a few people, then many people -- running towards the other end of the station. That must be it. We overheard some confused exchanges and started running with the crowd. Sure enough, at the end was platform 1J, and our train. It was jam-packed. We stood for awhile but eventually two seats opened up and we sat down.

We struck up a conversation with our seat neighbors -- two Physics Professors from California! The guy met his wife in Germany and now they live there; their son attended Penn State. They were very nice people.

After two hours had passed we arrived to Plzeň and walked over to the main town square to see it before our Brewery Tour later.

We passed some really great, striking architecture. I really liked how many of the roofs were a dramatic charcoal color.

We passed some cool street art too.

In the main square was the town's church - the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew. There was a little farmer's market wrapping up in the square too. I saw a stall staffed by some Asians which was a surprise.

We headed over to the Brewery on foot, passing a ski/snowboard shop called Snow Bitch.

And a huge tinfoil ball.

And some Soviet influenced apocaloffice. That's a portmanteau of apocalyptic office.

Finally -- after spending a confusing few minutes trying to figure out how to cross an intersection (we had to cross another street and then take an elevated walkway over) we made it to the entrance of the brewery, a monumental freestanding arch.

We checked in and waited outside for the tour to start while the sky threatened. Vitali went to the restroom where he saw members of what looked like a bachelor party grooming each other excitedly. They were already ripped.

The tour was led by a petite Czech woman who had calves larger than Vitali, which is really saying something. We learned some history of the brewery and then took a tour of their brewing facilities.

Did you know that it is here, in Czechia, that the beer style of pilsner was invented in 1842? It would go on to become so globally popular that two-thirds of the beer brewed today is a pilsner!

We went through the new brewing room and then the old. Mmmm, shiny copper. The green tile was a nice touch.

Then we descended into the lagering cellars where the beer was stored to condition.

They had many full barrels down there lagering. What are you doing? Oh, I'm just lagering.

Then came the tasting of the unpasteurized brew that is only available here at the brewery! Vitali drank mine too and gave it two thumbs up.

The last stop in the cellar was the room they kept ice in!

The tour ended with a bus ride to the bottling factory where we spent 15 minutes entranced by the automata. Somehow we ended up with a group of Czech speakers instead of our English group. It didn't matter, we could see what was happening. We tracked a stray label that didn't get fully removed until it disappeared out of our view.

We headed back to the train station when the tour was over and rode back to Prague.

The next day, we took a walking tour of the Old Town.

We crossed the Charles Bridge which was a flowing mass of humanity lined by vendors. I found some cute handmade earrings for 7EUR.

The old town was filled with all sorts of historic architecture. There is also an interesting architectural heritage of painting on buildings which I hadn't really seen before (a little bit in Tyrol). What beautiful work.

It was so crowded though. All of the tourists were in the main square and the surrounding streets. At times, walking in a straight line required dodging people who were slower, or walking on a perpendicular path, or just stopped in the middle of the street to talk or take a photo.

Below, the astronomical clock, which is an engineering marvel. We peeked inside the town hall but didn't want to pay anything so we only saw a few rooms.

Below, views of the main town square.

We explored and saw so many beautiful storefronts and architectural details. All made by hand! There was also the curious case of the stores selling fake weed. CBD is legal in Czechia and I think it is often misrepresented to unsuspecting tourists.

We walked over to the Jewish quarter and passed through a long row of high street shops. I wanted to see the Spanish Synagogue but when we asked how much tickets were, they were about $30/each and included entrance to five synagogues.

This was way more than we wanted to spend or had the energy to see.

Vitali choked out -- "Five Synagogues??" and I quickly looked at the old Jewish woman and said "I think we're in the wrong place" and we backed out of the building.

Outside, we overheard an older couple looking like they were having an argument -- the man only saying -- "I just want you to be happy." Were they arguing about seeing five synagogues?

We walked as far as the Municipal House, built in the early 20th century. We walked inside to see what we could see for free and decided to buy tickets to a classical concert the next day. It was a little expensive -- $100 for the two of us, but it was also the only way to see the interior of the building.

Nearby was the Retro Muzeum, which I had read about online. I'm a pretty big fan of design and especially soviet influenced design (as I came to learn). Vitali of course lived through the end of this period in the Ukraine, so it was interesting for both us.

The museum was on the top floor of a really cool department store (Kotva) built in 1975.

We had a few other museums on our list but they were all about $25 each for the both of us so we picked one and this was it. I think it was the right choice, although I had to pay extra to take pictures.

The first part of the museum was retro spaces -- what a home in Czechoslovakia would have looked like in the 60s and 70s. I loved it. Some common elements to what was happening at home but with a uniquely Soviet flair (and Soviet quality!) As Vitali said -- everything was a piece of shit.

The next portion focused on consumer goods and smaller items as well as individual objects and pieces of furniture.

Finally there were some larger sets like a campground, classroom, and assemblages of clothing and furniture. Vitali recognized a few of the toys as well as the classroom setting.

We spent some time watching commercials from the era on a projector they had set up. They were highly entertaining.

Below is a model of the building we were in -- nice design.

Below, the toilet paper -- which was basically paper and not soft at all, and photograph developing equipment which Vitali OWNED and USED as a child! What a trip.

After that we walked back to our hotel, passing more of the pervasive stunning architecture.

We stopped by some other church on the way back too -- but I can't figure out which one.

We got McDonalds again for dinner because apparently in CZ they have GF options too.

The next day we took a tram down to Vyšehrad, a historic fortification south of the old town.

Some of the trams in Prague were new but some were older and super cute. None had A/C. I don't think we had a single hostel or hotel room in Europe that had A/C either.

We started by walking along the huge walls of the fortification and through one of the gates. It's hard to imagine a time when you'd need walls like this to keep people out...

We visited the cemetery first, which was packed full of the dearly departed. Some of the family graves had these highly ornate mosaics, sculptures, and engravings. Every one was different too.

Then we visited the Basilica of Saint Peter and Paul, a neo-Gothic work.

We were not expecting the surprise inside! Elaborate painting decorated every surface, highlighted with what appeared to be gold leaf, done in the style of art nouveau. I had forgotten how much I adored the artwork of the Art Nouveau period (hello Mucha, who hails from here, but unfortunately we missed both of the exhibits).

Absolutely stunning. How many hours did it take to complete?

We got some overpriced coffee at the cafe in the fort and then walked to the edge of the fortification which had a view over the river, where we saw some folks paddleboarding.

We rode back into town and stopped by the last few buildings on our list -- the National Theatre and the Dancing House by Vlado Milunić, ‎and the infamous Frank Gehry.

The National Theatre was of course, beautiful‎. The Dancing House on the other hand...

Looked like a hot mess. It relates to the pink building next door so poorly and is overall so disjointed and ill-proportioned -- it's shocking that someone approved it. SMH. There's a reason all the pictures you see are of the one same angle.

We stopped for some fruit on the way back and Vitali bought a bottle of ABSINTHE! Which we carried around for the rest of the trip and then tossed because it was so disgusting.

In the evening we headed over to the Municipal House to take in some of the classics.

But first, we got to tour the interior halls! Wow!!! Incredible nouveau detailing and some very strange frescoes.

There were five rooms, each with their own style and color palette. They were all stunning.

When the show was about to start we headed to Smetana Hall, where the concert would be held.

Wow!!! What a space. We felt like royalty.

The show consisted of ten pieces played by an eight piece ensemble. It sounded very good to my ears.

After the concert we walked back to our hotel, taking in the sights of the city at night.

We both enjoyed Prague but found it to be too touristy. Not only literally filled to the brim with tourists from who knows where but all of the "attractions", besides architectural and historic in nature were attractions you could find in any other major city on the planet. I admit it's cool they are in the backdrop of such history though. I'm sure the locals can't stand dealing with the tourists.

We checked out of our hotel around 10 the next morning and headed to a dedicated gluten free Czech restaurant for lunch. I was excited for this.

Oh my god it was incredible. Those are fried turkey tenders up there. Delicious comfort food -- salty, carby, and buttery.

Afterwards we walked to a park to kill some time before we had to catch our bus to Berlin. We found a small playground behind a building along a multi-use path with built in trampolines!

When it was about time we walked over to the bus station, which in memory seemed to be sweltering hot with no shade. We were riding FlixBus again...

Part II: Berlin - August 2nd to August 6th

Five hours later we found ourselves disembarking from the bus and walking to our hostel, a short 10 minutes from the train station.

Unlike Prague, Berlin did not make it out of WWII unscathed. In fact, Berlin was basically destroyed. So we had none of the historical architecture we found in Prague, but it was a welcome change.

Instead, Berlin was filled with relatively new architecture -- mostly designed in the no-nonsense influence of the Bauhaus. It was love at first sight.

We were staying at an A&O hostel which we found throughout Central Europe as an affordable experience marketed for everyone. The bed had a shelf for bananas.

In the morning, we headed to the main hauptbahnhof, a monument of German engineering and architectural prowess.

The train station was overwhelmingly busy.

We had purchased another 9EUR ticket for the each of us, now valid for the whole month of August! We waited for our train and headed up to the 1936 Olympiastadion -- aka -- the site of Hitler's Olympics.

We got off the train and headed for the main structures of the Olympic Park.

The structures were commissioned by Adolf Hitler and like everything else, used as an opportunity to display the perceived power of Nazi Germany.

First impressions -- Architect Werner March and his brother Walter were successful.

It feels surprisingly modern due to the sparsity of ornament and the simplicity of form. It was monumental and a little bit brutalist. Two sets of towers bookend the stadium.

Inside, the stadium reveals its true proportions -- a sunken field adds significantly more height to the structure and it feels much larger on the interior than the outside.

The roof was extended with glass in the modern era. Standing at one end of the axis was pretty impressive.

After touring the stadium we walked over to the swimming pool, paid a few euros to enter, and Vitali fulfilled his lifelong dream of swimming in an Olympic Stadium.

Look at that form!

After that we left the Olympic grounds and headed for Teufelsberg, passing by a mysterious sign saying Unité d'Habitation #6. A dusty memory floated to the surface from a class in architectural history. Could it be?

And it was. Of course, I am speaking of Corbusier's famous high-density units of habitation. Very cool.

There was a small exhibit inside on the architecture but it was all in German so we could only look at the pictures.

We continued walking, passing by a really cute suburban neighborhood filled with trees.

Then we came upon the Grunewald Forest, a huge wooded area west of Berlin, filled with wild boars, and within which is Teufelsberg. Thankfully, we did not encounter any of the inhabitants.

So we had a nice stroll through the woods and came upon the hill on which we could see the old radomes atop. It was a Very Steep Hill.

The VSH is not natural though -- it was made in the 20 years following WWII as a huge amount of debris and rubble was moved and piled up in the area, eventually creating the highest point in Berlin. Upon the grounds was an incomplete Nazi military-technical college -- and everyone agreed it was easier to just bury it.

In 1963 the US NSA built a listening station on top of the hill where it was used until the fall of the Berlin Wall and later it was planted with flora as part of a beautification project. As you can see it has indeed been beautified.

In 2016 the site was opened to the public, and is now a mecca for street art.

Once at the top we had a strange conversation with the ticket man and paid a few euros to enter.

There were some military vehicles at the entrance to the small museum on site.

Inside were more vehicles and exhibits. The displays talked about the history of the site and the US presence in West Berlin.

Back outside we began to wander. There was no wayfinding -- simply explore and look.

There was so much fantastic art everywhere.

Then we circled the largest building on the site which appeared to be a warehouse. On top were the radomes.

We climbed up the steps and quickly found one of the most amazing, immersive galleries we had ever visited. I couldn't believe how many different, incredibly talented artists must have left their mark here.

We eventually made it to the top floor of the warehouse on which we could get a closer look at the radomes. Very cool.

Vitali modeled some post-military-operation-grunge for me.

We went back down to ground level and wandered about a bit more -- there were some smaller buildings to be explored, but they were dark inside and we didn't venture too far.

Inside another building we saw some sort of hopper and what appeared to be an empty cantina.

What a cool place.

We headed back home, stopping by Aldi to get some more sandwich supplies since our room didn't have a fridge.

The next morning we went on a walking tour of the city. It was set to reach 98 degrees that afternoon. Oh, just another historic heat dome.

We started out from our hostel and headed south, passing some beautiful contemporary architecture.

We walked by the Reichstag building, most infamously known as the home of the parliament of the Third Reich. Now it is home to the German parliament. Unfortunately we needed an appointment to enter so we didn't get to see inside. The building looked quite grotesque -- a bastardized and monstrous perversion of neoclassicism.

We continued our tour and walked through the Brandenburg Gate.

Below, the little man in the Berlin pedestrian signals.

We were walking through the park and someone stopped to ask us for a tissue?? This was the SECOND time in Europe someone had asked for a tissue. Hmm. She tried to teach us how to say tissue in German but it was difficult.

We then headed to the Neue Nationalgalerie which was a showstopping example of Bauhaus design. Such appealing simplicity of form.

Then we walked by several other very unique buildings around Potsdamer Platz.

We stopped at the Topography of Terror Museum and a Berlin Wall Memorial which provided an in-depth history of repression under Nazi rule. It was sobering.

Nearby was Checkpoint Charlie, a crossing point between East and West Berlin.

Finally... after walking around for what seemed like an incredibly long time in the high heat, we decided to stop by one more place to see for ourselves, the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind.

It was disappointing. All the photos I had seen of the building before showed a really dynamic and engaging architecture but in real life none of that was conveyed. It was bulky and chaotic -- the famous gashes seemed to have been selectively photographed for dissemination. There were moments that were quite artful but the gestalt was missing. Perhaps my opinion would change if I had visited inside -- but we had no more energy left for the day.

We took the metro to a gluten free pizza place but it was closed until 4pm so we stopped by a gluten free bakery instead which had delicious pastries and bread and was painted a shocking electric blue.

The picture reminds me -- I had searched high and low for lactase pills since I was running low and only found them in Croatia! None in Germany or Austria or Slovenia. Turns out I bought exactly enough to make it home with only 5 pills left over.

We got back on the metro and decided to pop out into the Museum Island which houses some famous buildings you might recognize from architectural history...

We headed back to the hostel, sweaty and tired.

The next day, our final day, we had tickets for a tour of the Flughafen Tempelhof.

We took the train to Platz der Luftbrucke and walked a short ways to the entrance.

There was a small museum on site which outlined the history of the airport. Below is a map showing the shape of the terminal -- an unreserved celebration of the circular form.

The old terminal was originally constructed in 1927. In the mid 1930s the Nazi government ordered a new terminal to be added (although never fully completed), and at the time became the largest airport in Europe and one of the largest buildings in the world at over 9,000 rooms.

Below, they had nice exhibits set up that you could peruse before you went on the tour.

Perhaps most famously the airport was the center of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. The Soviets blockaded access to West Berlin so the Allies organized daily airdrops to the people of the city, up to 12,941 tons of food and supplies, every day. These included candy drops for the children of Berlin! It was called Operation Vittles.

The airport was decommissioned in 2008 although now the space is available for rent and events.

The tour began in the Hall of Honor which unfortunately has had a ceiling added about a third of the way up of the original atrium.

The interior of the main terminal was stunning.

Monumental, massive, brutalist.

There was a really great architectural section framed in what used to be a restaurant, showing the signature geometry of the circular canopy that sheltered the gates.

The rest of the building had some backrooms vibes.

Below, the upper two thirds of the Hall of Honor. It is a very long, narrow space and sad to see in disrepair.

This chair is giving me vibes.

Then we went down into an air raid bunker which was very small and supposedly could hold a crazy number of people. There was a single operable valve in the room to allow air to be exchanged with the outside.

Also in the basement levels were the luggage conveyance equipment! Pretty cool to see.

We went outside under the spectacular overhang and admired the perfectly staged planes. It looked like they were setting up for some sort of event.

Inside one of the hangars was original crane equipment.

Our tour ended after two hours and we had the opportunity to walk around the exterior a bit.

What a building! It certainly makes an impression.

We took the subway back into town but couldn't figure out where to transfer lines (no data!) so we ended up taking two trams to get back home.

Berlin was great-- we both loved the vibe of the city. It felt very young and very open and of course the architecture was incredible.

The next day we would take a train seven and a half hours east to Krakow, Poland, home of my forebears.