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Keely, Silvie and Lucy at a traditional Czech restaurant in the Wallachian open-air museum

Saturday morning, I took the 3h30m train ride from Prague to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (just called Rožnov there), a small town (18.000 people) in the far east of the Czech Republic (near the Slovak border). I was met by Silvie, my penpal since I was in 6th grade (we figured out that we have known each other for more than half of our lives!). Although we have known each other for so long, we had never actually met in person (or spoke on the phone for that matter). It was so great to finally meet this person that I had grown up knowing, but never got a chance to spend time with.

In Rožnov, her parents came over for lunch and then took us up the Beskydy mountains in her region to see the tallest mountain, Radhošt (hence the town’s full name). Silvie and her parents are very lovely people, it is kind of like family you have always known, but live too far away to ever see. Her parents do not speak much English, but her mom was very willing and spoke well, and her dad worked very hard stringing sentences together (he showed me that he is on lesson four in his English practice book).

After that we met with Silvie’s friend Lucka (aka Lucy), who hung out with us most of the time. We went for pizza and played pool with a very drunk man (his football/soccer team had won that day) and then met up with some more of her friends, and tried to go to the discotheque. There are two in the town and no one ever knows which one everyone else will be at. When we went out it ended up that neither was the answer, so we just ended up going home.

Visiting Roznov pod Radhostem from Keely Johnson on Vimeo.

The next day we toured the Wallachian open air museum, which is basically a re-creation of buildings from the old days (17-18th century) from the region. I ate traditional Czech food of potato pancakes and sausage, but refused to eat the sour soup made of sauerkraut.

Overall, my trip to Rožnov was relaxing and it was so wonderful to meet Silvie, her family and friends, and begin to understand what day to day life in the Czech Republic is like (seeing true way of life, not just sights and museums is my favorite part of traveling).

Now, I just have to convince Silvie to come and visit me, and try some authentic Mexican food (since when she asked me if hamburgers were the traditional food we ate in Texas, and I said no, it is Mexican food).

Self-shot on the Charles Bridge in Prague

My train from Berlin to Prague was delayed and did not get in until 2 pm, and once I got ready to go out and explore, it decided to start pouring rain, so I spent most of the first day relaxing in my cool apartment. Check out the video of me giving the grand tour.

My apartment in Prague from Keely Johnson on Vimeo.

So that meant I packed as much of Prague as I could into one day. Luckily, Prague is mostly sightseeing, not museums like Stockholm, so it was manageable. My hostel is quite near the old town, where most of the sights are, so it worked out nicely. My general thoughts on Prague are that it is very beautiful and kept up nicely, but definitely tourism centered. It made me think of an eastern version of Paris, with its grand boulevard, markets and parks throughout the city (but less like Paris with its incessant souvenir shops and casinos). I think since I was exploring on a Friday, it was extra packed by tourists, because they were there — and in droves.

Then I walked the Charles Bridge and up a nicely sized hill to the Prague Castle. When I first got there I saw a huge line of people and started panicking thinking it was the line to get into the castle. Well, I quickly found out that it was actually people waiting for, yes of course, the changing of the guard.

Prague Tour from Keely Johnson on Vimeo.

After all the sightseeing and one of the best Paninis I have had in my entire life, I went back to the hostel to check some email and generally hang out (it had started raining as soon as I was done walking the city, perfect timing!). There I started speaking with Steven, a fellow blogger and student from Georgia who was in Prague for a music competition (he is a clarinetist). He mentioned he was going to the Prague State Opera to see La Traviata, and asked if I wanted to join. Being one to never turn down an opera, especially in Prague, I was game, and we went to see if I could get a ticket. Long story short, I talked an older gentleman who was trying to sell his two tickets to me for 2,400 koruny  (~150 USD) to give both to me for 400 kr (~25 USD). So Steven and I went from sitting in the third balcony to the third row!

A Visit to the Prague State Opera from Keely Johnson on Vimeo.

The opera was average as they go (although the set was very cool). They had decided to take some creative liberties with the scenes, so one that was supposed to be a party at a lady’s house was turned into an S&M party with full frontal (female) nudity. I have to say that is a first (and hopefully last) for me to see at an opera. And the best part was everyone around us were 60+ aged people from states like Idaho and Utah in the US, so I bet they were even more shocked than Steven and I were (at least the ones that did not sleep through it)!