No American wants to admit to intentionally seeking out a McDonald’s while in Europe. But when you arrive in an unfamiliar city at 4 a.m., there are only so many options for 24-hour safe havens.
This weekend I went with one of my roommates to Prague via train and it proved to be an interesting experience. We had tickets for any train on Thursday from Keleti Station in Budapest to Prague (her birthday present to me). In our search at the station, we were so wrapped up in finding a train to Prague that we didn’t notice whether we would arrive at 4 a.m. or 6 a.m., as we originally intended. It was the 4 a.m. train.
We didn’t have a reservation in addition to our tickets so we sat in one of the seating cars, which are far from ideal for sleeping. Still, we managed to get at least a couple hours of rest wrapped in our coats and taking full advantage of the current blanket-scarf trend.
We arrived in the city with little idea of where we were with our only destination being warmth until we could check into our AirBNB at 9 a.m. I had briefly used the data on my phone to search 24-hour places in Prague and McDonald’s seemed to be our safest option. It helped that the first sign we saw upon stepping out of the station was one pointing us toward the nearest McDonald’s.
Unfortunately, that particular one was closed. We continued walking down what appeared to be a main tourist street where we passed two more closed McDonald’s, two Burger King’s, a KFC, and a Starbucks before finding an open McDonald’s around the corner. We found our safe place so we got coffee to get us through the day and settled in for the next three hours.
Another perk of the American fast-food chain: free Wi-Fi. We used it to set our plans for the next two days and find directions from one place to the next before leaving to try to catch the sunrise by the Charles Bridge. Well, directions didn’t seem to help too much for that. We ended up about 10 minutes in the opposite direction before checking and making our way back, heavy bags in tow.
Eventually we made it to the bridge and caught the end of the sunrise before going to check into our AirBNB right at the opposite side of the river. We were finally able to warm up and drop off our bags before beginning all over again.
The best part of arriving so early in Prague was being able to see it so empty. There were barely any people around and it was the perfect opportunity to take pictures and appreciate the sheer beauty of the city. Having that first impression got Prague a spot as one of my favorite cities in the world before we resurfaced in the middle of the day to the extreme crowds.
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| Nearly empty Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in the distance |
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| Deserted Old Town Square in the early morning |
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| Crowded Old Town Square and Christmas market at night |
After a brief stop in the apartment we went around the corner to Bohemia Bagel for a real breakfast. Czechs are excellent at breakfast. I got a delicious and filling French bagel toast. When we left to explore the other side of the side, we found the Charles Bridge covered with people and vendors.
It was a pseudo-maze to get through the Old Town Square and past the Astronomical Clock that hours before had been barren. We passed the McDonald’s we had started the day at and paused to get their Wi-Fi and check directions to a real maze – one of mirrors (think corn maze but with walls of mirrors instead). It was smaller than it felt on the inside, very disorienting, and a lot of fun.
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| Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square |
We visited several churches and got a late lunch of traditional Czech food and amazing white mulled wine with cinnamon and apple juice at Café Louvre. We ate our way to exhaustion and we were both in bed by 8 p.m. and slept for over 12 hours.
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| Inside St. Nicholas Church |
Refreshed, we began our Saturday with a stop at the Lennon Wall (dedicated to John Lennon) on the way to breakfast at Café Savoy. There we had to wait almost half an hour but the meal and the service was well worth it.
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| The Lennon Wall |
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| The Lennon Wall |
Once we were sufficiently stuffed we went up to Prague Castle where we got tickets to see St. George’s Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St. Vitus Cathedral, and the Golden Lane. We sauntered around the city afterwards, enjoying the Christmas markets and the cobblestone streets.
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| St. Vitus Cathedral |
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| One of many impressive stained glass windows in St. Vitus Cathedral |
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| Golden Lane |
Besides the heavy crowds, Prague has been my favorite European city so far. The streets and architecture were beautiful; the people went out of their way to help; and when we were desperate, corporate America and its offer of free Wi-Fi always came to our rescue.
