From the top of the Astronomical Tower, the city of Prague sprawled out before us. Weaving streets lined with red rooftops radiated from Old Town Square below, where tiny dots of people scurried back and forth across gray cobbled stones. In the distance, the Vltava River shimmered in the sun, halved by a black stripe, the Charles Bridge. A few hundred feet below, Prague lived and breathed, but up here, we were suspended in time above the historic city.
After our brief stint at the top of the world, we ventured down to explore the Czech capital from the ground. My family had decided on this Spring Break destination when my sister, Julie, was accepted into a study abroad program based in Lugano, Switzerland. She was going to spend her entire spring semester traveling across Europe, and my family thus decided to capitalize on the opportunity and planned our own European vacation.
Prague was just one location on our bucket list of things to see and do. During the short span of a week, we first visited Lugano before heading to Bellinzona, where we visited some impressive-looking castles. We then went to Prague and our final destination at the quaint capital city Bern. From the Czech Republic to the Italian and Germanic regions of Switzerland, we saw very diverse regions of Europe - each place unique with its own language, culture and food. Although each city we visited was very different from the others, one delicious substance united them all: chocolate.
Forget your average American Hershey bar; I'm talking about real Swiss chocolate. Allow me to introduce Milka and Kinder bars. There is a smoothness and richness to these chocolates that are unlike anything found in the States. My sister, who already had spent two months in Europe, told us that Milka's "Happy Cow" chocolate bars are the very best. And she was so very right. Made of alpine milk and white chocolate, these Happy Cow bars have patches of white chocolate mixed into the milk chocolate and look just like the hide of the dairy cow shown on the wrapper. On top of Milka chocolate, my sister also introduced us to Kinder bars, delectable little chocolate bars with a white-cream core. Apart from her knowledge of local treats, my sister also showed us many new things and gave us some travel tips. She proved very efficient at buying train tickets and reading the departures board. She took us to Bellinzona where she guided us through three medieval castles and led us to the best picture-taking vistas.
After spending two days in sunny Ticino - the Italian canton in southern Switzerland - and exploring Lugano and the beautiful surrounding lake and mountains, we visited Prague, as previously mentioned, for three nights. During the next few days, we walked along the Charles Bridge, shopped in the street markets, toured Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral and indulged in traditional Czech cuisine.
As we were heading back to our hotel after our first day, we decided to stop in a small convenience store to stock up on refreshments after a long day exploring the city. In the Czech Republic, $5 equates to about 100 Czech korunas. For comparison, imagine a child in a candy store, where all the scrumptious goodies cost about 50 cents each. We were in heaven. Descending upon the store's chocolate aisle, we stocked up on Milka, Kinder bars, all sorts of chocolates.
We became regulars of that convenience store during our time in Prague, and of course, we could never resist the allure of chocolate, calling to us from the shelves. By the time we headed to Bern, I was almost sick of it. Now, I understand why my sister begged me to bring her Starbursts.
So for our two days in Bern, I took a bit of a chocolate hiatus. We walked all around the beautifully quaint old town of the Swiss capital, taking pictures of the famous brunnens, or fountains, and ogling about the brown bears and their two adorable cubs at the newly renovated Bear Park, the pride of Bern.
I was sad to leave behind those beautiful bears and neat narrow streets. We spent one night in Z
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