Czechin' out the World Cup in Praha

This weekend I was very excited to travel to Prague, since it was going to be my first visit to an Eastern European city. While the stereotype of Eastern Europe is that everything is run down, Prague may have been the most beautiful city I’ve visited to date. We spent most of our time in the Old Town, which displayed much of the

architecture from the 14^th -17^th centuries, when the city flourished under King Charles IV and the Habsburg dynasty. It was easy to see on a map where the winding city streets of the Old Town ended and the grid of the New began. Before I visited Prague, I assumed the city was mostly eastern orthodox, since the common (mis)conception is that all of Eastern Europe practices the orthodox denomination. I was surprised to see the abundance of religious relics of varying religions throughout the city, from the majestic 14^th century Roman Catholic St. Vitus Cathedral, to the beautiful Jubilee Synagogue, located within the city’s Jewish distr

ict.

Another aspect of Prague that caught my attention was the Czech koruna currency. Currently the Czech Republic is a member of the E.U., but is one of the countries not within the economic union, so it still uses its own money. While the Czech Republic will attempt to enter the monetary union in the future, it was somewhat refreshing to see a currency that is associated with the nationalistic symbols for one specific country. The Czech korunas is one of the most stunning looking currencies I’ve come across, displaying portraits of former Kings and heroes.

While Prague is a city filled with magnificent medieval monuments, but some of my favorite moments in the city were watching soccer at the World Cup Park. Nestled within the impressive baroque and gothic architecture of the Old Town Square, the World Cup Park consisted of an area filled with food, beer (including the original Czech Budweiser), live entertainment, crowds of rowdy football fans cheering on their country, and a proje

ctor playing all the games of the weekend. While we were there, I was able to watch bits and pieces of four different games, Greece vs. Nigeria (Παμε Ελλαδα!), U.S. vs. Slovenia, Germany vs. Serbia, and England vs. Algeria. Watching the matches provided for some of the entertainment, the most interesting part was watching how fans came together to celebrate their teams. As different games ended and a new one started, different hordes of fans would file their way into the park; drunken Englishmen singing “I’m English ‘til I die!”, masses of flag-waving Germans decked out in red, yellow and black, and of course rowdy Americans displaying the red white and blue with pride. It was nationalism at its finest. It was interesting to see how crowds of people, who were most likely strangers before, suddenly became united just by the color of the jersey they were wearing, or the flag they were waving. Although there were many tourists from around the globe watching, there were quite a bit of Czech locals as well. While the Czech national team did not qualify for the tournament, it was interesting to see which teams the locals decided to pledge their allegiance. Due to its close proximity to the Czech border, the Germans received a lot of support, and the Czechs were rooting harder for Slovenia than they were for the United States. While fans from the same country obviously gravitated towards each other during the games, it was interesting to talk with some of the fans around the world to hear there perspective on the games, and their experiences in Prague. Being able to watch the world’s most popular game amongst hundreds of fanatical soccer enthusiasts was one of the highlights of my trip to Prague. While wandering the beautiful city streets was a memorable experience, the hours I spent experiencing the patriotic/nationalistic values soccer brought out was something I’ll never forget.