Czech that city out!

By: Sireesha Reddy

“I will now be telling you the history of Prague in 8.6 minutes.” Let’s be real, even a simple 8-minute history lesson usually turns out to be a bore. But, to my surprise, this recount of Prague’s glorious history was quite entertaining.

Let me backtrack a little at let you why I was receiving a discourse on the history of Prague. The decision to go to Prague was out of whim and reinforced by the supportive words of my friends who stated that it was one of the most beautiful cities they had every been to. After checking the weather and seeing that it was going to be colder than what I was used to, I packed my bags and hoped for the best in my Easy Jet flight. Since I had absolutely no knowledge of the Czech Republic and Prague, Michelle, our friends and I had decided to take a walking tour of the city. We were surprised to find out that it was a 3-hour walking tour and in the back of my head I thought, “Well, if it sucks, I’m sure we can just sneak off and no one will notice.” Actually, it turned out to be the best tour I’ve ever been on. Plus, it was free!

            Our tour guide was introduced herself to us as “LAUREN!!!!!” and within the first five minutes of her tour I was enamored by her spunk. The energy level of this girl was through the roof; she was talking as loud as possible but when she was excited she jumped and flung her arms all about while screaming at the top of her lungs. Just watching her made me exhausted. While she was explaining the tedious past of the people of Czech she made hand motions and used different voices to display different characters of the past. She was a sight that you could not take your eyes off, not only because she was pretty, but also because she was so entertaining. Before I knew it, the 8 minutes were up and we were moving forward with the tour.

            Lauren wasn’t only a loud, exciting tour guide. She knew when and how to bring in a somber mood. While we were in the Jewish corner of the city, she told us a story of the Jewish children in the concentration camps. She explained how the children had drawn pictures and some showed of a happy place they are hoping to end up at while others showed how they felt like they were trapped. As she was telling the story, not a single sound was made; it was as if each person was holding his or her breath. The way she told the story almost brought tears to my eyes. There was so much emotion put into each story, whether it was this one about the kids or other stories about the war victories, and her audience felt each emotion.

            Everyone else on the tour was pleased with Lauren’s informative and entertaining tour. The connection Lauren had with her audience could be felt; in fact people were hugging her at the end! Just a stranger a mere three hours ago was now someone we had all grown to love; the amount of tips that she received at the end showed how much she was liked. Lauren’s theatrical display of the city of Prague and the history of the Czech Republic will always be etched in my memory as one of the best tours I’ve ever been on. Hopefully I’ll be able to experience more tours just like hers.