From the Main Train Station, I've called AAA taxi, paid 280kč and accommodated myself in the student dormitory in the Prague neighborhood called Břevnov.
I've been to Prague a lot of times before (5 or 6, I don't count it anymore), but I was still getting lost in the center of the city. The problem lies in an irregular street network surrounding the roundly shaped main Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) with an Astronomical Clock (orloj) in the middle. From the Old Town Square, a lot of small curved streets lead in every direction without any logic.
But when you take the Celetná street on the right side of the square, the most regular and busy street that comes out of the Old Town Square, and you see the Powder Tower (Prašná brána; an old powder house where gunpowder was stored in the 17th century) at her end, you can relax because here is where less confusing street network begins.
If you turn left near the Powder tower, you'll find yourself on the Republic Square (Náměstí republiky) with the Art Nouveau style Municipal House (Obecný dům), which dominates the square. From the balcony of Municipal House, Tomaš Garrigue Masaryk proclaimed the first republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918.
When you're facing the Municipal House, on your right side would be the most popular shopping mall in the city center – Palladium, behind you one of Prague's many theatres – Hybernské divadlo, and on your left side begins a wide shopping street Na Příkopě.
Na Příkopě ends with the metro station Můstek, a popular meeting point because it's situated on a crossroad of two metro lines (green and yellow) and in between the two Prague main squares – Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí). I prefer the second one because it's less crowded with tourists. Actually, you get that impression because it's a lot wider, like one wide street at whose end proudly stands the National Museum for two centuries (although it has been under reconstruction in the past few years).
The worst thing that can happen to you is to have to cross the Old Town Square on the hour. You'll be stopped by multilingual tourist groups, their guides holding roses, yellow umbrellas or any other recognizable detail, who will blindly stare at the Astronomical Clock (orloj) waiting for a skeleton to ring the bell and the figurines of 12 apostles to start appearing in the window above the clock. The spectacle lasts maybe one minute, but everybody is expecting it for at least 10 minutes.
If you're not stuck in front of the Astronomical Clock, you'll definitely be stopped on the Celetná street by a guy who's promoting Thai massage dressed in an elephant or a shark.
Since I'm studying Czech language and literature and I don't miss any of our school field trips, I've been to Prague a few times before during my studies. I've even fallen in love in romantic winter Prague in high school.
You know all those carriages on Old Town Square, which always stand there, but sometimes a rich family lands them for a ride through the city center? Well, I was one of them a long time ago, in 2006, when we were in Prague on a high school field trip. I was in love with a guy from our class and we decided to spend all our money and rent a carriage (then the ride was 400kč, now is around 800kč or more). It was worth it because we kissed there and started dating. I'm still saving a snow globe of Prague from that visit a long time ago...
