Prague

Beauteous Prague...you're still as beautiful as I remembered you. That's about all I remembered about Prague. We arrived around noon on Saturday by train from Berlin. We stood in a long line at a Relay station to get some Czech currency as change, only to discover they didn't take Euro. We easily found an ATM, but were unsure of how much their currency was worth. We guessed and took out $3000 CZ Monies, which turned out to be a perfect amount.

With troy as our transit navigator, we easily found our hotel, Apart BV, but since it was too early, we were unable to check in. We left our packs at a cost of 30CZ, and took off to find some eats. Its note-worthy at this point, to tell you that I took 2 Gravol on the train, to help with motion sickness, as well as the added benefit or the drowsiness. But wow...I felt like I was as tired as I had ever been. I did no discover that the Gravol had this bad of an effect on me, until our plane ride home, when I again noticed how tired I was, and in addition, noticed my pupils were the size of golf balls.

Anyways. We found some sausages, and sat in Wenceslas Square & admired all the beautiful tulips. I was SO exhausted, so we decided to try to stick around our hotel. We also left our camera in our pack, so couldn't take photo's. We found a McDonald's, for our first and only stop there, and got some fries, and sundae's...to try to get me some energy. No luck, but yummy all the same. Time seemed to move in slow motion.

From there we got a little lost, and stumbled upon an outdoor market full of marionettes, wooden toys, paintings, lace, fruits, and many other fun things. I fell in love with some art work, but we decided to wait to see if we could find something else we liked more.

From the market we headed to our hotel, located at 36 Wenceslas Square. We checked into our hotel which was clean, and comfortable and had a massive window overlooking the square.

Both of us were exhausted...me for more due to the gravol than anything else....and took a nap. 3 hours later we woke up, better rested, yet a tad crabby all the same. We ventured out, and took the metro to Charles Bridge. From there we walked across the crowded but pleasant bridge, stopping to view all the vendors and street artists, including a jazz band, who played along the bridge. We noticed a restaurant which looked nice and was right on the river. We made our way there, funding a funny statue of men peeing on our way.

For dinner, I ordered white wine, Caesar salad and veal schnitzel. Troy ordered water (still) which came in a cool bottle, Caesar salad and the organic chicken on the recommendation of our waitress. The waitress brought us some yummy and yucky bread to start with also. the Caesar salad was very yummy and contained boiled eggs. Our dinners were great, but it cost us $1465 CZ, which we figure is about $80. Go figure. We visit the cheapest city in Europe, and eat in the most expensive restaurant in the city.It was well worth it though, right along the river, with a heat lamp right above it. It was lovely.

After dinner we walked to old town, and spent some time viewing the old town square. We stopped to watch the famous clock on the hour, but were surprised such a sight gained so much fame. We got some ice cream as we left. It was delicious, and after a bit of walking our feet, once again were sore and we retired to our room. Troy rubbed my feet while I finished the finally Harry Potter book. Good Night Beautiful Prague.

This morning we woke up well rested, and happy. We packed up and left our packs for the day and headed off to Prague castle. From the station we walked 2200 meters and arrived. our first stop was the castle cafe for some coffee and apple strudel. Unfortunately it had nuts, so Troy could not partake, because of his allergy.

We walked through the castle grounds, stopping to listen in on some beautiful singing at the cathedral. We saw some great views and easily made our way back into town. We walked over to the Jewish Quarter, thanks to Troy's brilliant Navigational skills, only to find that it was a Jewish Holiday, and the museum as well as the Jewish Synagogue were closed. BUMMER.

We wandered through town and came upon old town once again, not before stopping for some post cards and stamps.

We bought some lunch - Gyro's, but were disappointed with them, and threw most of them out.

We thought briefly of taking a train ridge through the city, but figured we'd get a better tour by foot. And we did. We did purchase a boar ride. A bus took us to the boat port, and we were able to get the last seats on the top deck. Sharing a table with a few older men who turned out to be quite chatty, from Belgium. The boat tour was very enjoyable and we were served colored cake, and gross coffee. It was lovely all the same.

After walking all over town already, we made it easily from the Rive to old town square and then to the market we'd been at the day before. We saw a beautiful picture for 550 CZ and that lady was even willing to give us a 50cz discount. We found a much better price at another booth, for an even more beautiful large picture, and even had enough for 2 small pictures as well. Unfortunately the vendor was unwilling to give us a deal, but the pictures were so beautiful we bought them anyways.

With our beautiful pictures in tow, we walked back and picked up our backpacks and walked to the train. With some help from some locals we purchased some train tickets and boarded a train towards the train station.

With 62 CZ left in our pocket, we arrived at the train station, and purchased a large bottle of iced tea, and 2 8CZ cheese buns. We had 2 CZ to spare! With no problem we found and boarded our train, and even made some friends in our compartment. We are 1/2 way through our trip to Munich now, and they have stooped the train...I wonder if they threw someone off?

We'll soon arrive in Vienna.