Praha!!!

The Charles Bridge!

Praha!

We left Vienna- a few hours later than planned due to an unfortunate encounter with mean Turkish food- and hopped on the train to Prague. The ride was pretty uneventful, except it did mark the very first time that I got in an argument in German!!!! I was sitting in my seat, minding my own business, and I had my foot touching the seat in front of me. That is when Helga arrived. She started making noises at me because she probably thought I couldn't speak German. Then, in German, I said something like, "Oh sorry, it's no problem. I'll put my feet down"... to which she responded that it was a big problem and started talking about scuffing the seats and paying a 6 euro fine. I told her that there was definitely NOT a scuff mark and that there was absolutely no way I was giving her 6 euros. She left, making noises yet again. Ha!

At the train station we needed to get out some Czech Crowns. I put my card in and the smallest amount it was going to give me was 1000. Wowza... should've looked up the conversion rate BEFORE going, but I did the best I could and just assumed that 1000 wasn't that much. (Thankfully I was right!) Europe tends to be super convenient, so the machine followed suit and actually gave me a 1000 crown bill. Super. Meredith got a 2000 crown bill so I guess it was worse for her! 

Anyways we made it out of the station and into Prague and it was actually a really nice and sunny day. A wonderful day for us to spend 1.5 hours wandering around Prague trying to find our hostel! Yes. The streets were basically all cobblestone and the signs, of course, were in Czech. It was really hard to read the map and though we navigated the metro perfectly fine, the roads were a different story. When we finally did make it to the hostel, it ended up being one of the best we stayed in! (Little Town Budget Hotel for those of you planning on making a May trip there!!) We were in an 8 person dorm but it was actually 2 rooms with a kitchen, a table, and very large and clean bathroom. We met some really awesome people at that hostel as well, which is always the best! After we got settled in we decided to go out and explore a little.. oh and EAT. 

Our destination: The Hard Rock Cafe. Haha, yes, how American of us. But, due to the unfortunate incident with Turkish-food-gone-wrong, we decided that food that we were quite familiar with might be better. I had some glorious fajitas and then a giant brownie sundae... oh and some wonderful Czech beer! After dinner we walked around the city for a while and checked out some of the sights and stopped in at a ton of souvenir stores- I was on the hunt for a giant, furry Russian looking hat. (No such luck, sadly). 

The next day we woke up and had some very cheap, very good Starbucks before heading out to see the famous clock tower. When I went to throw away my coffee cup, I noticed a tour group from the New Europe Tours (the same company we used in Munich) standing by, ready to leave after the clock struck. We decided to join the free tour and try and make the most of our time in Prague. It was definitely a good idea. I really love those tours because you learn so much stuff that you would otherwise have no way to know! 

Fun facts and pictures, Praha style:

1 US Dollar = 17.25008 Czech Koruna  

Tour guides use giant, colorful umbrellas to help the tourists find them!
It's actually really helpful.

The famed Astronomical Clock. It's pretty neat when the hour turns.
At the end a guy with a trumpet comes out at the very top and plays to each of the four corners. 

Synagogue that the Jewish people in Prague built to commemorate the help
and tolerance that the Muslim people in Spain gave them. That is
why it looks so much more like a mosque than synagogue.

The oldest synagogue in all of Europe. Hitler did not want it torn down because
he wanted it to be a part of his "museum" of sorts to an "extinct race".

The Eiffel Tower of Praha! It's just as tall as the one in Paris...
if you count the hill that it is sitting on :)

Yes, it was quite cold. Especially after 6 hours outside...

The view from our hostel bedroom window. The Prague Castle at night!

Factoids:

1. The lighting you see above that makes the Prague Castle look so amazing was actually provided by the Rolling Stones. Apparently Mick Jagger thought they should light up the castle at night, but since the country had just come out from under communist control they couldn't afford it. Mick Jagger donated the lights from his world tour to the city of Prague!

2. The Czechs drink more beer per capita than any other country! Heard of Pilsner? Yeah, it's a Czech invention!

3. The Charles Bridge (my very first picture) was built in 1357 by Charles IV

4. St. Vitus Cathedral (one of my favorites that I have seen in Europe) has crazy towers. Two of them are gothic, the third one is gothic style until the very top. Apparently by the time this tower was being built, gothic style wasn't as in vogue so some silly architect convinced the king to put a renaissance style top on it. It looks so odd!!

gothic... gothic... Renaissance!! Looks like they chopped the top
off of the 3rd one lol!

5. There used to be a huge, massive statue of Stalin on this one hill in Prague. After they tore it down, Michael Jackson actually did a concert in the city. Apparently his concert organizers decided that it would be awesome to put a giant statute of MJ where good ol' Stalin used to be!

6. Hitler wanted to make Prague his retirement home, so his did his best to make sure that the city was unharmed.

We learned most of these fun facts on our free tour and some of them we learned when we took the castle tour. After 6 hours of being outside in the 22 degree weather, complete with wind, we were both ready to be inside! We had dinner at this Czech place near the restaurant. The portions were huge, the beer was tasty, and the price was ridiculously cheap! We were finally profiting from a favorable exchange rate :) :) We walked around the souvenirs shops again trying to find a hat for me, but I finally gave up. The souvenir shops there remind me a lot of Florida in that there are tons of them and they all have the exact same crap! lol. Oh well!

Prague was a great surprise for me. Like I said, I had no idea what the expect but it was so beautiful and full of interesting stories, myths, and people. We said goodbye to Prague (and one of my favorite sweaters!!!!!!!) the next morning and headed off to a city unlike anything we had seen thus far- Berlin.

I hope you're all doing well.

Love you and miss you,

Liv