My Europe Excursions!: Praha

Once arriving in Prague we had to get some Czech koruna (their currency), which was a task in itself. It's like 1 koruna to 0.05dollars, so, 300kr is like $15. We try to buy an 18kr metro ticket, but of course we can't use our cards, so we have to find an ATM. Well, we need enough money to sustain us for 2 days, so we each pull out 2000kr. We return to buy our metro tickets, and the guy behind the desk won't take that big of a bill. This was one of the most frustrating things about being abroad - everyone always wanted small bills and coins, but the ATMs never gave you small bills! So, the guy made us go to the store and buy something in order to break up our bills and then we finally got on the metro - the whole ordeal took like 45 minutes, but luckily we made it out. And it was a good thing too, because as soon as we got down into the metro, these scary police guys came and checked out tickets to make sure we had gotten them validated! Phew!

We found our hostel (after of course walking in the wrong direction first) and got settled. It was in a really great location - right next to Old Town Square, and in walking distance of pretty much everything. We headed to the market and bought some dinner, and while we were putting our groceries away, we met some guys from Ireland - Kevin and Neil. We talked to them while we ate dinner, and then tagged along with them (and others) to a couple of bars. We peaced out early, and headed to bed.

On our second day in Prague, we decided to go on The Ultimate Tour, which took us to all the big sights, fed us a Czech lunch, took us on a boat ride, and a tram ride. Unfortunately, it rained pretty much all day. Luckily we had ponchos, and it never got as bad as it was in Munich.

We started our tour in the Museum area, headed toward Old Town Square, then to the Jewish Quarter. After that, we got on a boat and cruised along the river for a bit. We went underneath the Charles Bridge! Our tour guide was a Czech native and told us all about Prague's history in communism and its freedom. It was cool, because he had lived through a lot of Prague's history.

After the boat ride, we went back through the Jewish Quarter and Old Town Square and went and got some Czech food! I got beef goulash and dumplings. It was good. The dumplings are just like bread though. After lunch, we walked across the Charles Bridge and to the tram. We hopped on and headed to the Prague Castle, which is like the biggest in the world or something. It wasn't what I was expecting - it seemed much more modern and not so medieval, like how I usually picture castles. I don't actually know how old it is though. We went inside the church, which is in the center courtyard of the castle. It reminded me of the Notre Dame.

We took a bunch of pictures, and our tour was over, so we headed back to our hostel. I wanted to try this place called Bohemia Bagel because my friend Ilona suggested it to me (she studied in Prague). We walked there and got some delicious cheesecake and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a lot like American restaurants, which we appreciated at this point in our trip - English! After that, we went to an Irish bar and just sat and watched USA vs. Spain. I had my first Guinness (I liked it, Alex) and USA won - so it was a good night! After the game, we went home and fell asleep!

The next day, we had a little more time in Prague. We finally saw the sun, and just walked around to little shops for the beginning part of the day until we had to catch our train to Berlin. Prague is a really cool city, and I'd love to visit again when the weather isn't so ugly.

A lot of my pictures are just scenery because I tried to get my camera out quickly to avoid the rain, so I don't have as many interesting ones to post. But here are some good ones...