Prague

Apparently, the Czech Republic consumes more beer per person than Germany and they are very proud of it. Our journey to Prague was quite a headache, as most of these European excursions have turned out to be. We took the train from Berlin to the edge of Germany and then they abruptly made us switch to a bus, which took us to another local Czech train. Of course all of these trains were late or something or other was holding them up and it didn’t help that we speak neither German nor Czech. Again we arrived late but our hotel, Hotel Chopin, was directly in front of the train station. For dinner we had to be creative because all of the restaurants had stopped serving food.
The next morning we got up and prepared for a full day exploring Old Town, the Jewish quarter (Josefov), and New Town. First and foremost, we stopped at a chocolate Museum and watched them make chocolate and hard candies. We saw the Old Town Square and astronomical clock, then all of the synagogues and Jewish cemetery, and finally Wenceslas Square, a commercial boulevard. Most of what we saw in the morning was quiet, but then when we turned on to Wenceslas Square, it was mobbed. It is really just a long street with Mr. Wenceslas statue on one end and stores and restaurants galore,a tourists dream.

On Day two we explored the other side of the river, starting at Charles Bridge. We walked through little quarter up to Prague castle (Prazsky Hard). We had to climb the giant ramp to get up to the castle, it was exhausting. We took the “short tour” of the castle and saw the changing of the guards. The short tour includes the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, old dungeon tower, and Golden Lane. The shops on Golden Lane are so petite that I just fit inside the door frame; needless to say, but Matt didn't try. We stopped to eat in the little quarter before we walked back to the hotel. The food was a little bizarre and I’m not quite sure of what I was eating. A “potato dumpling” is actually butter soaked potato bread, and “grog” is rum mixed with hot water. I ate a lot of hearty soups, which were very good. Oh and giant beers!
We both really liked Prague and the buildings. As we walked to the Old Town Square, we would pass a The Powder Tower and the Opera. All of the architecture was really impressive and colorful. The currency is cool too because it’s $0.05 to 1 CZK, or the “krowne”. So we were rich for three days. Also, I was able to find Garrett an awesome wooden chess board!
We were reluctant to leave and Prague was reluctant to let us go, since we had a terrible time finding our train to Frankfurt, considering it wasn’t a train but a bus to Nuremburg and a train from there. European travel! At least the trains are nice.