~ Mike
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We arrived in Prague from our overnight train at 8:05 and took the metro to the hostel. We walked through a nice square near our hostel that was being plowed due to the snow from the night before, and finally found where we were staying. We went to Bohemia Bagel for breakfast and got some awesome food pretty cheap. After breakfast we
went to the Tynska Church, which was very cool. It was an old gothic church, much like something you might see in a horror movie. The church was almost entirely covered by buildings that were literally touching it. We continued to explore and found a tower with an astronomical clock. After discovering the price to climb the tower, we decided that it might be best to wait until the next day after our tour to see if we wanted to climb it.
From the square, we continued outward towards a jewish cemetery that was supposed to be very interesting, as the gravestones are arranged in a very weird way, but we
discovered that it was closed. We went to the Museum of Communism after the cemetery because the brochures and books we had read recommended it. When we got there, we were thoroughly disappointed (sensing a theme in Prague?) as it looked as if someone had thrown it together. It was the size of a room, and was terrible to say the least.
We walked over to the Charles Bridge, which was very cool to see. We saw the Prague Castle from a distance, and quickly became excited knowing that we were taking a free tour the following day and we would be able to see it. We realized that we were not going to find a whole lot more this day, and it seemed as if everything was too expensive, so we
went to the store, bought some food, and went back to the hostel for the night.
The next day we woke up to a very cold morning, and made
our way to Bohemia Bagel for a cheap breakfast once again. After breakfast we checked our finances, and decided that we could afford going up to the top of the astronomical tower. The clock tower is the old town hall, as the newer one was destroyed by the Nazis during WWII only 3 days before liberation because it had sensitive information inside it. Climbing to the top of this tower was more than worth it, as the views from the top were spectacular. A snow-covered Prague in the early morning was a sight to see, and it helped us to get a better grasp of the city.
After going back down to the bottom of the tower, we got
some coffee and made our way to a tent that we saw in the middle of the square by tynska church, which ended up being for an Astronomical exhibition that had telescopes for us to use. We had some fun at the exhibition for a while until going on a free tour of the city. The tour showed us some very cool points of the city including
Kafka's house, the Charles Bridge, and Prague Castle. Prague Castle was absolutely massive, and the climb to get to it took a lot out of us. Pat and Alex decided to run up the stairs, which ended up being a terrible idea. The cathedral in the castle was also amazing, and we had a great time admiring it.
We went to dinner after the tour at a brewery and got some goulash and Czech beer. After filling up we walked back to our hostel, picked up our bags, and headed for the train station.
We caught a 7:45 train which was 15 minutes late, and in the meantime we watched a team try to pickpocket Alex. Don't worry - he didn't get pickpocketed. We had the nicest train rooms of the entire trip tonight. Pat and I had one room, and Alex and Ryan had the other. We had our own sink, closet, and very nice beds. We also had a steward who brought us food and drinks which made us feel like we were in first class. When we wake up we'll be in Budapest!
1 comment:
glad you guys are well! love aunt stacey
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