The five of us (Lauren Ehrler, Chelsey Armstrong, Cara Huntley, Holly Taylor, and I) arrived at the Krakow train station on the night of the 29th ready for our night train couchette experience. The train left around 21:00 that night and arrived in Prague around 8:00 or so the next morning—I’m glad I was asleep for most of the long ride! While it was not the most comfortable experience, I will say that camping in North Carolina and sleeping on the occasional rock, root, or slanted hill for the past twelve plus years did make the situation easier to adapt to…I felt sorry for the others who did not sleep at all. Upon arrival, we took a tram to our hostel (the “Czech Inn”—I highly recommend it) and got situated. Our eyes grew three sizes when we opened our 8-person suite room door and saw a guy sitting in his whitey-tighties; we were happy to A) see him put some pants on and B) see him packing his stuff for check out.
Prague is probably one of my favorite places that I visited while abroad! I felt like I was in a fairytale dream world as I walked around the city. Every building was so uniquely different, and they were all so beautiful in style and form. (It is amazing to think that the country used to be Communist less than twenty years ago.) All of us traveled by foot from one sight to another hitting all the major places. We witnessed the changing of the guards at the old castle and cathedral, which is built in gothic style. As you exit the “fortress” there is an overlook of the city where you can view all of the red-roofed houses and buildings—so pretty! Next, we made our way to the Charles Bridge, which has numerous religious statues as well as small arts and crafts vendors along the way. This was a great place to take the typical “tourist photo” (which I am always embarrassed to take but still do), because it captures the river, boats and buildings of Prague. We stopped at “Bohemia Bagels” for a delicious lunch break and then made our way to the “John Lennon Wall.” I’m not going to lie, we were all a bit disappointed with the wall; however, what can one expect when we come from Berlin where we constantly see the Wall (namely, the East Side Gallery). Despite the slight feeling of disappointment, we had fun being typical American tourists taking pictures of each other jumping, handstanding, and cartwheeling away. Also, Chelsey and I specifically wore our Beatles shirts (I, in my John and Yoko shirt and Chelsey in one that fashioned the entire band) just for this occasion—such dedication! We ended our day at the famous astronomical clock that supposedly all people of Prague make fun of for being a symbol of their beloved city.
The next day, all of us decided to go to Prague’s “Beer Museum Pub,” which in fact is not a museum but just a pub with a plethora of beers. Surprisingly enough, Prague has the top percentage of beer consumption in the world (not Germany…wow, I know!). Each beer is rated by a degree of alcohol content and not a percentage; therefore, none of us were sure how much we were drinking percentage-wise. The “normal” beer degree is around 13 degrees (I think?), and I ordered a flight of five beers that were between 15-18 degrees. Mind you, I was choosing the beers by their description and not by their alcohol content. Anyway, they were all delicious! The rest of our day was spent wandering, which (in my opinion) is the best way to experience a foreign city.
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