27 July 2008

Ahhhh Prague!

Arrived in the early morning (around 8am) and was completely shattered.  Although I had a whole row of seats to myself, I didn’t get any sleep on the train this time around.  Ended up going to the hostel and falling asleep on the sofa in their lounge until around 10am.  I couldn’t check in to the hostel until around 3pm, so I had quite a lot of time to spare.  Ended up walking to the river and finding a cafe for my morning fix.  

Was still struggling to find the energy to walk around, but soon realized my time here was very precious and I needed to make the most of it... so I climbed a mountain!  Or, what felt like a mountain.  In Prague, the palace is situated on a hill, overlooking the entire city.  To get there, you have to climb lots and lots of stairs.  But once you get up there, the view is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

I was so amazed to see the palace had its’ own cathedral!  It was so amazing!  Since I was so exhausted, I didn’t spend much time up there.  Walked up, took pictures, and walked down and took the metro back to the hostel.

The hostel was really nice.  It was called Miss Sophie’s and it was very central to the city.  I spent maybe about $40 per night, which I’m told is on the high end, but it was worth it to me.  The bed was comfortable, the showers were really nice, and the location was great!

While staying in the hostel, I met several other people who were traveling alone.  My roommates the first night was a very cute little Austrian, Michael.  He’s from Vienna and was so much fun to hang out with.  We decided to go walk around at night and take evening pictures.  Boy was it BEAUTIFUL with all of the city lights!  And it was nice to have a chaperone.  Michael left the next morning to go back to Vienna.

My next roommates were a guy from Newcastle, England, Stuart... and a girl from Seoul, South Korea... and I can’t remember her name because I could never pronounce it.  I think it was something like Huyjong.  She was so cute and fun to hang around with.  I invited for her to go walking around with me at night again so I could take a few more pictures.  Stuart joined us.

We took the same walk Michael and I had taken, which was up to Winceslas Square and over to Old Town to watch the clock ring in the new hour and then over to the river for the view of the palace.

On my second day there, I decided I wanted to take a walking tour.  My massage therapist recommended that I find a lady with the yellow umbrella, but couldn’t find her, so I choose the orange umbrella instead.  Next to the Astronomical Clock tower, there are several people with umbrellas trying to sell tours.  I wanted an Architecture tour of Old Town and I got it!  It was a 2 hour walk and I met several other people: 2 couples from England and 1 couple from Sydney, Australia.  They were all very pleasant and fun people.  And the tour guide was really great too!  He had a lot of little tid bits of information to share with us... who knows how much of it was really true.  He was a great storyteller!

After that, I was so sticky and yucky that I thought it would be a good idea to go wash up and relax at the hostel.

I really enjoyed my time in Prague.  I know there is a LOT that I didn’t see, and would love to go back to explore.  But must go back before 2012 or 2013, when the Euro is introduced and their rates are raised to the roof.  Prague is VERY cheap at the moment.  I was so relieved...