We miss you Prague!

Oh no, I am so far behind. The last few days have been wonderful and I haven't had too much time for blogging, so I've got a lot to catch you up on.

After Brussels we headed to Praha (we say Prague) in Czech Republic. Well, at least we tried to go to Prague. We got on a Brussels train, missed where we were supposed to get off and switch trains, and ended up an hour west toward the coast. Woops. So we got back on to the next train crossing from Brussels east toward Germany (you can't really go straight through to Prague from Belgium). But turns out the train we got on was a reservation only train and we had to get off at the next stop and wait for the next train to Köln. So we waited in some city in Belgium (don't even know what it was) for an hour and a half for the next train, traveled a couple hours to Köln, then from Köln switched to a train to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt we found a train that was traveling to Dresden, which is quite close to Prague, but still in Germany. By now it was night and dark out, and we figured we'd rather wander around a German city at 10 pm than show up in the Czech Republic at midnight looking for a hostel. In Dresden we found a great youth hostel with the help of two nice tourists who gave us directions.

The next morning we woke up early and hurried to the train station to just catch a train to Prague. We arrived in Prague, found a hostel right away, and started to explore the city. I wasn't really sure what to expect from Prague, but this city blew me away. I loved it so much. We all did. In fact, I feel I can safely say it is one of my favorite cities in the world. It is the perfect blend of old, gorgeous architecture and growing modern life. We can't wait to go back.

The first night in Prague Janie and I decided to go on a night tour we saw advertised on a flyer in our hostel. We walked through Prague, across one of its many bridges, to the old town center to the meeting point. While we were waiting there were fair booths set up and dancers dancing in traditional costume to Czech music. Turns out our tour guide for the evening was to be a quite aged man who had lived in Prague for the last 50 years. He had a sweet hat and a cane and I thought he was going die at any moment, but he had some awesome stories to tell. He had lived through World War II (officer for 8 years), under communist rule, and when it was still Czechoslovakia. He lead us around the old town with a few other girls that had also shown up for the tour, telling us local legends and ghost stories and random fun trivia. We must have looked like a hilarious group--one old man in a heavy coat with a cane, hobbling along with 5 young college girls. At the end he took us to a little Czech pub (part of the tour cost) where we all received a glass of Pilsner Urquell, a famous local beer. There we sat around asking him questions for another half hour or so. So fascinating--something I won't forget for a long time.

The next day we took two more walking tours, each three hours long, back to back, that took us all over the city. We walked over 12 miles that day but it was totally worth it. We saw so much of Prague that we wouldn't have seen otherwise and learned a lot too. After the tour we were starving (we had been touring from 10:30 am to 5 pm) so we had beef goulash and potato dumplings at a traditional Czech restaurant our tour guide had recommended to us. What a perfect day.

Tonight we're actually in Salzburg (yes, that is where Sound of Music took place) but my internet time is unforunately almost done. So time to say goodbye until next time (hopefully I'll be in Venice next time).