CZECH it out!

Prague!

they say that it is..
one of the most visited cities in Europe
one of the most beautiful cities in Europe
¿Que piensas?

We arrived and it was gloomy outside, so then we left our hostel and started walking around. We made it 15 minutes down the road before it started POURING sheets and sheets of rain on us, without umbrellas, and wearing sandals. Barcelona would've been jealous because of the drought and all. So, the rain forced us into this cute little restaurant/cafe where we all warmed up with some soup (CHEAP goulash!) and waited it out. It rained the majority of the time, except for a few solid hours of sunshine, you'll see the fotos.

There was a huge language barrier here as well, I've never really heard anything like Czech, and we surprisingly found a few people who spoke zero english, so that was difficult for us. Czech cuisine isn't super distinct, but mostly just MEAT MEAT MEAT.. lamb and pork and the knees of certain animals, I don't know really, I mostly just stuck to pizza, sandwhiches, soup.

On our last day, we were so exhausted from climbing castles and circling the city, we found a mexican restaurant with 2 for 1 cocktails and AWESOME food. REAL salsa and refried beans and oh my it was so delicious. We entered at 5pm still light outside, and didn't realized how long we'd been in there until we left at 10pm and it was night! Either way, it was a nice warm environement filled with english speakers....and for 5 hrs of drinks and food... it was SO INEXPENSIVE! and for the most part, the city was very inexpensive compared to Munich, Barcelona and Paris anyways.

1 thing to note:
We were walking through a really touristy area and this woman jumped in between all of us and asked if we were American. And then she just started asking us how to change her flight because she needed to get to London and get out of Prague because she can't handle all the commies... she said she came from Russia and she hated it and now the Czech is just full of these damn commies and they are giving her the "heebie jeebies." We didn't really know what to say to her I mean, it isn't communist, and we didn't get the feeling of a commie country at all. So then we just sort of laughed to ourselves because she just didn't stop even after we told her we were visiters and she's like well where do you think the Delta Airlines office is, how can I call them. We gave her pretty good advice to go to the airport or use her hotel phone, but forgetting she so kindly reminded us, COMMIES. hahaha. it was pretty entertaining. I wish we would've directed her to the Communism Museum or at least mentioned it. Anyways...I'm sure she is safely back in her middle america commie-free home now. So now...

Here are some fotos and commentary, in no particular order...

streets of Praha

Surprisingly, the streets here were more cobble-stoney then Rome. Adam had bruised feet at the end of the trip and converse weren't an awesome decision on my part. It's nice to be back in my flip flops in BCN now...

Franz Kafka Museum. There is also a slightly more vulgar picture, but this will suffice...just use your imagination.

On the sunny day, we walked up a huge hill and found this secluded beer garden overlooking the city and the river.. There was a fun playground for kids. I'm telling you, Europe knows how to make 'em!

John Lennon graffiti wall devoted to peace. There are some pretty amazing stuff, mostly just people writing "peace and love" and "johnny and kayla were here." Either way it was this secret little wall hidden under some trees in a cool part of town under the Charles bridge. My favorite personal message was: "i love birds and trees and wales and my family."

Walking down the Charles bridge during "magic hour" and beautiful Praha in the back

So we did get some sunshine. And we needed an excuse to stop walking and rest our swollen feet. SO we rented a paddle boat! we got to tool around the Danube for an hourish. It was really awesome and we played chicken with other boats and freaked people out.

YA!

Pretty Pretty, Charles bridge and a little put put boat passin by

Adam and I on the paddle boat

On our walk up to the Prague castle, a lot of the building had plants growin all over it.

This is an astronomical clock. I kept calling it the astrological clock. We couldn't understand why everyone was standing there for 30 minutes waiting for nothing really. It made a noise at the hour, but I don't think I saw it move. Its neat looking. But why everyone was gawking.. who knows...

Communism Memorial. Very unique

The Jewish Synagogue. It looks like Aladdin's palace eh? We were waiting to see him come out on the balcony and greet us. Well we didn't get to see the inside even though the pictures looked equally amazing. But it was closed BOTH times we went, but we heard they were charging almost 15 euro to get in.. can they do that??

the 2 non-Jews posing in front of the synagogue

Hey Prague!

Well honestly, I am happy it rained. I've never seen such an incredible rainbow.. I mean TWO rainbows!

View of Prague from the castle, post rainstorm

AWwwww...Doesn't it just want to make you throw up? Well, here's a ouple picture for the parents. Adam's hair is getting obnoxiously long and curly. BUT don't worry, it'll be dredded in a couple weeks...

Thanks M and D for another awesome trip.. next up: Lisbon, Portugal!