Day 22-23 Prague

So another bittersweet goodbye, Munich was hard to leave after just two days. Good news is we are headed to Prague which has been the most hyped up city on our entire schedule. I hope it lives up to it!

Day 1

Excluding Barcelona to Monaco we haven't had much trouble with train travel, all of that is now out the window. Sal and John had been itching to get to Amsterdam and between our train switches those two decided to skip Prague and head straight for The Netherlands. Those two got on their train OK and that is when the trouble began.

James and I waited... and waited... and waited some more for a train that never came. Apparently it was running hours behind and other people at the station said it flew right by us. We ended up sitting at the station from 2PM til 7PM, not a very pleasant wait. We met a bunch of English lads that were absolutely hilarious and made some of the time go by.

Schwandorf train station


We finally caught our train at 7PM and we were wiped out from sitting in the sun all day. James passed out most of the ride while I slept for a little and then I couldn't keep my head or camera in the window. The Czech Republic is gorgeous... beautiful green as far as you could see with random dense forests straight out of the movies. I expected to see Russian troops marching through with AK-47's at any second. The landscape reminded me of Gettysburg but obviously more mysterious.

Czech landscape


Jets flying straight into the sky


We finally made it to our hotel by just after midnight and when we arrived the hotel had booked all rooms with our double bed preference... so instead James and I got a suite with a bedroom, a living room, and two bathrooms. It must have been karma for being so patient all day! We got in the room, made some phone calls, and passed out!

Day 2

Since our entire day was wasted yesterday for travel, we now must fit all of Prague's sights into one day. Not impossible but rough. We were recommended a restaurant around the corner and we loved it so much we ate their twice. We ate lamb knuckle, beef shin goulash, and drank lots of Pilsner Urquell which was cheaper than water!

Pilsner Urquell


Prague or "Praha" really lived up to the hype, architectually Prague featured a heavy blend of baroque and gothic touches. At this point we had seen so many churches they all blended together but Praha offered a new twist in the interior and even the exterior of some of its churches, brass. Some of our early highlights included climbing the Powder Gate, Tyn Church, Old Town Square, and the Astronomical Clock.

Powder Gate


Tyn Church


Astronomical Clock


Next we moved on to Charles Bridge which was awesome but unfortunately was under heavy construction and smelled like nail polish which kind of ruined some of its appeal. We crossed the bridge into Lesser Town which we thought was a strange way to label a part of town, St. Nicholas Church was our next stop and this church featured the most brass of them all including the main altar being dominated by it.

View off Charles Bridge


St. Nicholas Church Altar


Our last stop of the day was actually a bunch of stops at the Prague Castle. The Prague Castle included a bunch of sites including the Old Royal Palace, New Royal Palace, Powder Tower, Golden Lane, Wenceslas Vineyard, several gardens, and most importantly St. Vitus' Cathedral. St. Vitus Cathedral contained probably the most impressive stained glass we have seen yet, and from the outside was right up there with the Basilica Fiore in Florence.

Front gates of castle


Stained Glass


St. Vitus Cathedral


A cool place we saw on our way out of the castle was Daliborka Tower, which was actually used as a defense tower and jail. The tower was named after its first inmate who was a young knight named Daliborka. The phrase "to fiddle" or "change your tune" was derived here when Daliborka would confess to crimes while undergoing torture. The reason they may have called it to fiddle was Daliborka mastered the violin while jailed and citizens would gather around the jail to listen to him play from the inside.

Daliborka torture tools


View of Prague from Castle


I wish we had more time to spend in this city, we didn't get to check out the nightlife or even drink the ABSINTHE! I definitely will be returning here when I make my Eastern European adventure.