Czeching out Prague!

After checking out of our hostel in the morning, we were relying on the directions we had gotten from Google Maps the night before to get us to the bus station where we would be taking a bus to Prague. For some reason Google Maps isn't very reliable in Europe (example- that time we missed our bus to London), so we ran into some difficulty. After getting off at the train station stop we were told to, we wandered around the streets of Berlin, searching for a bus station that clearly wasn't there. Time was ticking. We had about 10 minutes before our bus would leave us in the dust, and Abby and I would be staring at an empty bus park for which would seem like the millionth time. I found a cafe and asked the woman behind the counter, and even though she couldn't speak any English, she wrote down pristine directions, map included. 

Germany, I applaud you. You really have your shit together.

 We got back on the train and got off where our glorious map told us to, and we spotted the gleaming bus park in the distance. Sprinting across the roads with our rolly suitcases (seriously how many times has this happened), we hopped on the bus with 5 minutes to spare. 

This bus was no MegaBus, (if you've ever ridden a MegaBus you know what I'm talking about). This was luxury. Touch screen TVs in front of every seat, and even seat belts! Which we were required to wear! And free coffee! That tasted like piss but still! It was great. Except for the part where neither Abby or I could figure out how to actually play a movie. We looked around. It could be done. But we were too embarrassed to ask, "How do you make it play?" I closed my eyes and was just drifting off to sleep when the lady across the aisle from me started throwing up. WHY. Not the one and done kind either. This draaaaaaaaagged on. 

This was me the entire rest of the bus ride, praying to God that I didn't start throwing up.

When we finally got to Prague I think she had puked and/or dry heaved a total of three more times. Maybe if I figured out how to make a movie play I wouldn't have had to hear it. But we made it!!!!

We checked into our hostel (which keep getting nicer and cheaper- gotta love it) and then went in search of food because that is usually our main priority. 

And we found out there is no open container law! Sounds like our kind of place. 

Old Town Square.

More lock bridges

Charles Bridge!

And then we got hungry again. The smell of these things was out of this world.

0_o ?

All that walking really tired us out so we figured we were due for another beer.

After we finished the first one our waitress came over to see if we wanted another one. When we said yes she looked shocked and said, "You girls better be getting a cab ride home!" Another worker came up to us and said, "Where are you from? I just wanted to see because you guys are drinking a respectable amount of beer. Czech girls can't even drink half that." We didn't even think two liters of beer was a lot but we were loving the compliments!

When we got near the end of our second drink the waitress came over and said the first one to finish would get a prize. I lost (upsetting I know) but we got free shots! Some sort of traditional Czech vodka that was delicious! They were closing soon so we didn't have time to get another liter but we had a great time. And no cab ride was needed!

The next day we did another free three and a half hour Sandeman tour. Our tour guide was fantastic and so hilarious. She was only supposed to spend two weeks in Prague and decided to stay for two months, and then came back a year later for two weeks and stayed for two months again. Then she was in Germany and one of her friends called her and said she had to get to Prague immediately for a party. So she hitchhiked all the way to Prague and has been living there ever since! Must have been one hell of a party. 

We enjoy food.

According to our tour guide, the ringing of the Astronomical clock is the second biggest tourist attraction let down. Any guesses on the first?

Even though the actual ringing of the bell was a let down (but the people watching was PRIME) I think the clock is beautiful and it can tell you so many different things from the position and phase of the moon, to the current zodiac sign, to sunrise and sunset, and a lot of other things that I am forgetting! Given that this clock was built in 1410 and it still is accurate is amazing.

We like our bracelets! We are also losers.

Funny story about this building. This is Prague's concert hall and you can't really tell from the picture but the statues on the top are all of composers. When Hitler was in power, he saw these statues and wanted the statue of the Jewish composer, Felix Medelsson taken down, and he ordered one of his officers to do so. Once the officer got to the top of the building, he quickly realized none of the statues had names on them, and he had no idea which statue was the Jewish composer. He decided to measure each statue's nose, and push off whichever statue had the largest nose. The ironic part to this story is that the statue the officer pushed off ended up being Hitler's favorite composer, Antonin Dvorak!

Here is another story she told us. Two years ago the Czech president took an official visit to Chile where he admired the Chilean president's pen, so much so that he discreetly slips it into his pocket while the president is giving him praise. Guess he didn't know he was being filmed!

Once this video went viral, the Czech people gathered hundreds of pens and sent them to him with a note saying, "Dear Mr. President, if you need a pen, just ask."

We had just enough time to get some ice cream in the Old Town Square and watch the ringing of the Astronomical Clock before our beer tour! 

The clock rings at the top of every hour and it was hilarious to watch people's reactions. When it first started ringing everyone went, "Oooooohhhh aaaahhhh", which quickly turned to silence, and then turned to, "Was that it?"

After our awesome tour we decided to go on a beer tour! I tried a lot of different types of beer from an unpasteurized beer, to a strawberry beer, to a chocolate beer, to the darkest beer they had which all were delicious! Czech Republic is known for its delicious and extremely cheap beer, and are credited with inventing lagers. The first place we went to had over thirty different beers on tap!

I think we went to four different places in total and it was so much fun, and we met a lot of interesting people- one girl used to live next to Obi-Wan Kenobi...?!

We also tried traditional Czech vodka. I prefer Burnetts. 

This is Pam and her family.

That is Pam's mom, Holly. We became good friends. She let me call her Holly.

After our final stop we were starving so we told the group we were going to get another beer and ever so casually snuck out of the bar in search of some food. Classic. After discussing in the morning, Abby and I came to the conclusion that we went to the first place we saw and ordered pizza without even looking at the menu. The waiter said they were not an Italian restaurant but he pointed us in the direction of one. There we both ordered pizza, and also asked the waiter if he had any cigarettes because we wanted to be European. He brought us out some and we soaked in Prague's ambience, trying to pretend we were European, and failing miserably.

These pictures were HILARIOUS to wake up to.

 But then our pizza came and not another word was said until we demolished it.

"Is the pizza that good, or are we just really drunk?!"

We also wandered around the Old Town Square.

See Abby in the middle? We think we were trying to recreate the picture I took in Florence? Who knows why.

In the morning we were like:

The next morning we checked out of our hostel (an hour and a half late...) and did some souvenir shopping. We bought some really lame super cool sweatshirts! 

Why would this be sold with postcards? Why would this be sold at all? Who would buy this!?

After shopping we stopped by the John Lennon wall.

Spotted this!!!

Left my mark for the Darmodys!

Left this for you, Den Haag fam!!

We then walked up to the Prague Castle, which gave the best view of any city I have seen so far, besides possibly Capri. 

We also met guys from our tour the previous day. They had been traveling Europe for about a month, and their first stop was Turkey which happened to be the day the riots started- they even got tear gassed!

On our way back down we went to the view one last time to take a few more pictures. Two guys kept staring at us and finally asked me to take a picture of them. Then they asked Abby to be in the picture. Naturally we wanted a copy too!

Then they handed the phone to someone else and we all got in the picture. 

Awkward family photos.

Then a total stranger came up to us and took our picture on his professional camera which was pretty odd considering he did not know a single person in the picture. They informed us they were plastic surgeons from Oman, and if we ever needed plastic surgery to give them a call and they would do it for free. So that was weird. 

After our bizarre encounter we felt like we needed some beer, because it was the fourth of July after all! We picked a restaurant with a red and white table runner.

Then they gave us free shots! They were cherry flavored and disgusting but alcohol is alcohol.

Then they brought out free watermelon! 

We liked this place.

While we were enjoying our watermelon I asked Abby if I thought she had ADD. Her reply?

"No, I think I had attention deficit disorder."

By that time it was getting a bit chilly and we really wanted everyone to know we were local so we put on our Prague sweatshirts and asked our waiter to take a picture of us.

He must have misunderstood because he somehow ended up in the picture.

Oops he is still there, lurking in the shadows... He also took a picture of us with his camera. Just a single picture of Abby and I.

Then we went to the Dancing House! I somehow saw this house on Instagram a while ago and have wanted to visit it ever since! My cousin lived just around the corner when she studied here!

Then we wanted more beer before our overnight train ride.

We got on the train to realize we had the top bunk and it was HOT. 

Wish I was down there...

Good thing we had an eight hour train ride to look forward to! In the morning we would be in Krakow!