Our hostel turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. Apparently St.Christopher’s opened up less than 2 months ago, and seemed more like a 5 star hotel than a hostel. We had our own private bathroom for each room which had the most sensational shower. We were in heaven. Hard wood floors, everything was gorgeous. And for the wonderful price of 20 Euros a night we were happy campers.
Once we checked in we decided to start venturing around the city. With some tips from our receptionist we were on our way: our goal was to venture to old town square. What we determined was about a 10-15 minute walk, we walked for about 3 hours, shopping, looking at other sites around us and evidently asking for directions. Ah well, that’s part of travelling eh. We saw something cool and just went for it. The best part. We had a plan though and eventually ended up in old town hall which was gorgeous. Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I have had the privilege of seeing. The history surrounding you was so overwhelming, you kind of stand there is awe at the buildings. It was stunning.
Then came the challenge of taking out money. I had transferred money to my French account, except that in France, the bank closes at around 2pm, so when I needed money that afternoon, it was again the wonderful world of VISA that saved the day.
The old town square features the very famous astronomical clock. So cool to see and we even saw one of the hourly shows that happen where a man was playing his trumpet from the very top. How cool! Tons of people were around the clock as well, clearly demonstrating this is a popular tourist stop. In the square as well was the Church of Lady Tyn. I believe there are three churches in that square, but she remains to be the most well known I believe.
We had walked around city for the whole afternoon and when we headed back to the hostel we decided to take advantage of their very entertaining 6 hour happy hour. I know right? Let me explain. From 6-8pm was 2 for 1 beer, 8-10pm were 2 for 1 cocktails and 10-12am was 2 for 1 spirits. We, not surprisingly were present for all three rounds of this happy hour. There were so many people in the hostel bar that we were meeting people from all over the world. We had an Aussie couple beside us, then we met some Americans, a bunch of people from England and well; we had a blast. How can you not right?
This was also the night that Petey and I made our infamous list: we discovered that we have travelled to 13 countries, and 27 cities. Holy crap batman. It was so cool to list all of the places and see it on paper what we have been able to do in the past 7 months. We even made a list of the places that we would like to visit our next time around to Europe: we called it the reunion tour list. Ha. Appropriate right?
So in total in 222 days, I will have done 13 countries and 27 cities. I am thrilled. I knew I would travel, but you can’t ever guess you would do something like that.
Talk about a great sleep; those beds were excellent. We were a) out cold instantly and b) slept through the entire night even without ear plugs (which I forgot and have now come to be life savers in hostels). Our roommates were great and even coming back at 6am I didn’t hear them. Petey informed me, but still, excellent beds.
The next morning we got up early since our walking tour was at 11, and we met the guys in the lobby for breakfast as well. Probably the best breakfast we had in a while, I’m telling you this hostel was to die for. Scrambled eggs, fruit, toasts, sandwiches, coffee/tea and even orange juice. The works eh. Yumm.
We set off again to find old town square where our tour was leaving from and since we had been the day before it really wasn’t bad at all. We made it just in time and with over 103 people standing for the free walking tours, we were obviously split into smaller groups. We were put with Aiofe from Ireland. What a cool name eh? 4 out of the 5 letters are vowels….anyways. She was fantastic! She was loud, entertaining, and made the three hour walking tour that much more enjoyable. The main general tour covered the Jewish community again, and we mainly concentrated on the right side of the river: Westeyan square, Powder Gate, the churches, the astronomical clock, and the Jewish quarter. It was once again, boiling hot outside so we stuck to a ton of shady spots. Of course, being the neon white colour I am I was destined to burn. And I left the sunscreen in the hostel. A++ Sarah.
On this tour I even met some girls from Waterloo, Ontario where I go to school. Small world eh? They were touring for about 3 months in total and were maybe half way through the trip. Turns out the next tour would be even more packed with Canadians.
The three hours flew by and it was a great start to the day. We had signed up and paid for the second tour that followed directly after at 2pm which was called the Castle tour. We would be going over to the other side of the river and I couldn’t wait. Our tour started about a half hour later than planned at 2:30, and lasted an amazing 4 hours. 7 hours of walking tours. Can you imagine? Props to Petey with her gimp foot with stitches. Poor girl was quite the trooper.
But the second tour was awesome: Mike was our tour guide and was a total gem. He was German; who lived in England so sounded English, but is dating a girl from Czech and now lives there. He called himself a confused European. Ha. Brilliant eh.
We ventured through the Wallenstein garden and saw the insanely cool Grotto wall. It in fact is man-made and you can tell this because there are faces that are dispersed throughout the wall. Some are devils, some tongues, snakes and apparently a pixie which our tour guide loved.
When we finally got up to the castle it was gorgeous. The thing that we had come to see and it did not let down. Super cool and we even went inside the church of Prague Castle. It was so cool to see and honestly, enormous. It is presently where the President of the Czech Republic works and the day we visited showed the flag letting us know he was in office that day.
When our tour ended we were left with a gorgeous view of the city. Understatement really. It was stunning. Prague really is gorgeous. Love at first sight that’s for sure. You could spend hours upon hours walking through the city and not have no concept of time.
On our way back home we were determined to find the Lennon wall. A wall that is constantly changing with the paintings of artists. I’m not sure how often they re-paint it, but they will repaint it all white and let artists come and take over again. It reminded me a lot of the east side gallery in Berlin. Really funky stuff. Although not very big, a definite good spot to stop.
Then the part that I was really looking forward to: Charles Bridge. We kept seeing it at a distance from both tours, but had never walked across and I couldn’t wait. The timing of day was gorgeous, it was after 7, sun still out, tons of boats on the water and the bridge covered with tourists and artists. I love that ambience. Busy, yet captivating. Artists were everywhere showing their paintings, jewelry and souvenirs. Just a really gorgeous spot. Postcard worthy for sure. Without a doubt.
We dubbed the bridge the perfect first date. When you ask someone at home to go on a date and he said “want to go for a walk”, you are either walking in a suburb or with boring scenery. Even downtown is cool, but you know what I mean? Imagine going for a walk and hanging out on Charles Bridge with a view like that. A hell of a first date folks. Romantic is the understatement of the year.
We took our time walking home and kept our path along the water. Smelled like a lake actually which was cool, reminded me of home and being at the cottage you know? But what a great day; packed with walking tours, good food, amazing sights and we were in the mood for a beer. The hostel was perfect for this low key evening. We were exhausted (since it was like ten billion degrees again…in fact it was 36 to be precise). But either way, we had some beers and just took it easy sorting our things out to pack up to Berlin the next morning.
We had another early morning where we got up and actually ventured one last time through the streets before catching our 10:30am train. It was so cool just walking through the streets and after a couple days, you actually know where you are going. You feel almost local, in a strange sort of way, even though we couldn’t be further from a local. Anyways, it was wonderful, another beautiful day and we were in great moods.
For once our train arrived on time and we arrived home to Berlin about 10 minutes early as well. This was a shocking revelation seeing as all our trains have been hours late. But it was neat, we had a Harry Potter type cabin where we met the sweetest couple. He was born in NYC, but is an orchestra conductor and his now wife, is from the Netherlands and is an opera singer. I guess he was conducting and he saw her from across the room and dubbed her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen (gasp – they were adorable by the way). And since he didn’t speak Dutch he had no idea how he was going to introduce himself. Turns out she spoke English and the rest was history. She now works for the Berlin Opera and they have lived in Berlin for 21 years. Love, love, love. It was a fantastic story.
We were back in Berlin and yet would not be staying long at all. We arrived Thursday afternoon and are leaving now tonight, Friday, for Interlaken, Switzerland to go skydiving.
Never any sleep ladies and gents, there is just over 2 weeks left on my European adventure and we have no time to rest.
Up next: Interlaken, Switzerland for skydiving. Hold your breath. And maybe cross your fingers too.
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