Prague

Dear Readers,

Krisi and I really appreciate that all of you read our blog.  However, it is really exciting to see when people comment on it, and lately, you seem to have stopped.  It makes us think no one reads this.  If you do, please comment with your thoughts, it makes us very happy. :)

Yours Truly,
Natalie and Krisi

Okay, now for the real blog part.  Last night I met up with some friends from high school who are studying abroad in Vienna.  It was nice to see some familiar faces, and I enjoyed having them show me around the Vienna nightlife.  We ended up going to this club that had a swimming pool in it, although no one was allowed to swim in it, which seems a bit taunting to me.  Anyway, it was an enjoyable night, and I am really happy I was able to see where my friends study. 

We left early this morning for Prague and arrived around 1:30.  We started sightseeing immediately, as we only have one night here.  It was definitely an adequate amount of time, though, because everything is in a very central location.  Unfortunately, our hostel is about a 15 minute walk from that central location, but I suppose exercise is never a bad thing. 

Before sight seeing, we found an ATM to take out cash because they use a different currency than the rest of Europe (I don't understand why they can't just get on board, though).  Anyway, they use Czech Crown, and it is really confusing to use. They numbers are much, much larger and so it throws us off a bit.  For instance, a meal at McDonald's (a McChicken meal) was 115 Crowns.  It was so weird to be charged 5 Crowns for a packet of ketchup! Despite how confusing it is, the dollar is currently stronger than the crown, which is definitely to our benefit. 

Prague is a beautiful city, as most European cities tend to be.  The buildings are very old and historical, and they also tend to have a lot of statues of heads and/or faces coming out of them, which we found a bit interesting.  The city center, though, is surrounded by beautiful buildings, and Krisi and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch of goulash and dumplings (a true Czech treat) in the midst of them.

We went to the Charles Bridge afterward and the sight from that bridge is truly breathtaking.  It is possible to see a lot of Prague all at once, and our pictures resemble a postcard because they are so pretty.  The bridge was also very lively with all different types of street performers and vendors.  I think my favorite was the man who had a puppet playing guitar to music...clever. 

Out next stop was the famous astronomical clock.  While it is almost impossible to try to figure out how to read it, it's neat to look at.  Every hour it does a little performance, and we watched that.  It wasn't super exciting, but I suppose worth seeing.  While we were waiting for the little show, there was a group of kids that were being videotaped by a few different people, as well as photographed, and we are convinced they are the Jersey Shore of Prague (we were thinking Prague City...or Prague Field).  Either that, or they were some famous people that we have never heard of. 

That was pretty much the sum of our sightseeing, in addition to walking around an exploring a bit.  We just got back from the store to try to get rid of our last few Crowns, and we got some Kinder chocolate, which I am in love it (actually, I got chocolate, and Krisi gave me hers to eat, too).  We got these chocolate eggs that have toys in them.  I like European fun things like that. I also really, really like Kinder products.

Well, tonight we might just relax, but we are headed to our last hostel tomorrow in Munich! This trip is really flying by.  I have been here for 3 weeks now, and I feel like I know so much about Europe already, so I am very content with that.  It will be nice to get to Krisi's family, though, and be able to have a real shower, our own beds, etc.  Hostels are a fun place to meet people and whatnot, but nothing compares to a home cooked meal and your own bed and shower.