Prague, Czech Republic

May 13th, 2008

We began our evening in Prague at around 3:30 with a walking tour by our tour manager Lauren. The walking tour included sites such as Karlov Most (Charles Bridge), St Vitus, and Prague Castle. After the hour long tour we had a couple hours to go off on our own and we grabbed food in the square with the Astronomical Clock. I purchased a curry steak with rice meal for about 400 ckz, or about 16 euro. Our waiter was extremely rude and gave us a calculator with recommended tip and then harassed us when we did not give the entire tip. Apparently the czech population is very straightforward when it comes to things like this, however our waiter the following day was much nicer.

After the meal we headed back to our hostel outside of town and checked in and hit the bar for the night. Everything at this hostel is done electronically and you have to put money on the card in order to pay for things at the bar or on-site. I put 200 ckz on my card which bought two mixed drinks at the bar (100 each). The first drink was a Prague Ice Tea which is tequila, gin, vodka, malibu rum, lime juice, and coke. The second drink was a blue lagoon which is vodka, blue caracao, sprite, and lime juice. After that it was back to the room to finish the night. The other nice thing about this hostel is that the bar and breakfast room is amazing and internet is free with at least 8 terminals available. Aside from Amsterdam this is the only other stop on the whole tour with free internet, and places get more and more expensive as you go. After this stop I did not check my email until Paris where I finally caved and paid for internet to check flight statuses, etc.

May 14th, 2008

We woke up at 7:45 and hit an 8:30 breakfast with the same food and left to go into town on public transport by 9:00. Lauren gave us all two way passes for the public transport since the driver had a day off. We immediately hit up the Church of the Infant Jesus for a friend on the tour (family told her to see it) as it was on the way up to Prague Castle. Afterwards we were going to head into St Vitus and up to the top for a great view of the city however the line to get in was flooded with tour groups and wouldve been 30-45 minutes and we decided to pass. I split up from the group to go inside Prague Castle, St Georges Monastery, and the Golden Alley (125 ckz on reduced student admission + 50 ckz for pictures). After touring the beautiful monastery and castle (I recommend it if you can get reduced fair, full price is like 300 ckz and probably not worth it) I converted 50 euro to 950 ckz and later 20 euro more for 450 ckz and met up with the group.

Along the way to meeting up with the group I bought a t-shirt (199 ckz), shot glass (99 ckz), shot of absinthe with bottle (120 ckz), magnet (99 ckz), and a display babushka doll with Prague architecture etched in (250 ckz). We stopped at a small pizzeria for lunch where I got a pizza diavolo (edam cheese, mushroom, ham, chili sauce) and a coke for 150 ckz + tip.

At around 4pm we had seen everything Prague had to offer and headed back to the hostel for a nap and hit the bar to finish the night. I ordered brushcetta with pruschetto and tomatoes for 100 ckz and a few drinks: rum and coke (100 ckz) and a jaeger bomb (100 ckz) as well as doing the shot of absinthe (was not very pleasing as its 70% alcohol and tastes like mint mouthwash). After the shots we called it a night before heading back into Germany the following morning.

May 15th, 2008

We woke up at 6:30 for a 7:15 breakfast and left Prague at 8am. We drove until 11am for another 45 minute service stop at a McDonalds and gas station. Majority of the tour went to the McDonalds and spent almost double normal prices and a few of us (who refused to eat crappy food) went and got fresh deli sandwiches from the gas station for under 3 euro (they accepted both euro and czech krone as the czech republic is now in their transition to adopting the euro within the next 3 years). We drove from about 11:35 to 2:15 into Germany with a surprise stop at Dachau concentration camp.

Photos: The attached photos include the Prague Day Sheet, accomodations, and pictures from around the city. For the full set of pictures I took from Prague please go to the following albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2089640&l=9e966&id=21902759

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2089641&l=099f5&id=21902759

Jun 3, 2008

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