Prague!

This morning we took a train to Prague! (Hence the title of this blog post). There were only five trains going, so we took the 8:48 train. It was either that or 6 in the morning in order to have a good chunk of the day to wander through Prague. The train ride took 4:45 minutes, but it was through a scenic route, so it was a nice train ride. I finished my book and then listened to music as I watched the scenery. I tried to take some pictures, but it's hard when you're going 120 km. This one turned out though:

We got off at our station and made our way to the metro. We had to get some of the currency used here from the bank first. The rate is about 17 crowns (koruna) per U.S. dollar. We found out our metro route and got on our way to our hotel

First glimpse of Prague

This is the outside of our hotel, The Bridge (it's the pink one that's having construction done)

Our cozy room. The bed's comfy, but it seems as though we have no real way to block out the light, so morning should be interesting...

We needed to do some laundry so we decided that we would find a laundromat. We asked the woman at our desk and she directed us to a nearby mall. So we set off with our stuff but when we got there we realized that it was seemed to be a dry cleaning service, and the staff didn't speak English, so we couldn't really inquire as to what they did. We went back to our hotel and talked to the lady, and she informed us that they don't have self-service laundromats here. And she didn't know about what exactly the place in the mall did cause she'd never used it. She suggested we buy some detergent and do it in our room. That's what we ended up doing. The currency sure is strange. Our small box of tide was 29 kc, so it sounds expensive, but really it's quite a reasonable price. So we washed some essentials in our sink and bathtub, and we're hoping they dry alright. And we're hoping that Austria has laundromats.

I liked this building's color

We decided to go up to a tower that is on the side of Prague. Our guidebook promised breathtaking views. We had just eaten which was good because we needed our strength and energy for the hike! It was pretty steep! We could have taken a tram but figured that we'd save money and get a good work out in at the same time. It was a beautiful hike to the top! And I'm sure that if we had had any breath left, the view would have taken it!

The view! You can see both the castle and Charles' bridge

Just for Allison :)

So pretty!

The castle, engulfed by modern buildings

Charles' bridge (after Charles IV)

After that we went back to our hotel. It would be getting dark kind of soon and we didn't want to be out past dark (our guidebooks make it sound scary). So we've been blogging, reading, looking up currency exchanges, and just generally hanging out. We have tomorrow all planned out, and we even get to sleep in a bit (unless the light forces us to wake up before we're ready).

So far Prague reminds me a big of Paris. It's charming, but there are language difficulties (Czech and Slovak). And the people are a bit gruff so far. It's rather warm here though. I was able to wear shorts again. It did rain shortly this afternoon, but that was when we were doing laundry, so we weren't caught in a storm. I also think that the rain provided such a stunning view from the tower, since Prague apparently has some pollution problems. So far it's rained in every city we've been in except Amsterdam and Hamburg. So we're 2 for 5 so far, and I'm sure we'll get rain in Austria. It's a good thing we like it!

Good night!