So I got a crazy idea to visit Dresden this weekend, but I didn't want to spend tons of time there, and I knew I had five days, so I should find somewhere close by, and spend a couple of days there. So after a lot of thought, I picked Prague. I had no idea what to expect by Czech Republic, but I wanted to know what it was about. So last Tuesday, I booked a hostel in Prague, and a hostel in Dresden. I did my laundry, and then packed my new backpack! Wednesday morning, I went to class, then ran back to my flat, grabbed my backpack, and caught the next bus to the train station.
It was about eight hours to Prague. Five hours on trains, and then somehow I ended up on a three hour bus ride from Nuremberg to Prague. That was weird and unexpected... I got into Prague around seven, which was the same time I had told the hostel to expect me. But, I had planned on eating on the last leg of the train ride, and when that turned out to be a bus ride, and I was asked to store my backpack under the bus, I found I had no food and arrived starved out of my mind. I changed my money at the train station, which I know is dumb, but I was hungry and decided I didn't care so much about getting ripped off. I went to Burger King, and ordered the biggest thing on the menu. I really struggled with the language barrier, but I figured at a train station Burger King, how bad can it be? It was bad. I really don't believe that no one at that Burger King spoke English. They were either really dumb, or trying to rip me off. I stood in line forever, and then finally got to order. After I ordered, I stood there for a really long time while new customers came and went with food, and I got nothing. At this point, I am so hungry I'm shaking, and on the verge of tears. The guy who took my order asks (I think) if he can take my order, and I just about flipped. I tried to tell him I had already ordered, and what I had ordered, and he just thought I was ordering. He asked for money, and I was like "look guy, I already ordered and gave you money!" I looked for a receipt, and realized I was not given one. I was most unhappy. They got a couple other people trying to understand me, and a while later they just gave me a burger, fries, and a drink. I had food, but I was so angry. I was too hungry though. I went and found a seat, and my food was soon gone.
I left the station and headed for my hostel. I managed to navigate the public transportation just fine, and got to the hostel, got checked in, and went to the room to put my things away. I got settled in, and headed downstairs to use the wifi, then took a shower and went to bed. The hostel was great!
So my first full day in Prague, I set out toward the Prague Castle. Of course, I got lost. I got off the tram too early, and ended up at a park. I started up the path at the park, and it seemed to go up and up and up. I followed it anyway. This was when I first noticed the crazy hills in Prague. Everything seems to be at the top of a ridiculous hill. You get some really good views of the city, but your calves will not thank you for it. I walked around the park for a bit, then went and got back on the tram.
I got off at the right stop this time, and walked around for a bit unable to find the silly castle. I stopped at a little cafe for a crepe and cappuccino, and used their wifi to find it. Wandered around the wrong way for a bit, then found some crazy stairs. This must be it. I walked up and up and up some stairs until I arrived at the castle. It was huge. I spent the entire day at the castle and did not see everything.
I just walked around for a bit taking pictures at first. I found some stairs, and as usual, I decided to see what was at the top of them. Two hundred eighty something steps later, I was at the top of some tower. The view was great, and it was definitely worth it, but those stairs were deadly. Next, I decided to go inside the castle and have a look around. I bought a ticket for every part of the castle, and was determined to get my money out of it.
I went to almost every part, but got kicked out of the royal gardens at 6pm. I started to head back to the hostel, and stopped for supper at some resaurant. The food was great, but the service wasn't so good and I way over tipped, because I couldn't translate the currency in my head with the waitress standing there staring at me. Oh well. It was cold and dark, and I was tired, so I went back to the hostel. It was free crepe night. I had three.
Day two, I went into the old town. I visited St. Wenceslas Square, got lost, got some Starbucks, lost my free map, paid way too much for another one, then headed for some old churches. I went into St. Nicholas church, which was absolutely beautiful, and another church that I couldn't find the name of. I walked over Charles Bridge, and around the Old Town Square. There was also a little market that sold a lot of touristy stuff, but also some really cool stuff, and flowers and veggies. I really enjoyed this part of town the most. All of the buildings and bridges were so beautiful.
After I had seen everything, I headed back to the castle and saw everything I had missed the day before.
The next day, i went back into town for a quick walk around, and then I headed to the train station.
Next stop, Dresden!
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All of the pictures from Prague:
Dresden is so far my favorite city, besides Friedrichshafen, of course! :p
The next day, I set out to see all the things I had looked at yesterday in the dark. It was Sunday, so I wasn't able to get into most of the churches, which was disappointing, but I took lots of pictures of the outsides. I started with Martin Luther church, because it was the closest, and moved on to the old town, which was where the opera house and the Frauenkirche were. Everything was so beautiful in Dresden. Everywhere I go, everything is beautiful, but something about Dresden really made me fall in love.
So I got a crazy idea to visit Dresden this weekend, but I didn't want to spend tons of time there, and I knew I had five days, so I should find somewhere close by, and spend a couple of days there. So after a lot of thought, I picked Prague. I had no idea what to expect by Czech Republic, but I wanted to know what it was about. So last Tuesday, I booked a hostel in Prague, and a hostel in Dresden. I did my laundry, and then packed my new backpack! Wednesday morning, I went to class, then ran back to my flat, grabbed my backpack, and caught the next bus to the train station.
I got off at the right stop this time, and walked around for a bit unable to find the silly castle. I stopped at a little cafe for a crepe and cappuccino, and used their wifi to find it. Wandered around the wrong way for a bit, then found some crazy stairs. This must be it. I walked up and up and up some stairs until I arrived at the castle. It was huge. I spent the entire day at the castle and did not see everything.
I went to almost every part, but got kicked out of the royal gardens at 6pm. I started to head back to the hostel, and stopped for supper at some resaurant. The food was great, but the service wasn't so good and I way over tipped, because I couldn't translate the currency in my head with the waitress standing there staring at me. Oh well. It was cold and dark, and I was tired, so I went back to the hostel. It was free crepe night. I had three.
After Oktoberfest, we headed to Vienna. It was a long train ride, but we finally got there in the late afternoon. We got to our hostel, which was ok. We still had a lot of daylight left, so we settled in and then went out to look around. Turns out Vienna is really touristy. A lot of people dressed like Mozart, trying to sell tickets to some show. We got through that, and just kind of wandered around. We found an old church or something, but there was no sign, and no way in. It was pretty weird. We kept wandering, and stumbled on a circus! We were really interested in going to the circus, but it turned out to cost like 24 euros, which is really expensive. There was a little street fair outside of the circus, so we had dinner there. It got dark, and we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.
We started with St. Stephan's Church, which was beautiful, and then we headed to the Imperial Apartments. On the way, we stopped at a smaller church, where we went to a little flea market, and were invited back to tour the organ that evening.
After that, we wandered around a bit more, and then headed back to the hostel. We caught an early train the next morning, because Kristen had to catch the train as soon as we got back for Zurich, as her plane was leaving the next morning at 7am, yikes. Vienna was my favorite, so far. Despite all the tourists, it was really the most beautiful, that is, until I went to Dresden later. :)
After our rest day from Paris, right before bed, we decided we would wake up in the morning and head to Munich for Oktoberfest! We had a good little train ride with a bunch of people in dirndls and lederhosen. We sat with a rich doctor and a guy with bad breath. When we arrived in Munich, we first decided we would try to follow the lederhosen to the festival, but we were walking for a while, and then some of my friends from university arrived, so we met up with them. We walked to the city center and got some beer and wurst. By the way, during Oktoberfest, you can only find liter portions of beer at restaurants and at the festival. So I split one with Kristen. And thats still a lot. Yikes.
So, at the festival, the first thing we did was hit up some rides. I have always been terrified of rides, but something changes very slightly after half a liter. We rode a swings ride that goes way way up in the air. There was a view of everything in Munich. It was really cool! Then I actually rode two roller coasters, one of which had a lot of loops! Anyone who knows me knows that is a big deal for me. I'm so glad I did it!
We then found a tent that was really packed, so we stood in the biergarten and just hung out for a while. It was really great. We met some really funny people. A lady who seemed to have lost her friends and was very drunk attached herself to us and sang drinking songs with us. She was hilarious. I wonder if she remembers us...
