After our time in Hungary was over, we set off on a train to Bratislava. We had booked a private room with 3 beds that morning, so we were ready to suck the marrow out of the city (or something like that...).
The train ride there was okay - we were in a compartment with a 40ish man who didn't seem too annoyed with us, which is always a plus. We were really excited once we realized that Slovakia is on the Euro so we wouldn't have to change money this time!
This is the presidential palace...a white house.
When we got to Bratislava, we met a girl who's an ETA there. It was excellent to have a local show us around and get to trade stories with someone doing our job in a different country. She also took us to this fantastic (and cheap!) restaurant which used to be a church. I had this amazing Slovakian take on mac & cheese there.
The crowns in the sidewalk mark the route used for the coronation parade in olden times. (See, coronation tour!)
The next morning we went on a walking tour of Bratislava, but we had to leave early to catch our train to Prague! The train was really crowded - we sat in a completely full compartment with this guy who is a hairdressing teacher and two other people who vanished (probably to the dining car) for most of the trip. (I didn't miss them. They were drinking straight from a bottle of wine.)
Once we got to Prague, we walked to our hostel. Since we had booked late, all that was available was a hostel room with 16 beds (and one shower). When we got to the room, we were dismayed to discover that the beds were kinda like a double bed with a board in the middle so we'd be sleeping literally next to someone we didn't know. Since that really didn't seem like the best course of action, Kitty asked her dad if we could use his Marriott points to stay somewhere else. He said yes, so we headed towards the airport after eating dinner.
Dinner the first night in Prague was really good and rather cheap! I had mushroom risotto - the restaurant was really nice, and I would have expected to pay about 10 Euros for the quality of food and service, but it was much cheaper than that!
We discovered, upon trying to take public transit to the airport (We were at the airport Marriott.) that public transit to the airport stops pretty early. Early enough that we had to take a taxi to the hotel. It was kinda cool - my very first taxi ride - but it was really expensive.
The fancy clock in Prague's old town.
Prague was so crowded. I think I'd like it better if I went when it wasn't New Year's Eve. (Side note: all the countries I went to refer to New Year's Eve as "Silvester" - some spell it differently, but when you say "Silvester," they all know what you mean. Why don't we say that? It sounds better than NYE.) Also a lot of the tourists were from far eastern Europe/Russia, so I saw a lot of fur coats. Fur coats will never cease to be tacky to me, but they're apparently a status symbol there.
Charles Bridge!
Me + Charles Bridge + Prague!
We went and saw the Lennon Wall, which is a place where people painted quotes and tributes to John Lennon. It was one of my favorite parts of Prague!
This. This is pure gold. No fluff, just truth.
Hey Mom, I love you!
#yoloindieswag
Honestly, I don't know much about this, but it was interesting-looking.
We climbed up to the Prague Castle, but didn't have time to look around because we wanted to go on another free walking tour. (That's our THING.)
We also didn't look around much because we wanted to stop at KFC before the free walking tour. Because that's also our thing.
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| Germans don't watch the ball drop. They watch a clock on the screen. It's anti-climatic. |
Peter went off to meet some friends, so we said farewell to him after our walking tour. Kitty and I wandered around a bit more before deciding to eat at TGI Friday's. Why, you ask, would you go all the way to Prague to eat at TGI Friday's? The answer is simple: we were frightened.
It was New Year's Eve in Prague, and the neighborhood where the TGI Friday's was didn't have anything else around to eat besides a McDonald's. It was only 6 pm, but people were already starting to light fireworks and throw them in the streets, and we decided we didn't want to risk getting lost or hurt. The food was pretty good (albeit expensive). Being in TGI Friday's was like being in America. It was weird.
After we got done eating, we decided we didn't really want to have drunk people throw firecrackers at us, so we went back to our hotel (also, it was early enough that we didn't have to take a taxi.)
We ended up watching this hilarious New Year's special from Austria on TV. The acts were very random; I haven't laughed that hard in ages.
You can't tell from this photograph, but the entire panorama around the airport was fireworks at midnight.
It was a pretty good New Year's Eve...I mean, Das Erste wished me a happy new year, so that's cool.
The next morning Kitty and I trekked up to Prague Castle. It was beautiful!
We both thought this looked like the Koelner Dom.
We were up there at noon, so we heard the clock strike 12.
This building looked like Gregson.
Wanna get thrown out the window? This is a nice place for it, I hear.
We were going to try for a better photo, but some lady shoved her way into my space about .4 seconds after Kitty took this one. Oh well!!
We were walking down the street when the name "Fulbrighta" caught my name. We found the Czech Fulbright commission!
Also, we found the shrine to the Infant Jesus of Prague! (There's one in Prague, OK as well - I've seen the sign a thousand times but have never been there.)
The trip home was pretty uneventful. The first train was really full, so Kitty and I had to go into the dining car and order something in order to get a seat. The guy sitting behind us looked like Chris Christie. (He called the waiter "buddy.") Kitty and I took the same train until I got off in Erfurt. We got food at the KFC in Leipzig because that's our thing.
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