Prague and Kutna Hora

---

From Friday, September 5th to Tuesday, September 30th, 2008, Mike and I traveled to Eastern and Central Europe, visiting the countries of Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, and a one day stay in Paris on our way home. It was Mike's turn to pick a destination and he selected this trip due to his interest in World War II, the food he hoped to encounter (he loves sausages, meat, and potato dishes, which are common in that part of the world), and the fact that he really wanted to visit the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Aside from all those reasons, the greatest intrigue for the trip was the fact that it is completely different than Western Europe and not as frequently visited by tourists. All of the countries we traveled to (with the exception of Austria) were formerly controlled by the Communists. While those days are long gone, the history of that era creates a fascinating curiosity within most people, including ourselves. When we told people where we were traveling to, many of the reactions were"huh?" or "why?" or "you're brave!". So many people still associate the negative and dreary Communist world with that area of Europe. However, times have changed and nearly two decades have passed since some of those chapters closed and the former Czechoslovakia, is now two separate countries (Czech Republic and Slovakia) and the former area of Yugoslavia is now six countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). So, those of you with preconceived notions and negative connotations regarding Eastern Europe can throw all your former thoughts away; the Eastern Europe of today is now filled with breathtakingly beautiful squares, meticulously restored historically buildings, inexpensive food and lodging, and locals who for the most part, speak flawless English, and much better than their counterparts in Western Europe. This trip report will be broken down into several sections: Prague, Krakow, Eger, Budapest, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Southern Austria, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov, and last but not least, our favorite city in the world, Paris.

Day 1/Day 2 (Friday, September 5th and Saturday, September 6th, 2008)

Our trip began with 20 long hours of flying. We had received both of our tickets for free through my frequent flier program with Delta, which was awesome as it probably saved us about $2000. Our flight schedule to Prague was as follows: Seattle to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Prague. Normally, when flying to Europe, I prefer to have one layover or less. However, when I booked the tickets 11 months ahead of time, the best option they had was the one I selected. You aren’t allowed to complain when it’s free!

Although we had gotten quite a bit done in the days before we left for the trip (i.e. packing, cleaning the house, etc) we still somehow managed to go to bed very late the night before our trip and each only received about 4 hours of sleep. We were both exhausted through all three flights but did manage to get some sleep. We were surprised to see that all three of our flights were completely booked solid. This made it difficult to find room for our luggage (which we always carry on) as all of the overhead bins were stuffed full, especially on the flight from Atlanta to Prague. In fact, we were concerned that we might actually have to check one of the pieces of luggage, but luckily, Mike walked to the back of the plane and managed to squeeze it into one of the overhead bins.

On the flights over, it hadn’t really sunk in that we were going to be in Europe for over a month; it didn’t seem real until we finally landed in Prague around 10:40, which was nine hours ahead of Seattle. Aside from the many languages I heard as we walked through Prague’s airport, the first real sign for me that I was in a different county was when I used the bathroom where everything was different; the stalls, toilets, flushing mechanism, faucets, paper towels, etc.

From the airport, we walked towards the exit where a driver was awaiting our arrival to take us to our private apartment in Prague. Mike scanned the crowd of people and found him easily (large sign that read JENNIFER CHURCHILL). The drive from the airport to the historical center of town took about 20 minutes. As most airports around the world, the Prague airport was far from the center of town. We saw more of the “real” parts of the Czech Republic with lots of building and construction going on everywhere.
As we approached the center of town, the paved roads turned to cobblestone, and that’s when we really began to feel excited. The city was absolutely stunning with many brightly colored different types of architectural styles including Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau; a complete mismatch of buildings that when combined together, turned into something beautiful. Another thing that we noticed almost immediately was the mass hordes of tourists; it was actually quite insane as we had not expected the sheer number of people that we saw.

When we arrived at Konza Apartments (www.arcadiaoldtown.com) we were greeted by the friendly owner, Pasquale Gusmano. He walked us up the two flights of stairs to our private apartment, which was huge and spacious! There was four rooms total; the bathroom, hallway, kitchen/dining room, and the large bedroom with a few seating areas. The best part of the apartment though was its amazing location; literally a two minute walk to the Old Town Square. We could not have found a more central or atmospheric location! Pasquale showed us around the apartment, which to Mike’s happiness, was air conditioned. He had even gone to enough thought to include a few items in the fridge for us; a large bottle of water, a container of orange juice, and some milk. I was quite impressed with his level of thoughtfulness as we had never encountered anything quite like that before at any of our hotel or bed and breakfast stays. It’s the little things that can truly make a huge difference. Afterward, Pasquale took us on a quick introductory walk of the Old Town Square, pointing out important places like the nearby bank and Italian restaurant (hint: delicious pizza!).

After Pasquale left, we walked back to the apartment, freshened up, and headed back onto the hot streets of Prague to fight our quickly looming jet lag. We were surprised at how warm it was; it had to have gotten close to 90 degrees that day!

We first walked around the gorgeous Old Town Square, which was filled to the brim with tourists and way too many tour groups. We stopped in at two churches (Tyn Church and Church of St. Nicolas). From Tyn Church, we walked around the corner to Ungelt Courtyard, which seemed a peaceful world away from nearby busy Old Town Square. We continued walking until we reached the Church of St. James, which we had planned to tour the interior of, but soon discovered, was closed. From the viewing glass, it looked beautiful inside, so we figured we would come back later that day or during the next. We walked back to the main square and I managed to take quite a few pictures of the stunning architecture. As mentioned previously, I was truly blown away with the variety of colorful styles that seemed to somehow mesh together so perfectly. From every vantage point in that square, all you could see was immaculately preserved buildings and churches; probably one of the most beautiful settings I had ever seen (so far!) in my life.

After we finished touring Old Town Square, we decided to stop for lunch at the Italian place located next to our apartment called “Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant”. Of course, we both ordered pizza; I had a margarita pizza with ham while Mike’s had cheese, ham, and ricotta on it. Both were delicious and definitely authentically Italian! I guess we should have eaten some Czech food instead but real Italian pizza is hard to pass up!

As the temperature continued to steadily increase, we decided to stop back at the apartment again so we could change clothes. The jet lag had completely set in at this point, but I wasn’t ready to give in yet as it was only around 13:00. This time, we set out for Charles Bridge, which was about a 15 minute walk from our apartment. The 500 year old bridge is probably Prague’s most defining landmark, and for that reason, is inundated with tourists. We were blown away with the number of people we saw on that bridge. Part of the crowdedness problem was owed to the fact that the bridge was undergoing a massive restoration, and on some portions, there was only a small and narrow walkway available, which created a very claustrophobic space. The other problem was the blazing hot sun that was shining down on our heads and backs; all of these things combined together did not make for the most enjoyable experience. We decided to revisit the bridge either early in the morning or later in the evening when we would probably encounter less people.

At the far end of the bridge, we eventually reached the Little Quarter which is a small but charming neighborhood perched below the Prague Castle. We took a detour from here, heading left towards Kampa Island, which is an island that features a large park and lots of beautifully preserved homes and businesses. As we were walking through the Kampa neighborhood, we happened upon a large mural that was covered in many different forms of colorful graffiti. Most of it was peace related, or “I was here” type stuff. We later read that the mural is called the Lennon Wall and was started the day after John Lennon was killed in 1980. Apparently, in the first few weeks of the mural, the police repainted the wall every night in an attempt to curb the graffiti, but their efforts became fruitless as more and more messages were painted on each day.

After walking through Kampa Island, we walked back over the crowded Charles Bridge. Instead of following the route we had walked from our Apartment, we detoured to the right and took the non-tourist way back. Many of the small side streets we walked on had no body on them, which was quite strange from the deranged scene we had just come from. At this point, Mike and I both began to experience the side effects of severe jet lag; we were stumbling as we walked, slurring our words, and not able to form cohesive sentences. Everything began to feel surreal to me, so I knew that my attempt to battle the jet lag was over; we needed to sleep NOW. Right before we arrived at our apartment, we walked down Havelska Street, which houses an open air market every day. There was many stalls filled with interesting items that I would have liked to viewed more closely, but my body told me no!

When we arrived back at the apartment, Mike took a shower and I crashed immediately. I don’t think I have ever felt that tired in my entire life; no exaggeration! We slept from 16:00 until 22:00, when I finally awoke to take a shower and journal this blog entry. I ended up going back to bed around 00:15.

Day 3 (Sunday, September 7th, 2008)

Mike and I awoke on our second day in Prague around 7:30. Breakfast arrived at 8:00 from Pasquale and his mother. With them, they brought a massive amount of food; eggs, bread, ham, salami, cheese, cereal, yogurt, grapes, pastries, pistachios, coffee, orange juice, and a few other items! There was enough food to feed at least four people, so we were both quite full at the end of the meal.

We left the apartment around 8:45 to begin our day of sightseeing. I wanted to make sure to arrive prior to all of the tour groups in order to see the sights in the Jewish Quarter.

Our first stop was the Pinkas Synagogue, where we each bought a 300 CZK ticket that allowed entry into six of the seven main sights in the Jewish Quarter. The Pinkas Synagogue was turned into a memorial after the end of World War II for the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia that were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The interior walls of the Synagogue are inscribed with the names of each one of the victims (77,297), and also includes their community name, date of birth, and date of death (or last known date alive). As we walked through the somber but moving memorial, we heard a soft voice overhead reading the names of each of the victims. At times, we were the only visitors inside the building during our visit, so it was sad to imagine how drastically the atmosphere might change once the hundreds of tourist began filing through only one hour later.

From the Synagogue, we walked through the gates of the property to the Old Jewish Cemetery. I find myself having difficulty finding the proper words to accurately describe the scene but these three come to mind; solemn, peaceful, and evocative. The cemetery contains the graves of over 12,000 people from 1439 to 1787 and was the only location in Prague that allowed Jewish burial. As the small cemetery simply did not physically have enough room for the thousands of graves, the tombs were piled on top of one another, eventually creating small mounds. As the ground settled, most of the tombstones began to fall over one another, creating the dramatic effect that can be seen today.

The path within the cemetery winded its way around the thousands of headstones until we arrived at the Ceremonial Hall. This was a mortuary house that was built in 1911 and now houses a small museum dedicated to describing the Jewish traditions involving medicine, death, and burial traditions.

Across the street from the Ceremonial Hall was the Klaus Synagogue, which was built in the 1600’s and has exhibits on the Jewish religion. We found the displays on the second level to be of the most interest to us; the rituals of Jewish life including circumcision, marriage/weddings, birth, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, and food preparation were explained and presented in a well thought-out manner.

Next, we walked down the street to the Old-New Synagogue, which we each had to pay a separate 200 CZK ticket to gain entrance into. The building was built in 1270 and is the oldest synagogue still standing in Eastern Europe. While architecturally speaking, the building was interesting, neither one of us found that the steep 200 CZK (approximately $12 USD each) entrance fee was worth the cost. I thought that most of the other sites within the Jewish Quarter were much more fascinating than this one.

Afterward, we walked to the Spanish Synagogue, which I found to be the most beautiful of all the sights in the Jewish Quarter. The Synagogue was built in 1868 in the colorful Moorish style, anchored by many shades of gold. Unfortunately, much to my disappointment, we were unable to take photos of the ornate interior. Upstairs, there were exhibits on Jewish life in the 19th and 20th centuries, including stories of life in the Terezin Concentration Camp.

Our last visit in the Jewish Quarter was to the Maisel Synagogue. At this point, we both had museum overload, so we didn’t spend much time viewing the exhibits on the history of the Jewish people in Bohemia and Moravia. The building itself was originally built as a private place of worship for the Maisel family during 1590-1592.

From the Jewish Quarter, we took the metro to Wenceslas Square, beginning our walk near the top of the street, at the National Museum. The square is actually more or less a boulevard, and encompasses a long stretch filled with a variety of architecture and buildings. Wenceslas Square is most famous for its involvement in the many protests, demonstrations, and celebrations that took place during the 20th century including the Velvet Revolution of 1989 when Czechoslovakia regained its freedom from the Communist government.

At the end of Wenceslas, Mike bought a hotdog called “Old Prague Sausage” which was actually quite delicious; I am NOT a fan of hot dogs, but I decided to try a bite, and actually liked it!

After eating, we walked through some of the streets located Northwest of Wenceslas Square, stopping along the way for some gelato and photo ops.

Our next museum stop was the Museum of Communism, which explained the history of communism in Prague. We saw lots of propaganda posters, statues and busts of the famous communists (Stalin, Lenin, Marx), and lots of interesting tidbits and artifacts from those crazy days. We also watched a 20 minute video on the uprising of the Czech people from the 1950s up until the Velvet Revolution, which I found quite fascinating.

After touring the museum, we walked to another museum (apparently it was museum overload day?!), this one called the Mucha Museum. The art of Alfons Mucha is housed in this small but manageable museum that includes many of his famous posters, some sketches, and a few family photographs. It is said that Mucha can be considered the “founding father” of the Art Nouveau movement in the early 20th century, which had a tremendous impact worldwide on the arts and architecture, especially in Europe.

From here, we walked over to the Municipal House, which was built from 1905 to 1911 and has been called the “pearl of Czech Art Nouveau”. It contains the largest concert hall in Prague and a few restaurants. The only way to view the interior of the hall is via a guided tour. Unfortunately, no guided tours were offered during our four day stay in Prague, so we only got to view the exterior and a small portion of the interior.

Just down the road from the Municipal House was a large grocery store called Albert. Instead of eating out for dinner that night, we thought we would eat for cheap by stocking up on some sandwich stuff and other random goodies. One of my favorite parts of traveling to other countries is visiting the grocery stores. It’s a great opportunity to see the many different types of food that are eaten everyday by normal people. We purchased several types of deli meat (ham, prosciutto, and salami), cheese, cherry juice, orange juice, bottles of water, some Czech beer, fresh bread, a cream pastry (which tasted DIVINE!), and bread that was slathered in melted cheese and covered in bacon.

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped in at the ticket office just off of the Old Town Square in order to purchase tickets to a black light theatre show. Based on recommendations from the guidebooks, we selected the 20:00 show from Image Black Light Theatre. The tickets each cost 480 CZK (approximately $28 per person).

We walked back to the apartment through a light misty rain. Once back, I began to devour the food as I was starving. My favorite was definitely the cherry juice, cream pastry, and the bread concoction with cheese and bacon. After eating, I realized that I was quite tired, so we decided to take a short nap as we had a few hours before the show began.

We set the alarm to go off at 18:30, but when that time arrived, we decided to change it to 19:10 as we were both very tired. When Mike woke me up 40 minutes later, I had the most difficult time getting up. I was so completely exhausted that it was almost impossible for me to speak clearly.

Much to my grumbling, we finally left for the show at 19:30. The theatre was only a five minute walk from our apartment, which was convenient. There were no assigned seats for the show; it’s on a first come, first served basis. However, it’s recommended not to sit in front as the illusions look best further away instead of close up. Black Light Theater is a combination of mime and modern dance, with no language barrier. The only thing I can compare it to is Cirque du Soleil shows, but at a much lower budget (i.e. stages, costumes, etc not quite up to par). I thought the show was only okay; I was annoyed with the fact that each of the acts were preceded by a quick mime show that I did not find to be all that entertaining. Mike seemed to enjoy himself more than I did, but I think that also had to do with the fact that he wasn’t exhausted like I was! As with most shows, we were unable to take photos during the performance.

Day 4 (Monday, September 8th, 2008)

Our plan for today was to take a day trip out of Prague into a nearby quintessential Czech town called Kutna Hora. Prior to our leaving, I had completed extensive research for all aspects of our trip, including train transportation. I had printed copies of the train schedules departing from Prague to Kutna Hora, and we decided to take the 9:47, which would put us in the city at 11:10.





We took a few metro rides in order to get to Prague’s main train station. Once at the train station, we both stood in bewilderment trying to figure out what in the heck to do. Almost nothing was listed in English (only Czech) and the first item we needed to complete was very important; buying our train tickets. Luckily, one of the informational attendants led us in the right direction. While waiting at the ticket counter, we reviewed the departures screen but did not see a 9:47 departure to Kutna Hora. In fact, we did not see any departures for Kutna Hora. Feeling slightly perplexed and very confused, we walked up to the ticket agent and using hand gestures (as she spoke no English and we spoke no Czech) ordered two roundtrip tickets from Prague to Kutna Hora. After we were handed our tickets, we attempted to review them in hopes of understanding a few items including what time we were leaving, from what platform the train would depart, and what stations the train would be stopping in. Unfortunately, the ticket did not provide any of the above listed information and only confused us more as the time listed on the ticket was one hour later than the time I had originally researched. Eventually, we walked upstairs in hopes of clearing our confusion. We looked very closely at the train departure boards, but still did not see Kutna Hora listed anywhere. Mike walked up to a different booth, and was finally told what platform the train was leaving from. What we had failed to realize was that the cities listed on the departure board were the final stops of the train; where the train would terminate. Therefore, when ordering tickets, it is helpful to know either the terminus information or the number of the actual train.

The train ride from Prague to Kutna Hora took about one hour. Once off the train, I had researched that we were to take one of the smaller local trains that would take us to the center of Kutna Hora. Otherwise, we would either have to hire a taxi or walk 20 minutes. As we were standing around on the platform, trying to determine where the small train was taking off from, we noticed a very small train take off a few platforms away…oops, there went our train…that only came once each hour.

Not wanting to have to wait another hour to get into town, we decided the next best option was to hire a taxi cab. We ended up meeting two couples from California, who had absolutely no idea how to get to town. They shared a taxi while we split one with two older women from England. The taxi driver dropped us off at the top of the town near St. Barbara’s Cathedral. The church was completed in 1388 by miners of the town. For a smaller sized town, the size of the cathedral is impressive, but as far as interiors go, it wasn’t that interesting or memorable.

After visiting the church, we walked along for a ways, eventually making our way into the center of town. Along the way, we saw lots of gorgeous and well maintained building. Of course, I took too many photos of the beautiful and unique architecture.

We eventually stopped for lunch at a place called Pivnice Dacicky, which came highly recommended by Rick Steves. The restaurant was filled with more locals than tourists, so it looked promising. The menu we were handed was quite extensive and must have been the largest one I have ever viewed. It took us nearly ten minutes to finally make a decision, but we eventually decided upon the Chateaubriand, and a side order of potatoes with bacon. Mike also ordered a dark Czech beer. I was slightly hesitant and reluctant to order the Chateaubriand, but I had read several good reviews of the restaurant, including one person who said the dish was utterly delicious. I soon realized his description was entirely accurate once I placed a bite of the meat into my mouth; it was mouthwatering good and seemed to melt in my mouth! We thoroughly enjoyed every ounce of this meal, savoring every last bite.

From the restaurant, we took a taxi to the Sedlec Bone Church, located a mile from the center of town. The interior of the church contains the bones of 40,000 people decorated in a surprisingly beautiful and creative way. There is even a chandelier in the center of the church that contains every bone in the human body. We figured that they had begun to fill the church’s interior with the bones as a result of overcrowding in the cemetery, but I was never able to verify for certain.

From the Sedlec Bone Church, we walked back to the train station, which only took about 15 minutes.

We knew for certain which time our train was leaving Kutna Hora, but it was not clearly indicated which platform the train would be leaving from. As this was such a small train station, there was no reader board as you would normally find in the larger train stations, so without being able to speak Czech to the woman at the counter, it was sort of a guessing game. We figured the train would depart from the opposite track we arrived on, so we waited in front of that for awhile; in the meantime, a huge train pulled up on the opposite track. It sat there waiting for awhile, which I thought was strange as I figured it was going somewhere else and I didn’t understand what was taking it so long to leave. Ten minutes later, (and about one minute before our train was supposed to arrive/leave) the two English women come running up in a panic to the tracks along with two other girls. The two girls attempt to speak with the train conductor, and we hear them say that the train is going to Prague! HUH? We hurry and get on, just as the train departs. If we hadn’t gotten on that train, it would have been more than an hour until the next one arrived!

We arrived back in Prague around 18:00. From here, we decided to walk back across Charles Bridge as I had wanted to attempt to take some sunset pictures over the bridge. Although it was later in the evening, the bridge was still quite crowded, so I was unable to get exactly the type of pictures I had wanted. That, along with all of the construction mess on the bridge did not make for the most appealing photo opportunities, but I did manage to get a few good shots!

Later that night, we grabbed the tripod for our camera from our room and walked to Old Town Square. The square is lit up beautifully at night, so we were able to get a few good shots of the buildings. During our short stay in Prague, we found that the atmosphere in the city during the late evening hours was so completely different than compared to the daytime. Although there were always lots of people in the city, the numbers diminished significantly once the sun went down and the tour groups headed out of town. Prague was much more enjoyable during the evening hours than compared to the daytime and Old Town Square was the best place to enjoy its unique atmosphere.

Day 5 (Tuesday, September 9th, 2008)

Today was our last day in Prague. After eating breakfast, we quickly packed our bags as the owner of the apartment, Pasquale, was going to keep them for us during the day as we toured the city.

All of the sights we had planned to visit today were going to be in the Little Quarter and the Castle Quarter. We walked over the Manesuv Most bridge (with views of Charles Bridge across the way) into the Little Quarter, first stopping in at the Wallenstein Gardens, which we happened to run into. It was free, so I figured we might as well stop by to take a look. The gardens were beautifully manicured and set against a gorgeous backdrop of architecture. The grounds also featured a few resident peacocks, which I took a few photos of.

From the gardens, we walked to Malostrankse Namesti (Mala Strana), which is a square filled with pretty buildings. Unfortunately, the square was also filled with five million cars and lots of cable lines from the trams, so it wasn’t as picturesque as I had hoped it would be.

Within the square was the Church of St, Nicholas, a baroque church built in the early 18th century. As soon as we walked into the church, I was blown away by the immense beauty that was laid before my eyes. The church walls, floors, and ceilings were covered with gorgeous white and pink hued marble and accented with lots of gold. It was truly one of the most beautiful churches I had ever seen; I rank it alongside St. Paul’s in London and St. Chapelle in Paris as my favorite churches in Europe.

After visiting the church, we walked next door to the bell tower and climbed 215 steps to the top. From here, we had an amazing view of the red roofs of Prague.

Next, we walked up Nerudova Street, which was a charming cobble lined street filled with lots of restaurants, shops, and beautifully preserved architecture. Nerudova was quite a long uphill climb, and at the top, we turned right to visit the Strahaov Monastery and Library. The library houses the oldest collection of books in the Czech Republic. We arrived right before lunch closing, so I rushed in for a quick peek. The library was filled with probably some of the oldest books I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures as there was a 50 CZK fee, which I refused to pay as the entrance itself cost 70 CZK.
Afterwards, we walked about five minutes downhill to Loreta Church, built in the 17th century in the baroque style. We only took exterior shots of the church as we had already visited one too many churches (a.k.a. “churched out”) and they were all starting to look the same (with the exception of the Church of St. Nicholas).

From Loreta, we continued walking downhill until we reached the Prague Castle. I had specifically planned our day so that we would visit the castle complex later in the day as I had read that the number of tourists dwindled down significantly. Unfortunately, as we arrived at the main gates, the throngs of tourists surrounded us everywhere; there did not seem to be a shortage of people anywhere. We bought the “Prague Castle - Short Tour” ticket which cost 250 CZK per person and allowed entry into St. Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, Basilica and Convent of St. George, and the Golden Lane.

We were going to tour the Cathedral first, but the line for people waiting to get in was wrapped around the church, so we decided to visit the interior of the palace instead. The tour didn’t encompass much of the actual castle, but the large hall we first walked into was quite impressive. Next to the massive hall was a large balcony that featured a panoramic view of the Prague cityscape.

Next, we walked over to the Basilica and Convent of St. George, which had a beautiful and unforgettable red Baroque exterior. The interior however had been preserved back to its beginning as a simple Romanesque church.

About an hour later, we decided to pop into St. Vitus Cathedral as there was no longer a line wrapped around the church. The interior of St. Vitus was huge and filled with a ton of beautiful stained glass and once again, much to our disdain, five million tour groups and visitors, which really distracted us from its beauty and ability to enjoy it.
Our last stop in the Prague Castle complex was Golden Lane, which was a small street lined with amazingly preserved old buildings, which were originally the homes of goldsmiths. Unfortunately, it was also filled to its capacity with people (big surprise) so I was unable to take as many photos as I would have liked. I’ve read that the very best time to enjoy this small street is in the evening, when all of the tourists have left the castle complex.

Afterwards, we walked back towards Old Town, trying to find a place to eat. Initially, we stopped at Ceska Kuchyne, which is a cafeteria that serves traditional Czech food to the local population at astoundingly cheap prices. The menus listed inside of the restaurant are all in Czech, so we first viewed the tiny English menu posted outside on the window. We made note of the numbers that corresponded with the dishes we were interested in purchasing and then walked inside to order. However, once inside the restaurant, we noticed that they only had a small sampling from the menu available to purchase. Unfortunately, none of the items we wanted to eat were listed on the menu, so we decided to leave.

Instead, we ended up eating at a restaurant called Restaurace Mlejnice (The Mill) that was located just down the street from the apartment we had rented. We ordered quite a bit of food; onion rings for appetizers, goulash in a bread bowl for Mike, pork wiener schnitzel for me, and a side order of potatoes for both of us. Everything was good, but I did not particularly enjoy the pork wiener schnitzel as it was dripping in grease and a tad too chewy for my taste.

After eating our early dinner, we walked over to the check-out office and met up with the owner Pasquale. We hung out in the office watching television for a bit and eventually made our way to a laundry facility. Aside from the fact that the laundromat was actually a nice place to be (unlike so many other places) they also offered free internet to use while you waited for your clothes to wash and dry; what a concept!

Once our laundry was finished, we made our way over to the Prague train station, where we waited for several hours for our overnight train to Krakow. When we finally made it onto the train, we discovered that we were going to be sharing our compartment with another young couple. At first I wasn’t happy as I had secretly been hoping we would have the compartment to ourselves, but I quickly learned that the two people were very friendly and talkative, especially Dario. The two had been together for a long time, I believe around eight or nine years, and are currently living in New York City, but originally hail from San Francisco. They were celebrating their college graduation with a three week trip around Eastern Europe. We shared lots of travel stories together, before finally heading to sleep around 23:00. I had hoped to get a decent sleep that night, but alas, the rocking of the train and frequent stops prevented me from sleeping much at all.

Below and on the following pages you will find a few hundred of our photos from the beautiful and fascinating city of Prague.

---

Photos

Black Light Theater
Stage at Image Theater