Beautiful Prague

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Went to bed early as promised last night as usual. was thinking that a hotel would provide calming quiet compared to a hostel... well it was better, altho every time someone in the room above me walks on teh floor, turns on a tap or shower, it soundsl ike they're doing it in my room. i think they left a fwe layers out of the ceiling/floor...

anyways, got up at the crack of dawn today sincei was in bed around 9. got up showered and went down for the includedh otel breakfast. delicious! cereal with milk, lots of breads/croissants/petit pain au chocolat, eggs, ham, toast, puddings, yogurt... so, in true thrifty style i stuffed myself silly, then covertly stuffed my man bag silly with extras for lunch haha skeet!

got going asap for the hike up to the castle. no one around that early, just the local commuters. pretty much had the whole hill to myself for the first hour. none of the sights opened until 9 so i took a walk around, got some great views, good pictures without a zillion tourists to ruin them, and was second in line for tickets to the castle complex when the office opened up.

so the castle was started when prague was founded over a thousand years ago. they still have buildings nad paintings from well before 1300. St. Vitus' Cathedral is the biggest church and its amazing. huge gothic church, crazy high ceilings, exquisite art work everywhere from paintings to sculptures to tombs to everything. i sucked it up and paid the extra 10 bucks to get the audioguide for the "short tour" which included the free St. Vitus', St. Georges cathedral, the old royal palace, and golden lane.

After a half hour or so, the tour groups started showing up and all of a sudden it went from quiet peaceful to roaring and annoying haha so glad i went early. by the time it started getting crazy i was finished and headed up to the next hill, petrin. they have a 1/5 size eiffel tower there so up the 400 or so steps i go. great views over prague, the river, and teh castle. its surrounded by beautiful parkland, all the trees have just about lost their leaves here now and the colors are still amazing.

weather was slightly better today, a bit drizzly at times but not a washout like yesterday. still cold, hovering just above freezing. at least the umbrella stayed in the bag.

on the way down from petrin hill i ate my smuggled baked goods for lunch, washed it down with water (needed a little break from fanta, too much sugar!) and headed back to the hotel for a little break and to figure out what to do next.

i was going to take a nap but decided not to and get otu and use the daylight left. headed over to the main train station to get my ticket to poland. the station is behind this little park and man, what a seedy area that looks like . i was welcomed by a homeless man peeing on a bush in the open. very nice.

managed to find the ticket office no trouble, and even went to the right booth. the lady was less than helpful and tried to tell me i didnt need a reservation for the train. i was like i want to sleep on the train, and she said you can. i said i wnted to reserve a bed, and she said itw as an extra 20 dollars or so and i said yes i know thinking who gets on a 10 hour overnight train and tries to sleep in a chair?? not me! anyways i think i got what i wanted, we'll find otu tomorrow night around 9.

since i have another day in prague tomorrow before the train leaves, i left the jewish quarter for tomorrow. i did take the long way back to the hotel, going through wenceslas square. i have had "good king wenceslas" stuck in my head all day, rather annoying really. oh right i saw his tomb at the castle this morning. its so weird to think of where all our songs/sayings come from. like english wasn't anything like it is now a thousand years ago when wenceslas lived, yet today we have a nice littel xmas tune ab out him that everyone knows.

anyways wenceslas square is more like a big long shopping street, lots of people around, lots of shops, food stalls, tour groups, etc etc. i bought some street meat for a snack and it was delicous. i think it was a bavarian sausage, whatever taht means. kinda whitish, grilled up nicely on a hotdog bun with mustard and mayo. with water. i think it was 70 koruna ($3.50ish), so i give her a 100 bill, and she gives me back like 5 coins. she gave me a funny look and hurried away to another customer after throwing the change in my hand, and being a good little tourist i counted it up. she gave me a 10, 5, 2x2 and a 1. so i go back up, show her teh change, and she immediately takes back the ten and pops down a 20. what a bitch, she tried to scam me! ok it was only like 50 cents, but its the principle. apparantly the scams with change include counting it back reeeeeeally slowly so you think its over and leaev before getting it all. or like with me, giving back less and hoping stupid tourists won't notice. i've probably been had a few times unknowingly but it makes you feel good to catch them in teh act!

anyways, meandered through the square eating my street meat, then popped into a shopping center to avail of the free bathroom. (lessons learned - NEVER pass a free bathroom in europe, its hard enough to find one at all, and you have to pay for most). i ended up back in teh main square of the old town just as the astronomical clock was striking the hour. its a complicated clock, with two rings of numbers, another ring below of zodiac signs, and a cute little show where all teh aposltes pass little windows as the hour strikes, with the bell rung by death himself represented as a cute little skeleton.

and of course you can climb the clock tower so up i go. there was an elevator and for a change i decided to take it. my feet/legs/back couldn't handle another few hundred steps today. great views of central prague, of the castle looming in the distance on the hill... too bad its so foggy/misty. hard to get clear views very far.

anyways it was about 430 by this point and getting dark so i went back to the hotel to regroup. got online and booked a hostel for krakow for 3 nights. greg toms hostel. voted best hostel in poland apparantly, the hostelworld website had nothing but glowing reviews. we'll see.... haha

i had a bit of a headache was just feeling generally run down so i figured i'd take a little nap. now my 'little naps' have a tendency to turn into al night sleeps so i set the alarm for 7 so i could head out for a walk or something thsi evening. well i turned off the alarm and went back to sleep again, to wake up at 1230. yes, after midnight. right now its 223am and i am wide awake in the hotel lobby. hopefully i'll get sleepy again for a few hours before breakfast!

anyways, this is getting long and boring. only a few things left that i really want to do in prague which i'll take care of tomorrow. checkout at the hotel isn't until 12 so i'll probably hang around a bit later than usual before heading out since my train isn't until 9 and i wnot' have a home until then other than the hotel lobby.

then off to new country #2, Poland!

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