Prague

Sunday morning, we woke up after the second night in Munich and gave each other props for having survived The Tent (even though it didn't quite live up to its hype as a huge German party, we were thankful for the relative quiet we were afforded as early season travelers). We quickly packed our belongings and headed out to catch the train to Prague.

The train from Munich to Prague is supposed to be direct, albeit a long journey of about 6 hours. The first 4 hours of the trip were very nice as we had our own cabin for most of this time and used the opportunity to rest and read. Nick finished the second book of the trip, Plea of Insanity, while Laura continued reading the new book we exchanged for at the Tent, called Count to Ten.

Our peaceful ride was interrupted soon, however, as the train official (who spoke no English) did his best to inform us that our train had to be cleared soon and we would have to ride another connecting train the remainder of the trip. With no choice, and no clear reason why, we got off our train at some random small train stop in seemingly the middle of nowhere in the Czech Republic, and waited a half hour for the next train to Prague to come in. Eventually we made it to Prague and checked into our place, but still clueless as to why our direct train had to be cleared. Another girl we had met at The Tent had taken a train two days before direct from Prague to Munich and apparently had an almost identical situation.

Once in Prague, we ate dinner at KFC, but were still left hungry after only snacking on bread items on the train the entire day, so we found a grocery store and bought microwave pizza to supplement the Colonel's meal.

Monday morning we finally awoke to a beautiful sunny day in the high-70s and ventured out for a day of sightseeing in Prague (our stay in Germany had been mostly rainy and cold, so it was a welcomed change). We started from a good location by Wenceslas Square in Nove Mesto (new town), where Prague-1 Hostel is located, on the east side of the Vtlava River that runs North-South through the city. We began touring the streets with the aim of hitting the major sights listed in our guidebook, but the walking itself was incredibly enjoyable as well. We had heard Prague was a nice city, but it truly is everything good we'd heard about it and more – it has quickly jumped the list to probably our favorite city we've seen thus far. The city is very clean, has lots of character and the personality of a city that has developed for over a thousand years as the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia. It has a very different feel for it than the other cities we've been to. It is definitely more Eastern European, and although some elements of American culture have found its way here, including McDonalds (which we haven't been to in quite some time- finally), it really has its own identity. Strange art and statues are common at every corner, the Czech language is COMPLETELY foreign to us, amber and garnet jewelry stores, and marionette shops line the cobblestone streets. Every street we turned onto was awesome – clean and unique. We would certainly recommend Prague to be on the short-list of places to go for any prospective European vacationers out there.

After stopping by a tourist information office and buying a map, we walked through Old Town Square and saw the famous astronomical clock, the spires of Tyn Church, and the bronze statue of Jan Hus. We then crossed the Charles Bridge to the western half of the city. The bridge is a very touristy spot in itself, and we were able to watch some local musicians and artists show-off their talents. We walked up to the top of the large hill that this part of Prague is situated on, and at the very top was a very nice park with flower gardens that were in full bloom. We both competed with our cameras here to see who could get the best close up shot of the bees pollinating the flowers. Ultimately, Laura's extra-zoom camera was too much for Nick's compact camera to overcome, and he grudgingly admitted defeat. Also at the park here, aside from offering great views of the city, is a smaller Eiffel Tower-like monument that can be seen from a distance atop the hill and tourists can walk to the top of. Since we had already seen the real Eiffel Tower, we just took a few pictures of this funny replica.

After a good lunch of Chinese chicken and beef takeaway, just like the Chinese food in the US, we went to explore the area of the Prague Castle. According to our guidebook, it is one of the biggest castles in the world and has been the seat of the Czech government for over 1000 years – very cool! We were able to walk around the castle and its courtyards, but didn't go on the tour inside as we'd already seen a fair amount of palaces and castles already. Still, we were able to visit St. Vitus's Cathedral inside the castle walls, which was completed in 1929 after over 600 years of construction! Inside, St. Vitus was one of our favorite cathedrals we've seen (not bad considering its competition).

The remainder of the late afternoon was spent strolling a little more through the city and along the river. On the way back to our hostel, we saw the Dancing House, a very interesting building (sometimes despised by locals), designed by American architect Frank Gehry.

Tonight we are updating the blog, washing some clothes (in the sink, of course) and planning tomorrow's agenda, which will include a visit to Prague's zoo and an evening show at Krizik Fountain.

Tuesday morning, we woke up to the sounds of our hostel neighbors hacking up loogies (sp?) in the one and only bathroom. Seriously, this guy was the loudest either of us have ever heard. After what seemed like forever, the guy left the bathroom and another member of his family dashed in. After waiting forever... again... the second hacker of the family exited the bathroom. Followed by another... eventually, we were both able to dash into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. We have never seen a family spend so much time in the bathroom all while making disgusting noises and creating a lake in the middle of the floor with their splashed water. The events of the morning triggered the planning of total bathroom domination for the evening and following day.

An hour or so later than planned, we headed out and hopped on the metro in the direction of Zoo Praha. The zoo is located just outside of the city and was only a short metro and train ride away. According to Forbes magazine, the Prague Zoo is 7th best worldwide- and after our visit we decided this ranking is well deserved (although Laura questioned Forbes' authority in ranking zoological institutions...). Actually, we both decided this was one of if not the best zoo we have ever seen. Considering Laura has visited 4 of the nations top zoos in the last year, this is quite the complement.

We started our zoo visit in the Indonesian Jungle exhibit, a really nice indoor rain forest complete with several monkey and ape species, fish, turtles, and a well done nocturnal house. The nocturnal house displayed several nocturnal mammal species, including the most famous nocturnal mammals of all- bats. Now, we noticed several differences between European zoos and American zoos during our visit. The first we discovered was animal containment methods. While we were checking out some interesting nocturnal primates we both thought we saw something flash by behind us. The exhibit was set up with artificial sounds and lights, so we assumed it was just part of the ambiance. However, a few minutes later it was clear that something was in fact flying through the hallway. Yep... you guessed it... bats. To be clear- it wasn't one or two small bats flying several feet above our heads- it was several large fruit bats flying at or below eye level. They were not particularly skilled either, as Laura watched two bats have a mid-air collision right next to her. This is the point where Nick truly freaked out, ducked down, and pushed Laura through the remainder of the exhibit as quickly as possible.

Once were back in the sunlight, we regained our composure and we set off to explore the rest of the zoo. The zoo was quite large and we spent close to 7 hours walking around before we saw everything. The zoo collection included all of the basics (tigers, elephants, monkeys, etc.), but it also included a huge bird collection, several reptiles, many small mammals, and a huge array of hoofstock. Our favorite highlights of the zoo include:

-A giraffe house where you could stand at ground level with the giraffes. They were just inches away on the other side of the glass and it was really cool to see how enormous they really are. There were also a few baby giraffes which were adorable of course.

-An open exhibit that you could walk into where ring-tailed and ruffed lemurs could go wherever they please. We watched a lemur crawl all over a lady's stroller.

-Several mountain goat / ibex exhibits that were basically a rock face on the side of a huge hill- very realistic and true to their natural habitat. It was neat to see how they navigate steep and rocky terrain. There was even a baby that couldn't have been more than a week old climbing all over the rocks.

-Several walk-in aviaries that contained a huge variety of bird species and types (Nick found these less intimidating than the bats because he could see them coming). Most zoos have one or two exhibits of this type, the Prague Zoo had at least 5.

Overall, we had a great time at the zoo and enjoyed the break from hiking through cities.

For an evening activity, we decided to see the Krizik Fontana fountain. Each night, this fountain, located in an outdoor theater in the Prague Exhibition grounds (fair grounds), is the centerpiece of several musical shows ranging from Vivaldi to Michael Jackson. We decided to go to the 9 o'clock show, the earliest it was dark out, and the music then was from Romeo and Juliet. The fountain and lights are coordinated to the music from a recorded orchestra that plays over the theater's sound system. It was pretty cool – definitely a unique show. After the show, we headed back to the center of the city to take some night-time pictures of downtown Prague. The city is very picturesque so we hoped to snap a few shots that might someday be good background wallpapers on the computer or even hang on a wall.

That's all for now. See you in Vienna - Auf Wiedersehen!