6.20.2007 Poor Man's Tour, Joos, Drinks & Food

We started out on a tour that was supposed to take 6 hours, but we were having second thoughts since we had already seen a lot of the sights anyway, and there was another activity we were considering anyway. The decision was made for us when massive foot traffic separated us from the group before we had paid. We got about 30 minutes of a free tour out of it, haha. Picture above is of Jenn at Wenceslas Square shortly before we lost the group. Other picture is of Grand Europa Hotel, where Mission Impossible 1 was filmed.

We moved on to the Jewish Quarter, and visited some museums, synagogues, and the old Jewish cemetery. The museums were not that thrilling. Not like communism or anything. There was not enough history, but an overabundance of collections of pots and cups and trinkets.

Then we went to eat at a restaurant we had been to before, and had some Devil's stuffed chicken breast, and some beers.

6.19.2007 A Whole Lot of Nothing

We walked around, decided to eat at a cafe with a great view of Prague Castle. However, we couldn't get service, but it wasn't a big deal because you're paying for the view, not the food anyways, and we got to sit there for free for a while. We decided to go over to an island where there is supposed to be some beer garden, but we didn't realize that the only way to access the island is by freeway, and that you can't walk over. We walked around forever trying to get across before we finally realized this. It was a little frustrating, and it was not a nice area of town either.

The picture posted is from earlier in the day when we walked by a park near Vlatava River.

We came back, cooked some food, and watched Hannibal Rising which was a terrible movie. It's getting really hot here, which is why there is a water bottle in our hands in most of the pictures.

6.18.2007 Museums

We took the metro to Wenceslas Square to walk around a bit. The architecture of the national museum is very impressive, like many buildings in Prague. Wenceslas Square is a nice walk with flowers and a million casinos along the way. We ate some great Bavarian sausages on the street.

We went to the Communist Museum first, which was very interesting and informative. We were there for a while reading up on history. Then we went to see the sex museum, but decided against it because it seemed kind of stupid and not worth the money.

Next was the torture museum, which had a display of various devices used to kill people painfully or torture them into "confession" throughout European history. Some of the stuff was so disgusting only someone completely sick could have thought of it. There were definitely a lot of sadists in charge of "delivering justice".

We came back, made some dinner, and went out to bars in Prague. We went to trendy cafe, then a place called the M-1 Lounge, and then to a dive with lots of Americans.

6.17.2007 Bus Tour and Concert

This day we went on a bus tour to see some sights. It stopped at the castle which we had already seen. We also drove by the national museum and Wenceslas Square, which is the main square where the Czechs protested against the Communists.

We wandered around the Jewish quarter for a bit afterward. We had Goulash at a cafe, and did some more walking

At night, we ate at the Italian place again and went to a concert at Smetana Hall. The program consisted of Dvorak's New World Symphony and a Smetana piece. We bought the cheapest seats but somehow that section included the balcony which were some of the best seats there. The symphony was really good and we both enjoyed it thoroughly. The concert hall was beautiful, but we forgot the camera.

We came back afterward, met a hostel mate and did some drinking and talking.

6.16.2007 Seeing Prague

Today was our first eventful day in Prague. We visited a church, a cathedral, the astrological clock, Old Town square and Prague castle.

The church of Tyn was what inspired the Disneyland Castle, and was really beautiful, gold, and gaudy inside. The picture we have posted is a view from the astrological clock, which we don't know much about, but basically its a huge cookoo clock that does a little show on the hour, with a cute little skeleton that pulls the bell. You can go to the top of the tower and have a beautiful view of the city, which is what we did.

Old Town square has live street bands which are great to listen to, and a bunch of cafes, all surrounded by marvelous architecture.

We walked across Charles Bridge, which has a bunch of statues and a huge archway. From afar, it looks similar to all the other bridges, but once on the bridge, it is clearly distinguished by its thirty-something sculptures. We had lunch close to Charles Bridge, and ate a traditional Czech meal of really amazing Bohemian garlic soup and potato pancakes filled with ham.

We saw the castle afterward, it has great views and a really impressive facade. There was also a cathedral inside, but it wasn't as impressionable as the church. We have no pictures of the church because photography was not allowed.

6.15.2007 Prague

We arrived in Prague at 8am, and Kyle's luggage was lost. At least we didn't have to carry it to the hostel. They delivered it the next day. Almost every corner of Prague is picturesque. We slept all day, went to the grocery store to buy some Czech foods, and had dinner at an Italian restaurant on our block. The food is very cheap, and you can get good beers for a dollar at the restaurant, spaghetti meals for $4. We went to the Hilton casino afterward, where apparently Bush stayed a few days before. There were a lot of Asians in the casino of course, especially Chinese and Korean men smoking cigarettes. Half the tables at the casino only accepted dollars; it was interesting. The best place for exchange rates are always casinos. Kyle made some $$$.

6.14.2007 Brussels

We left for Prague. and had a 7 hour layover in Brussels. We didn't have time to go anywhere far, so we ended up at a little bar near the airport. We were going to walk, but we got a ride from a nice lady at a gas station when we passed to ask for directions. We did the layover on purpose so that we could have a free night in Belgium. Belgians are very friendly. They give rides to random people liberally and schmooze well. We tried 5 beers and they were all amazing. Leffe is some great beer. AMAZING. The bartender even gave us some cherry beers to go for free when the bar was closing up.