Our first day in Prague!
Trip Start
May 10, 2008
1
6
Trip End
May 24, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic
Thursday, May 22, 2008
(By the way, we write a lot about food...Dave wants to start a travel guide for fat boys - Fat Boy's Guide to the World, One Bite at a Time. He just needs to find some investors to let him travel the world and eat...)
We had a quiet night back at our hotel and watched the end to the "Champions League" (soccer) which had Manchester United playing Chelsea (both English teams). Went to penalty kicks and Manchester won - not of interest probably to anyone, but watching soccer in Europe is so much better than watching in the US!
Today, we started our first day in Prague with a nice surprise - a fantastic breakfast. Typically, hotels in Europe just have basic breads, meats, cheeses, and yogurt. Some of our hotels have had better, but this one was the best - in addition to the typical fair, there were scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages. Stella was even able to order an omelette.
We then spent our day touring Castle Hill in Prague. We watched the changing of the guards, which is a lot like Buckingham Palace, but probably on a smaller scale. Guards don't acknowledge you or smile, but tourists don't hesitate to take pics with them or mock them - we didn't either. After the ceremony, we walked around the grounds of Castle Hill.
We then took a tram ride up Petrin hill to see a replica of the Eiffel tower and get some great views of Prague. (Fat boy alert) We then walked to Strahov Monastery nearby and found their brewery - monks here make even better beer than they do in Salzburg! It was the best beer we've had and could only get our hands on the last bottle that was left to bring home for ourselves.
Afterwards, we walked back down through town and walked over Charles Bridge. Very cool, but packed with tourists.
Prague, by the way, is almost as touristy as Italy. It's been the only city that's felt like a tourist destination on our trip.
We ended the day at a symphony. Prague is having a spring music festival and we thought we'd take the opportunity to be classy once again.
Tomorrow, we have more sightseeing, Prague's first beer festival, and we're committed to checking out the nightlife and bars here on the last night of our trip!
