My friends Liz and Katie are spending the summer in the Czech Republic this summer. Liz, Katie, Bethany, and I decided to go over early, before Liz and Katie started at the school, and traveled around Austria and the Czech Republic. It was incredible!! I actually didn't know Bethany or Katie before the trip but we are all great friends now!
We had many adventures! Mostly great adventures, and some not so great. It would take way too long to tell you all about it at once but I will tell you a little bit at a time.
Meet by fabulous traveling companions!
Katie: "She who is full of random information" or "Our travel guide" Katie is the best free tour guide ever! She gives us most useful information such as, "This building you see on your right was built...before the 1800's." and "This is where the priest charges his I-Pod."
Liz: "Sleepy" I think Liz took more naps than any of us...at least that is what the pictures will show. ;-)
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| left to right: Katie, Liz |
Me: YAY!
Bethany: "Hiccup a lot" Actually, I won't tell the real nickname we had for her because after we said it we realized it sounded inappropriate, even though we didn't mean it to be. We are funny. ;-)
The random chick who's chest is in this photo did not travel with us...just in case you were wondering.  |
| Me, Bethany |
Day 1 - Prague
We flew from Phoenix to JFK - New York and then from JFK to Prague. We were stuck on the runway for 2 pulse hours at JFK. Let's just say my opinion of JFK is not that great after this trip and I most certainly filled out the questionnaire Delta sent about our flight. We sat in the plane forever before they even told us what was going on. "It looks like it will be about 20 more minutes." Then 45 minutes later the pilot comes back on and tells us there is only 1 runway open right now, but it will probably only be 15-20 more minutes. Much longer than 15-20 minutes later we finally took off. The man sitting next to Katie has this mo hawk dread lock hairdo thing. A mow-hawk in front and dreads in back. HOT! Just kidding!!! He seemed nice at first but sometime during the flight he spilled his beer on the floor and didn't tell Katie. Katie had brought her DLSR camera with her and the beer soaked through her bag. The mo hawk dread lock man is now on our black list! Thankfully Katie's camera could still take pictures but the screen to preview the pictures doesn't work anymore. I felt so bad for Katie.
After a much longer flight than it was supposed to be we finally got in to Prague. We were trying to get bus tickets and we totally got scammed by a stupid airport worker, who looked official, but gave us bogus bus tickets! Anger! That started of the trip in a grand way. For the rest of the trip anytime we saw anyone is those type of clothes we would say, "don't trust them!"
Of course the one and only time I have EVER had my ticket checked on any bus, subway, or tram, is the one time the ticket was bad. I'm not sure what to call the guy who checks the tickets, he is not a police man...I don't know what to call him. I know he checked us because we were happy, and looked liked tourists. But he took mercy on us for the same reason and only fined us half the amount he normally would have. At least that is what he said...who really knows.
So then I read the directions to our hostel wrong and we took the metro way farther than we were supposed to and had to turn around and go back. It was at this point that I asked my travel companions if we could all please say a prayer together as soon as we got to the hostel. Because, let's be honest at this point I was worried that the whole trip was going to be as bad as this day and I totally wanted to cry.
Once we got to our hostel we said a prayer together and everything went much better. The people running the hostel were SO NICE! "Ok, we have 4 nice girls. :)" They even had free bottled water in the lobby! This is most exciting! The Charles Bridge Economic Hostel is the bomb!
We were able to find a place to eat. I'm positive it was over priced but none of us cared because it was so good!! We got 3 dishes and shared them between the 4 of us. Duck with an amazing sauce on top of sauerkraut and dumplings. This was the first time I have ever like sauerkraut. Roast chicken with what I think was polenta, maybe, and veggies. The last dish was beef in a yummy sauce with dumplings. All the food was incredible!!
After dinner we went on a FREE tour of the city with one of the hostel employees. Her name is Monica and she is awesome. She told us were everything was that we wanted to see and pointed out stuff we didn't even know we wanted to see. She took us to the John Lennon wall and the bridge with the locks. Both of which we wanted to see but weren't sure we would be able to find. She told us where to get souvenirs that weren't from China, funny Czech traditions, how much to tip at restaurants in the Czech, and not to trust any taxi drivers (all very valuable information).
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| We wrote our names on the wall! |
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| John Lennon wall |
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| The lock bridge |
After the tour we got some delicious pastries and ate them while we stood on the Charles Bridge. A fabulous ending to a day that surely did not start out well. Prayer works! From this point on we made sure we said a prayer together before we went out for the day. The few days we forgot to say a prayer in the morning things would start to go bad, we would all say a prayer, and everything would go much better.
More to come...because I know you care so deeply. ;-)
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