Prague: too pretty for words, even for this journalist

Prague is definitely my favourite citz so far (I apologize in advance if my z and y are mixed up.. Czech kezbaords.). Even though I had really high expectations, its lived up to everything. We ended up spending the entire day on the train on Tuesday to make it from Brussels to Dresden, Germany, after trying to navigate Belgiums really unclear railway. So we made it to Prague a little behind schedule (yesterdaz morning), and were really confused. Prague really wasnt that beautiful.. there was a stadium.. a little park.. some reallz old buildings that probably were reallz nice at one point, but not really breathtaking anymore. So we walked around for an hour, and just as we were turning back to the hostel so I could call the UWEC Admissions office for my interview (It went well, I guess... phone interviews are terrible, but I guess Ill find out how well after next week), we found the city center.. and could do nothing but stand by the river and stare. Prague Castle overlooks the river on top of a hill, and there are all kinds of huge cathedrals and buildings... I was so excited to come back.

First though, I answered some questions for the Admissions office and then we ate at a really cute Czech restaurant and ordered what they told me is a tzpical Czech meal: roast sirloin with dumplings and cranberries! So often this trip Ive had terrible luck with ordering, so it was so nice to have lucked out for once with something cheap, delicious and filling! And when I say cheap, I mean dirt cheap. The exchange rate here is one Euro for 2.65 Czech Koruna (the money is so beautiful! But they are switching to the Euro in 2012), so I got a meal and Fanta for 1.5 Euros!

Then we walked back to town to explore, stopping to talk to a nice Czech man in a jewelry store and check out the more urban part of Prague (our hostel is on the outskirts near the train station so we dont have to walk far with our massive backpacks). Actually, almost everyone on the trip has been really nice and helpful this entire trip.. two German girls who helped us find a hostel at 10 p.m. in Dresden, the Belgian man who helped me order orange juice and boterkoek at the station in Brussels because the cashier could only speak French (I was ordering in Dutch, and am reallz embarrassed I forgot the word for orange juice, when its the same in Dutch.. because of Napoleon, the Dutch language has a lot of French influence). Everyones been terrific, except for the two punks who tried to throw snowballs at us in Brugge, and our terrible miscommunication with a French man in a Brussels Internet cafe. Ill tell you about that later! :)

Anyway, so we brought Jenny back to the hostel because shes not reallz into ghosts, so Danielle and I could go back for a Prague ghost tour! We got to the old town square a little early, and luckily for us the entire square was packed for Easter! There were dancers dancing to Czech folk songs, tons of booths and Easter decorations.. everything was so terrifically Medieval (just like the squares origin). At 8 p.m. we went back to the meeting point to find a little old man with a cane, holding a sign for the ghost tour. I had been expecting a cheesy, commercial and fake ghost tour, but what we really got for our 200 Koruna was a really cute 80-year-old history buff who has lived through WW2, Communism, Czech-Slovakia and knows everything there is to know about Prague history. There were three other really sweet girls on the tour, two from Mexico City and one from Colombia (theyre all studzing in Milan, Italy) so we must have looked like a really funny group.. an 80-year-old man hobbling around, leading 5 girls around the square and stopping to tell us classic ghost stories! We didnt see anz ghosts, but Milan (our tour guide) said thats because they only come out at midnight. At the end, he took us to a pub for a classic Prague beer -- a Pilsener, which he said is named for the Czech city, Pilsener. We took pictures of the 6 of us at the pub, and I cant wait to post those. It was such a perfect evening. Danielle and I came back to redeem our free beer at the hostel bar, where we chatted with our Brazilian roommate and two British army guys who were trying to get back to Holland (for training?) after having all of their money and car keys stolen. Even though it was sad, it really was their own fault, which seems to be common with all of the stories we have heard so far about pickpocketing.

Prague is so beautiful.. I just cant even describe it, but we are going on two 3-hour tours of the city today, so I should have millions of pictures by tonight. We were planning on leaving this evening, but were staying an extra night and going to Munich tomorrow, because we just cant bear to leave any sooner.