Day Five: Prague

We decided to sleep-in this morning, which was awesome. Patrick and Chris did their own thing, so Brandon and I walked around together. We walked to the center of town and finally ended at the Communism Museum. It was a tiny little museum filled with posters, statues, etc. from Communist Czech. It was very interesting to hear all about what life was like back then. Brandon forgot his camera, so we headed back to the apartment we were staying in and grabbed it before heading to a tour of the city.

The tour we went on was fantastic. It was a three-hour walk that took us to all of the important Prague landmarks. Our guide was from Minneapolis and decided to move to Prague on a whim in 2009. She was very energetic and knew tons about Prague history. The best part about the tour? It was free. The company works on a tips-only basis and asks that you contribute whatever you feel the tour was worth. Since the guide was awesome, we gave her a great tip. It was definitely the highlight of our day.

Me on the Prince Charles Bridge

The tour ended near the Prince Charles Bridge, so we walked up and down it, admiring the beautiful scenery. I think the bridge was my favorite part of the city. We decided to head back to the apartment to meet the others for dinner. We went to an authentic restaurant I had read about and we were definitely the only non-locals in the place. It was a piano-bar type place and one of the regulars grabbed a guitar and did a duet with the piano the entire night. All of the people at the restaurant (except us) knew all of the words to the Czech songs being played, and sang along the whole night. For dinner, I ordered a porkchop wrapped in potato pancakes and a Pilsner. I don't really like beer, but Pilsner is from the Czech Republic, so I had to at least try it. The boys said it was really good, but it still tasted yucky to me. The porkchop, on the other hand, was astounding. The potato pancakes were the perfect thing to have with them and the boys were all jealous of how good my plate looked.

Old Town Square, Prague

The best thing about Prague is how dirt-cheap it is. The porkchop dinner and beer was under $7. It's such a wonderful change from how expensive Paris is. You can easily get a scoop of ice cream or Coke for $1. We met an American girl who lives in Prague, and she said her rent is about $150 a month. I also love that, unlike most large cities, the center of the city is not a place for publicity. The town squares don't have any billboards or flashing neon signs to detract from the cool architecture. This city is SO cool. I like it even more than I anticipated :)

Lskavě,

Katie