Prague, Czech Republic
We’ve had a pretty relaxed past few days – which were much needed, I think. We have mostly been doing a lot of shopping.
Two days ago we spent a good portion of the day finding gifts for our moms. We finally found the perfect things and we think you’ll both really like the gifts! We had already bought some gifts in London and Paris, but I think we’re pretty much finished now.
Two nights ago, Josh surprised me with tickets to a dinner cruise on the Vltava River. Dinner was on the lower deck with a live jazz band playing throughout. The dinner was buffet style and featured traditional Czech dishes – like bread dumplings and boiled potatoes – but also had more universal dishes like baked chicken, fish and salad. It was all really good food, though the Europeans just really don’t get the concept of buffet. It was very obvious who the Americans on board were once time for the 2nd trip came around, haha.
Once the boat left the dock, we were allowed to go on the top deck. After dinner, Josh and I went up for a bit. There was a beautiful full moon, but we didn’t stay long because it was so cold. It was so cold, in fact, that the water residue on the stairs had frozen – making them very icy.
I was about half way down the stairs when I heard Josh start to slip at the top. He slid down three steps and plowed into me. If my jacket hadn’t got caught on the railings – which stopped me from falling down, too – I’m pretty sure we would have gone overboard.
Afterwards we – mostly I – laughed pretty hard about the whole thing, but Josh does have a bruise on his lower back today. Excluding that, the cruise was really great. Unfortunately, the camera died as soon as we got on the boat, so we don’t have any pictures of the night.
Yesterday, we had planned to finally go on our free tour. When we got there was found out they only had one English speaking tour guide for about 70 people and they were going to places we had already been anyway. We quit the tour after the first stop because we couldn’t even hear the guy talking.
Instead we walked around the city one last time and visited Charles University. Then, we went back to our hotel and got our bags that they were holding.
Originally, we had planned to only stay in Prague for 3 days then take a night train to Venice. However, due to the new years eve schedule, the train wasn’t running as usual. So we booked a plane instead. Since we did this so late, our original hotel was already booked for the night of the 30th.
We booked a night at the airport Marriott instead, which has turned out to be really great. To get here was a process, though. We rode a tram to the metro station. We rode a metro train to the bus station. We rode a bus to the airport and then walked across a terminal to our hotel.
Prague airport security is NOTHING like home. Last night we had free reign over the whole airport, even though we won’t have tickets until this afternoon. Inside the airport they have a free movie theater, an airport museum and a viewing terrace.
They rotate 3 movies every few hours throughout the day. We watched Signal, a Czech movie with English subtitles about two brother con-artists who try to pull one over on this awkward little Czech village. It was actually pretty funny. I think we’re going to catch the Lorax before our plane leaves today.
The coolest thing was by far the viewing terrace. You could go right outside above the taxiway and landing strips. This would never happen in the U.S. We watched planes land and takeoff. We watched people get on and off. We even watched them taxi luggage back and forth. It was all very cool and they had maps showing what everything was and we were even allowed to take pictures.
The airport also offered a free tour that would let you go out onto the landing strip and behind the scenes at security and baggage claims. We didn’t go because you have to book ahead and we figured it was closed on Sunday. Next time, though!
Yesterday was really one of the best days we’ve had so far. We kind of wished we had stayed at the airport the whole time. Today, we’re catching a 3 pm flight to Venice, Italy. Not sure what the internet situation will be when we get there, so goodbye for now! We’ll be heading for Rome (our last destination) on Jan. 2.
Happy New Year, Everyone!
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