Praha

Prague has to be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Even though the bus ride was about 7 hours, it was so worth it! The day we arrived in Prague, we walked around the area of the city that our hotel was in and then had dinner. We all made plans to go out that night, but Anabel and I took a nap beforehand and did not end up waking up until the next morning!

The second day, our entire group did a walking tour of the city. We went up to the Prague castle and then inside of the St. Vitus Cathedral. We then worked our way down the side of the castle towards the Vltava River and crossed the gorgeous Charles Bridge.
After crossing the bridge, Anabel and I realized that we could not find anyone from our group, so we began looking in the small souvenir shops. We eventually found ourselves in the beautiful, old town square of Prague, with the Tyn Church, a tall tower with a historically famous astronomical clock, and many restaurants and shops, including some old-fashioned wooden booths selling cool things in the middle of the square. Dissatisfied with the over-priced meals all of the restaurants were offering, we opted for $1 hot dogs (that were REALLY good!!) and then decided to give ourselves a Valentine's Day treat by going to a nice cafe and having some coffee and a delicious pastry.


View of the Charles Bridge and Prague from the top of the castle


Another gorgeous view of the city!


A group shot at the castle


St. Vitus Cathedral


In front of the cathedral with Anabel


Jump shot with Zsolt and Anabel!


On the Charles Bridge


View of the Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge


View of the square and Tyn Church


Astronomical clock! Each hour is assigned one of Jesus' twelve disciples, and so every hour, a statue of one of the disciples emerges from the clock! In addition, a boy goes to the top of the tower and plays the trumpet at every hour.


Valentine's Day treat

We eventually ran into others from our group, and then decided to go up to the top of the astronomical clock tower, so that we could see a view of the entire city. By this time, it was evening, and Prague looked gorgeous at night!
After coming down from the tower, we bargained at one of the wooden stands for fresh, hot kurtos kalacs (a type of Hungarian pastry).


Nighttime view


Another view of Prague at night!

After this, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out. We had been hearing about a famous dance club that many people had recommended we go to. Apparently, it is the "Biggest Dance Club in Eastern Europe", according to a very, very large sign on the side of its building. Dancing in Prague was a great end to an amazing weekend in one of my new favorite cities!