On to the journey. We arrived in Prague on Thursday night (in reality it was about 5, but already dark), and took a picturesque shuttle to our hostel. After our 2+ months of tapas in Spain, we had grown accustomed to meals with meager portions, but it was clear at our first dinner that the Czech Republic did not subscribe to that doctrine. Our meals were cheap (thanks to the inflated Czech crown) and, more importantly, extremely hearty- a very welcome surprise. That also helped to explain the size of the Czech people- on average, we estimated they had us by a few inches, and at least 15 pounds. The policemen even more so; needless to say, we did our best not to stir up trouble.
The other noticeable change from Barcelona, of course, was the weather. Though it wasn't snowing, temperatures were flirting with below-freezing. Our sudden necessity for winter coats resulted in a weekend-long coat shopping adventure, for which Prague offered the perfect setting. The question now is whether or not we will be brave enough to wear them once back in the U.S., where not everyone sports a long black pea coat. Only time will tell.
Friday was our premiere sightseeing day, and we set out early given the relative lack of daylight hours. Our initial target was the Prague castle, but we kept managing to get distracted along the way- there are just too many neat sights. We made a stop at the famous Charles bridge to climb a nearby tower, which offered incredible views of the city. They call it the city of 100 spires, and it was easy to see why; it seemed as if there were towers poking up from all around us.
We did reach the castle eventually, and it turned out we saved the best for last. The castle was more like a complex of magnificent old buildings, including a palace and several cathedrals. We spent the rest of the day there, taking far too many pictures and trying to get in to the various regal buildings. The guards didn't buy it when we told them that we, too, were kings of sorts.
We then ventured back into town to the Old Town square, and were welcomed with a huge pack of tourists, cameras out, and clearly waiting for something to happen from the adjacent building. Will then remembered having heard about a landmark, the "clock tower", that does something unusual every hour on the hour. We arrived 5 minutes to, so it was perfect timing. Admittedly, we were expecting something noteworthy, but all we were greeted with on the o'clock was a few puppets rotating around an open window. It was nothing to write home about. Soon afterwards, we overheard a group that missed the show declare their intention to brave the cold and stay the full hour until the following display. A foolish decision.
That night we met up with a high school friend of Will and I who was conveniently studying in Prague for the semester. He showed us around a few cool local bars, as well as a few hotspots the next day. Our attempts to see a Czech hockey game were thwarted, so instead we decided to catch a showing of the new Bond film. How ecstatic Gabe and Will were to discover that Bond wore a coat similar to theirs in the final scene.
All in all, a really neat and eventful weekend- Prague had won us over before our departure. Stay tuned.
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