I am going to copy paste this from my note pad in my phone, I haven't had much time to review or edit. I apologize for any grammatical errors that would normally be corrected... Prague and Budapest have been truly pleasant. One mistake I made was not having enough time or worry to get a towel. I used the underarmor shirts (I got pretty good with them). I asked the front desk the last day and they said they had free towels... This is an example of how little time I had.
The Prague train from Berlin is 66 euro when you book it the same day you want to leave, at the station. I thought this was a bit pricey at first.. But I figured I should take the train due to great reviews of the trains to prague (and their views). A first class ticket was only 35$ more and I decided perhaps I should try for a good experience and pay a little more as it was my first train ride. After I pulled up the menu I realized the machine did not accept MasterCard (or visa) and I was two euro short. I did not see an ATM and thought asking for two euro from people for a first class ticket was a bit foolish... I just bought the second class and didn't care about my seating choosing just a normal ticket. When I got on the train I found an empty cabin and sat next to the window. Instantly the cabin filled up and a very polite woman said "excuse me, this is my seat." They reserved both window seats, which I thought was very smart and unfortunate for me. I confirmed there was no seat number on my ticket and couldn't understand where I was supposed to sit... I think next time I reserve a seat?
Arriving in prague train station I received wifi at the Burger King for free which was extremely nice. I was able to load my map on my phone and find exactly how to get to my hostel which was one mile away. Walking out of the train station a taxi driver sitting at the exit said it was "50$ minimum," and that he was "sorry." I said I think I will walk and continued to walk away. A second man then chased me down asking how much I would pay - I responded "no I think I will just walk," not wanting to deal with these people (50$ for a mile?).
On a side note, my phone has been the best investment of my trip, in my opinion. It's a good enough camera and I am writing all my blogs on it. The map works with navigation almost all of the time without service, while walking through Europe. At a castle I received a tour via wireless Internet. I have a permanent pen and paper and I can read saved emails anywhere. When I get wifi (which I admit is not often) I can make cheap calls from Skype.
Arriving at my hostel I had to double and triple check the address because the front looked better than I thought a hostel would. Once inside I checked in and got my room (named "your room"). I went in and situated my stuff / clothes in my foot locker - the room looked pretty empty with only a few beds messed up out of 16.
I had to scour the city for a padlock and found one for less than two dollars (the expensive one). Then I met my first roommate and we went to dinner. We had an alright dinner in a very old style restaurant where they tried to serve us shots and drinks that were very over priced. We declined (even though they insisted, trying their best to disguise the price) and had a rather average inexpensive dinner (we said we would not go back and we didn't). The price was about the same price as beers in America but the problem was beers in prague cost 1/4 the price.
After dinner we barely made it back in time for the pub crawl. The pub crawl hosted by the hostel was so much fun. We got really lucky with the people. Someone got me a habanero shot and said it would be the worst shot I ever had... I've heard this before and assured them I've had worse (thinking in my head about my meat head army friends who know thir torture and have been practicing horrible shots for years). I took the shot like a champ and said that wasn't bad..... Then it hit me slowly burning more and more until I had uncontrollable drool coming out of my nose and mouth . It was so bad the manager was yelling at me to get out of the bar. I answered back "you gave this to me what do you want me to do. You have any milk what the heck!" He kind of admitted yeah that's a bad shot (after they told him what happened) and we became friends by the end of the night. I literally had no control of my snot. I'm a wuss with hot stuff and I did not put two and two together.
After the pub crawl we passed out late - like real late. The pub crawl took us many places and we just had so much fun as a big group getting to know each other from all over the world. I guess that's a good Monday night in pragues local pubs.
Day two started after two hours of sleep. We all promised to make the early starting guided tour - and we all made it (remarkable!).
The tour was an overload of knowledge - the tour guide Javier from Spain really knew what he was talking about and made it fun. He was a really nice person as well, explaining things really well and putting personal stories and additions into the tour. I felt bad at times I had to walk off or just not listen - due to him knowing so much - I couldn't pay attention for four hours straight without having to go to the restroom or get water.
After the tour javi took us to his favorite restaurant and I had his favorite meal and beer. It was very simple and very tasty. I took a picture, chicken breast wrapped in bacon and over a cheese sauce with perfect little tater wedges. Yum. The beer was real laid back (easy to drink, smooth) called "unfiltered." I could probably drink 30 of those beers and told javi the beer reminded me of his laid back personality. It fit him.
After lunch javi left us (without drinking a beer due to fear of girlfriend) and we took to the city and the homework javi left us with. We took a ton of pictures - and commented all the time about how great the photography was here. Everything was a good picture - it has been this way for 48 hours. Prague is special and I hope if you come here you have as good of luck as I did- but this is almost the luckiest arrangement possible. I couldn't have planned it better - and I didn't plan prague at all. Thanks to Scotty Hoang for really starting the entire trip by recommending the hostel "st Christopher's inn." There weren't 7 Swedish women in my room like you had but there was a great time waiting for me with great people.
Prague has been so pleasant . Just trust me and go to prague if you're in Europe and hope you get lucky with timing and people. I think if there were too many tourists it would ruin the trip- there was literally almost no one here so we were free to go wherever we wanted as if the city was ours for the week. Nice.
We had dinner at a really nice restaurant in the water and again it was very affordable. It was called the marina. And I had the most expensive thing I saw on the menu for 25$ (beautiful aged steak with a beautiful view).
After the dinner we walked back to the room and were already too late to do the pub crawls. We decided to go off on our own and figure out prague. What a night. What a culture. We were very worried about pickpockets and weird women. There were definitely drugs going around but nothing like Berlin. For the most part we just had a really great night. I had a lot of fun and when people found out I was from California they really liked that- they played hotel California, californication and all kinds I California music - I guess I was in the right bar. We made so many friends.... It was a blast. I am really humbled by how many people are so friendly and learn to speak English. It opens the world.
Again we went to bed extremely late and we woke up three hours later to start the morning with big plans for site seeing...
It is just such perfect weather, so easy to stroll around in prague, and there is so much to see.
Currently, I am sitting on top of the hillside in prague at a cafe overlooking the entire city and castles. I can't believe the entire city is not here taking advantage of this cafe's view because it is free and it's beautiful. I could live here... I took a picture of an error or perhaps a johnnie walker tribute in the menu... Gold label is sold for 5$ a glass where black label is 7.50 a glass. I tried the gold label (which is supposed to be twice as expensive as black label) ordering two glasses for my friend and I expecting a rip off. It was delicious. I don't remember blue label tasting this good... Served in a proper whiskey glass at the perfect temperature - in a nice little cafe. I had to write this down instantly to describe my feeling as I fear I will not have time to come back and write about this for a while. There's just so much to see, and everything is open and available. Perfect weather, affordable, and tourism hasn't started yet - this has to be the best time to visit prague and we are running into just picture after picture if great things to see...over and over again and paying McDonald's prices. For the most part the people we meet (lots of locals but some travelers) are extremely nice.
Prague is the opposite of a let down. I did not know it was going to be this way. No one told me. I spared a lot of details because I'm currently annoying my travel mate from Australia. He wants to get moving but this is one of the nicest , simplest, places I've sat and just been able to enjoy. For me, it's very nice to sit and just relax overlooking the city of prague and castles ...
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