Praha

So the next stop in our little voyage was Prague.  I have wanted to go there ever since my friend studied abroad there a few years ago, she was so in love with the place that I had to see it for myself.  So we took a train there from Vienna to Prague.  This was not the best idea considering the Czech republic's rail systems are SOO bad that the Eurail passes don't even include that country.  We were going a semi-normal speed until we hit the Czech border, and at that point I am pretty sure I have done some speed-walking at a quicker pace than this train.  We were enjoying ourselves with the friendly german family sitting in our car, and the conductor came and asked for our tickets.  No problem, we hand her our tickets.  Wait, there is a big problem.  Kate cannot find her ticket, only her reservation.  They are two very different things.  She had her receipt and kept trying to show it to the lady and all she knew how to say in English was "NOT MY PROBLEM."  I am fairly certain she was a spawn of the devil.  After many tears and about 20 euros, she left us alone.  Later as I was looking through my tickets, I obviously found her ticket!  The Czech rail definitely does not offer refunds, so we were just out of luck.  But the nice german lady in our car gave us 5 euros for our tears.  

So anyways!!  We got to prague in the afternoon and found our hostel, which happened to be a 3 bedroom apartment.  It was nice and quiet and there were some cool people staying there.  The next day, we decided to do a walking tour with a guide around the city.  Our guide was awesome, it's really too bad that I don't want a Czech boyfriend.  He was soo knowledgeable and told us all about the history and stories of the city.  It was about a 4 hour tour so we covered a lot of ground.  After doing our city tour, we were supposed to get a free voucher for a night time "ghost tour" of the city.  We never did receive the vouchers, but we decided to try to do it anyways.  It seemed necessary since it was Halloween!   We found another guy that offered a tour, and all am going going to say is that I really felt bad for the guy.  We did learn a few interesting facts along the way and that's all that matters.  The next day we did some shopping (and bought an inappropriate amount of overpriced souvenirs), climbed the astronomical clock tower, and then did ANOTHER ghost tour just for fun.  This one was equally as bad but at least we tried.  All in all, for some reason my favorite thing about Prague was the astronomical clock that I have a picture of below.  I loved that thing!  I would go back again just to see it.  The legend we learned is that after the clock was created and finished, the clergy of the town burned the guys eyes out that put it together and designed it.  I guess they didn't want any other city to have a clock like theirs.  I think that this legend might be true, because it really is unique.  

Franz Kafka's former place of residence. 

THE clock.   
The St. Vitus cathedral 
Some of the stained glass inside the cathedral
The church took over 6 centuries to finish 
A Big Band playing on St. Charles Bridge 

Trying to get into the Halloween spirit. 
View of the castle from the clock tower.