Prague, part 1

About 35 of us from school were all on the same train to Prague. When we arrived, some people left immediately for the hotel but the rest of us wanted to buy our tickets to Munich. Smart choice on our part since the 26 of us ended up paying just 24 euro instead of 54 thanks to a group rate! None of us knew for sure if euros were accepted in Prague, even though they recently joined the European Union. We all went to our separate hostels and planned to meet up in a few hours in Old Town Sqaure for dinner.

Corinne and I spend an hour riding subways and a bus to get to our hotel. Yes, a hotel. We found it online and it was comparable in prices to the hostels, so we thought, why not! We got off the bus to see the grand Top Praha Hotel. We walked in and the place was 4-star. I surely thought something was off that we could stay in such a lavish hotel for 15 euro a night. I handed the woman at the reception desk our confirmation papers, and she called another woman to look at it. I felt like something was wrong...maybe they didn't have record of our reservation or something. Turns out their is a Top Hotel and a Top Hotel that's really a hostel and we were around the corner. Walking into our real hostel was depressing. It probably long ago had been the original Top Hotel, but it was run down now. Corinne and I had to take separate elevators up to our rooms because with our backpacks, we filled up the entire thing. As soon as we got off the elevator, I feared for my life. All wall space was filled with shelves that went up to the ceiling. It felt like the boogeyman was going to jump out and attack me around every corner (not to mention it was horribly lit).

We ate dinner at an underground restaurant (almost like a cave) in the center of Old Town Sqaure. Even though I ordered chicken, I thought I was getting potatoes, but ended up with two chicken breasts on a pile of rice with a delicious cream glaze. I hadn't had such good food in a long time, especially chicken. It was amazing.

Prague at night is beautiful. The buildings all have an eerie glow to them. It was snowing and although little flakes blurred some of my pictures, it was gorgeous. The architecture and feeling of Prague is bittersweet. Beautiful, but in a sad way. Like two lovers were supposed to meet outside the church and ones dies on the way there.