Praha, Cesky

Saturday June 30


We arrived to a very hot and humid environment. After exiting the train station, with the sun blaring and no breeze we found a bus stop right outside of the airport doors, except the tickets would only take change, which we had none. So I watched the bags as they all went to change their bills into change. It cost 32kc (about 1.50) to buy a 90 minute ticket. We boarded bus #100 and were brought into the city center to a train depot. Here we were able to get on a subway and 9 stops later (Nick Cane was in charge of watching the stops, as everyone talked loudly in "American") we arrived at Namesti Republiky.

As we all exited, and after I counted heads, we headed up an escalator to the Republic Square. Although it was blazing hot, the oohs and aahs were nice to hear! The buildings which house grocery stores, restaurants and fashion malls (the four floored Palladium mall is here) are from 1000 years ago, so the large stone architecture is absolutely breathtaking. We walked about 4 blocks to our hotel apartments and were asked to wait an hour for our rooms to get ready. One room was immediately ready and we were able to rest in there, and some were able to shower. The other rooms soon opened up, everyone grabbed their beds and made themselves at home.

After everyone ate and showered, we were all ready for our bike tour of Praha. Amanda and I ordered apple pie and coffee! A wonderful first meal in Praha.

The very hot and mostly up hill bike tour was 2 hours and but it showed us almost all of the city. The views from the Prague Castle were spectacular.

This picture is of us in Old Town Square looking at the two towers. The guides, Davide and Kat were wonderful and after the bike tour, we cleaned up at the hotel met Joel and Alex and then walked to Wenceslas Square to have dinner at the Cafe Svetho Cesky (saint czech). Our table was long, like a long dining room table and we were able to order anything off the menu under 500 czk. Everyone was famished and the food was delicious from Goulash to Ribs to Chicken and Vegetable Pasta it was very filling.

We slowly walked back to the hotel and decided to try out the dance clubs. It took about 4 to find a good one and after walking through the cobblestoned streets for two hours, they still were able to dance all night long. Everyone made it home in a group and fell into their beds with dirty dancing feet.

IT WAS A WONDERFUL FIRST DAY IN EUROPE!