Czech Republic

We arrived in Prague on a 10:00pm night train from Krakow. This began with some jeering from local Polish guys who were being jerks laughing and pointing at us. We didn't understand them, so I am not sure what that was all about.

Aboard the train we found our sleepers which were in small cubicle containing three beds to each side of the wall. Thankfully we were on the bottom bunk, but can you say claustrophobia? The other two guys in our room were Canadians studying in Waterloo. They were chatty, but a little odd and seemed to have missed the point of backpacking: Culture.

After reading a few too many stories about night time train gas and rob(s), we weren't that eager to sleep. The conductor came and told us to keep the chain locked on our room because he wasn't sure about the rest of the people on the train (I am serious). We decided to try and sleep anyways locking and chaining our door. 3am arrives and the door is flung open (chain and all) by a border guard who abruptly says: PASSPORT. This really helped to affirm our feelings of safety.

I asked for a stamp, but that wasn't going to be happening. One small rant to ensue: Just because all of these countries are part of the EU, doesn't help that I STILL WANT A STAMP IN MY PASSPORT. Ok, moving on. We tried to go back to sleep after this but not were not very successfull!

We arrived in Prague early AM and waited around to meet our guy, Ondrej (23 yrs), at his college at 11am. He checked our bags at his school and showed us around the city for an hour. We then toured around on our own seeing the old town square with the clock from the 14th century, many churches, shops and stunning architecture. This being my second times in Prague and Nina's first, I tried to be a good guide and show her all the sights. The beer is dirt chea and, the city is quite beautiful and colorful, what more could you ask for? We met up with Ondrej at 3pm and he took us around the city for a couple of hours. Being a history student, he was eager to show off his knowledge and took us over Charles Bridge (lots of statues) and around the Prague Castle along routes not typically used by tourists. We were surprised at how busy it is around here considering it is about 1 degree celsius (can't imagine what it's like in the summer months!). We picked up our bags, grabbed some sandwich stuff AND BEER and went to Andre's flat for the night. His roommates were out of town, so we got nice beds and a big room!!

The next day we went with him to his hometown of Pisek which is about 1.5 hours away from Prague. We stayed at his parents apartment building (they own the whole building) in an empty suite. It was very quaint, almost like a B&B. His family was lovely, but not too much english was spoken. I fell in love with his grandfather, of course, who was tiny and adorable and spoke to us in broken English about how he had never had any formal english lessons and still listen to him speak! He was too cute!! Then we went out on the town to a local pub to meet some of his friends for drinks. Needless to say we were out late, drank way too much and only spent $15 each including snacks! We are thinking about relocating (just kidding)! The next morning Elana and I took another bus to a small town called Cesky Krumlov another 1.5 hours away. Here we literally fell in love with this adorable city. Colorful and small with beautiful buildings. The castle was truly remarkable. Almost an indescribable town, it was so relaxing to be in a place with so few people and tourists. I hope the pictures we bring home reflect this gem of a city. Anyone who comes to Prague MUST take an overnight/day trip to this picture perfect town. Our first hostel was more like a guest house with only one other girl staying there. Family run, the woman left after 11 am and we just used our keys to get around. We enjoyed a quiet dinner our with our new friend from Australia before retiring early!

We enjoyed another magnificent castle and a tip led us to a National Geographic picture exhibition. A wonderful day all in all.

Our bus back to Prague was effortless and we met a British guy who was friendly and full of conversation. We parted ways as we heading to Hostel Elf, the same hostel that I stayed in three years ago. It was awesome! Here we just relaxed and enjoyed the stories and conversations of other backpackers, like ourselves. We spent today just roaming the city and waiting with anticipation about our upcoming train ride to Warsaw for our flight out.