Prague, Czech Rep. Dec. 29th - Jan 1st.

Well we arrived in Prague after our 7hr train ride from Budapest, it was a long ride but the time passed fairly quickly.
It really isn't too horribly bad riding the trains. They stop often, there's leg room, and there's plenty of scenery outside to watch as you pass it by. The next train ride will be 10+ hrs, so I guess we'll see how much I love and appreciate it after that...

Anyways, we arrived in Prague on the 29th only to find that we had forgotten a day and weren't scheduled to check in to our hostel until the 30th. Yes this was my error, it's actually one of my signature screw-ups. Just ask Ben.
I think we were supposed to stay another day in Salzburg with Germana, because our hostel owner in Budapest commented that we were a day early. Either way, we were early and there was no vacancy at the hostel for us to check in early. We ended up staying at the Astoria hotel, it was a little over our budget, but thankfully not by much. One the way to the hotel, Lisa's beloved pink suitcase broke and I was made to lug it the rest of the way there. It is a horrible thing to have to do in a snowstorm.
We found a little blues bar/restaurant, ate, and then headed back to the hotel to sleep. It was snowing heavily when we arrived, but had eased off some. It cast a pretty sheet over all of the old town that was visible from our 7th-floor balcony. Much to Lisa's dismay, most of the snow was gone the next morning when the sun started coming out. I like it really. Having the cold air in your face and then the sun warming your back. I even took off my scarf, gloves, and beanie for most of our time here.

Surprisingly, the cold has not been as bitter as anticipated. Every so often the wind will kick up and chill you a bit, but most of the time the weather is pleasant. Once you start walking around you can actually find yourself sweating.

It was a little drizzly the next day, but we decided to brave it and head to the Prague Castle to look it over. I remember just how beautiful it was in all of it's Gothic glory, I wanted Lisa to experience it as well. Pictures do it no justice at all.
We hovered around the castle and the palace where the president and royal guard live as well. The palace isn't too incredible, but no trip there would be complete without harassing the poor stoic guards that watch over the palace in complete silence and stillness. They are kind of like those guys with the funny hats that guard Buckingham palace.
The views from the castle are also worthy of mention. It overlooks the entire city and offers views from miles in all directions.

We left the castle, and at Lisa's insistence went looking for the John Lennon wall. It is a chunk of wall that apparently Lennon wrote on a long time ago. After his death in 1980 the wall became a bit of a hippy shrine where the locals would irritate their Soviet captors by slathering paint all over the wall talking badly of Lenin and how much he sucked compared to Lennon etc.
Every day the Soviets would paint over the graffiti and post guards around the wall, but somehow each morning there would be new artwork left on the wall. To this day the wall changes faces every week apparently, even with the Soviets long since gone.

We left there and headed to the Charles Bridge. It is an old bridge that was built in the 1400's by the same guy that built the castle. It was decorated in the 1700's with a bunch of creepy statues that sit there and stare at you as you walk by. At night they make the whole bridge look haunted and freaky.
Prague is a city that lives and breathes it's Gothic architecture. All the old buildings, towers, churches, walls, and bridges embrace this style.

New years eve day was spent exploring the old town and all the old Gothic buildings that are still standing there. The whole city has turned into an enormous jackass festival with all the Italian and Asian tourists, so it has been getting increasingly difficult to get around due to the masses that like to block the sidewalks, streets, alleys, bridges, or anywhere else that a human being can access. It was enough to make me wish I had an Uzi or a flamethrower in my day-bag..

That night we looked for somewhere at least relatively quiet and away from the Italian/Asian menace that had overrun the city. It was the safer thing to do as well seeing as the suicidal/homicidal Italians were lighting off fireworks all over the place.
We found it in a little pub that had a little winding staircase that went down into what seemed to be a catacomb. It was cool and not very crowded, it seemed to be more of a place for the locals than it was for the tourists. We chatted until midnight and then took a shot of Prague Absinthe. It was a good New Years and I had a lot of fun. Lisa had a few too many vodka oj's and dozed off on the couch in the internet room. I stayed up for a little while and hung out outside breathing the winter air.

It makes me feel alive I guess.

- P