Beautiful Prague.

Prague, oh my.

First of all! Apologies about the lack of posts! We have been so busy! I will try to keep posting regularly! We are having the best trip, currently in Salzburg and head to Budapest tomorrow! Enjoy Prague :)

If you have never been, I suggest you go. Do not miss this little city on a trip around Europe because it is extremely beautiful.
We took the ~six hour train from Berlin to Prague (as yes the eurail passes arrived.) We arrived at the station and it was pretty hectic. We managed to get ourselves onto the right train line, then get off and then get onto the right tram! Our hotel was a short walk up a GIGANTIC hill, I tell you that hill was hard work. Cobblestones and luggage wheels aren't the best together either. We stayed at a little Hotel called the Golden Star and it was just below the Prague Castle, it was adorable.

We hit up the net to find ourselves some self guided walking tours and found ourselves lucky with a free tour around Prague. It was a three hour tour with a guide, plenty of people seemed to be doing the same as us so we were excited. The guide took us through the city's past which covers era's I didn't even know existed.

The architecture is basically a scrapbook of styles over the past centuries. A mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroq, Art Nouveau and even the communists style are all seen. Plus plenty more! Somehow, despite their differences they form together to create a style of their own and the Old Town Square is a perfect example.
I bet you are impressed with my name dropped architectural styles.... another thing our tour guide taught us!

For those of you who like beer, this category does not involve me, I hear Prague is known for its beers and heavy beer drinkers! Gonz was happy with that as you could buy a large beer for little more than $1AUD.

We only had one and a half days in Prague so the free walking tour really saved us. It gave us all the history about the sites we visited (this is sometimes hard because of the language barriers.)

We covered:

• Churches, churches churches.
• King Charles Bridge. This bridge was the idea of King Charles IV (obviously) who wanted to build a bridge that would last forever. Back in the day they were known to consult an astronomer to help them figure out when this day would be. Don't quote be on my history lesson, I learnt it on the walking tour.
• The Jewish Quarter.
• Old town square.
• Little town (which is near where we stayed)    and
• Prague Castle.

Our hotel was adorable, right at the bottom of the castle.

Old town square... see all the different architectural styles I was talking about!

on our walking tour.

King Charles bridge. 

We ate:

• Czech donuts. They are basically a dough mixture that they wrap around a pole that spins around and cooks the mixture. You then get a topping. I got coconut and Gonz got cinnamon. They were really yum and I am glad I don't know the calories involved. 
• Most food seems to be incredibly rich in meat and carbs. One meal I ordered came out and it was literally the size of a house. It was really dry and not very nice so I left most of it. But it's size was impressive.
• Although it isn't a very "Czech" thing to do, we ordered a side salad with most meals. The amount of meat, cream sauces, potato and bread I have consumed is outrageous.
• For dinner one night we ate a pub where lots of local people go. Some drunk Czech man ordered my meal for me... Ever heard of Svickova? It is basically a few small pieces of beef in a creamy sauce (plenty of sauce) with a few bread dumplings and wait for it... whipped cream on top. Don't worry the whip was literally the size of a ten cent coin, but still imagine how much was in the sauce! I ate it... all... it was delicious! I wish I took a photo for you! 
• You can check some traditional Czech food at this website if you're interested. Then you will understand why my jeans are too tight for comfort.

hot wine!

this was actually a pretty average meal... but this is exactly what i mean about the carb and meat overload!

huge!

Czech doughnuts! 

There is plenty of legends and stories you hear about! There is a legend in one of the churches where a thief tried to steal a pearl necklace from the statue of Mary. The statue froze his arm and he couldn't escape! The town executioner came and cut the mans hand off! The church then displayed the hand in the church to remind people why you shouldn't steal from a church! The hand still hangs there today!!!

THE HAND!