A Room with a View!

Greetings from Prague!  Today we made a lengthy train journey across the eastern half of Germany to Prague, Czech Republic.  The train ride lasted for about 6 hours, which took up most of the day today.  However, even in the few hours we have spent in Prague thus far, we can tell that we are going to LOVE this city!  The cobblestone streets and alleys along with the beautiful architecture and old-world feel make Prague seem really special.  Although there was a bit of an old-town feel to pockets of Munich, it seems that much of Prague exudes that old-world charm which we so enjoy!  This is due to the fact that Prague was the only central European capital to escape the bombs of the last century's wars.  Not to mention the fact that our hotel is in an amazing location with an amazing view!  Below is a picture of the view out of our hotel window!

This is "our" view of the Old Town Square's Tyn Church.

One thing we noticed immediately as we crossed the border from Germany to Czech Republic was the drastically different language!  We thought it was a bit of a struggle to understand German, but Czech is nearly impossible!  Even if you have the written word in front of you, it is hard to pronounce correctly.  Luckily, it seems that most people speak at least some English, so we will get by.  However, we still feel like we are being rude or "stupid American tourists" when we look at them with a blank stare.  Our Rick Steves' guidebook has a few catch phrases that we are trying to learn, although we aren't sure we are even pronouncing them right!

We arrived in Prague at about 3:00 PM and headed to the hotel right away.  After our pleasant surprise at our lovely accommodations, we made our way out to explore the Old Town Square on foot (in search of some coffee!).  Along the way we stumbled upon some beautiful alleys and quaint shops.  These pictures are representative of all the surrounding areas in Old Town where we are staying...

That's Matt looking up in awe in the bottom right corner!

After getting lost in the maze of old streets, we made our way back to the hotel to freshen up and make plans for dinner.  We settled on a Rick Steves suggestion in the "Hip/Trendy" restaurant category (because, you know, we're hip and trendy...haha) called Klub Architectu.  The restaurant is situated in a Medieval cellar (underground).  It definitely had a "cave-like" vibe to it which was a lovely ambiance.  The food was great too, plus the prices here seems a lot more affordable than Munich (although somehow water still costs more than beer!).  On our way back from dinner, the Tyn Church was illuminated and warranted a few more pictures...

We thought it looked like a castle straight out of Harry Potter!  Now we are getting ready for bed in preparation for another busy day exploring our new city tomorrow!

Dobrou noc! (Good night!)

Love, 

Matt and Kim