(As of right now I'm waking up in Florence but have only just had the chance to post anything. Rome post coming soon! Also please forgive any typos, I've been using my iPod to type these)
Apparently it's my new M.O. to type blog posts while I sit in airports because as I write this I'm awaiting my departure to Rome.
Before I begin this post I'd just like to clear something up. Some odd years ago czechlslyvakis split into the Czech Republic and Slyvakia. I know. They forgot to tell me, too. I was only made aware of this when some kindly informed me Fte reading my last post where I mentioned my travels to a place that apparently decided to not exist anymore. Who'da thunk.
Prague has been amazing! It's so full of beautiful buildings and towers and spires it's enough to make your head spin. We spent most of our days getting lost, wandering aimlessly down interesting looking streets, stumbling upon markets and parks and art, and only using a map when it was time to find out way home. Prauge was awesome because it was so relaxing. We did most of our sight seeing just by wandering around. We saw Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, the Jewish Quarter, Old Town Square, and the Astronomical Clock (the third oldest in the world and only one still functioning!) not to mention all the incredible views of the entire city from a hill top park near our apartment. Prague is really just an incredibly beautiful city. There's nit a single lac luster street in town. Luckily, the EAster market was still going on while we were there so we got to try a bunch of really awesome food for cheap! We tried Trdla, a cylinder of heated dough sprinkled with cinnomen sugar almonds and heaven. We also tried they're version of a grilled cheese which was so different from American grilled cheese I can't even describe it. You'll just have to wait for the picture.
PrAuge has a really interesting history tied to World War II. The Jewish quarter has Jewish cemetery that has hundreds of graves literally piled on top of one another that the Germans were preserving as a memorial to a "extinct race". Communism was only kicked in 1989, and traces of it can still be detected in the general conduct of people. The trams are militant about running on time (I saw an old lazy get shut out because she was 3 seconds too late) and smiling isn't really part of the Czech persona. Even so, everyone was friendly enough and we had an amazing time.
Our laid back trip to Prague was perfectly placed before what is sure to be a jam packed trip to Italy. We only have two days each in Rome and Florence. I'm pretty sure I could spend a month of both of these places and still not see all there is to lay eyes upon, so packing it in to two days will be interesting to say the least. My converse are in for a work out. Good thing I've got my insoles! (Sometimes I think I might be an old person on the inside). In Rome we'll actuAlly be couch surfing for the first time (don't freak out yet Mom and Dad). Couch surfing is this network of people who LOVE the city they live in and open up they're home to travelers and show them around the city ... FOR FREE. The idea is that you'll rerun the favor some day to someone traveling in your town. There's a whole network where hosts are vouched for and credited and you can read reviews of hosts and surfers. Our roommate Holly stayed with our host a few weeks ago and had an amazing experience! It should be great! (Okay, now you can freak out).
Milan however is another story. We're only there for one night because it's where we found the cheapest flight out of Italy. We still don't have a place to stay despite scouring the Internet. Everything that available is wildly outside our budget. We get to Milan at 11:30 pm, a half hour after the airport buses stop running and a half hour before the train station closes. The Airport is N hour away and the earliest bus is at 4 am. We're scrambling. But something WILL be worked out! But ya know if you feel like sending some prayers or positive thoughts or money or good karma our way, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. It's going to be an adventure!!
That's all for now. Next stop: Rome!
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