Mom on Prague

Kim has procrastinated writing about our Prague adventures and instead wants me to write my impressions! First, I have come to realize that our feelings toward a place depends to a large degree on the amount sleep we have had. I also would not recommend, having lived in Russia for three months, going to a place like Vienna and then immediately returning to a former USSR country! The shock to the system is too great! That said, Prague was picturesue with cobblestone streets and beautiful, old ornate buildings everywhere! The river with St. Charles Bridge and beautiful palace is amazing, especially at night!

What we thought was going to be a sketchy hotel in the ghetto area of town (our first impression after arriving there after midnight) was actually ok and in a great location. We even had a bidet in the bathroom-something not even the 5 star Marriott in Berlin had! And it also had a continental breakfast and free internet!

Kim is great at adapting to each metro in the places we visit and soon we are able to "get around" quite well. We took a hop on and off bus tour and saw the major attractions described through an English headset. The headset also warned us about pick pocketers and somehow we didn't feel as safe as we have in other places. They also gave us some interesting tidbits such as the first tulips were grown in Prague and later sent to Holland where they have become famous!
A nice lady in a souvenir store warned us about mistakenly giving out Euros instead of Czech crowns saying that some might not be so honest in telling us of the errorl. Unfortunately, we had the misfortune of experiencing this as we saw a 50 crown sweet roll that we bought with a 50 Euro! Funny how if you have your money bag down the front of your pants to keep the pick pockets from snatching it and reach into the wrong one of the two zippered sections where you think the Czech money is, you can pay about 100 times what the roll is worth! Another lesson learned the hard way!

We asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel how to get to the train station since it was a different one than the one we came in on. She told us how to catch a tram rather than take the subway but apparently we didn't understand.. After wandering up, down and across a busy street with all our luggage and asking a policeman who said he spoke English but not the kind we understand, we got on the right tram and made it to the station by the skin of our teeth, again! Kim stopped to buy water and spoke to a woman in Russian. She seemed so excited to find someone to talk to in Russian. Kim's Russian has come in handy more than once in Prague. After our stressful trip to make the train on time, we discovered it was 80 minutes late. The ride through the Czech mountains to Germany was breathtaking and worth the trip! We met two boys from Hungary going to Dresdan to pick up a car. They love American goods and buy on ebay frequently. They said even after paying customs and shipping, it is less expensive and they love the quality of American goods-especially cars! All the people we met on the train were friendly and helpful.

One last impression-it was amazing as we were on the train going from Austria to Prague, how at the border the countryside and towns changed immediately and we knew we were back in a former soviet block country!