We got in at six in the morning by train from Krakow. We got to the hotel by tram and from the moment we stepped off the tram and crossed our first bridge I knew Prague would simply be magical, purely and truly. The area we stayed in was filled with colorful and ornate buildings. Each door was custom and different. Art was everywhere you turned, whether it was being sold by people on the street and on the Charles bridge or on the buildings and structures themselves. We were essentially outside of the main tourist area, but close enough that it was a medium length walk to the center square. Performers are everywhere, from classical instruments to side show type spectacles. One Irishman was doing a show that involved whipping his volunteer and ended with him laying on broken glass which happened to be smashed in front of us and created from the beers he was drinking all afternoon while doing his show.

The city is alive and there is a buzz in the air at most times of the day. It’s not just tourists, it’s locals too. Granted most places, even coffee shops surprisingly, don’t open until eleven in the morning. Even with that there were people out as early as six or seven jogging, commuting, talking with friends on the street. Its very active even though you would assume it wouldn’t be given the opening times. Our first days were spent walking around, sampling the Czech food, drinking beers and Cecile shopping for art and jewelry, which was great. After the hustle of Paris and the emotions of Auschwitz it was nice to just chill out for a bit.

We stayed at a hotel in the Mala Strana district. It was a pleasant, clean, well kept hotel. We had a suite instead of a regular room and it was really spacious and comfortable. The receptionist at the hotel, Eva, was simply a dream. She made phone calls for taxi’s and rental cars, got our room ready early, and made arrangements for a great many things. She was the single greatest hotel receptionist that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Truthfully the car rental we got was in order to head over the Vienna, Austria for a day, which turned into getting a hotel and staying the night. Vienna was less awesome than expected. In fact I don’t really know what I expected. I was in Austria when I was a kid and we were in the Alps back then. I figured Vienna would remind me of that. Old school houses, nice scenery and the like. It didn’t. It had almost zero old world charm and granted we were only there for twenty four hours but I expected more of it. The saving grace of Vienna was St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Now, if you’ve been keeping up with my site and blog then you already know I’m a sucker for Gothic architecture. This is the reason that this church was the highlight of this particular city for me. We left Vienna with a sense of wishing there was more to it. Again, we were there for a single day, these are my impressions based on old memories that I wish were more prevalent and the fact that we didn’t explore much other than city center. Take my take on Vienna with a grain of salt, I’m sure it’s awesome when you have more time.

The drive back to Prague however was crazy! We decided to take some back roads instead of the main highway. This was great, really great. It was like being in a rally car. I was navigating and calling the upcoming turns and whether they were sharp or not while Cecile was driving. Keep in mind that some of these roads were single lanes and you had two way traffic. It was pretty intense and absolutely fun!

We were both really happy to be back in Prague and we decided to go to a musical performance that was part symphony and part opera. It was held in an old church in the tourist district, a few minutes from the Charles bridge. The acoustics were impressive and the voice of the soprano was amazing. She had a very large range and actually managed to make me tear up a couple of times. It was overall a great and moving performance on all fronts. The same day we went to a theater show, which broke my brain. It was kind of an Alice in Wonderland story, but not actually a retelling. It was a show about how the author of the books was telling a dying child the things Alice was doing after the books, but again, not really. It was done in black light and interpretative dance. It had clowns and Jewish ghosts, was based in Prague as a setting and confused the hell out of me. I had no idea what was happening, nor did most of the others there, from the reactions I saw. It was kind of about Alice’s maturation and finding love, but again, and I cannot stress this enough, this is coming from a person that had no clue what was going on. I would recommend you stay away from shows named Aspects of Alice and for those that have seen is and can tell me what I watched please comment and tell me because I’d like to know.

Our last day was spent going through the exhibits and buildings at Prague Castle. Again, a massive Gothic Cathedral that took my breath away, more than any other Gothic structure yet. The stained glass was crisp and colorful. The architecture itself was stunning and was everything I hoped for when we stepped in the doors. Other parts of the Castle included an exhibition on the history of the area as well exhibitions on torture devices, palaces and treasures. Overall, an impressive collection of activities that took us about six hours to go through. A pleasant way to spend our last day there.

I would recommend Prague to pretty much anyone I can. It’s a great city, filled with many characters, many stories and many fun and exciting things to do. It’s fast paced and slow all at once, depending on you and what you want out of the city. It quickly became my favorite city I’ve visited due to the culture, diversity, art and sense of life you can feel there.

I’ll be posting pictures later on, as it have thousands to sort through. I will create a gallery and update you guys on it.

Next up will be Rome and just a heads up, I hated it there. More on that later.

Keep your eyes on the horizon!