12,000 miles and 41 hours for five days in Prague. It was the most fabulous wild time!Prague is BEAUTIFUL! I loved it there. It probably helped that the weather was so nice , but then again coming from 115 degrees almost anything is nice. Prague is definitely a city of "old Europe". The architecture is amazing. I felt like I was right in the middle of the Sound of Music, but of course that was Austria. Eastern Europe was so fantastic, I can't wait to go back again. It was so different from England, France and Spain.
Here I am on the famous Charles Bridge with the Prague Castle behind me. I was laughing because of the guy next to me but you can't see him.
The Old Town Square was amazing. It was jam packed with tourist of course but it didn't make it any less stunning.
In the middle of my trip to Prague we decided it was time for a European Road Trip. We googled the route to Krakow, rented a car (a Skoda-awesome!), and we were off to Poland. It was a crazy 36 hour trip.
Here is a picture of the Polish countryside. It was so beautiful. I only wish my pictures could actually capture what I saw.
Krakow was crazy. It has the largest town square in Europe. It was huge! And rumor has it it has over 400 bars in the square. Of course it was also filled with all sorts of boutiques, shops, restaurants and jewelery stores. Poland is known for it's amber jewelery. I bought a very funky, very cool ring for myself and some earrings for my mom. I don't think she has worn them yet, I may have to confiscate them.
There were also many performers in the square too. Some were traditional, some were very interesting
.....We had a great time in Krakow for the evening. The people were so kind and so nice. It was a different feel from Prague. We didn't experience too much of that post-Soviet mentality. The people were very warm. Our hotel on the other had looked like it came straight from Moscow at the peak of Soviet influence. Minimalists they were.
The next morning we drove about thirty to forty-five minutes southwest of Krakow, almost to the Slovakia border. Here in Oswiecim, Poland was the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. We had only planned on staying a little while, maybe and hour or so but once we got there we knew we couldn't leave until we saw it all. It was a very emotional and somber Sunday afternoon. The sky was so blue and beautiful and there were little yellow flowers growing in the meadows. Through the barbed wire fence you could see the pine-covered Carpathian Mountains. It was so hard to realized that all this beauty surrounded the most horrific death camp of all. I was a history major in college and studied World War II pretty intensely but nothing could have prepared me for actually seeing Auschwitz firsthand. It was almost impossible to comprehend the magnitude and the gravity of what took place there. I've decided not to post any pictures of the camp for several reason but mostly out of respect for those who died there.Well after our sobering afternoon at Auschwitz and Birkenau (we toured them both), we were on our way back to Prague. Beth and Meredith had class the next morning at 8:00 am and a finance project to compete. So being the three extremely intelligent girls that we are, we decided to forgo driving back north to the interstate and over to Prague. We figured we were south so why not take that little road through the mountains near the Slovakia border and up to Prague? Well, apparently, the Pols know something we don't. The road through the mountain was horrible and slow. We added at least an hour and half to our drive this way! So we downed Red Bulls, scanned the radio for anything decent and prayed our little Skoda would get us home safe. We pulled into Praha 2 about 1:30 am. It was a crazy adventure but well worth it! If anyone happens to be in the relative area of Krakow I highly recommend the journey! I can't wait to go back!
The next day I was all on my own. This was a great day.I toured Prague by myself for about 12 hours. I ate gelato for breakfast. It was the easiest (and most delicious) thing to eat while walking.
I was on a mission that day. Aside from collecting all my Czech souvenirs, I was walking from our flat to the Prague Castle. It's all the way on top of that hill. It was quite the walk. I'm guessing it was seven to ten miles round-trip. It was great, except for the blister I developed in the bottom of my foot by the end of the day. The St. Vitus Cathedral is what is really at the top of the hill inside the castle walls.
After many stops into little shops along the way, I made it to the Castle just in time to see the changing of the guard. It wasn't as grand as the changing of the guard atBuckingham Palace but it was enjoyable because I was so close. I loved seeing all the traditions.The Castle was beautiful inside and out.
The cathedral was beautiful too but if you've seen one cathedral in Europe you've pretty much seen them all (there are a few exceptions however).
The St. Vitus was rather large and had that traditional European Gothic architecture. It wasn't as outrageous as Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona but it was pretty ridiculous. 
Stained-glass windows are almost as fun to take pictures of as flowers. Depending on the light the windows always look different. Sadly, my pictures don't do justice to the windows. If you click on the picture you can see all the detail of the window. It's pretty amazing. 
This is a picture of the "Lennon Wall" in the Mala Strana, or Lesser Town. After Lennon was killed in 1980 someone placed his face in this wall. It became a place of protests for students under the Communist regime. It's located near all the embassies in Prague. The French Ambassador's window faces the wall. I was told the French ambassador loves the wall and has declared it a French monument so the wall will not be destroyed. I'm not really sure how that works since it is owned by the neighboring church. Apparently they allow the graffiti to continue.
I have so many more photos I would love to share but time and space are limited. Here are just a few from my collection: 
These two pictures show the view of Prague from the outermost wall of the Prague Castle. I like the clouds in the first picture and all the bridges in the second one.
This is the street leading up the castle from the Charles Bridge.
This is the famous astrological clock in the the Old Town Square.
I just like this picture. They really like music in Eastern Europe. There were people playing instruments around every corner. This washboard-jazz band on the bridge brought a smile to my face.
