Praha

The morning we left for Prague was a stressful one. The listing for our Munich apartment boasted 'free wifi' but we quickly learned that this was a lie. Well, a half lie. There was a mobile wifi device in the apartment, but it didn't work well enough to load an email, let alone make all of our travel arrangements. So, we had to sit in front of an Apple store in Munich to figure out where we would be staying in Prague and how we would get there. We ended up booking two tickets for a bus to Prague, leaving from the Munich train station, or so we thought. When we arrived at the Munich station we tried desperately to hook up to the wifi there so we could confirm all of our travel plans. Twenty-five minutes before our bus was set to take off, we finally got a connection and saw that our bus was not in fact leaving from the Hauptbahnhof station, it was leaving from a different station down the road. So we walked in that direction, becoming increasingly panicked as the minutes passed with no sight of our destination. I asked several strangers along the way to confirm where the station was located, and finally, with five minutes to go, we caught a glimpse of it. All the way down the road. So we began to run. We ran with our enormous packs on, and probably looked like idiots. We certainly felt like idiots. When we finally arrived at the station, we located our bus and had to wave down the driver to stop him from shutting the doors and driving off. We barely made it. Now, Luke will say this was all my fault- that I wasn't prepared enough. But I say otherwise, of course. If the guy renting out the apartment hadn't falsely advertised free wifi, we would have been in an entirely different scenario. So there.

But the bus ride itself wasn't so bad, and we arrived in Prague five hours later excited to explore.

After dropping our things at the hostel and eating dinner we set out in hopes of finding a good bar. We found a place a few streets down with a cozy atmosphere and inexpensive beer. I mean, the beer was so cheap it was stupid of us not to order another round... and then another.. At least, that's what I told myself at the time. And I stand by it. Not only was the beer inexpensive (around $1.75 per half-liter) but it was good! I found a new favorite beer in Prague called Kotzel, and I hope I'll be able to find it back home.

First night in Prague

The next day we explored Prague a bit. We saw cute little shops abound, as well as the famed Charles Bridge and Prague castle. Then we went in search of a local beer garden I had read about. We got a little lost on the way, but ultimately the journey was worth it. The beer garden sat on hill with gorgeous city views. We each got a pint, and Luke got a kebab from a little stand. I don't know why we avoided all the kebab restaurants in Florence, but I have to say I wish we had them at home. It was so good, and I regret not trying it sooner. After a couple pints we headed back to our hostel, and decided to take the scenic route through the park. Partway through, we got caught in a freak downpour. We hadn't been expecting any rain so neither of us had rain jackets, and we were forced to hide under the branches of a tree with incredibly thick foliage. It worked for a while, until raindrops started to accumulate on the leaves and fell on us in great big, slow droplets. This went on for about twenty minutes, and we sat under the tree laughing at our misery. By the time the spontaneous rainstorm passed we were completely soaking wet (not to mention freezing cold). By the looks of it, no one else in Prague had been expecting rain either because we passed many wet people.

Prague Astronomical Clock

Tyn Church

Charles Bridge

View of the city from the castle

Prague Castle

 View from Letna Beer Gardens

After changing out of our dripping clothes, we headed out to a highly rated beerhall-style restaurant. The rain had started again, and with even greater ferocity. But this time we were prepared.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we realized it was the same bar we had gone to the night before! We laughed, and went ahead and ate there anyway because the food had looked good. And oh my goodness, it was. I got the pork with breaded potato dumplings and sauerkraut, and Luke got the braised beef with cranberry sauce and dumplings. My food tasted like Thanksgiving, and his tasted like Christmas. Along with our beer, it was heaven. All in all our dinner, with drinks and dessert, totaled only twenty dollars. I loved Prague.

We explored town a bit more and saw a few more bars before heading back the hostel.

 Mmmm

The next morning, while we waited around for our seven p.m. flight to London, we planned out our whole trip to Ireland. Two days in Cork, two days in Doolin, Two days in Galway, two days in Donegal, followed by four days in Dublin. It was so nice to have it all planned and out of the way, because as we found out while planning our trips to Prague and London, last-minute planning is not spontaneous- it's stressful. 

I woke up that morning with a bit of a sore throat and I prayed to the travel gods that I wasn't getting sick. 

After all, we were headed for London!

Adorable restaurant where we got our last Czech meal

 I figured soup was a good option since I was starting to feel sick.