It only takes 30 minutes to get to Czech from where we live. Before crossing the border, we had to stop to get a highway sticker. It costs 10-13 euro and is good for a week, I think. Anyway, you have to have one of these stickers on your car when driving in Czech if you are planning on using the highway. I guess it's their way of paying for their highways. Anyway, after stopping at the border to get the highway sticker we headed to Pilsen (Plzen), Czech Republic before arriving in Prague. I am so glad we did! The city is, of course, known for their Pilsner Urquell Brewery (one of the most famous beers in the world!). We stopped and ate at the restaurant on site and had our first meal in Czech. We would later learn that Czech food is very heavy. We were full for hours after eating each meal, but it was oh-so-amazing and worth it each time!
Here are some pictures from Pilsen
We found a great deal on an apartment in Praha (thank you Amie Satchell!)so when we arrived in the city we went to pick up our keys and found our way to the apartment. It was spacious. It had a bedroom, a kitchen, living room, and dining area. When we travel places Brandon and I like to find a local supermarket to see what local goodies we can get our hands on, so it's nice to have a kitchen!
After dinner, we decided to go on a "Praha at night/Ghost" tour. I was really excited about this and love this kind of thing because usually the tour guide tells you about some of the history of the city, along with some of the "ghost stories" told around Prague. Ummm....no. We weren't too happy with our tour and found it to be more entertaining to laugh at the faces of everyone walking by us because our tour guide was creepy halloween-ish looking. Anyway, even though the tour wasn't great, we did get to see some more of the city on our walk, which is a definite plus. PRAGUE IS BEAUTIFUL!
I can't tell you how excited I was and how proud I felt to be in that country. Because the Jasek and Kapavik side of my family is Czech, it was really neat visiting and learning about this country that half my family is from. One of the things I was looking forward to was trying the kolaches. We all (well, most of us) know that the Little Czech Bakery in West, Texas has the best kolaches in Central Texas, so I was SO excited to try the "real" thing. But even better than kolaches from West are the homemade kolaches my grandma makes. OH. MY. HEAVENS. They M-E-L-T in your mouth. :) Which remindes me, I need to get that receipe from her.
While in Praha, Brandon and I went on a beer tour (Czech is famous for their beers and they are oh-so-yummy). We throughly enjoyed the food and drink Praha had to offer. We also, of course, toured the castle and all of the other quarters in the city, including the Jewish Quarter.
Brandon and I also went to the Black Light Theatre and saw a show. It was very different and pretty neat. I have never been to a Black Light Theatre, so it was a new experience for me. We loved it.
We did a lot of eating, drinking, and touring the city. The buildings are beautiful and it's amazing how far the country has come since the end of Soviet rule. We went to a communist museum while we were there and it's unbelieveable how different it was just a little over twenty years ago. It was a very interesting museum. Some of the rooms were set up how they were during the era. There was a classroom set up with textbooks using Russia's Cyrillic Alphabet along with other materials. The pictures of Praha from that era are amazing to look at. It looks totally different. It really is neat to see how much more "alive" the city looks today.
On the last night we were there, we went to a jazz club and really enjoyed ourselves, but were sad we had to leave the next morning. We loved Praha and can't wait to go back! I will add some more pictures later. For some reason, the uploader thing isn't working right now.
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