So last Saturday, Susie and I flew into Prague and had arranged to have the rental car guy meet me with the "STORMS" sign in hand. Unfortunately, he wasn't there. And NO ONE at the airport had heard of the sketchy rental car company Vecar from my Lonely Planet guide book. Went over to another rental car joint and actually got a better deal. Strange. Starting to lose faith in the Lonely Planet. Don't worry....the story gets more exciting than this. Have a look at some pics while I continue:
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So we hopped into our little Skoda Fabia, went the wrong way at the start, but eventually got through the 5 hour drive down to Vienna. I think I saw a Czech movie star in the gas station because the attendant asked for her autograph. But they were speaking Czech, so she could have in the royal family for all I know. Our hotel was on a really nice pedestrian street right in the middle of the city. Great to walk on, but driving on it (like I tried to) doesn't work out as well. Ooops...gave the tourists at the outdoor cafe quite a scare. Other than that, Vienna is a lovely, romantic city. As long as it isn't raining. Then it's sorta grey. But we drank a lot of coffee, had a LOT of cake, and some beer too. Took in the symphony at the royal palace and climbed to the top of the impressive St. Stephen's Cathedral. Here's a pic of me in a really nice cafe, whispering a secret to the statue sitting by the door:
If you are curious, the secret I'm whispering is that he should leave Vienna....and go to Prague. Which is exactly what we did. And though Vienna was nice, Prague really overshadowed it and may hold the prestigious rank of Dan's favourite European destination. What an honor.
Oh, also stopped one the way up by a cool little Czech town near the Austrian border called Cesky Krumlov. A beautiful castle with a tower designed by Hans Christian Andersen dominated the view, but the small streets and beautiful river looping around the old town really made it a fantastic place to spend the day. Here's a pic looking down from the castle:
So that night we drove up to Prague. We decided to take it easy the next day after a busy start to the trip, and sat by the Vltava river and had a really nice, long lunch with a few Czech beers. Did you know that Busweiser actually came from the Czech beer Budvar?
The next day, we headed up to the wonderful castle, toured the massive St. Vitas church and saw the grave of good St. Wenceslas (of the song). The church is HUGE and really beautiful with another great view from the top. Lots of stairs though.
The Brits are kinda down on Prague these days because they say 10 years ago you could get beers for 50 cents and there weren't really crowds. But now there are lots of tourists and beers are up to $2. Oh the horror. I didn't find the crowds to be all that bad for such a fantastic city. And the food, sights, and beer were well worth the trip. At one point we were outside of the touristy area and got an ice cream for 25 cents. Wow.
So on our last night, we thought we'd stop into a club by the Charles Bridge. Another reason the Brits slag off on Prague is that there are tons of British stag dos (bachelor parties) and hen parties (bachelorette parties). Kinda like the European Vegas with a funny accent. For example:
Then we went up to another club nearby and out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall American guy coming my way. Turns out it was Howie from my fraternity! He was there with Cliff, another friend of ours, who a few of you might recognize as the guy who Liz and Melissa started calling Izzo at one of my parties. hehehe :-)
Also at that club, I was at the bar getting beers and a guy turned to me and asked where I was from. I told him and he said, "America! I am from Croatia!" as if there was some correlation. And then he turned and told his friend where I was from, who immediately said, "I love America!!!" I gave them a cheers and walked away. Better than talking to the French though.
On the last day, we had a few hours to kill before the flight and were able to really get away from the tourists by heading down to a nice park with another huge church looming on a cliff over the river. The park was very well kept and the sun was shining bright. A great way to end the trip.
Happy Labor Dabor everybody everybody!
~Dan
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