Praha

We got off the night train and were unpleasantly met by frigid temperatures. Considering it was only 6 in the morning we were hopeful that it would get warmer as the day went on... WRONG! We started walking to our hostel because we didn't want to pay for a cab and it was only about a 15 minute walk- but it was in the cold and it was early so the walk seemed like it took forever! I wasn't sure how I felt about Prague yet, the train station was in the shady part of town, I didn't really think I would fall in love with the city- boy was I wrong! I absolutely love Prague. It is a place that everyone should visit at least once in their life. When we finally got to the hostel we checked in and then decided we were hungry for breakfast. Luckily our hostel served free breakfast... ha! It was coffee, tea, jam, bread and cheese - typical hostel food, but I guess we were lucky they had anything at all. Because of this breakfast though I am now obsessed with eating bread with laughing cow cheese and jam. Its delicious. You should try it.

We were all exhausted from our wonderful night of sleep on the night train so we decided to lay down for a few hours since it was only 730 by the time we were done eating breakfast. We got up around noon and got ready. We headed first to eat lunch... you are probably thinking that all we do is eat.... well you're right. We had a good meal, I had a salad that was delicious, with really fresh vegetables. We decided that since we were practically running around Budapest the day before we would take the day easy and just walk around, shop and do whatever we happened to find. When we left the restaurant we were shocked to realize that it was SNOWING. Yes, SNOWING. I was so not prepared for the weather. I knew it would be colder than in Barcelona but I didn't have any idea it would snow! We started walking and would go in and out of shops to warm up. While we were walking, Amanda ran into a guy she went to highschool with- small world. He was there visiting a friend from college who is studying abroad in Prague. They exchanged numbers and we made plans to meet up with them for dinner and the night.

We just spent the afternoon walking around the Old Center Town, which is gorgeous. I love the look and feel of the city. It is a mixture of pretty, feminine and strong and masculine. It looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. Its absolutely amazing. We happened upon a Easter festival which was a lot of fun! They had a bunch of vendors and food stands set up and there was a stage for performances. There were little girls up on stage when we found it and they were doing traditional Czech dances. It was adorable. We walked around the festival for a while and I got a nutella filled crepe. So fat but so delicious! And besides I only had a salad for lunch! We then continued to walk around Old Center Town and head back towards our hostel. We walked passed a Thai massage place and decided that we all deserved massages, so we went in and made appointments for the next day. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.

We met up with Amanda's friend Max and his two friends, Jake and Jeremy. They were such cool guys we ended up having a ton of fun with them. Jake, the one studying in Prague took us to a good restaurant where I had possibly the best beer I've ever had. It was a Czech beer and it was dark but so sweet. I had a salad for dinner too because I was stuffed from the crepe I had earlier, and I was feeling a little guilty about it too. Our waiter during dinner was cute and he was kind of flirting with me through broken English. So you know me, of course I flirted back and asked him what he was doing after work. He said he didn't know and wanted to know what I was doing. I was just trying to be a little funny and flirt with a Czech native but he was serious. I said I didn't know. He told me that we are all beautiful ladies but I am the best... haha and then we exchanged names, his was Zdneck (it sounds like Zednick) and I figured that would be the end of that.

We went to a bar, I forget the name but it was cool. It was very modern and they had huge drinks to share with the group. So we got a huge mojito that lasted about five minutes among the eight of us. We then decided we needed to try Absinthe. Its basically a grain liquor that tastes awful but its supposed to make you see fairies... such a lie. It did nothing but taste like absolute crap. But oh well, I guess I can say I tried it at least once. We then left that bar because we were basically the only people there and headed to a club that Jake liked to go to. Well, the club was closed considering it was a Monday night but there was a bathroom and some of the girls had to pee. So we all were standing outside waiting for them and while we were waiting, guess who walks by.... yea Zdneck. My mouth literally hit the floor. He had a huge smile on his face and said "Ashley" with his little accent. Out of control. I couldn't believe that we ran into him. He wanted me to come into the bar next door with him and I said well my friends have to come too, because I wasn't about to go off alone with him, although he seemd very nice. He bought me a drink, who could say no to a free rum and coke? And we hung out for a while... I found out hes 24, works as a waiter and lives with his parents. Wow, I think I met my dream guy..... kidding. He was really nice though. He wanted to take me out to lunch the next day but I said no because we had so much to see. We stayed at the bar for about a half an hour and then decided it was time for bed... and I was getting a little creeped out because Mr. Zdneck kept asking for a kiss. N-O buddy!

The next morning we didn't get up till almost 12... lazy. But we didn't have a whole lot to see necessarily so we didn't mind. We were all hungry but we didn't want to waste time sitting down at a restaurant so we got sausages from a street vendor. Sooooo good and totally worth the 10328403984 calories I'm sure it had. It had mustard, mayo, ketchup, onions and sour crout on it. It was so good!

We then headed towards Charles Bridge. I just kept marveling at the beautiful buildings on the way. The view from Charles bridge was out of this world. So gorgeous. You are probably laughing at me right now because everytime I go to a new city I fall in love with it and I always say the views were gorgeous. But its always true! We crossed the bridge over the Danube again and on the other side was the palace. It was more like just a walled in area. It wasn't that cool to see other than the fact it was up on a hill so you could see so much from up there. We walked around that area for a while and then headed back down because we had massage appointments!

The massage was a unique experience. I've never had a Thai massage and it was definitely different. There was no rubbing, just pressing and stretching. It was funny having a little Asian lady crawl all over me, contorting and stretching my body in ways I didn't even know were possible. I felt good after it was over though. After our massage we were hungry for dinner. There was a Tex-Mex (or should I say Tex-Czech? Haha I crack myself up sometimes.....) across from our hostel that looked really good. And it was.

This was my last night of traveling over spring break. And Jesse's too, so we all decided that even though we had to get up early we would go to the bar next door and have a few brews. When in Eastern Europe..... The guys from the night before, Max, Jeremy, and Jake met up with us for a little bit but we were all in bed by about 12.

The next morning was bitter sweet. I was sad that my spring break was over, well at least the traveling part. But I was ready to get back to Barcelona and I was super excited for my parents to visit me! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go to the cities I did for spring break, who knows if I would have ever traveled to those cities if I wasn't here in Spain... I am so thankful to my parents for giving me this opportunity. Although on spring break I spent my own hard earned money and I definitely spent a lot of it... but I don't care because it was all worth it. You can't put a price on what I saw and experienced. It was such a good experience traveling to the different cities, having to navigate our way around the cities all alone, with different languages and monetary systems in each city - a trip I will never ever forget.

View from our hostel

Snow! WHAT?!

The delicious beer - Kozel

Bell Tower

Zdneck - The waiter!

View from Charles Bridge

From the Top - Artsy?

Don't worry - this will be going out in our Christmas cards.