Saturday morning, we got in to Prague at 6:30AM. We made our way to our hostel, dropped off our bags, and walked over to Bohemian Bagel, a recommendation from the hostel, for breakfast. Bohemian Bagel, I must say, was EXACTLY what I have been craving. "Heaven for Expats" was the guidebook quote, and though I feel a little bad about it, being here to experience the culture and all, I was in heaven. I got a breakfast sandwich bagel - egg, cheese and sausage. It's very difficult - potentially impossible - to find a good, hearty, American breakfast in Budapest, so I was absolutely ecstatic.
Then, we went over to the astronomical clock tower in Old Town Square.
We climbed up, and got some beautiful views both on the way:
and on top:
We then wandered around Old Town, which was jam packed with more tourists than I've ever seen in my entire life (and this was at 10AM - it only got worse as the day went on) and eventually made it to Charles Bridge, which put Old Town to shame. How many people can you cram on to one bridge? Well, I didn't take many pictures then, as I was too overwhelmed to move, but later, I took a picture of the Charles Bridge from the safety of another bridge.
See all those little dots? Those are people. Ah!
That afternoon, we ate a delicious lunch at a restaurant nearby the hostel that had been recommended as "cheap". My meal? Steak tenderloins with blue cheese. The total? $18. Now, maybe I've just been in Eastern Europe for too long, but when a hostel recommends somewhere as cheap, I was thinking gyros or burgers. I'm thinking somewhere around $3. However, I must say, the meal was worth it. Absolutely delicious.
We then headed to the hostel for a much needed nap.
At night we went to a club called Lucerna for 80s and 90s night. I had a great time, dancing to the Macarena.
The next day, we left with the vague plan of making it to the castle.
We never exactly made it there. However, we wandered around that side of the city. (Prague, like Budapest and Northfield, has a river running through the middle of it. Like Budapest (and Northfield too, but probably in a different way) each side is fairly different from one another - one is more cosmopolitan and bustling, the other more peaceful, and with a large, imposing castle. That's something Northfield could use. Olaf should start working on their castle on the hill.
We did, however, find several exciting things.
The first was an H&M. We did a little shopping.
Second, a memorial to victims of Communism. Pretty intense.
Third, a beautiful view in a beautiful orchard.
Fourth and most importantly, my new favorite statue. It's currently placed in the backyard of the German Embassy, but I'll be taking donations for its replication and installation in my dorm room.
At this point, our legs were tired and we needed to sit. We went to Wenceslas square for some tea, had dinner at an absolutely amazing Thai restaurant, and headed to the bus station for our ride home.
At 6AM, we arrived back in Budapest, and I have to say, I was happy. Prague is beautiful, and in many ways a constant party, but it's a vacation spot. It's americanized, and english-speaking, and touristy. Even when we ventured out into the areas of the city that I thought should be more residential and Czech, it still felt like the city was a display, not a place to live. I've grown kind of fond of the fact that even buying an extra camera battery here can be a multi-lingual experience (me, translating a teenage girl's English translation of the cashier's Hungarian into Russian for the German in front of me). Budapest is a lived-in, liveable city. It feels real in a way that Prague didn't. Don't get me wrong, Prague is an absolutely remarkable vacation spot - beautiful, fun, active. And I'm sure that if I spent more time there, I would find the place where people really lived. However, it seems to me that in Budapest you can't HELP but find those places.
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