Day 15: Prague

The Czech Republic is so different from Germany (or anywhere I've ever been). Chris would tell you he didn't love it and that he didn't feel safe and that there were drugs everywhere, but I would have to disagree. I loved Prague and only wish we had had more time there and that I'd read about the city and the country's history a little more in advance.

Walking to our hotel (not in the best area) from the train station (also typically not in great areas) in the evening with huge backpacks in a new country where we absolutely don't understand the language certainly didn't help. The buildings were covered in graffiti and lots of men in doorways along the street. So it wasn't a great first impression.

It's definitely more run-down in many places and [seemingly] isn't as well off as the other places we've been. Everything is incredibly cheap (our dollars go much further as Crowns than as Euros). It's also the land of Bohemia, so it's a little more "free lovin" I guess you could say. But when you read about its history, you understand it a little more. Not that the former Czechoslovakia didn't have opportunities to determine its destiny, but it traded hands so many different times in European and World power struggles, it's really a wonder that it is what it is today.

So powerful and important in the past that it was once the seat of the Holy Roman Empire and is where the Thirty Years' War began (when a Protestant mob pushed 2 Catholic councilors out the window). Then Austrian rule for 300 years, an independent Czechoslovakia for 20 years, then under Nazi control, then communism under the Soviets, until finally independence in 1989 through the Velvet Revolution at the end of the Cold War, after which the Czechs and Slovaks peacefully split. A major multi-billion-dollar flood later ('02) and the joining of the EU in '04, the Czech Republic is finally getting back on its feet.

And it truly has some amazing, beautiful sites. The view from above - with its red rooftops and hundred spires - I could just look at forever. And its great river with the Charles Bridge full of peddlers and cobbled streets with a different neighborhood on each hill. I just loved it and sadly feel like it didn't get the time it deserved in our itinerary because we really wanted to make sure we got plenty of time to explore and relax in Berlin before our trip back home. So that's my disclaimer for poor Praha - I will come back to give you the attention you deserve one day!