Hradčany

I believe Prague is up there for one of my favorite cities. And today is up there for one of the best days on the trip, for sure. We started the day a free little walking tour to the castle district. Fun fact that I learned after we left is that this castle is the second biggest in all of Europe. But the tour was going to continue outside of the castle district, but I was so amazed by it that I convinced a couple of other people to stay with me and explore. So we bought a ticket for some of the highlights and went. A lot of people have gotten their fill of churches, but they still blow my mind. This one was my first one that had a lot of stained glass. And fuck me it is so beautiful see all the beautiful colors coming through. This church was full of this crazy tombs of all the bishops of the church and even contained the second ever bishop dating back to the 500s. Afterward we went to the palace which was a little disappointing, there wasn't really anything in there and it was so full. We did get to see the throne and the crown jewels, which was cool. On our way down to meet the group, the other people stopped for a treat, and I saw vendor had bowls of fruit for sale, and by God, it has been the best purchase I have made so far. It was so ripe and delicious, much needed fruit since I haven't had any since traveling. We met back up with everyone and went to this BBQ place, and we were all convinced to buy pork knuckles, which was hella expensive. As you can see, it was very much worth. It was so delicious and one of my favorite meals. I have also gained a taste for Hugo spritz since Italy, a fantastic drink. For the evening, we did a hidden Prague tour with the total gem of a tour guide named Bruno. This was the best tour we have done. It started with us getting to try some Czech liquor, 2 shots. And of course, I grabbed the stronger one first, I was not ready for how gross it was. It did come back up just a little bit. The other one was very good, though. I believe the percentage was 40 and 35 respectively. So, it was a great way to start the tour. Then we went to this beautiful park just hidden up some random street. And you could even hear peacocks in the distance, too! And when we went to see them, one even pulled his feathers up! They were looking a little sad, though. We also saw these random signs on the wall with just a straight line and a year. One was like 4 meters up, and it turns out it was the high that water got too during some of the major floods that happened. Happened a lot, apparently... we walked a little to a classic pub and learned that all the classic pubs are underground because Pilsner needed to be stored at 15 degrees. And beer doesn't have a listed percentage but is listed as steps. So a normal beer is 14 steps. This indicates how many steps underground it is stored since it affected percentage. But I also learned that Pilsner beer originates from Prague, and the recipe has not changed since 1842. On top of all this me and Ethan learned our new favorite way to cheers! We had a lot of fun at this pub. Our tour guide was a total gem since I was called Buffalo on my first pint, so I had to chug it, and Bruno gave me another one! And then when other people were first and he was getting another round he got me another one! So I had 3 beers for free... after the tour, we found out the other tour guide only gave one drink to the group, so we really got the cool guy! Then we walked across one of the old bridges full of statues and got to try the trdelník dessert, which is just like a chimney cake. You can put like ice cream and stiff in them but the place stayed open for us because we were late. But for that reason, everyone got their own! Then we went to this bar where you could only pay with the card they give you, so you would have to fill the card with cash. And to top it off, you can only leave the bar if you give them the card back. But this bar was a lot of fun. There were multiple rooms, and we got to meet another contiki group there as well. They were awesome. Turns out that when you cheers you need to make eye contact, or else you get 7 years of bad sex; so I'm screwed. But at this point, I was pretty drunk, so I slowed down a lot and was just having a good time. We went to the dance floor and I was teaching some of the girls how to dance, it was so much fun! Then Bec came over and randomly just came over and told me to be careful and that I was going to throw up? Like I was teaching people to dance and I didn't have a drink at the time. But that's OK, we just had some fun and went to a five story club afterward. Everyone was saying how all 5 stories were open to get there, pay 20 euros to get in, and only see two of the levels open... but it was still fun with the gang just dancing and playing around. At one point, one of the ladies was running to the dance floor and just fell straight on her face. She was ok, but it was pretty funny to watch. It was a blast of a day made better by the fact I was feeling a little better too.Read more