Prague, and an apology

Dearest readers,

I have slacked.  I've gone on many a trip and have not posted any details on any of them.  But I think I have a legitimate reason.  My parents and little sister came into town for over two weeks, and this decreased both my free time and my readership by 50-100%.  I will try to make it back up over the next few days, as I also try to catch back up on my reading, clean my apartment (its scary right now), and prepare for exams.

The first weekend the fam was in town, they flew into Prague, where I had already planned on going with some friends.  Wow, it is a beautiful city.  I could walk around Old Town square or sit drinking espresso (it just seems right, go with it) for months.  Yet, this time only a weekend had to suffice.

Lodging:
Both the hostel (Mosaic) in which my friends and I stayed and the hotel (Old Town Hilton) in which my parents stayed were FANTASTIC.  Mosaic was super nice, with a huge bathroom in the private room we were staying.  The bar downstairs had live music which was a nice touch....until it was time to go to sleep (on the floor above) and they were still playing.  There was also a minor disruption in the form of an hour and a half long fire alarm, but that was the silly smokers' fault, not the hostel's.

As for the Hilton, the executive lounge there (my parents have mad hotel points) was SO good.  The workers there even found gluten free bread for me and MV and made us breakfast and lunch sandwiches! I would highly suggest that if you have the status at Hilton.  I would also highly suggest getting that status at Hilton.  Nothing like free breakfast, afternoon tea, mid-evening snacks, and dessert to make a day great.

Food:
Since we had all of that free food, we did a terrible job eating out at authentic Prague spots.  The first night, I got there very late and the only place open in Old Town was this Spanish place that apparently is a chain.  For breakfast/brunch one day, my friends and I ate at a French chain, Paul (I think).  And the only other place I remember eating was an Irish bar where my dad and I watched football on his birthday.  So this was generally a fail, unless you consider the full international experience I got.

I did go to a cute tea house with a former high school teacher of mine who has now moved to Prague, but sadly I do not know what it was called or how to get there.

Touring:
So we definitely toured the you-know-what out of Prague. We did half of the free Sandeman's tour.  Our guide was super chatty though, and they were about to head to the Jewish quarter, so mom thought it best to spare MV of any emotional trauma and move on.  After getting snacks at the hotel (I swear, they serve so much food, you could almost not eat anywhere else), we went on a bus/walking/boat tour that the hotel recommended.  This actually took us up to Prague castle, which the free tour was not going to do, which had amazing views of the city.  Those tours took up most of Saturday, especially since the sun is setting around 4 pm here now so the days seem much shorter. 

On Sunday, we were going to go to church but my family was not yet used to the time difference and slept in.  I walked the Charles Bridge with my friends and saw the Lennon wall, then met my teacher for tea.  He showed me and the fam around Wenceslaus square and to a house where Mozart stayed for a bit.  Apparently, he loved Prague, which worked well for MV's project on Mozart, Beethoven, and Napoleon -- what allowed her to stay out of school for so long.

Recap: Basically, this blog is not much info, but I do recommend 1) Prague in general 2) The Hilton Old Town 3) The Mosaic, if the Hilton is out of your price range 4) Meeting expat teachers for tea

I was going to post pretty pictures to make up for my lack of writing, but apparently I have reached my storage limit on Google.  Once I figure that out, I will make a separate post for pics.