Walking from the train station we saw the city municipal house, which was very impressive. We also got a decent feel for the normal part of the city before getting to the old town area. The architecture in the city was pretty amazing. Our hostel was right in the middle of the old town, and a few minutes walk for the old square. In the square is the Old Town Hall with a huge moving astrological clock and the Tyn Church, both of which are in Gothic style.
In the afternoon to early evening we crossed the Vltava river to visit Prague Castle and cross back over on Charles Bridge. The castle had an amazing view of the city, being on the hill. Inside the walls of the castle there were a few museums and small shops and a huge cathedral of St. Vitus. It is also in the Gothic style and it's construction began in the 14th century.
Charles Bridge was also very impressive. The walk was absolutely packed with tourists, but was well worth the trip. The bridge has dozens of impressive statues lining the walk across the river.
After seeing a ton of sites the first day, we headed to the huge hill back across the river. First we saw a strange warped looking building as we crossed over another one of the city's bridges. I forget the name of it, but it's pretty well known I believe. One of our main goals for the day was at the top of the huge hill, The Petrin Tower, which is like a mini-Eiffel Tower, but not very impressive at all.
After our trip to the tower we went to a mirror maze and fun house mirror place nearby up the hill also. Then headed halfway down the hill again and lounged around in the nice weather. It was a good change from the previous day of rain.
The last day before the train station we ran into an old car show and spent some time in shops at the station. In the bookstore-type-place I saw a ton of copies of Word, Excel and Access 2002, which I thought was pretty funny. We killed a lot of time at the station waiting for our train. Then, about 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave we realized we were at the wrong station!
We had just assumed that the station we came into on an international train would be the same one we left from. However, it wasn't! We started thinking that we would have to run across town or take a taxi, but instead found out that there was a metro that ran to the other station, in only 3 stops. Luckily we arrived with some time to spare and caught our train.
The next stop on the trip was the Slovak Republic, to visit Bratislava. Check back soon for the continuation!
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