Prague, Czech Republic [part 2]

Day:11
So after a fun and energized night at the discoteque, we were given a full day to ourselves. Most of the people loved this idea, but since I have very little self-control when it comes to sleeping in...I slept in longer than I wanted. I woke up, and most of the girls were already done getting ready and about to hit the wondrous streets of Prague. I quickly tried to take a shower and get ready, but I'm not that quick. Everyone was gone, and I thought I was all alone, and I began to get sad because I had my heart set on getting my mom some Garnet (her birth stone) since it was the country's stone or something like that. I decided I would walk to the mall next door and see what I could do/ who I could possibly found. Thank god that I ran into Kelsie!! She was meeting up with two German boys she met from the night before. They seemed legit, so I tagged along with them.

The German guys were actually very nice and really funny. We all went on the paddle boats under the Charles Bridge. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of that since my camera got broken the night before, and out of everyone I could have been with...Kelsie's camera had no more memory. But it was so much fun, and of course I was ambitious and wanted to be the paddler. It was so tiring! We stopped a lot and had funny conversations about the things we saw. Then we paddled back to the dock.

After all the unexpected exercise, we walked even further into the town to find a place to eat. We sat at an outdoor restaurant and Kelsie and I ordered Pizza. It was quite yummy and very big so I didn't get to finish it. I excused myself from lunch and hunted for a reasonable jewelry store. Instead of being called a jewelry store, most of them are just called "Garnet." I found some very nice sterling silver pieces for my mom and Randy's mom; then I caught up with the other three.

I was kind of nervous to ride the tram thing because the German boys insisted on NOT getting tram tickets because the drivers don't take your ticket, you just kind of hop on the tram. But if you get caught, I heard its a huge fine. It was so convenient that the boys understood how to read the tram maps and stuff, because I would have been back at the hotel still if it wasn't for them.

Later that night Ryno took all 45 of us on the tram to our final dinner together. We were seated in a large party room along with an older group of travelers from the US. (I actually talked to one in the bathroom who was from the bay area, small world). It was a really fun dinner, despite some meat-like tasting beverages and not-so-yummy food. And finally it was Marky-Mark's birthday. (Every dinner, it was somebody's birthday as a joke). There were a ton of pictures being taken and lots and lots of laughs. It showed how much our group got closer since meeting in Paris.

And for our last stop together, we took one final group pic then all headed to a local bar, typical. It was fun because it was a small bar and we all kept together talking up a storm before we had to say our goodbyes. Half of the group left early because they had an early flight, so it was hard to say goodbye to them. But the rest of us kept the party going as we came up with a new dance: "The Paparazzi Dance." Thanks Kevin D. for your inspirations, I'm bringing it back to the West Coast!

After, K-Mad, Liz, Erika and myself (and B.O.B) strolled off wandering the streets looking for things to do. I think we ended the night with more sandwiches from the hotel? And I cuddled with Liz on our last night in Europe :)

Prague, Czech Republic [part 1]

Day 10:
As the trip comes to an end, we reach our final destination: Prague, Czech Republic aka PRAHA. Praha sounds soo much better than "Prague." Ryno took us through a walking tour from the coach to the main center in Prague. He pointed out things for us to check out and where to exchange our Euros into Krona (The most confusing currency ever). He took us straight to the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church. It was extremely bright outside and really warm, there was a truck going by spraying the ground with water. Everyone was taking pictures with the guards but I thought it was kinda weird since they didn't move. After a while we were able to break away from the group and walk around for a bit. I was in desperate need of ice cold water. Later we walked further across the town to the coach to go to the hotel.

Our stay in Prague was a little different than the itinerary we had for the other countries. We go much more free time and had to scope dinner out on our own. A few of us walked to the mall and grocery store down the street from our hotel. I needed some ice for our beverages back in the room, so I tried to find english-speaking people in the grocery store to help me out. They all pointed me in different directions and I was getting really annoyed, and I felt kind of dehydrated. After about 30 minutes of walking around the store looking for ice, I ran in Kris from our group and he told me that in Europe they don't sell ice like we do in the States, and that all the people were probably sending me to the ice cream coolers. What a waste of time. I picked up a yogurt and a weird tuna sandwich.

Back at the hotel, a few of us were pre-partying in Jenna and Robyn's room watching MTV. This was the night that all the girls got more glammed up, since we were going to what was known as the biggest club in Central Europe, Karlovy Lazne, where each of the 5 levels had its own style of music. On the way to the club. Kyle directed us to the tram and how we managed to take the right number and exit the right stop is beyond me. All day long, and all trip long, the weather was perfect. That is, until we got off the tram- it was raining! All the girls were yelling and freaking out. We wanted to go to this one hotel to meet the other half of the group, but it was a ways down the streets of Prague. So everyone starts running into the rain, heels clinking on the cobblestone, hair and clothes getting drenched. It was quite ridiculous and random. I eventually just took off my shoes and I think that hurt worse. We finally arrive at the hotel and bar, but we were all soaked and pretty much got kicked out. I stayed behind at the hotel while the rest of the group split up and went to random bars. By the end of the night we all met up at the club.

This club was huge! Each floor was bumpin different types of music from techno to 80s. Our group lounged on the 80s floor listening to the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson. We knew it was our second to last night in Europe together and everyone was having a blast dancing and mingling the night away! Prague was the place of lost and broken goods. Some people lost their wallets, purses, and cameras. My camera got broken (not by me), but I didn't sweat it that much because it could have been worse. As Mark says, "At least it didn't break in Paris." I would have been pissed.

After the club, a few of us were hungry. We got taxi rides back to the hotel and Kevin used his magic to get us some delish sandwiches from the hotel (no hamerguesas for Christine). As the trip came to a close, it was clear that our first night in Prague was by far the most wild and random night of the trip, from the pouring rain, lost/stolen/broken goods, Michael Jackson, and Christine's drunkenness. Oh Praha-haha-ha.

Lets Recap

Yay! Finally back home. Not that its as exciting as traveling Europe of course, but it is rather refreshing. I now have unlimited internet (no Euros needed) so its time to update the world on the craziness that happened in Europe! The places traveled were (along with some commentary):

Paris, France (novice and entertaining!)
Lucerne, Switzerland (laid-back yet randomly crazy)
Florence, Italy (um...karaoke, anyone?)
Venice, Italy (hot and ugggh, yet very unique)
Tyrol/Hopfgarten, Austria (my faaaaavorite...so adventurous/crazy!)
Munich, Germany (kind of depressing, modern, and lots of beer!)
Prague, Czech Republic (insane, place of lost/stolen/broken items)

Disclaimer: Some things that happened during these past two weeks are probably best kept off of the www. Hopefully I will keep the posts G-rated, better than MTV-style.

Ciao Bella!

Pretty much my signature shot.