Ah, Prague. If Budapest felt pretty Western Europey, Prague even more so. Continuing the US/European city comparisons, I'll say Prague is San Francisco. (Also, thinking more about it, maybe Istanbul rather than Rome is Los Angeles.)

The first step with Prague for me was figuring out how I was getting home. My ticket was still out of Stuttgart, but I did some calculations and ended up paying the change fee so I could just stay in Prague for a few days and fly straight out of there.

Arriving by train around midday, we checked into a boisterous hostel with an excellent breakfast, then set out to see the sights.

There are classical concerts going on literally everywhere in Prague. We almost grabbed tickets for some performances at Smetana Hall, but ended up skipping altogether.

A quick coffee in the old town square, and we decided to do a little relaxing museum-work by checking out a Dali exhibit.

Afterwards we walked over to Charles Bridge to check out a nighttime view of Castle Hill.

A quick Thai/Indian dinner (great change of pace) near a statue (Kafka-related?), and we called it an early night.

The next morning we headed over the Danube to do a quick tour of Castle Hill. The cathedral was gorgeous, with great stained glass and plenty of relics. We climbed a few hundred steps in a very windy, crowded stairway to check out the city from above.

Then it was on to more secular buildings, including halls, parliaments, and geneology rooms with coats of arms everywhere.

There wer more strange statues, torture chambers, and even a barbie exhibit that we would've gone to if it was free.

We then headed back across the river to meet up with my cousin Nick, for more CousinSurfing (this time a first cousin doing film school in Prague). We grabbed lunch and checked out his flat. He headed off to class, but later we met up with him and his roommates for drinks and San Diego-style Mexican food (Tania was incredibly excited, it had been four months for her, and Nick got points for having Shark Tacos).

The next day was a very leisurely one. Tania did a little shopping, then hopped on a plane to her new life in London. I checked out of the hostel to crash on Nick's floor for my last couple of nights. I managed to take no pictures that day, very exciting!

My last day of the trip, I wandered the city alone- the first time I'd done that the whole time. I ate some crazy Czech cuisine for lunch (roast something interlevaed with potatoe pancakes), and sat writing for a while. I walked across a couple of the other bridges and checked out some parks. I glanced into an Andy Warhol exhibit. I was only moved to bring out my camera a couple of times, when I found a stairway I couldn't reach and saw a man fishing in the river.

Eventually Nick got done with classes and I met up with him and his friends for dinner. We sampled local delicacies like Beer Cheese (skip it) and sausage, along with some microbrews. Nick told his friends about the taco place we had found, so we headed back there, only to find his roommate had also decided to return. Combining groups, we stayed out all night in various locations, including a cool club with a series of cellars to wander through.

Around 4am, we headed back to Nick's, said goodbye, and called a cab so I could head off for my 24 hours of flying back to Seattle.

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