Ultimate Europe Trip 2016 Day 9: #Berlout
We've reached the end for our time in Berlin, it's amazing how quickly those three nights in this beautiful city have flown by. We woke up this morning at 7AM, finished up packing our suitcases, and grabbed a taxi to go to the train station.
Our train to Prague left at 9:03AM and we ended up getting to the train station a little after 8. We grabbed some donuts at Dunkin Donuts of all places and grabbed our normal Starbucks orders as well. We sat in Dunkin Donuts up until a quarter to 9 before heading down to our train.
Similar to our last train we boarded the first class train and were seated in a private compartment with six chairs. After hauling the luggage into the train and above our seats we plopped down and got ready for our four hour journey to Prague. To my and everyone readings surprise, Jenn only slept for a couple of minutes towards the end of the ride. For the most part she was furiously finishing her book (I Heart New York) and joining me in taking in the gorgeous scenery.
The train ride itself was pretty uneventful. We arrived into Prague a little after 1PM and made our way to the taxi line. This is where things got slightly hairy. We got to the taxi line and were told it would be 20 Euro to get to our hotel. We knew from our research it was a five minute drive, ten tops. So that was a no go. We had a couple taxi's haggle it down but I've never had good luck with unmetered taxi's. So we went back into the train station and called for an Uber. We got one but spent 15 minutes try to find where the Uber pick up point was. Thankfully Jenn the master navigator got there talking with our driver over the phone and the disaster was averted. We had an incredibly nice old man drive us in his Toyota Yaris to our hotel a mile away. If you're wondering the Uber ride cost less then $3. Thank you Czech exchange rate.
We got to our hotel and immediately checked in and got a beautiful room on the sixth floor. The check-in process was a breeze and after video taping a room tour, taking some pictures, and stowing our luggage away we immediately went back out, grabbed a burger at Burger King, and hit the streets of Prague.
Our first destination was Old Town, one of the most popular tourist areas in Prague and only a ten minute walk from our hotel. There's no denying the innate beauty of Prague. From the moment we got into the Uber to now walking through Old Town this is a gorgeous city. When I picture Europe in my mind it looks something like Prague. We took in the beautiful square with the Astronomical clock, the beautiful cathedral and fountain. It's quite the square and got me even more excited for our four nights in Prague.
From there we made our way on a fifteen minute walk to the Charles Bridge which connects the two sides of Prague. But before we could get there Jenn spotted a Haagen-Daas and went in and immediately got a Strawberry shake (her favorite). We sat in their small cafe for a few minutes to rest before making our way towards the gorgeous Charles Bridge.
The Charles Bridge is absolutely stunning. It's one of the most iconic bridges in the world and now I see why. It gives great views of both sides of Prague including the Prague Castle and also takes in the beautiful Vltava river. We walked about a quarter of the way on the bridge snapped some photos and decided we would come back to the bridge when we had more time and energy.
We then walked another fifteen minutes past the gorgeous National Theater and to the Jewish Cemetery. Funny story, Jenn's travel itinerary that she made us mentioned that this was a top-10 cemetery to visit. When I asked her why anyone would rank cemeteries we couldn't stop laughing. But in all honesty why are we excited to go see a cemetery? We would have visited but it cost to get in. We have a lot of time in Prague but maybe not enough to visit a cemetery. We shall see I guess. By the time we walked to the Jewish Cemetery it was a little after 4PM and we were getting tired. We grabbed an Uber and made our way back to our hotel. We rested in our room for a bit before going back out for dinner.
At this point we were exhausted and after failing to get reservations at a couple restaurants we decided to go to a nearby burger place that had great reviews called, Meat and Greet (great name). There I started off with a Pilsner in the biggest mug I've ever had and Jenn had a water. Jenn went a bacon and cheese burger and I ordered what they called a pastrami burger but was a burger with pastrami and cheese on it. I say this without hesitation it was one of the top five best burgers I've ever had. I was drooling over this thing. It was served with Russian dressing and was to die for. We also split some steak fries with their homemade ketchup. It's not Czech food, but it might be some of the best burgers we've ever had.
From dinner we made the beautiful walk back to our hotel, took in the beautiful city, and called it a night by watching the first episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and getting ready for our first full day in Prague tomorrow. If its anything like today, we have a great couple of days to look forward to.
