I have to say that we were both reluctant to go to Prague...with it being in the Eastern Bloc and all. We weren't sure what kind of reception we would encounter, but GO! Everyone we talked to prior to mapping out our trip seemed to include Prague on their "must see" list, and we were debating whether we wanted to drive and just see Prague or try to do the "Europe in 5 days" way. Well, we ended up renting a car in Berlin and driving to Prague.
We left Berlin around 1pm, and 5 hrs later, we were in Prague. They too, surprise surprise, have traffic congestion...except it's harder on us since we had no idea where we needed to go. GPS/Navigation systems usually only get you to the street and since our hotel was newer, it didn't show up on the maps! eek. Luckily, we made it ok after several loops around the opera house LITERALLY! Oh, did I mention how we were thinking out loud to each other about 5 km into the Czech border: you know, we could probably be thrown in jail and no one would know how to bail us out?! Well, not 2 minutes later, there's 2 police officers standing in the middle of the road with a huge sign and pointing for us to pull over...and this is as we are driving through a somewhat woodsy area with a few turns. Mark pulls over, rolls down the window and one of the officers starts talking in Czech. Mark: English?? Officer: sprechen zie Deutsch? Mark: Nein. ummmm, problem?? I get out the registration papers and such given to us by Avis and they just shake their head when Mark hands it to them. So he gets out of the car, and the other officer is pointing to the front of the car. huh? Turns out after a few hand motions and such, we had too many lights on...NO FOG LIGHTS! After Mark shuts off the fog lights and leaves on just the headlights, we're good to go, with our hearts beating about 100 miles a minute! PHEW ;) Mark thinks they wanted to pull him over for a thousand other violations but due to language barrier, FINE, just turn off your lights. I wanted to take a picture of this scenario but too afraid to...
Anyhow, Prague was beautiful during the day! We stuck to the main tourist "trail" since we weren't sure where the sketchy areas were. We walked about 5 miles and saw on the "must see" sites from the guides. Prague Castle was the highlight of the trail, but I thought the bridge over the River was beautiful, esp when the sun was out and we were not shivering! Although it was very touristy where we hung out, the cobblestone streets and "european" architecture of apartment buildings and shops was incredible!
I think I could have spent all day taking thousands of pictures! But alas, I did not...but incredibly enough, on our return to the hotel after our day out, I stumbled upon Hermes, Dior, LV, Cartier, etc...right off the historic square :) I've decided that should I ever get lost in a city, I will seek out the LV store since their salespeople seem to always be the most talkative and helpful...not only in showing me limited edition pieces, but just about local culture and they all speak ENGLISH :)
Back to Stuttgart, Germany...
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