the europe chronicles -prague 1

i should know how to say "hello" in czech by now, but i'm not that good. i'll listen more closely tomorrow. so we're here in prague. today we slept in (didn't go to sleep till late last night since we had slept on the train coming from berlin). we ate oatmeal and granola bars for breakfast and then set out, maps in hand, for old town square. it wasn't far from our hostel, which was really nice. all of prague that i've seen so far is beautiful -but the old part of town is gorgeous with all its ornate buildings and cobblestone streets. we saw the astronomical clock and tyn church (which was closed today, so we'll have to go tomorrow), we walked through the old square market, and took picture after picture. we walked across the charles bridge and up steep, narrow streets to prague castle. we got there about an hour and a half before they closed, so we just did the short tour of the castle. we went through vitis cathedral (from the 1300's, where st. wenceslas is buried) and st. george's basilica, and walked down golden lane (where all the goldsmiths who worked for the king were at), and went in a tortue tower (ahhhh!). we probably could have spent a bit more time with our audio guides, but we felt good about it. it's FREEZING here!!! that's not understated at all. elizabeth and i wore lots of layers and wrapped our scarfs around our faces and wore big hats and gloves and it was still the coldest we've ever been. but we were outside all day, so that doesn't make things easier. we walked quickly and tried to stay distracted by the sights. we got back to our hostel about 5:30, made tea to help us thaw out, laid down to rest for a minute, and then ended up sleeping for nearly 3 hours. guess we were tired. we went out at about 8 and found stuff for spaghetti at a nearby mini-market...made dinner...planned out some budgeting stuff...and now we're about ready for bed. i'm so thankful for a place to sleep where it's nice and warm! this hostel is perfect for what we need -all the basics, a kitchen, and cheap!