Prague, Czech Republic, Vienna, Austria, and Salzburg, Austria

Hello!

After Pilzen we took a sweet bus to Prague. Public transportation in Europe has generally been pretty choice. They handed out free beer on the bus... we were the silly Americans in the back not drinking it, but I was quite impressed.

Prague was, as is known to be, completely gorgeous. Hopefully we can post some pictures soon. There were a lot of cobblestone streets, squares, giant churches, and a huuge castle overlooking the town. We stayed at Old Prague Hostel where we met a lot of other travelers and had a full kitchen to make delicious dinners. Nik, Noah, and I did a great run up to the fake Eiffel tower and to the castle and back again one morning. Hopefully we can post pictures soon.

Its been awesome being in Europe during the World Cup. Everyone is really excited about it. In Prague, there was a giant screen set up in the main square and a crowd of people around it during every game (there are three a day). We also did the typical sightseeing: St. Charles Bridge and the humongous Old Prague Castle.

After Prague, we were on to Vienna, Austria. It was much bigger than expected. In Prague we could walk anywhere but we had to become metro savy in Vienna. We went for a couple of runs in Schönburg park which is behind a palace and has some awesome fountains and statues. We went back to visit the palace and labyrinth behind it. Hint- if you are ever lost in a labyrinth and you have "friends" above you, dont listen to their directions. We also went to the Kunsthauswien which featured work from Hundertwasser, an environmental/religious artist who didnt believe in straight lines. The whole building had no straight lines at all so even the floors were curved. He had a lot of interesting pieces like an alternative flag for Sweden that had a greener theme.

Yesterday, we took a train to Salzburg, Austria. Today we went to yet another castle overlooking the town and got a great view of the city and river that it surrounds. This castle was the biggest that has been almost completely preserved. Its easy to see why- the walls were enourmous and looked pretty tough to get through. Tomorrow we are going to be canyoning outside of Salzburg and may have to brave some crappy weather but it should be fun!

Auf wiedersein!
Julie