Plizen & Prague, Czech Republic April 3-5

...continuing from Regensburg (April 3rd) we headed towards the Czech Republic. As we crossed the border we passed where the old border control used to be. Goran (our tour director) told us that before the C.R. became part of the EU, tour buses would be stopped for an hour or more as passports and I.D.'s were checked. It is nice to know that now we can just drive on by.
The border patrol.

Our next stop, to stretch and so on, was in Plizen. It is an industrial town and known for brewing C.R.'s most popular beer, Pilsner Urquell. Here we walked around the brewery site, but didn't actually go inside the factory. I had been here last year when I came to the C.R. with my friend Emily. This is the same city where I watched my first Hockey game. :)
The brewery in Plizen.

After a half hour break we were on the road again. I was looking forward to seeing Prague again since I had enjoyed it so much the first time. I was hoping that there would be an Easter market while we were there (since we were going to be there Easter day). We got in around dinner time and because our hotel was far from the city center, I decided not to go visit the city the first evening. The entire group had dinner together at our hotel, which turned out to be very nice. I sat with a family of three and learned that the couple was originally from Vancouver, Canada, but moved to North Carolina. They have a 13 year old daughter who was very quiet, but seemed very nice. Once dinner was over, I headed to my room to rest for the following day.

April 4th, Easter morning we went to visit Prague's Castle. This may surprise people to know that Prague actually doesn't have a castle; instead, there is a wall that is around a cathedral and a palace. I learned some new things about it that I hadn't heard before. When the Hapsburgs ruled most of central Europe, Maria Teresia was Queen of the Empire for some time. She would travel to her kingdoms once a year to make sure everything was working well. The first time she saw Prague's palace she hated it and requested it to be rebuilt to her liking. The entire palace was redone to look more modern and comfortable for the royal family. In the center of the palace's square there is a large fountain and a giant bird cage, which were both added later on to please the Queen. Every time Maria Teresia would return to Prague, the bird cage would be filled with birds so that she would be greeted by their songs. We walked around the palace, saw the cathedral church (the spires you can see from a great distance), and then we walked down to the river Vltava.
The side of the palace in Prague.
The french modeled bridge...I loved the view from this side of the river.
Prague's main cathedral in Prague castle.

We then walked across a bridge which was modeled after French architecture; it reminds me of the Eiffel tower. We then went through the Jewish quarter of the city, where we saw the oldest synagogue in Prague. Then, we walked down to the main square where we strolled through one of the Easter markets (yay!) and then went to watch the astronomical clock chime.
The oldest Jewish synagogue in Prague.
The astronomical clock in the town square.

During our free time, some of us from the tour wanted to go to a church service since it was Easter Sunday so our tour guide took us to a small, but very nice Catholic church where I attended the service. I didn't really think about it before I went, but the entire service was in Czech. Even though I didn't understand a word, it was still nice just to listen to the organ being played and looking at the stained glass windows. After the service, I walked around with a sweet older couple, Bill & Charlene, who are from San Antonio, Texas. We looked at the different Easter markets, had lunch, took pictures, and I bought two beautiful hand-crafted earrings.
The Easter market...so many colors!
This is the church we went to for the Easter service.

We joined the rest of the group around 4.30pm and headed back to the hotel. This night we had dinner together in the hotel again. I ended up eating with a very kind family from Florida. Corinne (the mother who just turned 80) and her two daughters Joanne and Karen (who lives in Georgia) were so kind and generous with me the entire trip. Karen joked around that they had adopted me into their family. I spent a lot of time with them on this trip and became close to them. They are very special people. :)

This trip was really neat because I met people from so many countries. There were several people from the US, 2 different families from Canada, 1 group of friends from Australia, 2 groups from South Africa, a very sweet couple from Singapore, a family from the Philippines, and an older couple from Scotland, who now live in Canada. It was great meeting people from all over.

On April 5th, we said good-bye to Prague and headed for Hungary. Since the drive from Prague to Budapest was a very long one, we made a stop for 2 hours in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. I was very excited about seeing this new country and having the opportunity to eat food from there as well. Bratislava is a small capital, only having 450,000 inhabitants. Within the city there is a castle, many beautiful churches (both catholic and protestant), and a nice central boulevard to walk on. Along this boulevard we encountered the US embassy, which had a lot of security. At the end of this boulevard is the state theater and a large statue of a politician who fought to get rid of communism. He was put in jail for fighting against the government of the country at the time.

Goran showed us some nice little restaurants where we could eat and so I went with Corinne, Joanne, and Karen to a nice little restaurant that was underground in what looked like to be a wine cellar. The waiter who was serving was friendly with us. I don't remember exactly what I ordered, but I believe it was stir fried pork wrapped in a potato pancake (which is a traditional dish there) with a salad that was similar to cole slaw.
The State Theater in Bratislava.
The main boulevard in Bratislava.
When we were looking for a place to eat, something on the ground caught my attention and it was this little fellow.
A protestant church.
The castle of Bratislava.

After our short break we got back on the bus, which was nice because we were able to get out of the rain, and headed towards Hungary...