close encounters

Amanda, Chris, Lexie, Caroline, Kaitlyn, Brittany, Rachel- waiting on our first train

We left on Monday night for Prague, Czech Republic. (Sneak preview: it is one of the most beautiful cities ever! This is no lie.) At one of the train stations, we had a longer layover, so we decided to play charades.

Amanda dominating!

On our night train, we crammed 8 people into a 6-person couchette compartment for 11 hours. It was sweltering hot, cramped, and absolutely insane. As he was the only guy, we made Chris sleep on the floor. (Sorry!) We're all like a family now, after sleeping that close.

Here's a video of the craziness:

Tuesday morning, we arrived in Prague, only to wait for Kathy, who was meeting us, coming from Vienna. We panicked slightly when it took a little longer than expected for her to arrive. She called me and told me only that she had gotten off at the wrong train station and a lady who spoke English was "taking her under the ground." It became clear that she meant the Metro after a few seconds of pondering. We waited in the train station like hobos for like an hour and a half at this sign. A nice lady asked us in English if we needed help. Finally, Rachel spotted her and we gloriously reunited.

After that, we checked into Hostel Elf, which was pretty cool and offers free tea and coffee all the time...yum.

Time for an authentic Czech meal? Why yes. We headed over to Sklep, a nice restaurant, and I ordered potato dumplings with sweet pork...yum!

After lunch, it was time to explore...