Sightseeing in Prague!

After a full night of sleep (in a bed! They gave me my own whole bed!!), I woke up feeling refreshed and without any jetlag (WTF right? How did I not get jetlag?!?) around 7:30am and walked around Prague to the river and market to grab some breakfast food for everyone. In the Czech Republic they LOVE bread, so we bought a ton of bread and other stuff...

Good morning Prague!

Yum! Breakfast!

I also had my first ever full cup of coffee!

Not bad!

After breakfast we took the street car to the Monastery atop the castle where there was a beautiful library! Then we went into the castle and saw the old castle and the cathedral and the "golden lane", which is an area inside the castle walls with a TON of miniature houses... They are houses for normal sized people, but the houses are scaled to a size that would fit people who are about 4 feet tall. It was crazy but really cool! After the castle we walked down to the Charles Bridge and then through a main square where there is an astronomical clock on the side of a viewing tower and lots of food vendors. I had a hotdog and tiny glass of hot wine... My god the wine was amazing and the perfect way to warm up on a 20 degree day! Then I tried some traditional Czech potato dishes from a vendor.. So flavorful! We returned back to the apartment and had a homecooked cheese free pizza! It was great... Gotta start making Pizza at home!

At night we went to a party sponsored by Jameson and celebrated both St. Patrick's Day and my 24th birthday! There was a live band who was playing their first show in 10 years, so it was pretty exciting :)  Listening to music in another language is awesome because instead of listening for words, you just hear music... It's a totally different experience!

Today we walked all around Prague and saw the Opera House, climbed up the tower in the square that I had mentioned before, saw the "dancing house" which is two buildings designed so it looks like htye're dancing together! I am realy tired, so I'm sorry this post isn't all that detailed, but enjoy the pics :)

View of Prague from the Castle

Guard of the castle!

St. Vitus Cathedral!

Charles Bridge

The throne at the castle!

 The astronomical clock on the tower in one of the main squares

 The Prague State Opera House

 The View from the tower

Before we went out to the St. Patrick's Day party!

First night in Prague!

After a 2 hour delay due to the snow in Moscow, I finally got to Prague!!

My friends were waiting for me at the airport and we took the bus, then streetcar back to their place.... It was pretty amazing seeing all the different style architecture from what we have back home, just on the short ride from the airport to their apartment.

After a quick change, we went to a local Czech Restaurant for some traditional Czech food! The appetizers were superb... Cold cuts with bread, with different seasonings to add flavor. My main course, the goulash had a really nice flavor to it... It's kind of a stew with dumplings that you can dip in the stew sauce.... I also got to try some other traditional Czech dishes like Steak Tartare and Steak Sirloin, nibbling off my friends' plates. The food was hearty and flavorful!

After dinner we took another streetcar back towards the city center and walked around Wenceslas Square... I took a couple pictures of two buildings that looked great at night!

There's a fancy restaurant in the bottom and it also serves as a concert hall for classical performances.

Gun Powder Tower! Lit up at night!

Tomorrow we're going to see all the classic Prague sites- the castle, the bridge, etc.... I can't wait to take pictures and share them all... At night there's a St. Patrick's Day Party we're headed to! (Thanks for the glasses Mom! Will post pictures when we're out with them!)

Made it to Moscow (barely)!!!!!

This is the first post of my Spring Break 2013 blog! Thanks for reading :)

The flight from DC to Moscow was LONG.... And by long, I mean 10 hours... It wasn't horrible.... The seats were incredibly close together and when the guy in front of me leaned his chair back, I probably could've cuddled with him but his bruised and scraped up knuckles scared me away. 

Plus: Seats lean back FAR on AeroFlot

Minus: You're basically snuggling with the person in front/behind you

The descent into Moscow was absolutely terrifying... There was ZERO visibility until we were roughly 50 feet off the ground... I could see we were approaching the ground on the monitor in the cabin, but looking out the window, I couldn't have told you if we were 30,000 feet up or 100 feet up....

Other than the near heart attack the landing was flawless, one of the smoothest I've ever felt... 

AeroFlot has some ballin' pilots... Landing a plane smoothly in a blizzard I'm sure is no easy feat...

Oh yeah, I forget to mention... It's a blizzard out here....

As you can see, there was snow on our wings and you can hardly see anything.....

As we were taxiing towards the terminal, there was a huge convoy of trucks/equipment heading out to keep the runways clear.....

These are planes being de-iced before takeoff.... As you can see, there's a TON of snow coming down and it's pretty crazy....

Got off the plane, ate at TGI Friday's (sorry native Russians, couldn't read the signage at the non-American Restaurants) and now I've got a 2 hour wait until I take another plane to Prague....

Hopefully I'll make it on time and safely!