Prague

The eastern European cities all have very similar characteristics. There is a river typically running through the city, with a castle normally at the top of a hill adjacent to the river. Add in an 'old town', some old city walls, and poof you've got your city. Prague seems to be the most popular of these cities for tourists. It reminded me a lot of Budapest.

Prague was a little over three weeks into the trip, and all the traveling caught up with us a bit. Turns out traveling like this is exhausting. As Americans, I think we are accustomed to two weeks being a really long vacation (as compared to Kiwis who might go for a month or more). Even with slowing down the pace, we found some great spots in Prague. Couple of things we saw:

An astrological tower that has fantastic views of the city.

A classic castle on top of the hill with a towering church and a medieval street with tiny houses (golden lane).

A walking tour of the Jewish quarter were we learned all about Czech Jewish history, especially around WW II.

A museum on communism and a walk through the huge boulevard where the Czech people would protest against Soviet communist rule.

A stop by the Lenin wall where Czechs would graffiti Beatles quotes on the wall to peacefully protest the communist rule. The tradition continues today with new artists leading the way.