So even though my readership is falling, I'm going to tell you about my recent adventures.

Yesterday I woke up, ate breakfast in the hostel, and then headed to the Jewish quarter of Prague. Rick Steves claims that Prague has the best collection of Jewish sights in Europe, but I think I would disagree. I toured several synagogues with displays on Jewish history and culture, and they were mildly interesting, but not overly thrilling. I also saw the old Jewish cemetery which used to be the only place in the city where Jewish people could be buried. As a result, they buried people in lots of layers and close together and then, as the ground settled, the tombstones became crooked and lopsided and such. So that actually looked pretty cool.

For lunch I ate a chicken kebab sandwich from the Christmas market, and then I wandered around a bunch and saw two other Christmas markets and Wenceslas Square. And wandering in Prague is great, because all of the buildings are really cool, and the architecture is definitely my favorite part.

In the afternoon I went to the Communism museum, which described life under communist rule and different protests people made at the time. The museum was interesting (albeit small) and had an informative movie that was 20 minutes long with English subtitles. I liked the movie a lot, and it was nice to sit down for 20 minutes.

Then I wandered some more until I decided I was very tired and I walked back up to the hostel around 4:45. For my birthday, my mommy sent me a book with Christmas short stories, and I read that for a little while. And it was great, because the stories are the most ridiculous, indulgent thing ever, and they feel very homey and remind me that I am officially on vacation now, and not studying abroad. So that was very relaxing and ridiculous.

At 7:30 I headed back out to go to a cafeteria-style dinner restaurant that was written up in my book. It said to look at the English menu outside because there was no English inside. Then to go inside and point at whatever you wanted, and they would give you a ticket and as long as you didn't lose your ticket, it would be dirt cheap. So I got there all prepared to conquer the language barrier and have a dirt cheap dinner of traditional Czech food. Except, there was no English menu outside. So that was a problem. But I decided I was a good pointer, so it was okay, and I went inside. Except that by then it was 7:40, and apparently they closed at 8, which meant that had already cleaned up and they had a whole bunch of sparkling clean silver vats, with no food in them. And no English menu inside, as promised. So I walked around for a minute looking like a deer in the headlights, until someone figured out that I didn't speak Czech and gave me a list of food choices. And I ordered chicken goulash with rice and a small beer, they wrote some numbers on my ticket, and I went to sit down and eat. But while I was eating I added up the numbers, and it was almost 400, which is $20! And that is certainly not dirt cheap, that's more than I've spent on one meal my entire two months in Europe. So I was cranky about that. Because my food was tasty, but rice is not worth $5 and goulash (which is kind of like stew, I suppose) is not worth $10! I also had to rush a bit since they wanted to close. So that was a dud and then I finished and went to pay. The lady tapped the numbers into her cash machine and then pointed to the total - 113 crown, or less than $6. So it turns out the numbers on the ticket had been the order number, and not the price. And so Beth receieved another lesson in perspective and not jumping to conclusions.

And I might go back there tonight with my two hostel roommates, because they were intruiged. And then we might find a beer hall.

After dinner I wandered a bit more and ordered hot wine at the Christmas market, which was cinnamon-y and delicious! Much better than anticipated. And eventually I came back to the hostel, talked to people on the computer for far too long, and then went to bed.

This morning I woke up, had breakfast, and then took 2 trams to go to the Castle quarter. First I went to a monastery, but the library of the Enlightenment was closed, so I looked at the view (the Castle Quarter is on a hill) and walked around a bit, and then walked down to the castle.

The castle sights were cool, but I didn't feel like I was in a castle. You go in several churches (including the one in the blog picture) and go in the castle courtyards and such, but normally you feel like you are in a military defense building when you are in a castle, and this one didn't seem that way. After a few hours there I wandered back down the hill and wandered through Little Town and Old Town as I headed back to my hostel. But it was very far away, so it was a long, wandering walk. And I saw the cool 'Dancing Building', which I was looking for, and I will post a picture when I get home so that you know what that means. But basically it was two glass sky-scraper buildings that look like they are slow-dancing togther, and it is cool.

I eventaully made it back to my hostel and now I am going to relax for a bit before I meet up with my roommates at 6 to go eat dinner! And then tomorrow morning I am off to Vienna, and I'm not sure how the internet access will work out there. But leave me lots of comments because I love you and I am almost home!