Early in the morning, we packed up our things from our lovely Dresden hotel and headed off to the train station to catch our 3-hour long train to Prague.
We arrived early, much too early, as I an want to do and spent the rest of the time we had to kill wandering around the train station and picking up some last minute treats to enjoy on the ride to Prague.
After a little while, the train arrived and we quickly bored, anxious t find our seats and enjoy our packed lunch. We had bought some wonderful cheese at the grocery store and found some delicious fresh pretzels in the stations along with an apple, coffee and sparkling lemon. The perfect combination for a rail journey.
The ride throughout the countryside towards the Czech Relic was beautiful. So many quaint country houses passed by our window as we whizzed along the tracks.
These small little towns seem so interesting, and I think on another trip to Europe one day, I've to love to spend some time outside the major cities and to stay longer term in one of these little villages. Getting to know the people and exploring the less touristy side of these countries.
The train ride itself was very smooth although there were several groups of men heavily drinking throughout the journey. They got pretty raucous at one point and would have been more annoying were it late at night but seeing as it was the afternoon, we only turned up our music to drown them out. European train...
As beautiful as the journey was, I think I'm developing an aversion to trains as it seemed to trigger my vertigo. When we were moving, I felt fine but once we got off the train, I still felt like I was on the train and like I was moving even though I wasn't. Vertigo is one of these invisible illnesses that makes life so difficult. I would rather have a terrible cold because you can take some drugs and at least find ways of coping but with vertigo, all you can do is wait...
We arrived in Prague right on schedule. The Prague train station is a site to see and an example of the Art Nouveau architecture that we were going to see all over the city.
After getting out of the station, Dan realised that Prague has UBER! We were so thankful for this since our Czech wasn't anywhere close to good. We ordered an Uber and within a minute we arrived at our hotel with no issue. Uber was a convenient service throughout our trip and something we found invaluable. Our hotel was fantastic; it felt like staying in an underground castle complex.
Everything from the furniture to the decor was made to feel like a medieval manor. The hotel itself dates back from the 14th century and the furnishing include actual 17th-century beds.
Our room even had exposed beams and 17th-century painted ceilings. I've never stayed in a hotel with so much character and history.
There were so many little details all over the hotel where you could see the old world history of the building come out to shine.
The area around our hotel was a very quiet district. It was only a few minutes away from some of the most popular areas, but in this winding streets of Prague, it's incredible how you could escape the crowds by only heading down a different road. Something we would discover more and more as we explored the city.