Our train arrived much earlier than expected at 7:30am. We gathered up our belongings and groggily stepped into the station. The day before we had received a couchsurifing request saying we could stay with an older guy named Howe. We thought it would be cool to save money on our last day. It was much too early to call him so we instead found a bench and ate a make shift breakfast of dry cereal and apples. We left a message on his phone at 8:30am.
Rather than keep waiting at the train station, we decided to leave and look for a cafe in the area to stay warm. It was very cold and my fingers and toes went immediately numb as we stepped outside. We found a cafe and ordered some hot chocolate while looking at the guidebook to see what we had missed the weekend before. The "last" thing we wanted to see in Prague was t the Vysherad Castle at the southern end of the city. We decided to check it out and call the couchsurfing guy later. Using our last bit of Czech coins, we bought metro tickets and took the C line to Vysherad. Exiting, we could not see the castle. Freezing, tired, and weighted down with our heavy backpacks we trudged across the huge bridge, covered in snow seeing the buildings and train tracks spread out below.
What we thought was part of the castle was actually an old Czech Police museum and church. At this point I was tired, cranky, and wanting to stop wandering around aimlessly. Jon was feeling the same way and we voiced our mutual opinions at the same time about ditching the couchsurfing request and just heading back to the Prague Square hostel that we knew was good. We both wanted to nap, read, and hang out giving us time to relax before our early flight the next day. We sent Howe a text saying thanks for the invitation and then headed back across the bridge.
What we should have done in the first place, we decided to stop in the ritzy hotel by the metro stop and ask where the Vysehrad castle was. The people were very helpful and told us exactly where we needed to go. We had walked in the wrong direction.
Whereas the Prague Castle was a popular destination for tourist, the Vysherad castle was the destination for locals. We entered the castle walls and saw the beautiful cathedral and frozen statues in the snow covered gardens. Walking along the ramparts we were granted with spectacular views of the city. We walked through the well kept graveyard before heading back to the city center on the metro.
Back at our favorite hostel, we talked to the reception guy and secured two beds in a ten person room. We then went back to the wooden bench in the kitchen and once again took over as we finished our lunch and met everyone who came in.
What would become a day of fantastic conversations with interesting people from all over the world, Jon and I started talking to two Spanish couples in Spanish. At two, we went to check in but first had to go back to the currency exchange to get our last 700 crowns for the hostel. We exchanged our Polish money and a few euros and barely had enough as we didn't want a lot of crowns that would be useless with the exchange rate and taxes once we got back to Spain.
Back in the hostel, we went up to our room and found two bottom bunk beds. A few minutes later, a cute girl, Isabelle, from Australia came in and we introduced ourselves. She was traveling with a group of friends and they were also leaving tomorrow. She left and another Australian came in, a cool guy named Oliver. He was also from Melbourne and traveling with his own group of friends.
Jon went downstairs to work on an essay and I took a 2 hour nap, getting up at 6:30pm to take a shower and put on my last semi-clean set of clothes. Downstairs, I met up with Jon and we went on one last shopping trip to the grocery store.
For dinner we cooked our chicken dish and then began talking to all of the Australian kids who were hanging out in the kitchen. I was very impressed with them and they invited us to join them when they went out later. Jon and I also began talking to two girls from Argentina in Spanish. We had actually had the opportunity to use quite a bit of Spanish on this trip which was important in the maintaining of the language.
What was originally intended as a low key, restful night turned out to be as fun and social as any of the one's we had had on the trip. We went to the "Music Bar" next door to the hostel and spent most of the night hanging out with the Australian kids and dancing salsa with the Argentinean girls. I went to bed at 4:00am to sleep fast before having to get up at 7:00am to arrive at the airport in time for our flight.
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