9/15/23 I had known that Phil would be working from home this day so I would have to figure out how to spend this day on my own. Phil had suggested I'd choose either Prague or Berlin to explore for the day. I had looked up places to go in Berlin before my trip thinking I'd explore Berlin before going to Dresden originally. Phil, Anna, their church friends, and Phil's sister's roommates all talked highly of Prague, and Prague would be a little closer by bus then Berlin had been. I could also choose to explore Dresden by myself and stay more closeby which was the most comfortable/easiest option, especially since I had already traveled so much. But I didn't know if there would ever be a possibility to visit Prague again so that's what I decided.
Going to a major city in a different country by myself without knowing the language and no mobile data to access Google Maps seemed really taunting (basically what happened when I had arrived in Berlin and had to figure out how to get to Dresden). Prague is in the Czech Republic so they don't speak German either, and everyone had assured me that they got along just fine despite not knowing Czech, so that made me feel more comfortable. It was also comforting that there would hopefully be a lot of places available with free Wi-Fi which luckily was the case. I wasn't sure how my mom would feel about me traveling away from friends by myself, but after telling her about it she seemed to agree that I should go. I had also googled if it was safe to be a female solo traveler in Prague, and it turned out it was deemed one of the safest places to travel to in Europe.
I woke up early, and filled up my water bottle and traveled by moped to the bus station with Phil. (Before he had to work). He let me borrow a backpack which I put my water bottle in along with a banana Phil had packed for me as a snack, then I was on my way to Prague. It was about 2 hours by bus, and I arrived in Prague around 9:30am. When I got there I missed the huge sign that indicated the way to the main streets, and wandered around the bus station trying to find the exit which I eventually did. 🤣
I decided I wanted to travel by foot and not try and figure out the public transit by myself. This limited the number of places I could get to, but I was still able to see quite a bit. I made sure to also where my glasses so I could read signs more clearly (but I guess that didnt help with the huge exit sign :P).
I got nervous so one of the first places I visited in Prague was a Starbucks. (How to spot an American tourist in Prague. Ha ha.) I ordered a caramel frappuccino which came in a glass, and connected to the free Wi-Fi to see what was around me. Like other European cities Prague has a lot of fancy buildings with intricate details. There were churches with statues of the 12 apostles, and fountains, and a river that ran through the middle of the city. One of the most interesting buildings I took a picture of was a gothic looking building called "The Powder Tower" which is actually the entrance to the old historic part of Prague. I didn't know this until after my visit otherwise I would have definitely gone and explored more. By the time I had come upon the Powder Tower I thought it might be a good idea to start heading back towards the bus station as I wasn't sure how far I had ventured away. When I looked it up I was only about a 15 minute walk away from the bus station so even though I thought I had walked far away I must have done more of a big loop. For lunch I went to a bagel restaurant and ordered a bagel with cream cheese and avocado, along with fried eggs and a mini salad with orange juice as my drink. It was very yummy. Both cashiers I interacted with had known English so it was easy to order things. About an hour and a half into walking around Prague I opened the backpack to drink some water and found that my water bottle had smashed the banana. Luckily the residue had mostly gotten on my water bottle. (Making banana sauce or a banana smoothie I guess). I made it back to the bus station, and was proud of myself for being able to find the bus that would take me back to Dresden pretty easily without any help.
I arrived back in Dresden at around 4:30pm, and Phil met me there, and from there we went back to Phil's apartment by moped. Anna had been out with one of the church friends from the night before to watch a play so it would be just us. Phil gave me options of what we could get/make for dinner, and asked me if there was anything I wanted to try before leaving Germany. I mentioned wiener schnitzel, so that is what we ended up making for dinner. We bought the ingredients and I cleaned up the smashed banana from the backpack and my water bottle. Before we began cooking Phil asked me if I wanted to go for a walk around the neighborhood. I had slept on the bus ride home so I wasn't feeling exhausted like I had expected to be. We even decided on a longer walk, and I'm so glad that I did, because I got to see yet another incredible view of the city. The walk featured a trail that takes you to a field where you can lookout onto the city. By the field there is a path with apple trees. Phil was able to find apples that didn't have worm holes, and I put one in my pocket to eat later. (I then forgot about it and it became badly bruised, in said pocket the next day.)
When we returned to the apartment we followed another family recipe from Phil's family to make the wiener schnitzel. I helped make the breading and spread it on the meat while Phil separated the egg whites, and made french fry like things to go along with it. It tasted good, but wasn't too special of a meal. To end the night we went to a cocktail bar. The cocktail bar featured like 50 different cocktails. Basically any flavor you enjoyed there would be a cocktail to match it. I went for a cocktail called the Flying Kangaroo which was a lot like a Piña Coloda, and Phil got a cocktail with ginger in it. Our waitress ended up being American and had moved to Dresden from Indiana.
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