Hello all,

Arrived in Prague yesterday and seem to have stumbled
back into California. Not the actual city, but my
hostel seems to be having some sort of special for
Californians. I'm hanging out with three guys from
California, one guy went to high school in Walnut
Creek, one town over from me. Strange stuff. So I
took the train overnight from Munich, this involved a
lot of stopping, two passport checks around 3 in the
morning, the heater being stuck on high in our room
and the length of my bed was more appropriate for a 5
year old than for me. But I got here nice and safe
and now I'm staying in a great hostel. I only pay 10
dollars a night for my room, but I share it with 35
other people, and I can feel every slat of wood under
my matress. Don't mean to be the princess and the pea
here, but I'm starting to miss American beds. You
should all appreciate that you live in the lap of
luxury. Anyway, cheap bed, beers are around a dollar
and a nice steak dinner is around 5 dollars. I may
stay here for a very long time.

Went to the Prague castle today with the boys from
California. Indescribibly beautiful. There was a
church on the grounds that blew my mind. I was just
standing there slack-jawed staring at the stained
glass windows. Wandered around a saw a lot of the
tourist sights. The overly touristy areas are the
same as they would be everywhere, but if you get off
the beaten path (by which I mean if you get lost) it
has a very classic eastern european. Little windy
cobblestone streets, tiny little shops, everything's
very inexpensive. But then on the other hand they
have so much western influence. There are big high
rise department stores with Gap and United Colors of
Benton. There are even sports bars designed for
Americans, so tonight we're going to watch the A's
game at a sports bar. We'll be watching the 1:00
game at 10:00 tonight. Strange to be watching
baseball in Prague. I think after a week or two here
I'm going to go to either Budapest (in Hungary) or
Saulsburg (in Austria). Not sure yet. Hope everyone
is well, I love hearing from those of you who've
written, it helps on those days when I'm feeling
homesick.