After London, I flew to meet up with my family in Vienna.  Vienna was gorgeous, but I was exhausted and sick at this point in my trip so I'm afraid I didn't give enough effort to really take in all of the city.  Sorry, Vienna.  A couple of my favorite things (besides being so happy to see my family, of course) were the Mozart Strauss concert that we went to, and the Van Gogh exhibit.  The architecture was beautiful as well, and it was great to meet up with my friend Julienne from school who was studying there.  However, my time there is kind of a blur as I was either half asleep or in desperate need of sleep most of the time.  I guess that means that I must go back someday to give it the proper visit it deserves!

Luckily, a few days later when it was time to go to Prague, I was feeling much better.

Prague really blew me away.  I had heard that, like most European cities I had seen, it was beautiful and, unlike most European cities I had seen, it was cheap (which proved to be relatively true, especially compared to Copenhagen and London).  But I also found Prague to have a charm that I can't quite describe here.

I guess what explains it well is my very first experience in Prague:

We had arrived midday and decided to wander the city for a bit.  We walked to the city center to find that there was a political rally of sorts with a concert and free food and beer.  It was a very lively place and everyone seemed to be very happy (I don't blame them, come on, it's free food and beer!).  But what really made me realize Prague was a great city was when an older man got on stage and started singing Frank Sinatra 'Under My Skin,' but with his charming accent it sounded like "under my schkeeeen."  Priceless.

Other fun things we did included exploring the old castles on the hill and the wonderful views from there, and seeing a jazz show at a place Bill Clinton had once played the saxaphone... they took this claim to fame pretty seriously and had pictures of him everywhere.

One word of advice for anyone who might go to Prague someday:

Don't mess with the swans.  They are vicious.