A train ride through Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic andfirst impressions of Prague: absolutely magical!

I'm too tired to write much, but I have lots of pictures to post!

We left Budapest this morning on a seven-hour train ride to Prague. Yes, all of us together in one compartment. 

We rode through a wide gamut of sights during our journey, from graffiti so pervasive and colorful it almost looked like art...

To uninhibited and decaying buildings...

... to wide open fields that reminded us of some of Washington State's wide open spaces.

Finally we disembarked in Prague.

I really didn't expect to see such an absolutely breaktaking place!! Prague is seriously magical!

We checked into the accommodations I have most looked forward to, the Grand Hotel Praha. We don't just have a room; we have a two-story apartment - directly across the street from the astronomical clock!

Once we'd all settled in (the "kids are staying again at a hostel, because it has a better social life than hanging with Dad and Mom - though Kat might decide to stay in the downstairs apartment), we headed to dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant. As in Budapeat, the food was incredible!  I had goulash and traditional Czech bread dumplings. YUM!!

After dinner, the "kids" went on a pub crawll and Tom and I took a walk to and over the Charles Bridge. 

(Sorry about any blurry pics. The thumbnails on my phone are impossibly small!)

Yes, I have definitely fallen in love!

More tomorrow!