Nine hours to Dusseldorf and totally worth it

Wow - I've totally been making fun of Dusseldorf since I booked my plane ticket home from here because it has such a silly sounding name, but I've been wrong... it's a fantastic city! I arrived today after nine hours on the train (and if anyone has connections with the German train system, they should really let them know that splitting trains in half and sending them each in separate directions can get both confusing and annoying when you have three bags) and everything has been great. The bus directions to the place were spot on, a really cool friendly guy working at the hostel and gave me all the info I need, then went for a walk to see what this place was all about since I had no clue. I loved it! There are outdoor pubs and lovely restaurants everywhere, on the old cobblestone streets, along the river, and everyone is out having a great time. The architecture is great, all sorts, and most people here are quite attractive. Seems I've found the German utopia? In any case, I'll have enjoyed my 12 hours here before leaving. But back to the past week...

Prague. To start out, I was deathly ill. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but I was definitely not well with a case of the Hong-Kong flu, to a much milder degree. And I'm still getting rid of it; now I just feel like I have whooping cough where if I breathe I want to cough my lungs out. But I've progressed after many a Nurofen tablet and these amazing green cough drops the Czech pharmacist sold to me that numb your entire mouth. Delicious.

So we hit up the main square first, and were bombarded by a ridiculous amount of tour groups led by umbrella-carrying guides. I don't know really how to convey just how many tour groups there were in Prague. It's actually quite sad, as the old square where all the history should be has been taken over by tourists and shops filled with souvenirs, jewelry or overpriced meals. The lack of locals is quite apparent. It felt like we were in Disneyland - everything is spotlessly clean so it almost looks fake, and there are tacky tourist things like horse-drawn carriages and people drawing caricatures. But again, we trudged on and ended up enjoying ourselves, as it's a lot of fun to make fun of really poorly dressed tourists. It is! I saw a guy on the subway - short denim shorts, a short sleeved denim shirt tucked in, a fanny pack (aka bum bag) and white socks with boots. Swear to god. Aside from this pastime, we saw most of the sites of the city, Geri got her hair cut, met a sweet old Czech man and his dog who took a nap next to us after chasing chipmunks all morning, and we took a trip to Cesky Krumlov, a charming little medieval town in the countryside of the Czech Republic. Where strangely, they had a few grizzly bears fenced in in front of the castle. Random? Or is it usual to see bears in the Czech countryside?

So that's the update I think. It's been a sad morning saying goodbye to Geri, but we made it without crying (in public) and I've only been lonely about 120 times today, which can only get better, right? So I'm on my flight back to New York tomorrow! So exciting! I'll be adding one more post when I return to sort of sum things up, so stay tuned and thanks for listening to all my exaggerated stories of drama and glamour! Nah, just kidding, it's all been the truth. Or was it?