I went to Prague for the day from Vienna. It was a long train ride, about 4 hours, but it was beautiful and green.

Prague is singular. It wasn’t very damaged during the world wars but had a big fire so the whole city is an incredibly well preserved picture of that “Old World” of the 1900’s. If I thought Vienna was overstuffed! It was filled with Art Nouveau buildings and Rococo style facades. It was the first city I have been in in Europe that it felt like everyone was smoking and it was suffocating. In Prague they speak Czech and didn’t have nearly as many English translations of things which was disorienting. It was still a deeply European city but I could feel it flirting with Russia and the Eastern influences. Maybe I just think that because I have Russia on the brain with War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov.

I don’t need to every go back to Prague. Art Nouveau is not my thing– it also felt like a fake town, kind of like Florence. The train ride back was long and I was very tired but I got to watch the sunset over fields as we sped by and it was gorgeous. Trains are the best.