Exploring Europe

Ok so it's been a bit since I last updated y'all with our latest activities... mostly due to a lack of access to or connection with the real world.
SATURDAY
We got a train from Berlin to Prague (Praha) and arrived late Saturday night -- our first mistake (mine, probably). Most everything at the station was closed, and what wasn't definitely had no information in English. We only had €s for money, and couldn't get change to but a metro pass. But there was a cab driver nice enough to take us across town for our €s instead of the Czech Crowns. After checking into the hostel (no telephone available), trekking up 4 flights of stairs with our bags, we got to our room: cozy, since there were like 10 beds or something. There were also a couple of "hazards" in the ensuite bathroom on the floor -- most likely from water from the shower saturating the floor and then leaking through. Awesome. Other than that not too bad.
SUNDAY
We started the day on a quest to find either an ATM or money exchange place. After a lot of running around and not much guidance from the locals, we found an ATM and had to buy some junk from a convenience store to break the 1000 and 2000 Crown bills the machine gave us. Needless to say the woman working hated us. Eventually we had enough change to buy metro tickets and made it to the city center. We hiked up like a million stairs to Prague Castle (when it started drizzling): we visited the Toy Museum with a huge Barbie display, as well as Golden Lane (some homes built into the wall of the castle) where Franz Kafka lived and worked. They love their Kafka in Prague. After battling the crowds and seeing some of the awesome buildings within the castle, we headed back down and across the Charles Bridge -- littered with little kiosks of stuff. We also passed this sort of jazz/cabaret 5 member band playing at the end of the bridge -- they were pretty good!
In the afternoon we wandered around Old Town Squre and the Jewish Quarter... it rained some more and we got wet again. When the rain let up, we decided to take a little boat cruise on the river. It rained again, and we learned about the huge flood in 2002 -- really encouraging. At least we weren't staying near there. But we did see this huge metronome sort of moving sculpture up on a hill above the river. Our guide told us that some art students designed and built it to replace the massive Stalin statue at the end of the Communist era. That was pretty cool. Back in Old Town Square we went to a little Jazz concert in an underground basement beneath a restaurant -- it was pretty interesting music -- the band on the bridge had inspired us to try it.
MONDAY
When we woke up Monday, it was raining -- harder. So we decided to wrap things up in Prague and head to Vienna. Sure enough, the rain followed us along the four hour train ride. It took us about an hour and a half to find the hostel when we got to Vienna, mostly because their transportation system was pretty confusing: an underground train system, which was not the same as the actual metro/subway system, and some above ground trams. By the time we got to the hostel we were pretty exhausted and just had dinner at a restaurant around the corner.
TUESDAY
First up on the agenda, after cursing the rain of course, was the Schonbrunn Palace and the surrounding complex. We took a tour of the great palace rooms decorated by Maria Teresa in the 18th Century. She had something ilke 16 kids, including the ill-fated Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette who married Louis XVI of France), which is pretty ridiculous. So there were an infinite number of portraits of similar-looking people all over the palace. Outside the palace there was a sort of amazing garden complex, with fountains, flowers, a hedge-maze, conservatory, and a zoo. It was pretty, even with the rain -- which may have worked to our favor in keeping the crowds away.
We subsequently made it to the city center to see the Kaisergruft, or Imperial Crypt, where pretty much all Maria Teresa's family and other royalty were. It was a bit eerie, but kinda neat. The building reminded me a bit of the morgue, sort of sterile looking I guess.
Since it was still raining on and off, we decided on an indoor-activity consisting of a Johann Strauss Waltz concert. Aside from the obnoxious and rude tourists nearby, I really enjoyed it.
When we got back to the hostel at around 11:30 PM the desk receptionist told us we had to change rooms... it would have been nice to have more notice since we actually had to be out of there by 5:30AM to catch our train to Venice. So we spent about an hour packing and moving and remaking beds before trying to get to sleep. That sucked. But we did make our 6:30AM train to Venice the next morning, so all was not lost.