I've been to Logan more than any other airport besides Portland, but I didn't even know that the international terminal was in such a different part of the complex. When we pulled up at the curb, I found myself in a strange building I had never seen, with flags hanging from the ceilings (a fun game to play while you're waiting in line for an hour and a half or however long it was is to try and guess what countries they belong to. It might be harder than you think).
I've only ever been on normal-sized airplanes in my life, but, looking around at the amount of people we were with, I realized that a plane that size probably wouldn't work. I looked out the window, and sure enough, this is what I saw. I took a picture right away for my brother, because he's always telling me random facts about planes that I don't really understand most of the time. I was just blown away by the fact that it was a double-decker aircraft, with eleven seats in each row.
This flight was the first time I had ever been over the Atlantic Ocean in my life. The minute we the view below turned from Massachusetts to water, my heart began to race. I was seeing something I had never seen before, traveling farther from home than ever before. In the front of the cabin was a screen that tracked the plane's crossing with a map, so I was able to look out the window into the descending darkness and say things like, "That's where the Titanic sank! Sort of!" Hours later, the little airplane on the screen showed that we were directly above Great Britain, and I scanned the darkness below for the lights that meant those British towns I had been waiting to see my whole life. Even though I was 30, 000 feet in the air, I was still in the same air as Hogwarts. And Doctor Who. And Downton Abbey. And Sherlock. (You can see why I was very excited to be flying over the UK).
At an hour of the morning that would be ungodly in Rhode Island and still the previous day in Oregon, we landed in Frankfurt, and I got my first look at Germany. The airport was quiet as we stood in line to get our passports stamped, me still not really believing that I was in a foreign country. As I stepped up to the passport security desk, where an official whose uniform said "polizei"on it was talking on the phone in rapid German, it slammed into my mind. I was actually going on this trip. The hardest part was done, and the best had yet to come. In the book of my journey, this would be the turning point, where I had a sudden realization that defined everything for me. The rising action, climax and resolution have yet to come. Just wait.
After a while, the airport proved to be not that quiet after all, as more flights landed and the sun rose, bringing rain with it. My grandma and I made our first purchase with Euros, which we would put away after this and not see again until Austria, to buy some fruit. Smoking lounges were abundant in the waiting area, something I've never seen in the United States. Different aromas mingled together and floated around in the hallways; it would smell like one thing for a moment and then change completely a few feet away. Venders peddled bikes through the terminal, pulling carts bearing pretzels, sausages, pastries, and everything else German. A little further down from where we were waiting, a sweet-smelling bakery was built into a corner, providing my first peek into European delicacies. A duty-free shop boasted giant Toblerone bars that were very tempting but inexplicably huge.
After hanging around Frankfurt for several hours, talking to new people and watch the little kids who were on our flight run around, we finally boarded a smaller plane (the size I'm used to) for Prague. It was only an hour or so, and in the blink of an eye (I actually closed my eyes the entire time and fell asleep) we were in Prague, the land of red roofs and glittering rivers. At baggage claim (no passport control or customs here. Interesting....) we met up with our buses and couriers, who are like tour guides but not really. As we made our way through the cobble-stoned streets, past some signs in Czech and interestingly designed buildings, I learned that they drive on the same side of the road as us, the water is clean enough to drink without worrying about getting sick, and that it's against the law to not wear your seat belt on a bus.
I unfortunately didn't get a picture of our hotel, but thanks to Google, this is the lobby. We got our rooms, spent some time in the lobby, and walked down to the square.
Downtown Prague is a mostly pedestrian zone, which means that people walk everywhere- the middle of the street, the sidewalk, wherever there's room and not a trolley. If cars need to get through, they just push through and don't wait for people to move out of the way, which is surprisingly effective. We were right by St. Wenceslas Square, which is the area I would soon become very familiar with, as we would walk through it to get anywhere in the next couple of days.
The view from our street, coming into the square, with the building structure (stuck together) that I fell in love with during the trip.
Taking two red-eyes basically in a row (and being nine hours off rather than six like everyone else) didn't really help my energy level, so the rest of the day was spent recuperating. It was hard to believe, but I was actually in Prague. Amazing.
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