Prague

And then there was nothing left but Prague.



I purposefully left myself a full six days in Prague, because I wanted to have enough time to see the city properly, and do everything that I wanted to. As it turned out, I didn't quite do everything due to weather, but otherwise, Prague was everything I wanted from it.

I got there on thursday after leaving Budapest, and once again, had a hell of a time trying to find the hostel. This time, the directions were good, it's just that there are no straight roads in Prague, so you walk in one direction, hoping it is right, and it suddenly makes a 90 degree turn, and you're going somewhere else entirely. I had a few Czech beers on the train, and just hung out in the dining car, which had been enjoyable, but had a decidedly soporific effect on me by the time I finally found the hostel at 9:00, so my evening nap raged out of control and I woke up early in the morning.

On friday, I just wandered around looking at some of the many sights to see, went to the two St. Nicholas Cathedrals, went back to the hostel for a bit, and went out for a couple pints in a place called "The Pub" where you poured your own beer from taps at your table, and your score was shown on a big screen comparing you with the rest of the tables. It's a really cool idea that would be great for sports bars, college towns, and such. Also good for degenerate alcoholics, and people with too much competitiveness. Checked out the castle and the St. Vitus Cathedral at night (awesome) and on my way back across the Charles Bridge, ran into some Koreans that I chit-chatted with for a while (they were a little tipsy, and I startled the crap out of them) and it turned out that two of them are students at Suwon University. Go figure.

The next day, I just wandered around again, trying to see some of the places I didn't make it to previously. Eventually ended up at the hostel, and hung out with the people there trying some absinthe, and playing the most viscious game of rock, paper, scissors ever. (I lost). The highlight of the evening was when the Danish guy Jess ate the giant bug in the bottom of the bottle of Absinthe. It was like seeing a car wreck. You don't want to watch, but you can't look away.

Sunday was pouring down rain all day, so we just continued from the night before. The Danish guys left eventually, and an American girl Lara and I went with a bunch of other people to a cool pub in a cellar somewhere, which was a really cool place, but incredibly difficult to find your way out of after a little tipple. After there, Lara and I wandered around looking at Prague at night for a while before heading back.

I had to say goodbye to Lara on Monday, and did another walking tour for a bit, before having to take a break. Prague is all cobblestones, and walking over them constantly for the last few days was taking its toll on my feet. Went back to the hostel, where I had to change rooms, and took a little power nap. After that, I went out on the town with Monique, who I met in my new room. We had a really good time wandering about, and made our way back up to the castle, where we went into a fenced in area to check out the garden before I started imagining the guards with sub-machine guns, and ran like a little girl for the fences. We spotted a strange looking wall from the castle, and tried to find it, eventually finding out it was in another restricted area, but we could come back tomorrow to see it. We headed back to round up some more people, then went back to the same bar as the night before. Unfortunately, the two of us that had been there had no idea where it was, so we took a tortuously circuitous route to the pub, which turned out to be right beside the hostel John stayed at last time he was here, so could have easily taken us there if we had actually known where we were going. It was much worse for him though, since he broke his shoe shortly after leaving the hostel, and so did the entire night out with one shoe. Now there's a trooper for you!

The last day in Prague was just spent wandering about to places I didn't make it to before with Monique and John, including the Museum of Torture, which has some really hideous stuff in there. People have an amazing capacity of being incredibly cruel to those they feel are beneath them. There were lots of evil looking implements designed for being inserted into various places. Ended up the night having dinner and watching a Jazz festival in the main square, followed by a few final absinthes.

The next day, it was off to Frankfurt, home, camp and another vacation...