Prahahahaha

This weekend, Val, Karim, and I went to Praha, Czech Republic (photos are on facebook). We learned an expensive lesson when we discovered that train tickets are half as expensive if bought a week in advance. To ease the pain in our checkbooks, we opted to take a bus back. But first, let me tell you about the train ride there.

The train was everything I had hoped for from a European train. We had a little compartment all to ourselves, with very comfortable seats, doors, and large windows. After a little exploring, we discovered the dining compartment. It was just so...EUROPEAN! Quaint and sophisticated at the same time. We spent the whole train ride laughing, telling stories, and giving each other a hard time. I've always thought traveling by train was the most sophisticated and easiest method, but Europe really takes it to another level.

We arrived in Prague with no plan. At all. We had no idea where the station was in relation to the hostel, and we had no Czech Kroners. It was actually a ton of fun trying to figure out everything on the fly. The information desk people were surprisingly unhelpful and claimed to not know about the metro, which was accessible on the same floor as their kiosk, just 100 yards away. The Cambio folks were much more knowledgeable but were also robbers - 15% commission on our money exchange!

We managed to get to the right station and follow directions from the hostel website on how to get to the hostel. The hostel, by the way, was clean and decent, and I have no complaints considering we only spent 4 euro per person each night. Once there, Val and I discovered two Japanese students were staying in our room. I had a nice long and meandering conversation with them in Japanese since they didn't understand English. Karim's roommates weren't back or had abandoned their beds. All we know is that when we went to sleep, he had no roommates in his room. About 20 minutes after we got up at 7am the next morning, his drunk American roommates stumbled in from their extremely late night out.

We started our first day in Prague by walking to Karluv Most (Charles Bridge). It turns out that 8am is entirely too early for the Czech and tourist populations, and we got to walk across an empty Charles Bridge. After a fortifying breakfast, to make up for the lack of dinner the night before, we went to Prague Castle. Oh my goodness - good views of the city from there, but also the castle itself was impressive. There were guards at each entrance doing the stoic we-don't-react thing, and the castle grounds were immense, with various residences, museums, and churches.

Afterward, we walked back toward the bridge with the intention of eating lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river. Instead, we stumbled upon an open air market that had roasting meat, beer, mead, grog, mulled wine, and pastries. Holy cow. There was also a stage with live folk music performances that were heavily reliant on accordions. We ate a very satisfying meal (and I picked up two pastries that made the trip back to Vienna) there and headed back over an extremely crowded Charles Bridge, which was teaming with performance artists, merchants, and tourists. From there, we walked to Old Town, which is one of the most touristy parts of Prague. We walked around a bit and then decided to stop by the hostel.

We returned to Old Town in time for the laser light show at the Astronomical clock. What a creative and beautiful show - I am so glad there are talented artists out there creating work like that. There were tons of people in the square, and after the show was over, I experienced the sensation of being crushed by a crowd for the first time. We wandered around some more and happened upon an amazing chocolate shop. I am still working through the Baileys Truffle Fudge I bought.

That evening, we went to Karlovy Lazne, which advertises itself as the largest dance club in Eastern Europe. It is five floors of dancing heaven; each floor as its own theme: top radio hits, dance music, oldies music, black music (their term, not mine), and chill music. Each floor also has its own bar. We stayed until 2am, showered the grime off, and hit the hay. The next day, I may or may not have accidentally lead us onto a highway in a bid to find the bus station, but we ended up finding our way with the help of a kind Czech woman. The bus ride was really pleasant! We had a bus attendant who got us drinks, gave us newspapers and magazines (in Czech, but it's the thought that counts), and distributed headsets to use while watching American movies that were in both English and Czech. The seats were very comfortable, and it was quite cheap (16 euro).

Today was International Women's Day, and I make a brief cameo in the movie put together by the CTBTO in its honor. There was a nice ceremony in the VIC rotunda. I was a little confused by a woman who was dressed up in a witch's costume as she restocked the candy machine, as I didn't quite understand its connection to women's day, but I believe it instead had something to do with Fat Tuesday. The world celebrates too many things!

And finally, this evening I received an email entirely in German from my landlady. I believe she is inviting me to her 50th birthday party. Isn't that sweet? And..wait, I just got another email from her. Also in German. I think this is updated details on the location. I'm probably not going to be in town that weekend, but it would have been nice to go...even if I don't speak German...