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Published: April 18th 2006
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Czech Magic
The National Museum at night As we trudged with our backpacks across Prague's Old Town Square, finding our stripped hostel room only 10 minutes from our den of luxury, we navigated a constant stream of babbling tourists. They seemed to rise from the cobblestone streets, pausing in their neverending quest for knick-knacks only to gather in front of the astronomical clock every hour, and to take their shift clogging Charles Bridge. Was our magical first day simply a function of much money well spent?
Thankfully, the rumors of Prague's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Here's the trick - take a deep breath one day, and wade through the Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge and the Castle. Then never go near those places again. We had a great time wandering through the streets and sampling the atmosphere. Chris went to the National Museum (very bizarre, with lots of tacked-up insects and formaldahyde jars) and the National Gallery in St. George's Convent (17th and 18th century paintings). Justin opted instead for the [url=
Kafka Musuem . One of the best museums he'd ever seen, it was reminiscent of the Sun Museum in Memphis, in that it contained few original artifacts, but used multi-media and narrative to explore the subject.
Hall of Mirrors
Justin's self-portrait at the Kafka Museum in Prague We also continued our tour of the sausages and potato dumplings of Eastern Europe, and found some cool little cafes. One, Tynska Bars and Books, was right below our hostel, but didn't draw a hostel crowd, being an offshoot of a toney New York joint. Best of all was
The Globe Bookstore , which had a good selection of English-language books to go with the food and beer. And, for a bit of culture, we saw Don Giovanni at
The National Marionette Theatre , which was absolutely amazing.
After debating whether to simply stay in Prague, we reluctantly (we literally walked back and forth in front of the bus station) got on the bus to Pilsen. A small town in the west of the Czech Republic, it's known for originating the form of beer which carries its name. We arrived just in time for the Pilsner Urquell brewery tour. The brewery survived two World Wars, Nazi and Communist occupations, and myriad depressions, but has survived since 1842. It only took about five years of multi-national corporate capitalism to completely destroy it. It's been made the same way for over 150 years - but since 1999 , they've changed the way it's brewed, fermented, stored, distributed, packaged,
Only for Tour Members
Chris with the last barrels of real Pilsner Urquell and filtered. And it's owned by S.A.B. Miller. Unfortunately, we didn't realize we could have just driven 90 miles from home for the same experience. Afterwards, we headed out to several Pilsen watering holes, grabbing small bites along the way to go with our beers. It was a great atmosphere for a pub crawl, the only downside being that we're more of Ale people.
The next day we headed off to Cesky Krumlov, yet another picturesque UNESCO-certified village. Because we missed our train connection, we ended up with a few hours to kill in Cesky Budejovice, the home of the Original Budweiser (i.e. the one Augie stole the name from). We didn't make it to that brewery, but had a glass while waiting for the next train. Cesky Krumlov indeed lives up to its billing. All together now - we wandered through cobblestone streets, drank coffee and beer, and ate a huge meal devoid of vegetables. Unfortunately, the tourists have outstripped the number of bar seats, so we searched until we found a small local bar near our hostel,
The Krumlov House .
So far, the Czech Republic has been our favorite country in all our travels, but we resisted to
Windswept
Chris in front of the vista of Cesky Krumlov urge to stay (for now) and moved on. We wanted to spend Easter in Vienna, but needed to get in on Saturday, since everything would be shut down on the day itself. Vienna was a bit jarring, since we'd been hopping from Old Town to Old Town for the past few weeks. It certainly has many historic buildings, but also has a very modern feel (what, tar and pavement?). Sometimes this is to its detriment - it reminded Justin of a big walking mall. This modernization was underscored, as we went the first night to a late showing of
The Third Man , the Carol Reed classic filmed just after the war. While it's understandable why some of the charm was lost with all the destruction, it still hurt the overall feel of the city.
We had our share of Viennese coffee at Cafe Sperl, tried the namesake tort at the Sacher Hotel, and caught the rehearsal of a opera performance at the huge cathedral St. Stephan's. Eastern Europe is filled with towering Gothic cathedrals, filled with stained glass, gold and silver. Touring them is interesting, as they form a striking mosaic of the most hypocritical bastardization of a noble idea in
Free Bird!
The orchestra and choir practice in St. Stephen's in Vienna the history of the world (sorry, American foreign policy). But the acoustics are great. Our second night, we got our culture on by attending a performance of a ballet based on Pushkin's Onegin at the Vienna Opera House. We were again in a box, but because they were rush tickets, the seats were quite bad (even the man selling them blanched as we paid him). It worked out, because Chris could see while standing, while Justin got to listen to Tchaikovsky without being distracted by the prancing.
Because of the expense, we left a day early for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Because of the boredom, we left a day early for Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Kind of the Cincinnati of Eastern Europe, Bratislava is a nice enough town, as long as you aren't there. The highlight was a trip to TESCO, a sort of KMart. Wandering around like Yakov Smirnoff on his first day in America, Justin marvelled at the plethora of cheap products. Coupled with our staying in the worst hostel of Eastern Europe that isn't a brothel, we were soon on a train to Hungary.
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