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Published: August 22nd 2010
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Train to Prague! Directions in hand, we hopped off our tram in Prague onto a train platform covered in graffiti, appearing to be in a bad part of town. The directions read "follow the yellow signs for about 15 minutes"...no yellow signs...no yellow signs, and finally a sign. Our hostel is pretty much in Prague's forest. We are way out in the boonies (a Bonny Doon or Prague) but it is definitely beautiful!
The Boathouse Hostel where we are staying sits on stilts literally a a couple meters away from the flowing Vltava River, in Prague. From the outside it looks a little rough around the edges, but we were welcomed warmly by one of the two women who runs it; Helena.
Helena had the door wide open waiting for us, and she told us that she had been expecting us at noon because that is what we put on the reservation. At first we thought she may be mad at us, but turns out she was just worried we would miss her since we went to buy groceries for the hostel's breakfast at this time.
She's the nicest woman you'll meet, and very relaxed about how she runs things around
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Beautiful ride here. She told us we could pay for the room today, tomorrow, or even when we leave, "Whenever you want!" she said.
Helena showed us to our spacious room with 4 beds (probably four times the size of our room in paris), showed us where free breakfast is served daily, the communal woman's bathroom with large counter tops and yes, even a hairdryer for our use!
We felt quite at home, and after a long day of traveling we decided to rest up and take it easy on our first night. We went into the communal lounge/dinning room and sipped on the tea provided, played some cards, Mariel atemped to play some guitar, and we wanted to meet other hostelers but none were in sight! It felt as if we were staying in a hotel with no other guests.
We were pretty famished after a long day's travel, so Helena pointed us in the direction of the nearest food. Keep in mind we were in the boonies of Prague...She gave us two options: 1. The tennis club has a nice restaurant, or 2. A typical Czech restraunt across the street.
Naturally, trying to fit in with
the locals, we decided to go to the Czech restaurant since none of us had any idea what Czech food would be like.
This was probably the worst decision we have made the entire trip. Warning: What you are about to read is terrible!
Lauren and I orderd a "Bier cheese and toast" appetizer because it was only about $2 and sounded quite authentic. WRONG MOVE! The waitress who spoke NO English delivered two plates to our table: Plate #1 consisted of a block of cheese, dijon mustard, and chopped onions. Plate #2 consisted of four deep fried pieces of bread (this is what they call Toast?!)
To me the cheese sitting in front of me looked like Brie, which I adore. Well, silly me, I didn't even think of smelling it or anything before I piled it onto a piece of "toast" and popped it into my mouth......I can't even describe in words how awful this cheese was. There is absolutely NO comparison other than garbage. Actually, I would rather be eating a pile of garbage rather than this cheese. There is just no way to let anyone else know how this smelled or how it
tasted. Let's just say that nothing like this will ever come near my mouth or my nose again. EVER.
My initial reaction: to eat as much plain Dijon mustard as I possibly could to try to take the gross cheese taste away. Mariel and Lauren asked me what it was like, but I couldn't even form words at this point. I was in shock of what just went into my body. They each smelled a small whiff of the cheese and NO WAY did they put it in their mouths. They knew better than to just throw it in there without smelling.
We tried to chop up the block of cheese into small pieces so that our waitress wouldn't be offended that we literally didn't eat ANY of it. We were successful. But then after shoving it at the end of our table, we began smelling THE SMELL wafting our direction. We covered the cheese with a napkin...STILL we could smell this terrible, rotten smell! Eventually she picked it up from our table (We had to wrap the knife up in a napkin because even that small amount of cheese on the knife made us gag) and we
can only imagine what she was thinking..."Stupid tourists! We gave them the stinkiest most rotten cheese around! Little did they know what they were getting"...
When we returned to the hostel we googled Bier Cheese...but this was NOT the cheese that we were served. Our theory is that they translated it wrong and actually we were served this other cheese that (thanks to Google) we learned in a Czech cheese with a very strong odor and VERY acquired taste.
No more Czech Cheese!!!
We thought about going and exploring Prague, but instead stayed in a played cards. In the communal/dinning room of the hostel. Our Briggim Young friends whom we met on the train, told us about these free walking tours all throughout Europe. They had been on the one in Berlin and highly suggested the Prague one.
So, we got a good night’s sleep before walking, walking, and more walking!
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