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Published: September 5th 2005
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Astronomical Clock
Death marks another year that Prague is ravaged by tourism. I had wanted to go to Prague ever since I became aware of its existence. Before the Iron Curtain fell Prague was just a name to me. However, after the break up of the communist block reports began to get back to me that suggested at a magical city. They told of medieval buildings that harkened back to a dark and mysterious past. They told of the hypnotizing stillness of Charles Bridge just after sunset. They told of quaint indoor bars with wooden interiors serving top quality beer priced as if it were water. And then there was this rumor of this enchanted green spirit called Absinthe that had inspired the poets and artisans of the 19th Century. And now I was finally getting to go. The reality was a little different...
My two friends and I had arrived by train that night and we were excited to go out and see Prague on what was a Friday night. After a failed search for an ATM we were finally able to get some money for the metro. We hopped on and were whisked away to our hotel away from the center. While we were walking from the Metro stop
Old Prague Square
This building lept straight out of a fairytale and blew me away. to our hotel we passed the Hany Bany Cabaret, which was pretty much in the hotel's parking lot. This would be an omen of things to come.
We were staying at a Holiday Inn. My friend had accumulated so many rewards points that we were able to stay in this Top Class hotel for free. And so it was that on the last leg of our European tour that we found ourselves with our own immaculate rooms after staying in hostels, Peace Corps digs, and pull out couches in some Croatian woman's kitchen in Split.
We had gotten in late so it was about 11pm when we finally were ready to go out. However, one of my friends decided this would be the perfect time to catch up on his reading. So he lay on his bed in one of the luxury bathrobes provided by the hotel and read Atlas Shrugged making us wait. As has been said, "Try as you might, you still can’t get the weird out of that kid." Anyway, we finally persuaded him that going out on a Friday night in Prague was actually worth doing. In retrospect maybe he was on to something.
We found out from hotel reception that pretty much the only place people went to go out was the city center. We found this curious, but it was late and we hadn't seen anything of Prague yet. So we took the metro there and when we got there we are just taken aback by the breathtaking buildings in the square. Their towers just soared up and pierced the night sky at angles were strange and imposing. The buildings felt like they belonged in the imagination of a writer of gothic novels. Walking around the open square there seemed to be a buzz in the air. After staid Vienna it was quite refreshing.
There were these cafes set up in the square so we decided to sit down for a drink and a bite to eat. The beer was cold and delicious, a marked improvement from Croatian beer. I look up to see the Astronomical Clock. Wow, what a place I remarked.
But then I begin to notice a phenomenon. There were these roving packs of dudes. Every pack contained eight to fifteen guys. These were obviously not locals. They were loud and obnoxious. Where were all
the girls to counterbalance all these dudes? What was drawing them here? I brought this to the attention of my friends and they had noticed it too. The vibe wasn’t had changed into something I hadn’t quite expected. I hadn’t felt a vibe like this since I had been in the red light district of Amsterdam seven years earlier.
However, it was after all around midnight on a Friday night. And maybe because we started so late we weren’t drunk enough to enjoy it all at that particular moment. So we decided to walk down a side street and find somewhere quiet where we could have a quiet drink and reconnoiter. We started walking and people started appearing at our side. They had their various offers of “Hashish?” and “Titty bar?”
As we kept going the street is becoming narrower. All of a sudden we were accosted by four girls, must have been about 13 years-old or so. They start grabbing at us repeatedly saying “sex, sex, sex, sex.” Immediately my hand went to my wallet and my pace quickened. These girls were following us, grabbing our asses, and trying to get their hands down the front of our pants. Eventually, we managed to extricate ourselves from them. We turned to each other and basically said that was something different from your average night out.
We looked up and noticed that we had come out onto the main street of Prague. In the distance we could see big museum up high at the end of the street. There were roving bands of dudes everywhere. Not only that though. The street was lined with Strip Clubs and flashing neon lights. We decided to brave a walk up the street towards the museum. But after one to many offers of “titty bar” we decided to call it a night and get back on the Metro to go home. We would have to be a lot less sober to enjoy this kind of scene.
As we walked through the parking lot towards our hotel we passed the Hany Bany cabaret. So we decided to have one more drink and call it a night. There was a stage with a couple poles we assumed for dancing. There were four people at the bar and a few others scattered about, but the place was basically dead. Our waitress came over and takes our drink orders. Then this other woman comes over and gives of this menu of different strip show options that she could to and that she didn’t dance unless someone ordered from this menu. We said thank you for the information.
Our drinks came and we quietly drank them as if we were in a normal bar. I had come to Prague and instead found Amsterdam. Just then another patron ordered a dance. We stayed for a few more minutes. Then we left the place and wandered out into the Prague night shaking our heads all the while in disbelief, a strip club in our hotel’s parking lot. It seemed oddly appropriate.
added august 27, 2005
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