Peppers, Balkan Cheese, Ancient Castles, and Robbery

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We decided to go to Prague. Jenny, Jamie, Ryan and I boarded our bus at 2 in the morning to Barcelona so we could catch our morning fight. This would be our first big trip without Miguel, and we weren’t really sure what we were doing. I’ve always wanted to go and see Prague, but didn’t know much about the sites or anything.

When we land and exchange our money to the koruna. We find a taxi service that says he’ll bring us right to our hostel. At first, it looked like nothing special, at all. I clearly remember people ranting and raving about this place. What was that big fuss about? We’re seeing McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a lot of ugly business buildings. Why did we come here again?

We turn the corner, and bite our tongues. A city with red roofs, unique architecture, and the Vltava River unfolds before us. We went from sulking in our seats to pressing our noses on the window and searching for our cameras without taking our eyes off the city.

Cobblestone streets, medieval castles, ancient bridges, all that mainly survived World War II.

We arrive to our sketchy hostel (hostel Condor if anyone wants to know where NOT to go) and quickly change to freshen up from our overnight travels. Out we go to the Old Town Square. I feel like we’ve traveled back in time. Every single which way we look there is something to make your jaw drop from its ebbing beauty and historical class. People are wearing big fur hats and I think about buying one myself. Too touristy? Oh well.

We visit the Town hall Tower and astronomical clock. The astronomical clock is absolutely awesome. It’s oldest part date back to 1410. Hey folks, this clock is older than our country. In 1945 it was also damaged in the war, but later fixed to be working again in 1948. (Thanks Wikipedia)

We stop into a restaurant that has decent prices, and some of the best food I’ve ever had. For an appetizer, we had roasted red peppers with a Balkan cheese, to be washed down by Pilsner Urquell and the original Budweiser. Budweiser is called Budvar. Our friendly waiter Karel helped us pick out the perfect meals. Outstanding food, and drinks, for about 8 Euro a head. We made a plan to return again.

It’s nighttime now and we decided to head down to the river and the Charles Bridge. We stop alongside the river and feed the few dozen swans swimming. This city is enchanting. It belongs in a fairytale.

We walk around the Charles Bridge and tour the vendors selling artwork and souvenirs.

Then we start our Prague Pub Crawl to prove we’re still college students. We start down at the river, at this cute and vacant outdoor bar and get a bottle of wine. There are candles all over the bar and a cute older couple talking and tending to the campfire. The waitress comes and drops one of the glasses. The older couple stands up and claps. In response to our confused faces they explain that it’s good luck when a waiter drops something.

When can I pack my bags and move here?

We continue our way back to our hostel and stop into bars to both escape the cold, and enjoy the amazing beer here. After a little while it started to snow. Honestly this place seems like I’m dreaming. With snow sprinkled on our eyelashes and coats, we walk past more beautiful buildings.

Next stop, we find a bingo place. Yeah, bingo. We walk in talking only to be hushed by these bingo-goers that take this game way too seriously. We buy a couple cards and a couple Pilsners. If only we could understand what numbers they were yelling, we might have won something.

Eventually we end up back at our hostel at 4am. A good, amazing, perfect day. All we want is to go to bed and wake up to do it all over again.

Halt… Our bags are opened and gone through. The door was locked when we came in right? This is a private room, how could someone get to our stuff? Does everyone have their passports? In a panic we are all checking for the damage. Ipods, sunglasses, jewelry, and Jenny’s whole bag are gone. The door had a couple nicks right by the doorknob. Now what?

We check the main desk where we checked in earlier and no one is there. Then we call the number in case of emergency. We explain our situation and that we don’t know what to do. Our door was locked when we left and locked when we got back. Something is wrong here. They can only respond with saying someone can be there a 9am tomorrow morning. Fine then we’ll call the cops. We call the police and in English, ask for them to come to our hostel. About 10 minutes later we find ourselves with two Czech officers who don’t speak any English. Greeeeeat. With exaggerated hand movements and pointing and role playing like a 5th grade play, we’re getting nowhere with them. They give us a police report paper and say to come to the station tomorrow morning, and leave. So we gather our stuff and head out to find a place to sleep. After the 4th unavailable hotel we checked we start to be so over frustrated, over tired, we start to finally laugh. Where’s the candid camera?

Finally we find a hotel and a receptionist who is understanding of our situation, and tells us he can fit all 4 of us in a room for 2. He gives us another bed and extra blankets. Finally bed. Tomorrow is a new day.

We explore more in the city and go to the national museum. Oh first, Jamie and I decide that we need new shoes. We need boots. I buy a pair, and Jamie buys slippers. They looked like boots…. About 20 feet from the store her feet are wet.

So the national museum. That was cool. It overlooked Wenceslas square, and there was a protest concerning the Holocaust there. It had a mock ghetto set up and people were chanting something I didn’t understand. Inside the museum there was a ton of science. I loved it!

After the museum it’s starting to get late and the sun is setting. We wanted to go see the tower on top of a hill that was an imitation of the Eifel tower. We wanted to get there before the sunset so decided on a taxi. The taxi took us all around the city first. Maybe he just wanted to give us a little tour? Then after paying for an overpriced taxi we are left on this cold deserted mountain. Of course the tower is closed, and the taxi just disappeared down the hill. With a consensus we trek down the side of the mountain, which looks like it’s the fastest way. We start walking in the direction of the Prague Castle.

Cold, muddy, dark, and Jamie is stuck wearing slippers.

We’re lost, on some trail, on some mountain, in Prague. Here comes another one of those moments, where we all just start laughing. Thank God I’m with these people, because the situation could have been bad, but instead we decided to just enjoy ourselves. So what if we’re lost, on some trail, on some mountain in Prague. This is cool. We’re in Prague!

We get all the way down the mountain to realize we inside the gate. So we follow the gate and come across the American Consulate. Ha. We ask the guard how to get out of the gate and he laughs because we must look like nuts. We’re all laughing, covered in mud, and obviously lost. He points us in the right direction.

We’re at the foot of the Prague Castle so we climb the 43 sets of stairs (yeah I counted) and explore. This place is outrageous. It’s the biggest ancient castle in the world. I can’t even put into words. Every single detail on this building is intricate and beautiful. Let alone that it goes farther back, and back, and back, and back. Inside the castle there is the gothic style St. Vitus Cathedral. WOW

We take in the views and move on. We’re hungry.

Next to our hotel was a huge mall with a ton of nice restaurants within the mall. It was strange because it was nothing like a food court in a mall; it looked like a nice strip of restaurants with “outdoor” seating and everything. There were also some clubs in the mall. We explored a little, and finally settled on a restaurant with mediocre food. Our trip can’t end like this can it?

It’s our last night and we decide to go back to the first restaurant with the peppers and Karel for a for sure good ending. Karel isn’t working our table but comes over and hangs out with us. Our table is next to a group of older guys who are celebrating a birthday. We make friends, at least as much as possible with the language barrier. We order more peppers and Balkan cheese. First round was on Karel, and then those guys buy us a bottle of champagne and some shots. We knew it’d be a good time. Good call college students.

On our last day we pack up, and call a taxi. We catch our flight to Barcelona and find our way to the bus station. Four more hours on a bus. We are all in the same stupor. That weird tiredness feeling at the end of a trip, when you know you need to rest but really don’t want it to end.

Overall, Prague was amazing. There were a few setbacks, but we had an amazing time. I would go back in a second. It’s important to travel with good people. This trip I really learned a lot about myself and my friends. It could have really been a crap time. We sucked it up though and made it a trip I’ll always remember. I’m proud to say these people are my friends.

I could really go for some roasted red peppers, Balkan cheese, and a Pilsner right now.

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Comments

[Stephen Paul]

:)
Great Panorama!!!