Back from the middle of nowhere!

---

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. The internet was finicky in Berlin, and in Fussen there was no internet! I should have been in Munich yesterday, but I got really sick my last night in Fussen so I decided to stay there for another night. It was kind of expensive, but I felt so horrible and, let's just say having my own bathroom to be sick in was much better than if I'd had to share.

I had a lot of fun in Berlin and Fussen, and will hopefully put up a post for them soon, but here is my extra long Prague post, lol. I may not get to put to many pictures up because the internet here is kind of screwy too, but I will try :-)

Praha

Praha-


Words cannot describe how much I loved the “most beautiful city in Europe”. Looking back on my time there I realize I didn’t do nearly all the things I wanted, because by the time I got to Old Town I’d find something else that peaked my interest, and would then spend the rest of the daylight hours wandering around. However, it did come in handy because I know my way around Prague! My last day I hung out with two guys Eric and Paul, and it was really funny because they just followed me- that’s how well I knew where I was going most of the time. A girl even stopped them and asked for directions once, but they couldn’t help her. I was on the other side of the tram tracks so I couldn’t really understand where she was going, then the guys left her to come to me and I ran back to her and completely figured it out. I’d already been a better navigator all day, so when the boys saw me go over to her they were like “She’ll be able to straighten it out”.

So, on to a VERY short list of things I did, because I mostly just wandered, and don’t really feel like giving a real time play by play.

I took a free tour of Prague (one of the ones where you just tip at the end) and it kind of wasn’t so great. It was a pretty good introduction to the city, but most of what he said I already knew, and he didn’t even touch on the historical significance of Prague as an Industrial capital for the fascists or the communists. And that is SO important and interesting. He seemed more concerned with pointing out the vast and varied architectural styles. Don’t get me wrong, it was all good, but after the 35th time you see a baroque building, you don’t need it announced to be able to appreciate it. I’m glad I went though, because I did learn a few things, such as there is a church in the old town which used to house a Virgin Mary statue wearing a VERY expensive necklace. One night a thief broke into the church and tried to steal the necklace, BUT the statue reached down and grabbed his arm preventing him from moving. The next day people came in to see the man with his arm still stuck in Mary’s hand, and they decided the only thing to do to free the stupid man was to cut off his arm. Of course, they aren’t going to damage a perfectly innocent statue of Jesus’ mommy and personally I think the thief had it coming, so even though this all happened a very long time ago the thief’s arm is still hanging where they put it on display to ward off other thiefs. It’s just one bone, and I couldn’t help but think “Where are his fingers?” I suppose they must have fallen off at some point. I don’t envy the person standing under it when the fingers started to detach, but I think it’s kind of funny. Poor thief, he didn’t know just how bad things were gonna get for him. Not only did he lose all of his remaining dignity and freedom, he even lost all his fingers after his arm was taken! Talk about rotten luck…lol, get it, rotten, like rotting. Yeah, I know. It is pretty morbid. Wait till you hear about the other church I went too. All in good time.

Next, I want to talk about old town. It’s just incredible. You could live there your entire life and not see everything! The streets are so windy and confused, and basically just as impractical as they could possibly be, but boy are they charming. Most of my time was spent walking these streets, going into the squares, playing around, ect. The only time I left old town was to go back to the Hostel or to go over the infamous Charles bridge which led to the side of the river where the castle is. There are few things in life sweeter than discovering something wonderful hidden amongst things that are so much less than the new treasure! I’ve gotten lost in the old town many, many times, and as soon as I get the chance to go back I plan on going straight to old town to meander down the cobblestone roads.

I went to the communism museum, which is ironically located in between McDonalds and a Casino…yeah, in your face communism. I mean, those are just two priceless institutions of capitalism. But, anyway, the museum was GREAT! It was really inspirational and moving. As an American young person I have no idea what it is like to not be free, or to have to fight for my rights against my government. I mean people argue over things like abortion and gay marriage, but that is just different. People there didn’t have any rights except the right to follow the rules, work hard, and the government would pretend to look out for their best interests. We complain about our government, and there are certainly many things that need to be worked out, but just think how lucky we are to not have to worry that a comment we said last week would get us tortured and killed by the secret police. I think we take that for granted. We are so safe (relatively) that we often forget what is most important, and that is people. We need to take care of people, those in our country and those in others. Also, most people in our country think about their favorite television show more than they think about the government and governmental policy. I realize there are many exceptions to this rule, especially during an election year, but think about it. Young people of other countries have to be so careful to watch their government, which keeps them knowledgeable about it. In the past 70 years the Czech and Slovak people have gone through at least 3, maybe 4 different political transitions. They went from whatever they were before WW II to being led by fascists during Hitler’s reign, then they went through communism, and now they are in a democratic society. That is a lot of shifting.

I went to the infamous square where all the protests took place, the same place where a 19 or 21 year old (I hear mixed reports) name Jan committed suicide by lighting himself on fire to protest the cruel oppression of the communists. He put out a memo telling other young people not to follow in his footsteps, but rather be brave enough to live and fight for a brighter future, one where a single voice may be heard and listened too without the threat of violence. He died to bring about a democratic change, and 20 years later students gathered in the square to remember him. They were violently put down, which sparked an outpouring of shock and disgust. People heard about the attack and left whatever they were doing and went to the square, in shock, and just stood there until nighttime. Everyday for the rest of the week people would stop what they were doing in the afternoon and go to the square just to make their presence known. The communists were all freaking out and they didn’t know what to do. They knew they were finished, so they gave up at the end of the week. Basically they just said, “okay, we’re done now, good luck” and they handed over the government to Vac Lav Havel (one of the main resistance fighters, an artist, and an intellectual…just in case someone doesn’t know). Havel then came out onto the balcony of the building where the resistance and the communists were negotiating, and declared that Czechoslovakia (as it was at that time) was no longer a Soviet country! In the communism museum I read a really cool saying, but I can’t remember it completely. It goes something like, “In Poland the revolution took ten years, in Hungary ten months, somewhere else ten weeks, and in Czechoslovakia ten days.” It was the smoothest revolution of all the SSR controlled regions, even though it had its share of atrocities.

The next day I walked through old town and over the Charles Bridge. The bridge is just beautiful! The only bad part is that there are always tons of people on it, so it’s hard to get a really amazing shot of it. And it’s covered with vendors selling great art and great photos! I cannot describe how difficult it was for me to pass over the bridge empty handed. It was a bitter struggle, but my desire to eat that night overruled my desire for more art….plus I am going back to Prague THE SECOND I get the chance. That’s the only thing that comforts me. I just wandered around. I found a really cool little deli shop with ice cream that was cheap. It was 9 Koruns for one scoop, and two blocks down it was 30 Koruns for one scoop! By the way, there are about 15 Koruns to 1 US dollar. Then I found the cutest little garden. It had really tall hedges that made a little maze like thing, and it had a fountain. Then as I got closer to the pretty building I heard music and saw that a orchestra was rehearsing….and then I noticed there were 4 peacocks just walking around.  It was just a really great day. Full of adventure and discovery. I also found this famous little restaurant while I was lost. To get to it you have to go down a very long, narrow flight of stairs between two buildings. I didn’t even know what it was until my friend Keri who works at the hostel told me about it. She’s from Prague and she said it’s a favorite place for locals to go. I also found a really good bookstore that sold new and used English books.

The next day I went with a group from the hostel to a Czech town about an hour outside of Prague called Kunta Hora. It was quite interesting. Keri was our guide. The first place we went was the Ossuary…a church decorated with thousands of human bones!! The church became famous because it was sprinkled with sand from somewhere else that I can remember, so everyone wanted to be buried there. Then came the plague and the cemetery filled up! The funny thing about it is that when I went to the church where the thief tried to steal Mary’s necklace and saw the one bone hanging I got really freaked out, and was like “ew!” But when I went to the ossuary I was like “ooh! This is kind of interesting.” I was a bit unnerved but mostly just fascinated. Things in large quantities kind of numb you. Like the quote that I think Stalin said, though I have heard it a lot, “One death is tragedy; one million deaths is a statistic”. So, as it applies to my situation, “One bone is creepy and disgusting; one thousand bones arranged into chandeliers, coats of arms, and other decorative objects are neat, and unique.” Yeah, I know…it’s gross, lol. I’m putting up a few pictures from the church, but I will put them on last, that way no one has to look at them who doesn’t want to. So if you don’t want to see (really, it’s not that bad) don’t look at the last few pictures on the last page. That’s my gift to you, lol.

That night I had made plans to go out with two girls from my room, Jamie and Joey, and we were going to go to one of the famous Jazz clubs in the area. Apparently, one time when Bill Clinton was in Prague he went to this one club and started playing the saxophone! That’s the club we wanted to go to, but we ended up going to one of the places Keri recommended. I ended up inviting two guys who looked like they were wanted to go out, but didn’t have anyone to go with. “The more the merrier!” I said, so all five of us ended up going out. Because of the new additions and some other unimportant details we didn’t actually head out until about 10:30 or so, and then, we naturally got lost on the way to the club, because it was in old town…which I seriously think was designed by a dyslexic person…who may have also been mentally retarded. It is just the silliest mess of confused streets thrown together, perfect for the poor lonely tourist to get trapped in- to the benefit of the many crappy souvenir vendors. Anyway, the jazz club was great! We missed the first half of the live music, but the second half was so good it didn’t really matter…and we got discounted tickets. Yay! I talked mostly to the boys because Jamie and Joey had moved to another table to see better. Paul and Eric were quite entertaining in themselves. Paul hit on me A LOT, lol.

It all kind of started when I mentioned, in passing, that for my honeymoon I wanted to wait and save and take a few months off to go camping around the world. And both Paul and Eric were like “wow! That’s really cool.” Then Paul asked if I had found a man to go along with the trip.

“No, but I’ve decided to fit the man to the trip, and not the trip to the man,” I said laughing.

Then, in a very serious tone, Paul added, “That kind of honeymoon sounds great to me…we should talk later.” I kind of laughed it off, but from that point on Paul was rather vigilant in his pursuit. I should explain a bit about Paul. He is 29, and he is in law school right now, but he got his undergraduate degree from Princeton. Yes, Princeton. I will never, ever, ever date anyone who went to an Ivy league school. Don’t get me wrong, I think that it’s great to be able to succeed at a difficult school like Princeton, but the kind of person who can do that is not the kind of person I will work well with romantically. Paul was very nice, just SO not for me. I never realized how lively and spontaneous I was until Paul. He is the kind of guy who, I kid you not, has with him at all times a map, compass, flashlight, and swiss army knife. He told me I shouldn’t wear flip flops because it could cause back problems. He made me sanitize my hands after we rubbed the famous statue on Charles Bridge. Getting a clear picture? Nice guy, but for someone else…an automaton maybe.

Eric was a little more my type, I guess. He was 27, and he came to Europe to work on his French because he just applied for a teaching job in France. He was just a little sillier, but not in a stupid way. Being silly suited him more naturally than it did Paul when he tried. I have a fair amount less to say about him, because he didn’t annoy me. He was always very nice and fun.

So, at the club Paul kept explaining jazz to me, and how he could tell that the singer and the bass player played together often, and even though they missed a few notes they were still good. I wanted to say “Let’s see you get up there!” but he very well may have. He’d already informed me when I asked whether people ever danced at Jazz clubs that we could “cut a little rug later”. When I protested he said, “I’ll do it; I have no shame.” Personally, I think everyone should have a little shame. Some people should have more than a little…

When the band finished we walked home, and Paul, seeing that I was cold, took off his jacket and put it over my shoulders. Very nice, I know; still not my type. I hung out with the boys for around an hour or so after Jamie and Joey went to sleep, and I told them about the plans I’d made with a guy who went on the Kunta Hora tour with me, and invited them to come along too, if they wanted. They both decided to come, even though Eric had already seen everything that we planned to see. I got their email addresses, and noticed a few days later that Eric included his phone number…hmmm…

The next day, my last in Prague, was entertaining to say the least. We didn’t end up seeing what I had planned to see, and the guy I’d originally made the plans with didn’t make it, but Paul, Eric and I had plenty of fun. I must brag a bit and mention that I was pretty impressive that day when it came to my navigational skills. The boys went with me to the train station so that I could buy my ticket to Berlin, and when we left Paul took us the wrong way, so we didn’t know where the tram stop was. I found the way back, even though they both doubted me the whole time.

“Are you sure this is the right way? I don’t remember passing that,” one of them said.

“Were you paying attention?” I asked.

The answer, “No,” pause, “I see your point.”

Then we went to a little market and bought some fruit, and the boys bought some sandwich stuff. I really think Paul may have been diabetic, because about every 30 minutes he wanted to eat again! It would have been fine except they took so long to eat, and it was my last day in Prague, so I didn’t want to sit around watching other people eat, if you get what I’m saying. They’d had breakfast, lunch, and a snack before I’d eaten anything. And Paul was so impatient too. We watched this astronomical clock do it’s thing on the hour (two little doors open and the apostles circle around while a skeleton rings a bell reminding all that they are one hour closer to death…yup), and Paul wanted to sit and eat lunch, so I suggested that we go ahead and go to the bridge, which wasn’t too far away, and they could eat lunch overlooking the water. It took us a little longer than expected, because we got a little lost for like 5 minutes (I’m only human), but when we got to a certain part I recognized the start of the bridge, so I said we should go that way, but Paul, who’d kind of been complaining a little bit, wanted to stop and check the map…which again, took forever, and then we ended up going the way I said and behold, there was the bridge JUST LIKE I SAID!

For the rest of the afternoon, Paul kept pulling out his map, even when I knew where we were. We went to the John Lennon wall, which I didn’t know where it was, but he had it in his little guidebook so I was going to follow him. Bad idea. Every few meters he’d stop and pull out the map and try to figure out where we were, and which way to go, and blah blah blah. Then he and Eric, who was mostly quiet when it came to direction, would consult with him, and I would get so bored and annoyed I could strangle them both for being so dull. While they played explorers I would go and strike up a conversation with an ice cream or postcard vendor and get directions. Then I’d go back and tell them to just follow me. Eventually we got to where we thought it would be and Paul stopped again to pull out the map.

“Okay,” he said looking at the map, “it should be really close by.” In itself this would have been fine…if I hadn’t just said I could see it. Yes, indeed I could see it. So, if Paul had actually looked around instead of just at his map, or even just listened to me he would have realized we were already there. Then he asked me, very condescendingly, “Do you want me to tell you the history of the wall?” Again, this is something he’d done at nearly every monument, and I usually knew the same exact stuff that his little guidebook (calling it little makes me feel like I am insulting it, which I like lol) said. AND, I’d been telling them the history behind things, but like in a tour guide kind of way and not a “I know more than you!” kind of way.

So when Paul asked me if I knew the history to the thing I was most excited to see, I got a bit short and simply turned to him and said, “I know the history, Paul.” And then he read the stupid thing to me anyway. And in fact, my version of the story was much more entertaining and inspirational than the dry one his “little” guidebook (take that you stupid book!) told.

Then Eric and I took pictures standing next to the most incredible wall in Prague (it even had a little bust of John’s face on it!), but Paul didn’t want his picture taken. He just kind of smiled and said “no, thank you” like a parent does when a kid asks them if they want to do something childish. Boring old coot! Basically, Paul was kind of a stick in the mud, but he was never intentionally mean or annoying. I guess that means I should cut him some slack, but, to be honest, I probably won’t. There are just some people that annoy other people, and though he was quite nice for the most part, I’m glad that I got to spend most of my Prague trip alone.

It was really funny when we parted ways though, because I’d bought an apple and left it in Paul’s bag (he was nice enough to carry it for me), so about 30 seconds after I left the boys I ran back, thinking, “Please let them be looking at a map!” Indeed, they were, lol. It all seemed kind of dramatic though, because you see me running back into the garden where they are and calling out, “Paul!” Then Paul and Eric look up expecting something exciting as I say, very anti-climactically, “Can I have my apple, please?” Lol.

Prague was great though. Even all the annoyances make me laugh…in retrospect, that is. It has been my favorite city so far, and it will be the first place I go outside of Scotland! Ah, Scotland! I can't wait until July 6th. I'm so homesick, but not for so much for my home (though I miss you all terribly!) as I am homesick for A home...any home, lol. I suppose I will be in Scotland soon enough. Luci is holding up, but just barely. I'm not sure she will last until Scotland. On the way to Fussen one of her zippers broke off while I was getting something out of her. It was actually kind of funny because I was in the middle of the Munich train station and was like, "NO!!" and I looked all dramatic and depressed...then I realized that I looked like an insane person so I regained composure and pulled the one zipper she had left to close her up. Sad...poor Luci. She's gotten much better about the cobblestone streets, and even though she tried to kill me one time (when I left Prague she refused to go up the stairs on the tram and I started to fall back with my big huge backpack on and then the doors closed on me! A nice man saved my life. I can't blame her for not wanting to leave.), she's been a real trooper. Send us your prayers for the energy to survive the rest of the trip, lol.

Ciao!

---