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Published: January 21st 2009
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Mike and I in front of Galileo's Clock
Yeah, this thing was built in the 1500's and still runs. Galileo didn't mess around. Greetings from the middle of the Czech Republic. We are on our first train in Europe on our way to Wein (Vienna), Austria.
We decided that staying in the airport was a good idea, against my better judgement after doing it last trip and hating my life. But alas, we stayed in the Dublin airport and didn't sleep a minute. When we finally went through security and were going to fall asleep at the gate, the most annoying Irishman of all time came and decided to try to be our best friend. I tuned him out and pretended to listen to my ipod even though I actually didn't have any battery life left. He stumbled everytime he got up, and finally left us at 6 AM when the bar opened.
We arrived in cold Prague (its in the 30's) early on Monday. Prague was just as beautiful as I remembered it. Our Prague adventures began with a bang - literally. We met a couple from Chicago at the airport and cabbed with them to the city. Upon arrival, the 4 of us got out of the cab, and as our cab driver threw his door open, BAM, another car smashed into it bending it straight backwards with our cab driver still in his seat. The woman who hit him just shrugged her shoulders and drove off. Hilarious. *Note, we thought this was a pretty "cool" story of danger, but quickly realized it was weak. Our Malaysian roommates didn't get in until 5 AM because their train was actually in a crash and derailed. We quickly stopped telling our now pathetic story.
We spent a lot of the first day napping, then walking Old and New Town, town square, and seeing a lot of the main sites (except Prague Castle). We headed back and took another 2 hour power nap before heading out with about 20 folks from the hostel to a pub crawl. Let's just say Prague nightlife is intense. It starts at 9 and goes until... Well, 9 AM. Its literally crazy - but... When in Prague. Another indication of how intense it is, we watched people take pictures of the tourist spots when we walked from place to place. Why you ask? Because they had been in Prague for 6 days, and never saw any of the sights. They would drink from 8-9, then sleep till 6 and repeat. After some cool clubs and bars, Mike and I diverted from the group and headed to McDonalds. At 5 AM, we were back and out. Good first day.
Day 2 was much of the same. We headed out around 1130 and walked the rest of the sites including Prague Castle with our roommates Iaz (like eyes) and David from Malaysia/Singapore. We also met the Chicago couple (Whitney and Brian). It was cold and rainy, but hey... Its Eastern Europe. We also had the opportunity to watch the Inauguration with kids from all over the world, and it really opened your eyes to what other think of the US - a pretty cool expierience since I had to miss DC.
The night brought another pub crawl which began with an all-you-can-drink power hour in the shady basement bar of the hostel. This is where Mike and Ryan "world ambassadors" became a reality. Most of the folks at our hostel were a mix of Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians, Irish, and some other randoms. None... Knew about the magical game of flip cup. And so there we were, playing two teams of 8 people, and teaching the rest of the world this magical game. It was our way of giving back. Let's just say it was well received, and with some Absinthe and an hour of straight flip cup, we were on our way. We had some issues with the group getting split up while we went from bar to bar (we went to 6), so we would set up human checkpoints to guide the stragglers back to the big group. Love the ingenuity. After another long night of bars and clubs we managed to drag a group of 6 to McDonalds. I only had fries, but Mike (who was in rare form) ordered a double big mac meal, which he ate... Completely. After almost vomitting at the site of it, we got in around (estimated because we have no clue) 630 AM until the cleaning ladies woke us at 11 AM to get out. Some walking, short subway trip and onto a train... We are on our way. Day 5, and we arrive in Vienna and 5 PM.
All in all, Prague was great. It really gave us a feel for what hostel life in the winter would be like. Its not as crowded as the summer... But as you can tell, it wasn't slow. The sites are as beautiful as always (the city is from the 1000's), but I am looking forward to seeing a city for the first time in Vienna. The hostel was great with tons of great people who we will never forget thanks to social networking. But on we go... Hope everyone is enjoying work.
Nashiedanou from snowy central Czech via BB.
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Tom
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Damn You
Wow - your day was surprisingly like mine. I395 was a parking-lot at 7:30am, typed-up a few memos, skipped lunch for a briefing, battled a group of people with pickets and banjos yelling , struggled to maintain sanity during a conference call, and now I'm prepared to battle yet more traffic on the way home. But I'm not bitter. ...so by "surprisingly like mine" I guess I mean "absolutely nothing like mine". Enjoy your trip!