Prague

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let me first start out by saying: i want to hear NOTHING MORE about
how wonderful the weather is in San Diego or anywhere else.
fortunately, now i'm in London where i can walk around without a
coat on and only be mildly uncomfortable.

Prague was COLD. for some reason it felt colder than Vienna, even
though it actually snowed in Vienna. i don't get it either.
Courtney and i started Friday from Vienna to Prague, and the train
ride that we thought was only going to be an hour ended up being
closer to three. no big deal, except that means that the sun goes
down earlier, which means the Sabbath begins earlier. so we got to
the train station and bought passes for the underground, in which a
taxi driver told us he could take us to our hostel for only 400
koruny (about $20) but since the underground pass was only 200
koruny ($10) and it lasted for three days, we told him it was too
expensive and not worth it. a few days later we began hearing
stories about tourists who were taken out of the city, beaten,
robbed, raped in some cases, and left dead. sorry mom, don't mean
to scare you. but we still didn't take up his offer.

well, our hostel was hidden along a side street on the complete
opposite side of the tracks, so we didn't find it for a very long
time. at one point, we ended up at the wrong station, and we went
into a restaurant to ask for directions (or rather, *I* went in to
ask for directions, because Courtney seems to have some sort of
phobia against talking to people in foreign countries) and the guy i
asked looked at the address and said, "Oh, sure! that's that way.
about one kilometer!"

finally, we got there and it turned out to be the nicest little
hostel i've ever seen. it was in a large apartment, and each room
had about 5 beds in it, like actual beds instead of metal bunk
beds. the breakfast they served us was nice too, of course bread
like they serve at all hostels, but also with cereal and cheese and
juice. very nice change.

the first day, we very quickly popped our head out of the
underground to see the dancing house, which was designed by an
american architect and is very post-modern. it was kind of
interesting, but we could only look on the outside. after that, we
wanted to go to King Wenseslaus square, and when we got there we
were really confused. we had anticipated something along the lines
of a grassy square, like a park almost, but it turned out to look a
lot like the shopping districts in Florence. there were expensive
designer shops (even expensive for the Koruny) lining the streets,
and shopping malls, etc..... so we picked a direction and walked.

at this point, i should say something about Courtney. she is the
ultimate tourist, so at times i get totally flustered. i am the
kind of traveler who can only stand so many tourist attractions. i
have more fun when i just pick a direction and walk and see what i
run into. more often than not, i end up at the really nice places
that the tour books would have taken me to anyway. but this time we
were following Courtneys lead, and she wanted to find this garden.
instead we ended up in this square with another one of the christmas
villages. to one side there was a huge tower with a clock, two
churches, and gorgeous architecture. this turned out to be Old Town
Square, so we spent the day there. and it wasn't to hard to spend
the DAY there, because by this time, the sun is going down at 4 in
the afternoon. the clocktower is a really famous, really old
astronomical clock, and on every hour it chimes, and our guidebook
said that it has a little parade of the apostles and a skeleton. we
pictured a parade, so we joined all the other spectators. after
waiting ten minutes, finally the clock starts chiming. everyone is
looking around expecting something fantastic, and what should happen
but these two doors on the front open, and these little wooden
figures start moving past the openings. i didn't even see the
skeleton until the very end, and he ended up being on the right of
the clock face not really doing anything. so finally it finishes
ringing, and this noise goes through the crowd that was NOT one of
admiration. it was more of a murmur of, "what, that was it?" what
made it even worse is that all the locals were sitting around
laughing.

on a more interesting note, the other side of the clock tower was
historical, because during WWII that half of the building was blown
off by a Nazi bomb, and was never restored completely. so that edge
was really jagged.

anyway so we went into one of the cathedrals, which turned out to be
the St. Nicholas and there was a group singing in there. it was
gorgeous, this very etherial sound echoing through the church.
absolutely gorgeous. i saw an advertisement that there would be a
concert that evening, in the church, and i told Courtney we should
go, but she vetoed that idea, much to my dismay. that's the one
thing about traveling with a tourist, is that the things that you'll
really remember they see no point in.

anyway, we wandered down some of the streets, and found a few jewish
synagogues, but since it was Sabbath they were closed. we wandered
around until after sundown, and we went into a restaurant. too late
we realized that they even charge you for the cutlery used to eat.
the food wasn't excelent, the service was fairly good, and the bill
was outrageous. learned our lesson.

we wandered around the christmas village for a while, saw a bunch of
cute stuff, but not nearly as cute as that candle in Vienna. i'm
kicking myself that i didn't have the space to carry that, because
it was so unique.

anyway, the next day we figured it was time to see some of the more
important spots, so we crossed Charles bridge, where one of the
saints was thrown off for hiding the "extramarital secrets" of the
queen from King Wenseslaus (and he was made a SAINT for that?).
once on the other side, we were in the REALLY old area of Prague,
where Prague Castle stands. we found one of the major cathedrals
(i'll let you know what cathedral that is when i post pictures,
because i can't remember the name of it for the life of me) and we
were able to walk up the tower. AWESOME view. also something to be
saved for when i post pictures. we walked around teh back side of
the church, and i started noticing a lot of pagan symbols on this
church. like the all-seeing eye that we have on the back of our
dollar bills. what's up with that?

walked up the hill to Prague Castle, and i got to take a picture
with one of the guards. they aren't anywhere as composed as the
guards here at Buckinham (sp?) palace, so while i was walking over
to take a picture, he gave me a funny look. courtney took my
picture next to the guard (didn't want to stand too close) and we
started walking through the palace grounds, and suddenly this group
of 3 guards marches out, very sharp looking, and it turned out that
it was time for the changing of teh guard! i could'nt see much,
because i seem to be much shorter than everyone outside of Italy,
but it was done without a lot of pomp, done in about 5 minutes.

we came to the other side of the palace, and found the cathedral.
this cathedral is VERY much in the gothic style, so much so that it
slaps you in the face upon entering. this was by far the largest
church we've been in yet. i managed to take a few pictures before a
guard came up to me and told me i wasn't allowed to. oops.

okay, Alex, this is for you. we saw Kafka's house. it cost too
much to go in, but it was there, and we were close enough to take a
picture. Number 22 Golden street, Prague. Courtney was jazzed by
it, so much so that she almost spent $15 on a copy of "The
Metamorphosis," which i convinced her was way too much, and that she
could find it for WAY cheaper elsewhere, and probably for free
online.

anyway, we walked back through the town and realized that we had
really just hit everything there was to see in Prague, and we still
had an entire day there. so the next day, we went back to old town
square, where i bought a couple of Pashminas (basically shawls) for
really cheap, and we managed to find the garden Courtney had
originally been looking for. but it was mostly dead, since it's
winter. duh.

we had a really nice time, but I liked Vienna better, and i'm
starting to like London better than that. i just didn't feel very
safe in Prague. i felt like at any moment, i was going to be mugged
and robbed. it's a very pretty city, but you can tell that there's
still some feelings of oppression (communism only fell there in
1989, or sometime around then).

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