Living in a dorm

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Living in a dorm

In Eastern Europe the cheapest option is to stay in a dormitory. Thus, we stayed mainly in dormitories. Besides saving money, dorming can have other advantages (and disadvantages of which there should be no mention here). For example you can broaden your horizon by meeting an awful lot of strange and funny contemporaries. Prague seems to have an extraordinary attraction for not quite ordinary tourists (apart from an even more extraordinary almost magnetical attraction for tourists in general which subsequently leads to daily congestions on Charles Bridge).
There was Enzo. Enzo loved knitting. At least, I hope so for his own sake. Because this was what he was doing all day long sitting in the gloomy kitchen area of our 16-bed-dorm in Prague. His favorite products were hats - reggae style - which he was going to sell on the market the other day for eight Euro each. To pay for an other night in the dorm he needed to sell on hat a day. Apparently, the arithmetics worked out even as he has already been going on like this for four years. Sometimes, he also knits pullovers (to earn a little extra). However, I am not sure there isn't some rich oncle in Buenos Aires as well.
There was also Bob, a Scotsman. He wasn't leaving the dorm facilities more often than Enzo - at least not in the daytime. People had difficulties to understand Bob and it is unclear if this was only due to his strong accent alone or also because of the frequent absinths he used to drink. Nevertheless, everybody enjoyed playing cards with Bob. Although, he was making up new rules every now and then.
And then there was Ralph who wanted to be a blacksmith later in his life. But before destiny calls he wanted to "impress some girlies", as he put it. To do so he decided a crease in his pants would be just the thing. Therefore, he was avidly boiling water in a cooking pan and ironing his shabby jeans with it. It is not known whether the evening turned out to be a success...
The two Americans in our dorm kept living in their (East coast) - time zone. At first, we were thinking that they must be seriously ill lying in bed the whole day long. This was before we have heard them coming home at 5 am on more than one occasion. They were here for only five days, so why bother to adapt? It could also be they didn't know in which direction to turn their watch.
So how do you survive in a dorm with sixteen individual individuals? First of all, bring some earplugs. In relation to their size they are maybe one of the most valuable items in our backpack. Because in any room larger than a triple - even if they are all home and asleep by 11 pm - it is most likely that one inhabitant has a tendency to breathe a little bit louder than normal. Secondly, bring a padlock to lock away your stuff in case chaos breaks out. Last but not least bring a smile and take it easy and why not join a game of cards with Bob.

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Planet Portrait

* Top 3:

Cesky Krumlov

Pragues Bridges

Kutna Hora

* Dissapointment: Brigittes stomach didn't cope too well with the delicious but heavy Czech fare.

* Best tour: An easy walk to the Divci Kamen castle ruins in the Bohemian Forest near Cesky Krumlov.

* We paid for a meal: 120 - 200 korunas pp

* We paid for accomodation: 200 - 300 korunas pp






Planet Pictures

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Photos

Don't be scared...
...it's just a church. Bones of some 40'000 people have been used to refurbish the interior of this holy site in Kutna Hora.

Play it again, Sam
This fellow and his friends played some good old jazz on Charles Bridge.

The old town of Cesky Krumlov
A world heritage site and we think it deserves it.

Prague's castle
reflected in the Vlatva River.

Where have all the tourists gone?
Charles Bridge at five o'clock in the morning.