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We´re leaving for India tomorrow! I can hardly believe that this part of our trip is over, and that in a month we´ll be back in Cowboyland... crazy. (side note: my parents ACTUALLY moved! Luckily, I´ve snuck into my program at UBC AND have a place to live next year, so soon enough I´ll be Vancouverbound.. weird to think about now). Anyway, this will be the last blog for Europe, so enjoy, ma´kizzles!
We spent about five days in Prague, and that was more than enough. The city itself really was pretty, but to appreciate it you had to get past the sleazy strip joints, swarming crowds, and VLTs as far as the eye could see. On top of that, the locals (understandably) seem to hate the tourists for ruining their city´s charm, so it wasn´t exactly the friendliest place we´ve been. But seriously. So. Many. Americans. Maybe more than in America!
Our hostel was a little rowdy for my taste. When we came back all overwhelmed from Prague´s old town we were greeted by... insanity. Like, nightly absinthe parties and people having sex in the dorm rooms and vomit and... wow, when did I grow up? We did manage to meet some really cool people and have a few adventures, so I´ll just give a few highlights:
a few highlights
Made friends with dude starting up a Japanese hostel in Prague, who also happens to be a Karate black belt who fled Japan after being brutally beaten by his scupture master while he was studying traditional arts. He had the craziest stories ever, and a stolen Czech passport. Anyway, we helped him carry a mattress through the streets of the old town, and he taught us how to read palms. Now I gots some skillz.
While trying to make a phone call to her mother, Pia had a strange encounter with a homeless/crazy man. (this story lends itself to present tense narrative, so here I go...). Pia´s standing at a pay phone on a relatively busy street and this dude starts pestering her to hurry up. She firmly tells him where to go (to another phone booth, of course... Pia was the picture of politeness). she turns back around and this guy THROWS something at her, hitting her in the leg! She quickly finishes up the conversation....
Meanwhile, I´m waiting for her across the street, where I have been accosted by this weird Welsh guy in an orange Mickey Mouse tshirt who has bought me a street beer and is rambling incoherently about the Smiths, death, and some movie he wants me to go to (he is unwashed; I am not interested) and Pia comes running up, pissed off and looking confused. Just as she´s telling us about the incident, who should appear but the crazy guy! He sees Pia, and yells in Czech. She curses him in English and flips him off. He reciprocates and then runs away, zigzagging across the street. Weirdest 15 minutes ever.
Did a day trip to a little town outside of Prague called Kutna Hora, containing... dum dum dum... a BONE church. Yes! Human bones! I think I may have missed most of the significance of said bone church, but I guess it had something to do with the plague. The main thing is that it´s an old church, decorated entirely with the bones of 40 000 people: bone chandeliers, bones on the walls, piles of skulls, etc. I don´t really feel like I´m doing justice to the weirdness of the bone church, but trust me, it was totally creepy, and just a smidge disrespectful. Afterwards, we went out for lunch at a very local kinda place, and I accidentally ordered organ meat. Gross.
Consumed 4 shots of absinthe each, in less than 2 hours. Never again.
To escape the horrifying crowds, we treated ourselves to a couple of shitty movies. Here are my reviews:
A Lot Like Love
A Heartwrenching, uplifting exploration of love, loss, the duality of man, cyclical lives, and... I´m out. It was pretty bad, but not as bad as we expected. My favourite was how they gave Ashton Kuchter a brother with a hearing disability. Very sensitive + things.
War of the Worlds
Ugh. I´m not even going to try to be funny. It was just SO bad. You could almost see Tom Cruise mouthing the lines to himself as he struggled to remember and pronounce them. Poor Tom. Wretched movie.
Alright, after we were through with Prague, we hopped on a train to a little town in Bohemia called Cesky Krumlov, and it was like stepping into another world. It´s this little Renaissance town that, while admittedly touristy, is totally charming. We were also staying in the homiest little hostel where we felt pretty darn well taken care of. Unfortunately, the weather was bad while we were there, but I think we made the best of it. Our first day we did a tour of the Eggenburg Brewery, where they make Ye Olde Beer the old fashioned way -- we got to try it unfiltered, and it was delish. We also went out for Ye Olde Food -- a huge Renaissance platter full of various charred things. Very bohemian, filling, and tast-ay.
The next day, after convincing a fellow travelling friend to cut my hair, we went up to the castle, which is actually guarded by real live bears... didn´t believe it until I saw it. Then, due to the weather and our general lethargy, we wiled away the afternoon with some friends in a beautiful little tea house where we took off our shoes an relaxed with some nargile. Later that afternoon, Sam gave Pia a haircut too. Now we are totallz stylin´, just in time for India.
Which more or less takes me to now -- We´re killing time in Frankfurt until our flight to Delhi tomorrow morning. Europe: We lived it, we loved it, and now we´re leaving. Wish us luck, cuz I think we (or maybe just I) will need it!
Vaya con Dios,
Liz
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K-Ro
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Look out India!
Well ladies, I can't believe the time has finally come for you to leave Europe! It seems like only a short while ago I was sitting in Pia's kitchen stuffing my face at the farewell potluck. In the grand scheme of things I guess 5 months does go by pretty fast eh? Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks again for all your entertaining and very wittily written blogs 'cuz they always make my day! Heh heh, this last one especially gave me a good chuckle (at your expense-- sorry!), as Liz's writing skillz enabled me to create a pretty funny mental picture of the 2 of you fending/lipping off the dirty orange shirt guy and violent homeless man. Kudos ladies! K, hope you have a blast in India and enjoy your last month abroad. I'm heading up to the stampede this week so I'll say hi to the cowboys and cowtown for you! Take care, good luck, and I'll see you soon :)