Fortunately, unlike the majority of my trips from Rome, Spring break started at a very reasonable hour. Mickey and I left for the airport in the late afternoon.
The shuttle took us to the airport and, just before dusk, we were already through security.
I liked W!zz Air slightly better than Ryan Air. The flight attendants were cuter and they weren't trying to sell me on as many things.
The first thing I noticed was the large amounts of rowdy Italian youngsters heading to Prague. Apparently, Prague is a favorite destination for the Italian Spring breakers. It's similar to America's Daytona Beach, just cheaper, more cultured, and with less old people, better food and better beer.
I love flying into cites late in the evening because you get a beautiful, bird's-eye view of the city lights.
This was Prague! I've only heard stories of this magical place (Chelsea Frazier).
We landed and were greeted by our tall, plump shuttle guy in the deserted airport. Finally a non-Italian!
Halfway to our destination, the driver said he was going to pick up his "business partner." Really? At midnight? She was a cute Czech girl, dressed for a night out. I wasn't too convinced that she was his "business partner." They flirted the rest of the way to the hostel.
I was certainly enjoying things so far!
We arrived at Sir Toby's Hostel. This would be the first and, in the end, the best hostel I would stay at over Spring break (and probably ever). The receptionist was a young, hip, very helpful Czech guy who helped us find something to eat at 1 in the morning (score: 1 for Sir Toby). He marked out a gas station and I went and picked up a hot dog wrapped in a delicious pastry as well as a half-liter of good Czech beer. The total price was around 40 Crowns, or about 2 American dollars.
The adrenaline was wearing thin and the beer was setting in. It was bed time.
DAY TWO: The damn Prague Card
I woke up the next morning around 8. I was in Prague so I definitely couldn't waste any time sleeping in.
Sir Toby's Hostel had an amazing breakfast bar for around 100 Crowns: make your own omelets, pancakes, toast, bagels, bacon, fruit, yogurt, and REAL coffee. After 3 months of cereal and whimpy Italian breakfast, this hit the spot (score: 2 for Sir Toby).
The trams in Prague are quite unique and very characteristic of the city.
It was difficult to tell exactly when we had arrived in the Old Town, so we got off a little early just to be safe. Besides, the architecture alone made walking worth while.
We weren't far. Around the corner was the Old Town Square. Much larger than the piazzas in Italy and much more relaxed.
We wanted to see everything that there was to see in Prague, so we bought the Prague card. This would turn out to be my only financial blunder on Spring break. It cost around 900 Crowns and allowed free or discounted entrance into many of the monuments. It seemed like a good deal. But, many monuments were closed, not included or simply not worth seeing.
Sill, I got the most I could out of it.
Right off of the Old Town Square was the city hall. It was an nice piece Central-European architecture. The basement floor of the city hall was originally the ground level of the old city and you could even see the old streets and houses!
After a short tour, we climbed to the top of the clock tower and had an amazing view of the Old Town Square.
On the facade of the city hall is an artful, engineering masterpiece called the Astronomical Clock. This would be something in which my brother and father would share my interest. It's a clock which depicts not only the time, but the day, the month, the season, the position of the sun and the moon, the time of sunset and sunrise, and many other pieces of useless astronomical information as well. It takes PhD to simply read the thing.
I was a little museumed out, so I got a beer and some potatoes with pork and, as if it were a park or something, sat down in the middle of the square. Everyone else was doing it.
We were sitting by a group of hilarious (mostly due to their accents) Irish tourists. This reminded me that it was St. Patrick's day! Not a speck of green could be seen on them. They were even cracking terribly rude jokes at anyone who walked by decked out in green gear. This distaste for the 'typical' St. Patty's day celebration ritual is not too surprising when you consider that it has little to do with St. Patrick's day; not to mention, the mass of ignorant tourists who head to Dublin every year only to get plastered on their holiday. For the Irish, it's probably better to celebrate in Prague than in their home town (cheaper too). Bloody tourists.
After a good sun soak, and still set on getting a return on my damn Prague card, I checked out the bell tower museum. At first, seeing a picture of this guy and then looking at his artwork was pretty hilarious.
His artwork was highly detailed and colorful and it often depicted music, the church, and demon looking pope characters. It was very odd and very consistent.
(Credit: http://www.praguepost.com/pictures/1-20120314-12464-8599-pic.jpg)
When I discovered that he was declared insane and placed into an insane asylum, his work made much more sense. It also got a lot more interesting. He would draw the same stuff, write songs, and write philosophy all day and nothing else. His work reminded me a little of elementary school when I had to color maps for homework. It was so boring and pointless, but, for some reason, it was necessary. Something tells me that, in his mind, something similar was happening on a much larger scale.
It was, downright, the strangest exhibit I had ever seen. To really emphasize the strangeness, they displayed a list of his 187 inventions and his understanding of the number system. At this point, it was simply creepy.
He did have one little quip of surprising accuracy. "Whosoever wants to travel, through the whole world: Truly needs some, kreuzers of cash: And some good sausage."
On my way out of the exhibit, the lady said something to me in Czech. I looked at her a little confused. Then, surprised that I didn't understand, she said "Auf wiedersehen!" She thought I was either Czech or German! I certainly did blend in a lot better with the locals here than in Italy.
The sun was starting to set and we were just beginning to explore. We checked out a gorgeous Gothic church. The Gothic style really defines the architecture in Prague: Pointed arches with an emphasis on height, detail and gold.
We wandered through the town and over to Charles Bridge. This is the main pedestrian bridge which crosses the Vltava River in the center of town. The bridge itself is a brilliant piece of stone work in the Gothic style as well.
One particularly interesting symbol of their recently acquired freedom is Lennon's Wall. It is a wall where anyone is allowed to spray paint anything they want, usually in dedication to musician John Lennon or to freedom in general.
We walked down to the river so that I could touch it. The riverside provided a very nice view of Charles Bridge and the Prague skyline.
It was getting dark and it was time to head back for dinner. Sir Toby's Hostel was a bit far from the city center. Luckily, it was connected to the center by a tram. The nice thing about Sir Toby being on the outskirts of town was that the food around it was cheaper, tastier and more authentic.
The receptionist provided us with the location of one of his favorite restaurants and wrote down the names of his three favorite Czech dishes (score: 4 for Sir Toby). Dinner was amazing! It was a wonderful change of pace from pizza and pasta.
I had a couple beers at dinner and a couple back at the hostel. There, I met an 18 year old girl named Rosy from LA whose story was that college was too expensive and that she'd rather travel Europe instead (huh?). I also met a fairly drunk and boisterous Englishman, Sid, after I accidentally broke the key in the door. After giving me a hard time, he went to the receptionist and said, "some bloody yank just broke the door!"
Hostels are full of very interesting people on a variety of different drugs whom you only get to know once and only for a couple of days. The combination provides for a unique and exciting experience.
It was bedtime. One and a half days' worth of traveling, a loud Englishman, and I was already exhausted.
