Czech me out, I went to Prague (sorry, had to)
“My mouth tastes like purple” Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock
Going to Prague (and returning, I guess) was my longest and (hopefully) last bus ride. It actually wasn’t horrible, because I spent most of the night trying to sleep (trying being the essential word there.) But it wasn’t crowded, the driver was nice and spoke both Czech AND English, a major plus that you don’t find that often in Euroline drivers (the English thing, not the Czech thing) and we didn’t stop too many times.
Anyway we got into Prague a little before 13:00 and I had a couple minutes of panic that if Amanda didn’t find me I had no idea what I would do. I didn’t know where her apartment was located, or more importantly even what part of town I was in. But then I heard my name, and all was well : )
Amanda informed me that we were going to meet Donny at the end of his half-marathon, so off we went on the metro. We emerged right by the river and the view was beautiful. Right across on top of a large his was Prague Castle, and it was super cool, and majestic and such. Also the weather was beautiful … sunny, but not too hot. We had a bit of time, so we hung out by the river for a little, just enjoying the view of both the city and the ridiculously tired runners swathed in foil blankets and yellow ponchos.
Donny finally finished and after letting him catch his breath for a second, we realized we were all pretty hungry. Amanda took us to Pizza Einstein, one of her favorite quick/cheap bites. It was good, and we got to meet one of her roommates, who was super sweet.
After lunch/dinner we went back to A’s apartment, which is gorgeous. Like seriously. It’s huge … it even has a separate living/guest room, along with the girls’ bedrooms. But probably the highlight is the bathroom. It’s simply fabulous. It’s yellow! And has an old-timey bathtub and big windows and the shower is in an alcove … and it’s yellow! Too cute.
We hung out, cuz we were all exhausted, for a little before Donny got a call from his cross country friends who were in Prague for the marathon as well. They decided to go for dinner, but A and I being lazy and or cheap decided to pass for a few more minutes of relaxation.
We had all decided to meet up to go out that night, so after a few 30 Rock episodes, A and I finally dragged ourselves out of the apartment to go to a cute bar. It was pretty cool, it looked like a dungeon and had a bunch of staircases and rooms in it. We ordered all kinds of fun mixed drinks, and I even tried Czech beer, which I was not a fan of – give me a good ole Heineken any day over that. Anyway it was very chill and fun, but funny cuz I came prepared for clubs I think, and felt way over-dressed the whole time.
Since most the people at the table had either run a half-marathon or taken a 15-hour bus ride earlier, we called it a night semi-early. But of course we had to try the traditional Czech “drunk food” a.k.a. a round patty of fried cheese on a bun. Apparently you’re supposed to get sauce on it (which Amanda kept yelling at me for not doing – but hey did I make her try frites and mayonnaise?) but with out anything on it, it didn’t really taste like anything. I gave the majority of mine to Donny, but at least I got to try it.
We hit up one other bar, but then decided to go back to the apartment and crash. (Also, it was daylight savings for Europe so we lost an hour of our night – also for the parentals, that means once again I’m 6 hours ahead of you.) The next morning Donny and Amanda went to mass in the Prague Cathedral … but deciding that I would rather sleep for four hours, instead of three, I opted to meet them afterward. I had a lovely tram ride up to Prague Castle (its like a huge complex btw.)
After meeting them, we walked around a bit, and got some great views of the city. I also got to see the Cathedral, which was beautiful and reminded me so much of Notre Dame. After touring the Castle area we headed back down the hill and walked around the city a bit, more specifically we got to see Old Town. The square was filled with Easter Market vendors, which was pretty cool to see, and reminded me of Amsterdam : ) Donny also wanted to do some souvenir shopping. Before we knew it, it was time for Donny to peace out (his flight was at like 2) so we went back to the apartment and sent him off on his merry way. It would have been more sad, but he’s coming here on Sunday, so … Amanda and I regrouped with a couple episodes of 30 Rock and then we went back out to explore the city a bit more. I got to see some of the must-see touristy things; Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square, for example.
For dinner we had some delicious “Czech-Mex” food. And instead of chips and salsa they “gave” you this thick doughy bread with garlic butter, which was just yummy. By this point, we were both really tired (collectively we had probably gotten about 12 hours of sleep in the last 48-72) and A had class in the morning, so we just headed back to her apartment, and yes, continued our 30 Rock marathon : )
After an embarrassingly lazy night, we got up to go to A’s class. Her study center is on top of another hill so I just walked around the area on top for the hour she was in Czech language. The weather was amazing! I was in my t-shirt and the sun was shinning in a blue sky. It was gorgeousness and actually felt like spring versus my snowy trips of past weeks. We wandered a bit more after she got out of class, and then we got lunch again at Pizza Einstein (or Einstein Pizza, I forget now.) Then it was time for me to leave : (
The bus ride home was pretty uneventful … but a couple stops in a guy that smelled like old pickles sat behind me and stunk up our entire section every time he so much as shifted in his seat. Other than that, it was fine, and I’m just celebrating my bus-free future!
Thoughts on Prague: Prague was pretty cool. I finally settled on that description, because I was trying to find one for a while. Paris was magnificent, breathtaking; Berlin was interesting with its history; Luxembourg was just plain gorgeous. (And Amsterdam has too many positive descriptors to even put down here.) It took me a while but I think I would say Prague is pretty cool. It had a very Eastern European feel to it, but didn’t seem scary communistic at all. It was hard to believe that it was only a couple decades ago. I’m so glad the weather was nice, it would have been a good trip had it not been, but it was just an extra bonus. I really liked the views from the river, when you could look up and see Prague Castle. The trams were also very cute, and metros unbelievably deep (like seriously we had to take some intense escalators to get down to them!) It kind of reminded me of Amsterdam in a way that the houses all had the same feel to them (obviously a different style than A’dam’s, but they were all similar in their appearance/architecture, which I always like.) Oh! Also, it’s not as cheap as everyone says it is. I mean, it’s probably better than A’dam, but just because the Euro is so strong now. The prices are still like comparable to what you would find in some cities in the U.S. Anyway, I’m happy I got to see it and hang out with the homies again : p
So, today we head to Maastricht and Liege with IES. It should be fun, and it will be nice not having to plan anything myself, just have things handed to me.
Also I got my hair cut off!! I was a little nervous about it, but Alex kept talking about how she wanted to get hers cut, and I was like, you know, so do I! I was tired of my long hair, I’m just not a long hair kind of gal. So it’s completely short now, which I love. It went pretty smoothly as well, and now I don’t have to worry about it for a while.
Oh yeah and Christy’s birthday was on Tuesday (woot!) and we had a party and it involved a piñata, confetti and tequila, and that’s all I’m saying ;p
Anyway gotta pack/be semi-productive now I guess!
Much Love
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