Prague

Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated this, but it certainly hasn't been for lack of material. I have been to seven countries in the past month, and have seen and done many interesting things, and met heaps of amazing people, and I'm only halfway through my trip!

I will say that this past week has, hands down, been the most intense part of the trip, but I feel like I should cover some things before that.

Hmmm, where to start. I guess I left off at my departure from Amsterdam into Germany. Basically I skipped Berlin (biggest regret of this trip since I've heard it's amazing) because I had no lodging booked and it would have been midnight by the time I got in. The other option would have been to stay in Hannover, but it seemed like a waste of time and money to stay there. So, in Hannover, I headed to an internet cafe, looked up some train times, and found a night train heading to Prague very shortly. So, I figured that would be in my best interest given the situation, and went back to the train station to buy another expensive ticket, this time for a sleeper.

Sleepers might sound great, but there isn't much sleep going on. You feel every bump and curve (at least on this train, which I think might have been a Czech one, German ones are likely better), and there are a lot of curves. I had the top bunk in a 4 or 5 bunk cabin, and there was only one other dude in the bottom bunk.

Needless to say I didn't sleep worth shit, and got into Prague the next morning feeling pretty out of it. First priority there was to get into the city and find some lodging since the station I came into was definitely out of town a bit. Getting to the city may sound like an easy task, but when you're in a new country for the first time, everything becomes its own little adventure. What is the exchange rate? Where is an ATM? Do I withdraw 100 or 500 krona? What tickets do I need to ride public transport, where are they, how much do they cost?

Everything went somewhat smoothly, despite having to wait in line twice because one window was out of day passes. Now what? What tram, what stop, which direction from there? Oh, I forgot to mention, everything is in Czech, which is a Slavic language and bears nearly no resemblance to English.


Prague, in a nutshell: scenic, but touristy and somewhat overrated. People (and my trusty guidebook, whose suggestions I rely on less by the day) told me to spend three to seven days in Prague. Are you serious? What the hell would I do with five days? I suppose if I wanted to see every single museum, every church, and every square, then maybe five days would be a good idea. However, in two or three days I felt I had seen enough to get a feeling, albeit a subtle one, for Prague. Charles Bridge and some of the squares were cool, but I was really impressed (and that's a hard thing to do) by Prague Castle. It sits above the city on a hill and completely dominates Prague's skyline "like a giant beached battleship" as the guidebook says. To me it would be an impressive piece of work if built within the last century, but the building is several hundred years old!

I think the most random and exciting thing to happen in Prague was to meet up with a friend from Alpena. I had updated my status on Facebook to include a reference that I had made it to Prague (if you don't know what Facebook is, it means you're old). John saw this and sent me a message saying he too was in the city! How about that, another Alpenian on the other side of the ocean, yet just minutes away! Small world indeed.

John and I covered the usual Alpena topics (unfortunately for his friend), and then wandered in the rain through the dark, cobblestone corridors of Prague's streets until the wee hours. We managed to squeeze in a shot of Absinthe (140 proof, yikes!) at a touristy pub, and eat some ridiculously large Czech sausages (they hang off the bun by a good two or three inches on each side) while John chatted it up in Russian and English with the Ukranian girl who sold us the food. I had told him earlier that my great-grandfather (last name Senchuk) had come from the Ukraine. John mentioned this to our new friend, who said she indeed knew some Senchuks!


We parted ways after some more wandering and I headed back to my pretty-decent hostel, then I think I went to Kutna Hora that day, which has this crazy church with a whole bunch of sculptures and chandeliers made out of human bones. It was interesting, but the 20 minutes I spent there probably weren't worth the three-hour round trip!