Let me just start off by saying that if you have been to Europe and NOT been to Prague, you have not been to Europe. Well, that's obviously a straight up lie, but Prague is EXACTLY what I would imagine a European town to look like, smell like, feel like, taste like, cost like, be like. So. Amazing. No complaints...although you will probably complain after reading this because I have a feeling this blog post will be novel length. Go get an ice water (just the idea of this makes me insanely jealous, ice water is a forbidden fruit over here apparently) and take a potty break now and then come back.
Getting lost on the beautiful, winding streets that you cannot pronounce to save your life...inexpensive yet highly alcoholic yet at the same time delicious beers brewed in-house and cheeeap...hilly parks full of slugs, rose gardens, and the short, squat cousin of the Eiffel Tower...ornate bridges crossing a stunning river...historical clock tower that not only tells you the time and date and position of the sun but also what you should name your child on this particular day of the year...delicious hearty food with strange combinations like meat & cranberry sauce & gravy & whipped cream...gelato that can stand next to Italy's best from a place called "Cream and Dream" (not a joke).....these were only a few of the many things that we experienced whilst roaming this fantabulous city. Not to mention cheap prices of everything and an AIR CONDITIONED HOSTEL. Paradise, I declare!
The 5 hour trainride from Berlin to Prague was both wonderful and terrible. Wonderful because I finished the Hunger Games series, terrible because the AC on the train was not working so we essentially sat in a sweaty box with 4 other strangers. For 5 hours. All's well that ends well I guess. The day was saved by our arrival to St. Christopher's "The Mosaic" Hostel a short metro ride, tram ride in the wrong direction, and then tram ride in the correct direction away. Brand new with a bar downstairs, Czech language audioteachingbook in the downstairs bathroom (cool idea even though I still couldn't repeat any of the words correctly...just sounded like a jumble of consonants), friendly hostesses, private brand-new bathroom, automatic blinds, did I mention air conditioning?! After high-fiving, Megan and I headed to a small, nontoursity restaurant recommended by the cute girl at the front desk where we had the cheapest, most filling, stunningly delicious meal that we have had in a while. The beer there was brewed in-house and quenched the thirstiest of thirsts, the garlic soup had melted cheese in the bottoms and croutons on the top, the potatoes were made into pancakes, and the meat/whipped cream/gravy/cranberry combo was weird and delectable. I am salivating remembering this meal. Back at the hostel we attempted at drinking more but were sung into exhaustion by the strange, hippy-Montana two man band with an interpretive dancer flailing about with a yellow scarf. I literally don't think I could make this up if I tried.
Day 1 began with walking along the picturesque streets (I really need to learn another word besides picturesque to describe a city...but that's what it WAS) and experiencing that which is the old city of Prague. Too beautiful for words. At one point, though, just as we were taking pictures of the clock tower and grimacing as we saw dark gray clouds in the distance, suddenly the world shrunk to pea-size level. A cute girl comes up to Megan and I, who are the most obvious tourists ever, and in the typical pub-crawl-recruiter way asks, "So what are y'all doing tonight, interested in going out?" Um...A. Yes. B. Y'all? Turns out this girl Ashley is from Lake Charles, Louisiana and when Megan mentioned her cousins living there it was discovered that Meg's cousin was Ashley's first kiss. Again, this is not a joke. I KNOW, RIGHT?! So this amazing girl tells us that we get the Louisiana discount if we come to her bar (she moved to Prague and opened up a bar and pubcrawl. I want her life) called the Drunken Money where we have open bar for 2 hours, beer pong and flip cup, and then a pubcrawl to 3 other bars. SOLD.
Plans made, we headed towards the open air market when the clouds suddenly swoop in...don't ask me how clouds swooped, but they did...and we JUST make it into a bar for an afternoon beer when the rain turns from drizzle to rainstorm. Then we are cheersing our pints and I am pouting about the fact that they do not serve fried cheese when rainstorm turns to hailstorm with hail turns the size of marbles! Never know what will happen in Prague, which is further proved by our next move. Post-hail storm, which fortunately did not last long, we walked across the Charles V bridge and up the hill towards the Strahov Monastery. There, we ordered 16% IPA beer and ran into Megan's friends from home, bro and sis Janie and Elliot. "MEGAN?!" gasps Janie, "JANIE?!" gasps Megan. How I love the small world. We laughed, we drank, we talked, we joked, we made plans to meet at the Drunken Monkey, then Megs and I walked through the slug-ridden park (bigger than your thumb...the slugs not the park) where she swallowed a bug accidentally and I took way too many pictures of the dozens of variations of roses in the rose garden. On the way back down the hill Megan almost fell down the steep hill because I made her blaze a trail with me. Typical, and awesomely, I captured a picture of her scrambling downward, fortunately not to her death.
At the Drunken Monkey we turned into Drunken Monkeys. Ate a kebab beforehand, not the best, and got there early enough to participate in the most ultimate game of beerpong: Civil War. Instead of the North vs. the South, we did America vs. Canada and Australia. At one point my whole team was out, save me, and THEIR whole team was out, save one girl...this was a literal fight to the death. Who'd have thunk I would be re-enacting Hunger Games via beerpong. Sadly, I lost in the last second but my team was still proud of me. Apparently I had been talking about the Civil War earlier, claiming that though the North won the war, the South was ahead until the end...one guy came up to me post-defeat and told me I represented the South pretty well as I had dominated the game until the last second. I cheersed to that...Provst! :) As we were all ushered to the front door to start the crawl, we realized this would be no crawl but a SPRINT because it was, yet again, raining buckets outside. Not one to let rain get me down, off we sprinted, yelling and laughing and screaming! I guess I was sprinting with too much speed and agility because my flip flop flip flopped off my foot and broke completely. Great way to start the night...and we looked great too. Fortunately Ashley was my saving grace and cabbed me back to the hostel to pick up another pair of shoes, during which she told me if I ever want to move to Prague I can have a job working for her...so family, if I do not come back or if I disappear one day to never be seen again...check Prague. I'm most likely there.
Hangover, shmangover, that's our motto! We took hot showers (amazing!) and I dropped my laundry off (only 2000 crowns, nbd) before heading back across the Charles V bridge later that morning. Starved and dehydrated, we made a serious mistake of stopping for lunch on a touristy street and were charged out the wazoo for bland food. Tempers inflamed, we trekked up the rest of the hill to the Prague Castle and just stared at it. No WAY was I paying for anything else, even to go into the castle. You brought it upon yourself, Prague. We did get to see the changing of the guard though...not as cool as the UK one, I'm sure, but those Czechs know how to dress their military men (who ISN'T a sucker for a man in uniform?!). After this we went back to the Strahov Monastery to lighten our spirits with some more IPA and spent the rest of the day shopping for replacement shoes for me, unsuccessfully. We really are the choosiest beggars.
That night we attempted the pub crawl yet again, but it wasn't nearly as fun as the night before. Though we did meet some LSU guys which further shrunk our world when Megan played the name game with them for like 2 hours. Went to sleep early and did so happily.
Long story short...go to Prague! I might even take a gander and say this will not be the only time I go here on this trip...who knows what July will hold?!
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