Eurotrip: 3rd stop - Prague
As usual, text by pegasus_01
(Comments by nusuth)
July 6th (Monday)
Got up at 7AM to get breakfast and finish packing. The bus was FULL! But I asked a guy who seemed to be sitting by himself if he minded switching so we could sit together and out of the goodness of his heart agreed (and later got yelled at by his friend-girl for not saving her a seat). We saw some BBT, friends, slept a bit, ate, Bones, TOS.
Then we stopped at Terezin concentration camp but we decided that one of those was enough. Instead we looked at some of the souvenirs made of glass an found a Pegasus! (Which marked the start of our Great Pegasus Quest) But it's not quite what I wanted so we'll be on the lookout in Prague for others. But we'll definitely have to control ourselves on the souvenir buying what with the amazing glass work...We'll see how we manage that.
Arrival at Prague:
So the hostel is crap. It's got one of those individual blinds slidy thing and one panel is missing and since we're on ground floor, everyone who so wishes can peer in. We tried putting a sheep up but then the window doesn't close so crap-o. Then the pool is freezing and there's no much chlorine that we can't stay more than 20-30 minutes before going blind. And the sauna didn't work. And in order to buy anything you need to put money on the key card but they don't accept euro coins and only give the money back in Czech Krouna. So boo.
(and the sheets were too small for the bed and the room was huge and weird. BUT! we had our own private shower and got a free beer in the bar so on balance, I was ok with it)
July 7th (Tuesday)
Rise and Shine early-ish for food and to catch the free Prague tour. (Our hostel wasn't in the city centre so we had to take the tram to get there OMG I have SUCH an obsession with those trams! I mean, they look like something our of a Cold War movie on the outside at all technological and pretty on the inside and I will NEVER be able to say the name of the stops....) Free = FTW!
Our tour guide turned out to be this absolutely hilarious guy from USA/Austrelia who could shout like nobody's business:
JUSTIN came to Prague in March of 2009 as a recent University graduate with no plans other than to enjoy life and find an opportunity to delve deeper into Czech history and culture. Luckily, Justin was able to find all of those things working as a guide for SANDEMANs New Prague. Originally from outside Boston, Massachusetts, Justin has also lived in South Australia, South Carolina, Virginia, and now Prague while also frequenting the UK to keep in touch with his British roots. Justin's love for history was fostered at an early age while visiting many landmarks across the world, and was formally honed at the University of Richmond in Virginia where he received his degree in History. While studying there, he was able to spend a summer abroad in Prague, after which he knew one thing was certain: he had to return to Prague at all costs…
Major fun!
So that lasted about 4 hours (from 11ish to 3ish) and then we decided to walk around and get lost within the city while being pleasantly distracted by the shininess. Checked out the WWII memorial (lots of those all round Europe, for some reason...) and the Jewish cemetery (crazy shit people! what a mess all those tombstones! Seriously, gives a whole new definition to "lack of space" ). Quick look at Charles Bridge (the history of Prague is rife with people jumping/falling off things. Windows, bridges...) for some pics and made our way to the dancing buildings (awesome architecture).
Then we wandered around a bit looking for a restaurant with traditional Czech food. We got caught out in the rain (again, but not as bad or as annoying as in Berlin) and eventually settled in a restaurant where we ate goulash, pork with cabbage (I have to note that the sauerkraut was cooked with honey. Seriously, making a study of cooked cabbage through eastern Europe was both delicious and informative) and this awesome dessert of pancakes with blueberries and cheese sauce thing - I dunno but it was AMAZING!! (IT WAS!!) .
Then we made it back to the hotel where I read fics, talked to parents and Hila finished Madhouse. Then sleep.
PS: OMG the Astronomical Clock! Ha! Too funny. Caught it on film. V. horrible but I guess that in the 1300's it would have been the coolest shit after salt.
July 8th (Wednesday)
Got woken up by a fire drill. What am I? back in sophmore year in fucking Lett's Hall? Gak!
Ate pastries we'd bough the day before (mmmmmmhhhhhh poppy seed cakes!!!!!) for breakfast since the buffet at the hostel wasn't so great and caught a cup of joe on the way to the train station to buy 24h tram pass so we could tour the city by tram at night.
Made our way to Prague Castle via tram (and managed to perhaps miss the correct stop? It's up for debate :p - no it's not ^^). Got the short tour passes and audioguides and began our adventure. Which is also when we became reacquainted with our dinner... So we ended up rushing through the castle since we ended up spending half our time in the bathroom (and they were pretty decent bathrooms (TG) also, I say better this than have to go through it tomorrow on the bus...).
Once 12:45 rolled around and we'd returned the audioguides, we made our way down the mountain back to the city and the panini place for lunch (where I once again familiarized myself with the bathroom). After that we hit the shopping streets! Went looking for a dress for Hila but failed (FAILURE! But I did buy an awesome bra!) and so then we went looking at shiny pretty bohemian glasses for me. After looking at what felt like the entire freaking city, I found some super cute ones for about €60. YAY!
Then we got Japanese food for dinner (since we wanted neutral food. I remember laughing about this at the time but dude, writing this down, can we GET any geekier?). After that we wandered the city by tram to see the city by night. We went to the TV tower where there were CRAWLING BABIES going up and down it! WTF! Crazy Czechs.
Then we slowly made our way back to the hostel (during which time I visited yet another bathroom). After that it was packing, talking and episode watching.
(Comments by nusuth)
July 6th (Monday)
Got up at 7AM to get breakfast and finish packing. The bus was FULL! But I asked a guy who seemed to be sitting by himself if he minded switching so we could sit together and out of the goodness of his heart agreed (and later got yelled at by his friend-girl for not saving her a seat). We saw some BBT, friends, slept a bit, ate, Bones, TOS.
Then we stopped at Terezin concentration camp but we decided that one of those was enough. Instead we looked at some of the souvenirs made of glass an found a Pegasus! (Which marked the start of our Great Pegasus Quest) But it's not quite what I wanted so we'll be on the lookout in Prague for others. But we'll definitely have to control ourselves on the souvenir buying what with the amazing glass work...We'll see how we manage that.
Arrival at Prague:
So the hostel is crap. It's got one of those individual blinds slidy thing and one panel is missing and since we're on ground floor, everyone who so wishes can peer in. We tried putting a sheep up but then the window doesn't close so crap-o. Then the pool is freezing and there's no much chlorine that we can't stay more than 20-30 minutes before going blind. And the sauna didn't work. And in order to buy anything you need to put money on the key card but they don't accept euro coins and only give the money back in Czech Krouna. So boo.
(and the sheets were too small for the bed and the room was huge and weird. BUT! we had our own private shower and got a free beer in the bar so on balance, I was ok with it)
July 7th (Tuesday)
Rise and Shine early-ish for food and to catch the free Prague tour. (Our hostel wasn't in the city centre so we had to take the tram to get there OMG I have SUCH an obsession with those trams! I mean, they look like something our of a Cold War movie on the outside at all technological and pretty on the inside and I will NEVER be able to say the name of the stops....) Free = FTW!
Our tour guide turned out to be this absolutely hilarious guy from USA/Austrelia who could shout like nobody's business:
JUSTIN came to Prague in March of 2009 as a recent University graduate with no plans other than to enjoy life and find an opportunity to delve deeper into Czech history and culture. Luckily, Justin was able to find all of those things working as a guide for SANDEMANs New Prague. Originally from outside Boston, Massachusetts, Justin has also lived in South Australia, South Carolina, Virginia, and now Prague while also frequenting the UK to keep in touch with his British roots. Justin's love for history was fostered at an early age while visiting many landmarks across the world, and was formally honed at the University of Richmond in Virginia where he received his degree in History. While studying there, he was able to spend a summer abroad in Prague, after which he knew one thing was certain: he had to return to Prague at all costs…
Major fun!
So that lasted about 4 hours (from 11ish to 3ish) and then we decided to walk around and get lost within the city while being pleasantly distracted by the shininess. Checked out the WWII memorial (lots of those all round Europe, for some reason...) and the Jewish cemetery (crazy shit people! what a mess all those tombstones! Seriously, gives a whole new definition to "lack of space" ). Quick look at Charles Bridge (the history of Prague is rife with people jumping/falling off things. Windows, bridges...) for some pics and made our way to the dancing buildings (awesome architecture).
Then we wandered around a bit looking for a restaurant with traditional Czech food. We got caught out in the rain (again, but not as bad or as annoying as in Berlin) and eventually settled in a restaurant where we ate goulash, pork with cabbage (I have to note that the sauerkraut was cooked with honey. Seriously, making a study of cooked cabbage through eastern Europe was both delicious and informative) and this awesome dessert of pancakes with blueberries and cheese sauce thing - I dunno but it was AMAZING!! (IT WAS!!) .
Then we made it back to the hotel where I read fics, talked to parents and Hila finished Madhouse. Then sleep.
PS: OMG the Astronomical Clock! Ha! Too funny. Caught it on film. V. horrible but I guess that in the 1300's it would have been the coolest shit after salt.
July 8th (Wednesday)
Got woken up by a fire drill. What am I? back in sophmore year in fucking Lett's Hall? Gak!
Ate pastries we'd bough the day before (mmmmmmhhhhhh poppy seed cakes!!!!!) for breakfast since the buffet at the hostel wasn't so great and caught a cup of joe on the way to the train station to buy 24h tram pass so we could tour the city by tram at night.
Made our way to Prague Castle via tram (and managed to perhaps miss the correct stop? It's up for debate :p - no it's not ^^). Got the short tour passes and audioguides and began our adventure. Which is also when we became reacquainted with our dinner... So we ended up rushing through the castle since we ended up spending half our time in the bathroom (and they were pretty decent bathrooms (TG) also, I say better this than have to go through it tomorrow on the bus...).
Once 12:45 rolled around and we'd returned the audioguides, we made our way down the mountain back to the city and the panini place for lunch (where I once again familiarized myself with the bathroom). After that we hit the shopping streets! Went looking for a dress for Hila but failed (FAILURE! But I did buy an awesome bra!) and so then we went looking at shiny pretty bohemian glasses for me. After looking at what felt like the entire freaking city, I found some super cute ones for about €60. YAY!
Then we got Japanese food for dinner (since we wanted neutral food. I remember laughing about this at the time but dude, writing this down, can we GET any geekier?). After that we wandered the city by tram to see the city by night. We went to the TV tower where there were CRAWLING BABIES going up and down it! WTF! Crazy Czechs.
Then we slowly made our way back to the hostel (during which time I visited yet another bathroom). After that it was packing, talking and episode watching.