We arrived at the Lida Guest House met Jan and Jirka and immediately proceeded to go to our beds and pass out until past 11am. We then met with rebecca grabbed lunch at Josefina cafe and explored the area near our hostel and the lesser known castle in Prague. The weather was still a bit dismal, but pleasant enough. We also managed to see the Communism museum, which was interesting as my czech historical knowledge is non-existent, but could have done much better.
On saturday I woke up a bit early to do a morning run before beginning with the day. I ran south along the river, apparently pretty close to the actual marathon course. The views were nice, and I saw many of the lower price prague hostels (if being 8km from the city is still considered prague). Then rebecca and I headed out to see one of the several defenstrations sites where a wedding (?) was taking place, then to the park north of the city, where previously a stalin statue was placed, but it was rather quickly taken down after the velvet revolution. We then went through prague castle and the Charles bridge both fantastic sites that live up to the hype, but do not really bear repeating. Then, we stumbled upon the cheapest starbucks in europe. A fantastic suprise with a bagel and cream cheese for around $3.
We then ate at U Bubevincze (sp), a fantastic restaurant with wonderfully tasty dark beer, that reminded me a little bit of rootbeer (not in flavor as much as feel, aparently made with caramel). Our trip was topped off with a silent black light theater productions of alice from alice in wonderland growing up. None of us really could say that we understood the show with some of us having much stronger opinions on that topic than others. I would venture a guess that most audiences would probably be better off going to see an opera or a show at another theater. That being said, it was certainly very very different from anything I have seen before, so were that the only criterion, then it would be worth the visit. After asking my czech coworker about it, he said in his 6 years of living in prague he never once went, and was pretty sure czechs don't go, it is just something for tourists.
The last day we lounged around a bit in the morning and then went to the English bookstore (really nice, and had a great selection of cheap books) and to the easter markets and jewish quarter.
The train back was a bit of a mess since there was construction in Austria, so the normally direct night train was now a train, bus, and then another train. I walked into one of the first class compartments to find 3 quebeckers studying in lausanne and geneva speaking in french, and we all chatted for several hours until we arrived in Linz. Where despite incredible disorganization and confusion everyone seemed to manage to get on the correct train with a place to sleep. I was quite excited when I got on the train and into Austria since I could once again utilize my german and feel at least a little bit comfortable in the country. I found the Czech republic to be a little bit uncomfortable from my lack of language skills. When I can't read or even begin to communicate in the native tongue, I just don't feel quite right. I don't like being an ugly american tourist.
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1 comment:
dude, we have some photos of the same places! i was an ugly american tourist and the czechs wouldn't speak english to me :( i'm glad you were with friends as i had to seek comfort at a local mcdonalds. i am very jealous of your travels and am glad to travel vicariously through your blogs :)
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