So, our blitz trip this past weekend was to Prague, Czech Republic. To start the trip off, Ryan and I had to find our way to our hotel, and in order to get there we decided we were gonna take the metro and walk to our hotel. First, however, we had to get to the metro, which took some work itself. We asked around at the airport to find out where the bus stop was located to take us into the city. Once we found that, we waited for a few minutes until a bus pulled up next to us. Not sure of where exactly it would take us, we tried to ask the bus driver if this bus went to metro center, and without understanding a word we said, he said “Metro. Yes.” Ryan and I took this as a great opportunity to play some “guess and check” in Prague, so we jumped on. We sat on the bus riding to who knows where, and I decided to take in the sights. Not outside, but rather the people on the bus. A couple ridiculous situations presented themselves. First off, two people, a man and a woman, sitting across from us were speaking English. Normally, other than grabbing my ear because I actually understand this language, this wouldn’t be an out of the ordinary situation, but what I couldn’t figure out was what was this couple’s relationship? It seemed like neither of them spoke the others native tongue so they were forced to attempt to speak English to one another. Not only were they speaking a language that neither of them seemed entirely comfortable with, but the guy had his arm around the girl and the conversation they were having seemed like an awkward first date. I’m still not entirely sure what their relationship is….really friendly long lost siblings, long lost ex-boyfriend/girlfriends igniting a foreign flame once again, or was the girl just some obscure mail order bride attempting to de-awkwardize the situation. When I lost attention in the odd couple, my eyes strayed to a man standing on the bus that seemed to be having an entire conversation with himself in his reflection on the window, and let me tell you….he was PISSED. After my thirty minute episode of the Czech Bachelor meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Ryan and I got off the bus at the final stop, decided to follow everyone else who seemed to know where they were walking, and ended up at the end of a metro line that we could take into the city. We made it into Prague and leaving the metro station we went up the fastest and tallest escalator I have ever been on in my life. From there we started to navigate the street by playing “Which way is my hotel?” After a turn in the wrong direction we stopped in and asked a man in a bank shop, where the street was our hotel was on. Thankfully he spoke English and we were close to the street we needed to go to, but when we started to leave he goes “How’d did you get in here? I didn’t even hear you. You are like ghosts.” Hearing that in a thick Czech accent was pretty hilarious, or at least we thought so, after six hours of traveling.
Anyway, we continued on our journey and made it to the Sheraton. I had no idea what to expect with this hotel, because Ryan’s dad had booked it for us with his points. We walk in the front door and I was blown away by how amazing it was inside. Spacious, comfy couches everywhere, classy, and most importantly…warm. We check in and find out that we got upgraded to a club size room. Bummer, a bigger room, with more amenities. I was clearly heartbroken. We headed up to our room, and opened the door to a b-e-a-utiful sight. Two big, comfy beds, with warm sheets, neatly made with chocolates on our pillows, 42” flat screen TV, a couch, chair, desk, and a fantastic, spacious bathroom. The bathroom had a nice sink, a clean toilet, a shower with a 12” rain like shower head, we even had a heated towel rack. I know this sounds ridiculous to be so excited about, but, if you were used to sleeping on shady hostel cots, where you throw the rag like sheet or two on the cot yourself, and wearing shoes in the shower constantly, this room would seem like an oasis to you too. Once we had soaked up the beauty of the room for a bit, we headed out for a bite to eat and ended up at a great little place called “The Green Tomato” where I got delicious pasta with cheese and mushrooms and a beer for just over 8 Euros. Pretty good deal. Also, in Prague, the beer is cheaper than water, so just about everyone has a Pilsner Urquell with dinner.
The night finished up with a visit to an epic five story club right by the Charles Bridge. For those of you that have seen “EuroTrip,” this club is where they filmed the brother/sister kissing scene, and it was a great time. We spent most of our time on a level of the club that played 90s songs and had a light up floor where we met someone dressed as someone from KISS and another person who was dressed as Ali G. It was pretty fun hanging out and dancing it up on the light up floor all night.
When we got up the next morning, I read a pamphlet about complimentary breakfast in the club lounge in our hotel. We headed down that way, but when our cards didn’t work to get us into the club, we decided to explore downstairs, and found a sign saying “breakfast this way” when we found the breakfast room it was one of the most glorious sights I could’ve imagined at that moment. They had EVERYTHING. I mean fresh fish, breads, jelly, cheese, made to order omelets, fresh fruit, mimosas, the list goes on. After I got past the utter amazement of how beautiful this breakfast was, I loaded my plate up with a little of everything, and sat down in a classy dining area. A waiter approached our table and I ordered some hot chocolate to top this meal off, to which he brought an entire mini-tea kettle size container of hot chocolate for me. This was a heavenly way to start the day. Just as I am thinking “this is almost too good to be true,” we start to walk out and with the simple words of someone from the staff “Wait, your check!” I realize…. “Almost?.....nope. This IS too good to be true.” Ryan and I are handed a check for this breakfast that makes both of our jaws fly to the floor as we are now in utter shock of the ABSURD amount of money that we had to pay for this meal. I mean this breakfast was phenomenal, but I didn’t realize it was THAT good. I think it’s better left unsaid how much it was, but let’s just say I never wanna pay that much for breakfast again in my life.
Once we sopped up our tears, and realized that we just ate breakfast, lunch, and breakfast for the next day we got ready for our first full day in Prague, and started it off with a free three hour walking tour of the city. We took a similar tour in Berlin and really enjoyed it, so we tried the Prague version out and it was great. It started out by going through what is known as Old Town, seeing some beautiful buildings such as the famous astrological clock. Then we explored the Jewish section of town which is an area Hitler purposely kept intact because he planned on using it as a memorial to a dead religion. Really disturbing thought, but the buildings were well preserved there. We saw the Prague castle, which is the biggest medieval castle in Europe, and let me tell you…it was HUGE. Wish we could have explored it more but we only had a day and a half in the city and we were all frozen after three hours out in the snow and sub-freezing temperatures. Prague is a popular place to film movies, so we saw the building where they filmed the poker scene of “Casino Royale” and we saw the restaurant where Vin Diesel is sitting when a sniper attempts to take him out in “XXX.” All in all, it was a great way to spend our Saturday morning.
Eventually we decided we wanted to get an authentic Czech meal for dinner. At the recommendation of our tour guide, we found a place off the beaten path where we were the ONLY tourists in the whole joint and we ordered an authentic Czech dish called “Old Prague.” The description was “A little bit of everything.” Just to give you an idea of how massive this dish was, three of the guys split this dish and there were still leftovers. I know...leftovers. Hard to believe. This meal was soooo heavy. We got duck, ham, pork, sauerkraut, potatoes, dumplings, sausage, cabbage, and some sort of bread. Imagine the density of Thanksgiving stuffing, double it, and you know how dense half this food was. The duck, ham, and pork were delicious, but I wasn’t really into the dumplings or bread. I was really glad we went there though. It was cool to find a local place serving local food.
We didn’t have much time Sunday, but what time we did have we used to go up in the tower that the astrological clock is attached too. What a gorgeous view. I am so glad we went up there, because of the all the views we saw this past weekend, the views from above the city in that tower were by far my favorite. It was a great way to spend a refreshingly sunny Sunday morning.
When we headed home we decided a cab may be a less stressful and simpler way to get to the airport, so we snagged one going back which still was a bit of an adventure (we learned on our tour that Prague is home to Europe’s worst drivers, and if the accident we witnessed firsthand minutes after the tour didn’t confirm that fact for us, then the cab ride sure did). We did make it to the airport in one piece thankfully, and we headed toward our gate to head home. It was funny to me how at home I felt inside of the airport. I think the fact that this was a much bigger airport than we have been traveling in recently, made me think of Dulles and I got a slice of home in the form of duty free shops and oversized hallways. I’m starting to feel like George Clooney in “Up in the Air.”
