Czech it out...

Although it has been almost a week since we have returned to Athens I wanted to let everyone know about our trip to Prague. We got back to Athens around 4:00 am on Monday (March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day for the Irish folk out there) and so therefore Monday was a lazy day and then I got caught up with school work and other things so that is why it has taken me so long to write about our little vacation to the Czech Republic.

Nonetheless I will tell y’all about it now…

We left Athens at 4:20 am so with the 45 minute bus ride to the airport we left our apartments around 1:00 am just to be sure that we would get there in plenty of time. Of course we got there before check – in so we spread out on some airport chairs and attempted to get a little sleep. Finally we checked in, on Greek time of course, for those non-Greeks reading this Greek time is half an hour after the scheduled time. Once we ended up at the correct security checkpoint (the first one was closed but there was no indication of this until we had walked all the way to the end of the terminal and read the sign, typical Greeks huh?) we passed through with no problems, however we were short a few bottles of lotion and containers of hair gel, looks like they do have size limitations on liquids in Europe too. Once we got to the gate some of us slept and others discussed the thunderstorm brewing outside. Max (aka John Maxwell or Kevin James as he is also known) doesn’t enjoy flying as it is so the thought of taking off during a thunderstorm wasn’t sitting well with him. After an hour discussion about plane crashes and planes being struck by lightning we boarded the plane.

The trip was good for some and terrible for others. For myself and the ones who slept it was a wonderful trip that felt like a 30 minute flight rather than a 2 ½ hour flight but for the ones who were awake for the bumpy turbulent ride it seemed much longer. We arrived in Prague around 6:00 am and once we got our bag (more on the bag later) we attempted to find our way to the hostel where we were staying. We looked into getting a van but they held only 8 people and there were 9 of us. Finally around 7 am the booth for bus and metro tickets opened and we found our route to the hostel. We got on a bus and rode about 30 minutes (with all the students going to school and people going to work) to the metro station where we ended up at the Florenc metro stop. After we got out of the metro station the directions to the hostel were not helpful at all; also the fact that nothing was in English proved to be a problem as well. We asked several people for directions and ended up walking around in a huge circle. We only had a small black and white photo of Hostel Levir and were judging different buildings by the top of the building because the hostel had a very distinct shape. Finally we arrived and entered an old building.

When we approached the registration desk Levir himself greeted us, he was a creepy Czech man with a rather large mole on his right cheek. We paid for our rooms (a total of $36 for all 4 nights) and then he showed us upstairs. The building itself wasn’t anything special kind of rundown musty stairways. We were on the 4th floor and no elevator so we made the trek upstairs. Thankfully there were 9 of us so they put us all in one room together. Being all together helped ease my fears of staying in my first hostel. Also after reading several reviews on www.hostelworld.com we decided to take our own sheets even though linens were provided because of suspicious stains on the sheets they provide. We therefore had to pack a suitcase to check in full of sheets; hence why I mentioned the one bag earlier. For those of you who know how much I over pack when I go on vacations you will be pleased to know that I packed for 5 days in my book bag; minus the sheets of course. We got the grand tour of our floor complete with mini kitchen two toilets and one shower. Very luxurious accommodations. Seeing as it was 8 am and we hadn’t slept much the night before we all got into our beds to take a morning nap. We used the comforters which Levir provided and put them on top of the mattresses because they were dirtier than the sheets. Then we put their sheets on top of the comforters and finally put our sheets on top of those. We did the same with the pillowcases and finally we all fell asleep.

Around noon we woke up from our nap and decided we were all starving and we wanted to see the city. Our hostel claimed to be near historic Old Town Square however we were a good 20 minute walk away. We had Levir point us in the right direction and we were on our way. We walked through the picturesque streets of Prague with our cameras in hand. Prague has beautiful architecture and has Bavarian influences so it feels like you are in a little Bavarian village, or a fairy tale as we decided while we were walking. Finally we ended up a café, Café Emporio, and decided to eat there because we were starving. We drank delicious iced coffees with ice cream and ate a huge meal. Finally after we stuffed our faces we started off to see more of the sights. We walked around and ended up in Wenclesas Square then proceeded towards St. Charles Bridge. On the bridge we saw Prague Castle in the distance and we stopped to take several pictures with the river in the background. We crossed the bridge and went searching for the John Lennon Memorial Wall. The wall has a bronze face of John Lennon sticking out of it and people from all over the world write various quotes and graffiti.

After reading as many of the quotes as possible we headed back towards the bridge, however we stopped first to take a “Little Miss Sunshine” picture with a VW van we happened to see parked on the street. We found a group of Italian high school girls on a school trip and we had them take our picture. When Tim told them that he was from New York City they all screamed and were so excited. They kept shouting, “the best city in the world!” After we said our goodbyes we headed back towards the bridge then found a small underground pub on the way. Since Prague is famous for its beer we decided to stop and have a drink seeing as it was approaching happy hour. We got our $2.00 ½ liter beers and sat around for a while just enjoying ourselves.

We went to another bar after a little more exploring and found 1 euro happy hour. So we warmed up with some amaretto hot chocolate before heading back to the hostel. Once we got back we took a nap. Courtney, Ashley, Rena, Leah, and I decided not to go out with the guys and Ivy and instead we set out towards Wenclesas Square to find something to eat. We found an Italian restaurant and walked in around 11:20, however we were still on Greek time so we were shocked to find the place cleaning up and closing at midnight. However they still served us some delicious pizza and appetizers despite the late hour. Afterwards we began our walk home and ran into some British guys. They latched onto us because some guys promoting a strip club kept following them around. So naturally if you find a group of girls the guys asking about the strip club leave you alone. We ended up talking to them for a while and then parted ways. However as they were turning the corner one of them turned around and said, “Facebook?”

When I heard him say that we all stopped and met again, we wrote names down on pizza boxes and next thing you know they were walking back to our hostel with us. They were from Liverpool and were in Prague for a “holiday.” We were hoping to stop at one of the many pubs near our hostel but seeing as it was well past midnight everything was closed. So we made them walk all the way to our hostel and then made them turn around and go back to their hotel. Oh well it was nice to have a group of guys to walk us back late at night.

Thursday morning we got up bright and early and went to Wenclesas Square to meet our tour guide where we were begin our 6 hour tour of Prague. We started with a 2 hour walking tour through Wenclesas Square, Old Town, and the Jewish Quarter (to name the highlights), then we got on board a ferry boat and rode on the river to see the city, “from a whole other perspective” – at least that’s what the pamphlet said. The boat was nice and we got a drink and tasted the famous “hot wine” that Prague has to offer. It is spiced warmed wine – almost tastes like apple cider and very tasty. We got some great pictures from the boat of the bridge and the castle in the distance.

After the boat ride we went back towards the city to have a “traditional Czech meal.” Problem with going to Prague during lent is that the vegetarian selections are very expansive so I ate fried cheese (a famous Czech dish) and French fries. The fried cheese is like a big rectangular mozzarella stick; however the Mayflower’s mozzarella sticks are much better than what we ate in Prague. Everyone else had the pork with sauerkraut and dumplings. The dumplings in Prague are pretty bland and are basically rolls so you have to dunk them in the sauce to give them any flavor. We also had vegetable soup (tasted like Campbell’s) and a gingerbread cookie/pie thing for dessert. Wasn’t our best meal but what can you say – it was included in the price of the tour.

Once lunch was over we made our way to the tram where we headed up towards Prague Castle. The highlight of the castle is the church that inside the grounds. It is absolutely spectacular. The gothic architecture is breathtaking and the stained glass windows are beautiful. After we walked around the church we walked through the castle grounds and it truly felt as if we were in Beauty and the Beast. Despite the freezing cold temperatures and freezing rain/drizzle it was a wonderful experience.

The tour ended at the castle and so we made our way down from the stairs. Courtney, Tim, Ivy, and I ended up at Bohemia Bagel to eat a little snack and get inside from the cold. Bohemia Bagel was our favorite place in Prague. It was started by an American and has several locations around the city. It has all kinds of bagel sandwiches and also has internet access which was helpful too. We checked our email and then ate bagels and cream cheese. Tim and Ivy tasted grog, the warm rum drink in Prague. Courtney and I tasted theirs and decided not to order our own. We walked back through Old Town Square and found a candy stand with chocolate covered fruit so we stopped there and had chocolate covered bananas and strawberries.

Once we got back to the hostel we all re-grouped and ventured towards Café Velryba, a recommended restaurant that had cheap pasta dishes and cheap beer too. We had to split up because there were no tables big enough for 9 people so I went with Tim, Dylan, and Max into the back of the bar which turned out to be a separate restaurant so we ordered our pasta and beer and talked for a while. Then after a couple of beers we made our way to Dog Bullocks, another recommended bar. The boys ordered fried cheese and we eventually all got to sit at a table together and enjoyed more beers and each others company.

After the two pubs we started on a trek to find this hip hop bar. After asking several people for directions and stopping at several places for potty breaks we finally ended up at the club. However it was pretty much an American club in Prague so Max, Dylan, Ashley and I left and got a taxi home.

The next morning we slept in and had a delicious meal at Bohemia Bagel. I had French toast bagels, they were pretty much heaven on earth. Then Ivy, Tim, Dylan, Max and I met Eric (Stephanie from Athen’s boyfriend) to go to a monastery that brews beer. The monastery is one of the oldest working monasteries in Europe and had an art gallery inside with very interesting and un-monastery like art. For example there was a painting of a woman holding a severed head smiling…quite interesting to say the least.

After we toured the monastery we went to the brewery and tried the beer that the monks brew. Although to our disappointment the waiters in the brewery were regular people and not monks. We enjoyed a few beers and then afterwards we walked around a bit then headed back to the hostel. After a short nap we decided to grab something to eat. Ivy, Dylan, Max and I went to a restaurant up the street from the hostel. We walked in to find a restaurant full of locals, a menu only in Czech, and a lot of staring people. We ordered the first item on the menu that we could recognize, “penne.” And then we hoped that it was pasta. To our delight it was pasta with salmon and the boys had pasta with chicken. We survived our first Czech meal then hurried out of the restaurant because we didn’t look very welcomed.

We came back and took another power nap and then got ready for our crazy night in Prague. There is a 5 story club in Prague (Karzoy Laznye – sorry my Czech spelling is terrible) and it is the largest club in all of Central Europe. On each floor there is a different type of music. So we made our way out to the club around 1:30 am with our new German friends that were staying in our hostel. Frony, Rosie, Lucas, and Alex joined us as we ventured towards the St. Charles Bridge and the club.

There are 5 floors the first floor plays modern current music, the 2nd floor is the techno floor, 3rd is hip hop, 4th is retro, and 5th is the chill out floor. Each floor has a dance floor area and a lounge area with couches and chairs. It was crazy in there; a lot of Americans and a lot of non-Czech but definitely worth going to. We spent a lot of time in the retro floor in the beginning because they were playing wonderful 80’s songs. We walked in and “Living on a Prayer” started playing. It was pretty surreal listening to such typical American songs while in Europe but everyone around us knew the words too. While on the retro floor we met some more British guys who were celebrating a “stag” party or bachelor party as we know them.

After the retro floor we ventured to the other floors and before you knew it the club was closing and it was 5:30 am. Half of us left to go back to the hostel while the guys and Ivy went to Studio 54. We got to the McDonald’s near our hostel around 5:50. It was freezing and we all had to use the restroom so we stood outside of the McDonald’s for 10 minutes while all the employees were inside watching us. We got our food and ate the best Egg McMuffins ever. We also splurged and got a Kit-Kat McFlurry…when in Prague, huh?

We went back to the hostel and slept for a while then ventured to Bohemia Bagel for a late lunch. We did a little shopping and walking around. A few of us went to a Salvador Dali exhibit and just saw all the sites one more time. That night we ate at a restaurant called Mama Lucy’s and enjoyed a good meal but a steep bill – Tim’s cheeseburger ended up being like $20. We never really got used to the crown, Prague’s currency. 16 crowns equals 1 US dollar so we were constantly checking our calculators and trying to do the math in our head. Sometimes the conversion got the best of us and we ended up paying more than we should have for some things but we always saved money on beer – because it was no more than 30 crown for a half a liter.

Sunday was spent killing time. We left our hostel at 10 am and our flight didn’t leave until 11 pm. We ate again at Bohemia Bagel with our German friends who were high school students who just drove to Prague for the weekend. Then we split up and walked around, bought souvenirs, sat in pubs, ate our last barrels. Barrels were one of our favorite things about Prague. Because we were there before Catholic Easter were there in time for the Easter Festival. All throughout Old Town and Wenclesas Squares were tents set up selling souvenirs and food. Our favorite things were these cylinder shape dough things dipped in cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious!! We also drank our last beers and ate our last fried cheese sandwiches before getting on the metro go to towards the airport. We got to the airport early again and settled into our seats before heading to the gate and heading back to our home away from home.

Overall our first trip was a success although 6 full days might have been too long on our budget but other than that Prague was wonderful.