Truce?
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2008
1
12
13
Trip End
Oct 26, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Okay, Prague and I are calling a truce. Sure, I still feel a bit resentful about the whole "early morning insanity" that it threw at me, but hey, worse things could happen, right? And I'm starting to like Prague a bit. Not a tonne, but enough that I may need to give it a second chance on another trip...
My two days in Prague were short, and made shorter still by the incessant back-and-forthing I did each day. I swear, if I NEVER see the inside of the Prague train station, it will be too soon.
To make a long story short, I spent day one stashing my luggage, went to the centre of town, and by some miracle, found a Starbucks. Yes, I know. Not terribly authentic, but I was tired, cold, disgruntled, and just wanted something that I could count on. I wanted homogeneous. I wanted a coffee as big as my head. I wanted Starbucks. Three hours and one ENORMOUS coffee later, I felt a wee bit better and went out in search of fun and such. I hit all of the major toursit things, I think : I saw the astronomical clock, I climbed the tower and saw the square, I went up the stairs of death to see the Loreto and the St Vitus Cathedral, I shopped. And shopped some more. And wrote postcards. And did a bit more shopping.
At the hostel that evening, I ran into a group of American exchange students on break, who had all mystically ended up in Prague on the same day, and they sort of adopted me and we went off in search of food. Good times. I had fried cheese. In my defense, I thought they meant a grilled cheese sandwich, but apparently bread isn't part of it. :) Live and learn, right?
Day two, was where I could tell that I was ready to go home. i thought it would be a fabulous day to go see the Jewish quarter, until the Aussie girl in my room reminded me that it was Saturday... oops! Jewish sabbath! Everything is closed. Well, yet another excuse to go back one day. So instead, I wandered and shopped and looked around and walked down Wenceslas square, and crossed the Charles bridge, and had some more Starbucks, and ate street food, and had ice cream, and tried to buy juice, and managed to get rid of all of my Czech money, and then waited for the train. I was alittle bit worried, as I had paid for an upgrade and didn't know what I was going to get. After my first overnight train, I was almost ready to give up on trains all together, but this one was already booked. So, i paid for a sleeper, telling the lady over and over "no sharing. Just me". Hence, my nervousness. What would I get?
I think that overall, Prague and I ended on an okay footing. I'll give it one more chance (same as poor, wet Budapest) on another trip - perhaps a Prague/Budapest/Slovenia/Croatia swing... Just to see what it's like. Two days would have been long enough for my superficial travel experience, if only I had remembered the days of the week. Le sigh.
