Czeching out Prague

zee babushka dolls are so cute, no?
In Prague you have gorgeous buildings in all styles. From gothic and renaissance to rococco and art nouveau. But my favorite is this lovely little building called "the dancing house." Doesn't it just make you want to move?





















Prague...also called Praha. It's an interesting mix of beautiful buildings, incredible history, music and bold development since the fall of communism.

So on Friday, Alvin, Ehrine and I arrive from Geneva. It's been a long and rainy week at work, so we are stoked to be on vacay. Too bad our first experience is mostly our most monstrous. Ehrine and I booked a hostel the night before to be good little students and save some money. It had good reviews on hostelworld and even was mentioned in Rick Steve's Europe book. I don't know why. I got there and the "receptionist" (I will name him bouncer because he looked and acted like a czech thug) was all MEAN. It took 45 minutes to get our room ready when he said 20, and then he demanded I pay in cash. We all go and withdraw money and then find a room without the private bathroom that we had expected. I go back the the bouncer and try to explain, in my most diplomatic tone possible, that there must have been some mistake. Here's where he throws the smack down and tells me "there's nothing to understand" and basically tells me to get out of his face. Makes me cry and go back to my room with my tail between my legs as we settle in to the fact that the hostel is full of young-looking boys who seem to be here to smoke and get drunk in the lounge outside. Yikes. I'm still not beaten badly enough to go demand a cancellation on my Sunday night stay. Bouncer once again gets that "i want to pummel you" look on his face and verbally abuses me, but eventually decides I'm not worth the annoyance and gives me a night's refund. Woo hoo! And I take my money and go to a hotel with a sweet old lady at the reception desk. (That's an important life lesson learned.)

But that's where the horror ends. Seeing prague is pretty neat. We do a lot of the city sights on Friday and Saturday. We're in luck because we happen to choose the weekend of the 650'th anniversary of the Charles Bridge. There are some celebrations that we get to see...including a live "joust" (people hacking away at each other a la Brave Heart). I'm struck by how every where you go, there are tickets being sold for classical music concerts. Musicians also give us a taste by playing a big in public to perhaps promote their concerts later on. I'm enchanted by the idea of music floating through the streets as you walk by.

Surprisingly...there are tons of Korean tourists in Prague. My theory is that it's all because this popular Korean drama loosely translated as, "It happened in Prague." Prague also seems to be a top destination for UK boy parties.

Two more things: language and food. It's crazy that more people speak English in Prague than in France and Switzerland. I guess it's because they have to in order to be international. Definitely made it easy for me to get around! Secondly, food. My best guess is the Czech Republic culture is pretty similar to Russia's. The traditional food tends towards meat, something called goulash and potatoes. But why oh why does it have to be so salty????? I ordered a plate of steamed veggies and I pretty much choked on them because of the salt. It made me so sad to think of the heaps and heaps of sodium someone had ruined those veggies with. I tried not to think of my kidneys as I actually choked down most of them. (probably not a good idea.) Anyway...I did get to enjoy something more universal: ice cream! I had at least one per day. My favorite was this strawberry banana soft-serve sorbet served in a waffle cone cup with raspberries!

Oh one more thing: fashion. Alvin and I both agreed that the fashion in the czechy republicky needs to do some catching up. I can only describe it as girls digging around in wet seal clothes from the 90's. We also saw Malibu Barbie walk by in human form. I still managed to find a MANGO and Zara there although they were mixed in with some questionable stores. I wonder where the locals are shopping.