2004-06-01
buying prague

09:45

*2 sets of Bohemian crystal wine glasses (6 glasses/set)
*1 Bohemian crystal glass bowl
*3 beer steins
*1 pair of jeans
*4 shirts
*3 pairs of earrings
*7 perfume bottles (1 free)
*5 bottles of Absinth
*2 tiny glass animals
*6 postcards
*3 stamps
*food
*hostel rooms
*5 pairs of pointy-toed shoes (just kidding, Tyler, it was only three - okay, really, none)

How we managed to get it all back, I am still not sure. How we will manage to get this home, in addition to all of the other stuff that we have, is yet to be determined.

We left Bremen on Friday night, taking the overnight train (my 7th overnight trip) and arriving in Prague around 10:30 a.m. After getting off at the wrong station and having to walk 3 km instead of 600 m, we finally made it to our hostel. Or should I say mental institution. I swear, the people that were staying there were Crazy. Yes, they merited a capital C. Arriving drunk in the middle of the night and singing at the top of their lungs, running up and down the hall, making unidentifiable noises... But, we didn't have a choice - every single hotel and hostel in that city (and there were tons) was full. The hostel was ok, expensive for what we got, but it did have a really cool bar/cafe downstairs where we chilled the first night and listened to an awesome live Dixie band. Yes, Dixieland music in Prague. Surreal.

We spent most of Friday in Nov� and Star� Mesto (New and Old Towns), where we made the majority of our purchases. First, however, we spent a good half hour looking for the tourist office which was right in front of us. As soon as we found it, we immediately found about four more. We watched the very impressive Astronomical Clock strike a very unimpressive 12 o'clock (every time we passed it later, we wanted to tell the masses of people waiting eagerly for it to strike the hour that it wasn't worth it). Found the main train station, walked past the National Museum and Opera House, through Wenceslas Square (anyone besides Beth and me know the christmas carol - "Good King Wenceslas"?), and back to the hostel where we listened to the above-mentioned Dixieland music.

Saturday - climbed the tower of the Astronomical Clock for a nice view of the city. Then off to Mala Strana (Lesser Town) where we walked through the Castle, climbed the 287 steps of the tower in St. Vitus' church, visited St. George's Basilica, and walked down Golden Lane of the castle, with it's "houses" (including one rented be Franz Kafka) built into the wall and where there was some armour and clothing from the 14th through 18th centuries displayed, as well as a torture chamber and some torture devices. Gah! The doorways of the "houses" along the castle wall came up to my nose. We wandered around a bit, back over the Charles Bridge, and then dinner.

I wasn't feeling so well, so it was an early evening for me. Beth read for a while, then went to bed.

Sunday - checked out of the crazy place, wandered around for a couple of hours, sat on a bench and identified all of the Americans, spent the last of our money, and then picked up our stuff and off to the train station for the incredibly long ride back to Bremen. We were lucky to find seats as there were people everywhere. We ended up in a cabin with a mother and her rather annoying 4-year-old (or so) son who kept kicking me and a couple who couldn't keep their hands off of each other. We missed our train from Hamburg to Bremen, so had to catch the next one and arrived around 11:45 - a total of 10 hours traveling. Whew! And today, back to work!!!

Aussi, j'ai fini de lire mon premier livre en fran�ais - Harry Potter et l'�cole de sorciers. Yay moi!

Tonight - soccer (finally!) at 5:30 followed by Dragon Boat Paddling. I am going to be sore tomorrow!

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