Prague, Sunday

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  Prague, Czech Republic
Sunday, June 19, 2005

I would never have guessed so much could happen in two days, but in the short time we've been in Prague a lot has happened. It all started after my last journal entry in Dresden. We headed to the train without a problem. Unlike our earlier ride, we had a cabin all to ourselves. I searched the train and found Nadeem and Michelle a few cars away in their own cabin. I asked them to join us, but they decided that they would just meet us when we got off the train in Prague. The train pulled into Prague right on time and Jody and I disembarked. We looked around for Nadeem and Michelle, but to no avail. We finally decided they must have fallen asleep and missed the train. We were incorrect. As the train started to pull away...we finally realized the problem. Note to future travelers: there are TWO train stations in Prague. We headed for cab, hoping that Michelle and Nadeem would somehow figure out what happened and meet us at the hotel. We kept making fun of ourselves for being so stupid until we finally realized that it was actually THEIR fault! If they hadn't been lazy and had come to sit with us, the mix-up never would have happened. I think that's reasonable, no? We got to the hotel and checked in, which was an adventure in itself. We settled into the room and fianlly decided to head to the other train station to look for them. Fortunately, they were coming into the hotel just as we were about to leave.

Our hotel in Prague was really nice. It was a bit far from the center, but we eventutally suceeded in mastering the Prague tram system. The big issue with our hotel was the staff. When we checked in the first day, the woman who checked us in...we don't know her name so let's just call her "Colleague A"...told us that we had one room reserved for one rather than two rooms for two. Despite the fact that the hotel had plenty of space, this seemed to be a big problem. Unfortunately, "A" couldn't help us with the problem and told us her "colleague" would help us the next day. You may be wondering why I keep using the word colleague. We just thought it was funny because the people at our hotel keep using the word to describe both their co-workers and our friends. The next day, Colleague B told us in the morning that we had reserved a room for one person and had four people. Other than repeating this fact, he couldn't really do anything to help us other than referring us to his "chef", which we finally realized meant "chief". We tried addressing the fact that we wanted to switch to a triple on Sunday, but both colleagues A and B looked scared at the thought. Colleague A was also intimidated by questions such as "where is the bus station?" and "do you have any restaurant recommendations?" I have an important tip for anyone who ever makes it to Prague. If you're trying to work out a problem or an issue, don't bother with a colleague...go right to the chef. I was scared of going to finally meet her this morning. To my amazement, she solved all of our problems in two minutes and moved us to a triple for tonight!

Another interesting interaction with Colleague A was in trying to plan a side-trip to a town called Cesky Krumlov. It's supposedly a town in southern Bohemia that's positively beautiful. We couldn't go on Saturday, as we had just gotten to town on Friday. Rental cars proved to be at least $150 for one day. The train doesn't go there. The bus is only $5, but takes 3 hours and seemed a bit arduous for a bus ride. We thought about booking a tour group, but these seemed expensive and wouldn't come back in time for Nadeem to hop on the train back to Berlin. Colleague A was frightened of us as she called car rental companies, tour groups, etc. for us on and off throughout the day. She told us that the tour group could be booked anytime, so we decided to grab dinner and book it when we got back. Guess what? It was full. Jody and I talked to colleague A for about an hour about other options. She wanted us to go on a tour to Kutna Hora. Jody was hesistant as A kept telling us how beautiful it was. She finally screamed at us and told us that Kutna Hora is just as beautiful as Cesky Krumlov and to just book it. "I just went there last week!" The conclusion: we stayed in Prague for today and decided to do an overnight in Cesky Krumlov tomorrow night. Only Kelli Chester will understand this, but I MISS JESSICA!

Prague is a beautiful city, there's no doubt, but one can't but help thinking that Disney has a hand in the running of the town. Everything looks beautiful and perfect, especially in the old town, and there is a gift shop everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. I was a little disappointed when we first arrived, but finally began to realize that the reason it seems so Disney is partially because it is such a magical city. I wouldn't want to spend to much time in the main squares or crossing the Charles bridge, but every nook and cranny has a new and exciting treat. The more we went off the beaten path, the more we've enjoyed it. We spent our first full day in the Prague Castle. This is the largest castle in Europe and is the one that Cinderella's castle was modeled after at Disneyworld (see...Disney does run the city). The castle is amazing, but unfortunately, 20,000 other tourists seemed to think so that day. We spent 4-5 hours exploring before finally dragging ourselves out and heading for some lunch and revival. Nataly - it wasn't quite how we felt after the Louvre, but close. We had lunch and tried to find a park called Petrin, which has a 1/7 replica of the Eiffel tower and beautiful views of the city. I find it kind of funny that I climbed the Eiffel town in Prague, but not while I was in Paris.

One of the biggest issues we've had in Prague has been the language barrier. While the characters are the same, the accents and in many cases 16 consonants in a row make it nearly impossible for us to pronounce things. We commented at one point when looking for a funicular tram that the word to describe it (Plien) could be pronounced "fruit loops" for all we knew. Everytime we tried to ask where something was, we just got a bunch of blank stares. I never thought I'd be so excited about the prospected of hearing German again soon.

Another interesting experience we've had in Prague is with the transportation system. The trams go everywhere you want to be. Unfortunately, the map doesn't give you a good idea of how to actually use it. Despite having dozens of different lines that constantly intersect, they made every line on the map the same color. It took us a while to figure out how to get places. I think I might create a color-coded map of the tram system and come back to sell it. Oh...and of course the other issue is we could again never understand which station they were saying when they call them out.

For those of you who know Michelle, you might be interested to know that she's decided on career-change. After hearing that St. George was actually known as "the dragon slayer," she decided she wanted to know how to get such a title herself. We've decided to find her a dragon so that she can become one herself. We're working on her resume to include such items as her proficiency with crossbows, swords, and shields. If marketing doesn't work out, she'll now have a fall-back career. In order to facilitate this change, we all ventured to the cross-bow section of the Prague Castle and took turns practicing.

Nadeem is gone now. We're heading to Cesky Krumlov in the morning and on to Austria from there. It's going to be sad to be down one person, but at least Michelle decided she might stay through Budapest.

Final thoughts on Prague: Be careful of the tram...it is confusing! Don't eat in a courtyard in the Old City ($$$). Don't even try to pronounce the words...just point to them in your guidebook. Always ask for the chef...the colleagues aren't much help.

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