Ah, Prague. The capital of the Czech Republic and a truly beautiful place to spend three days. My perception of the city on the first night was slightly...um...skewed is a good word. At this point in my European experience, the German language is getting pretty familiar. I can understand what people are talking about, I can read signs and get around, and I can order beer amongst other necessities. So stepping off a plane in a country where they speak a new language that is close to Russian and far from anything I've ever heard before in my life, was interesting to say the least. We also had to deal with a new currency, the Czech Crown. It felt pretty good to pull out a couple grand from an ATM.
I'm rich biatch!
We got in around 7 PM, just in time to see the sun start to settle over the forests in the distance. We hopped on a bus and a subway train to our hostel, checked in, abused the free internet long enough to find somewhere to eat while en-route to the city center, and we were off by 8. Out the door and to the train stop around the corner, with only high hopes for what people told us would be a wild night.
First order of business, we needed to eat something. We got some down home Czech cookin'. I had some tomato beef and dumplings and we shared a few rounds of drinks while an accordionist bellowed away in the corner. With our bellies heavier and our spirits lifted, we walked in an aimless direction looking for more libations, and what do you know? we found some!
What is green, comes with a shot of sugar, and burns like hell going down? Absinth.
Popular with many an eastern european philosopher, Absinth is one special little shot that comes on REAL quick. Armed with a beer to wash down the poison I just put in my body, we realized that this night was far from over. The club we were at was OK. I'm not much of a club guy, but the DJ was kickin' out some classic jams and the beer was aplenty. I mean, look at me...I'm a freakin' mess.
I woke up around 10 with a striking pain in my head, a nasty taste in my mouth, and a scalpel of light slicing into my eyelids. Damn, I never learn. We got ourselves together enough to make it out of the hostel by 12:00 to try to get some food inside of our hollowed shells of bodies. ad that helped get our feet moving around the city to see all kinds of wonders that had the collective power to make me forget that I poisoned myself the night before. I walked all over the city and really exhausted my brain. We walked around from 2:00 until 8:30, checkin' out everything that the city had to offer. We met some girls from Chicago, Played some foosball with a guy from Canada, and I talked to an old guy about how crazy it is to build a cathedral 1000 years ago. I'll save the commentary and you can just enjoy these in the silence that I did.
WTF?
On Sunday we had ourselves some breakfast and headed out for some a brief cultural excursion that included the Museum of Communism and the Czech National Museum. The Museum of Communism really shed some light on the recent history of this city, albeit a dark one.
I'm a sucker for propaganda. Aren't we all though?
Where the three of us had previously stumbled through thoughtlessly only two nights prior, the heart of the Czech revolution had raged for 10 days in November of 1989. I was 7 years old then, Oblivious to the struggles of the world. It really had a startling effect on me and I spent the remainder of my time in Prague reflecting on the countless people who stood up for themselves in the face of supreme adversity, and demanded a change. Gladly, this will be the lasting memory of Prague. I could have been my throwing up Absinth off a bridge at 4 in the morning.
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