Czech Marks the Spot ("X" is overrated)

see all photos »

In its heyday Prague was the central place for brilliant talents of all sorts. The city still maintains much of its beauty amidst the swarms of tourists who cannot help but want to frequent a place still so alive with music and theatre.  All i could think of while walking down the street was how to think of being in the past...walking along the cobblestone...and only cobblestone. Not gasping for fresh air amongst the exhaust but amongst the horses instead. Look up away from the traffic, vehicle and pedestrain toursists, and you are in another world. Again...the baroque architecture just gets me everytime....just can't help but grab my camera. I'm seriously going to have 100s of pictures of the middles of buildings that look untouched from 200 years ago. Can't wait to sort through those...  But yes as usual i'm writing about 2 weeks behind and desperately trying to search my brain for what seemed so long ago. When you're travelling it's amazing how quickly time goes by and you've had about 20 more great experiences and 50 more stories to tell. hard to remember all the funny, in-the-moment details you hope to tell later in some lame blog. Lets see how i do. First day we arrived a bit later than expected because our busdriver couldn't find his passport at the border of germany and the czech republic. yes...our busdriver!! on the bus they must have told us 10 times...remember to have your passport ready, in hand, open the curtains, sit-up straight, smile nicely and hand it over to the angry looking passport-taker man. so we're all tensely awaiting his arival, militarily perfect in our passport handing....then...i suddenly overhere the busdriver say "oh...so you want me to get my passport then" i thought...no...he must just be joking. appartently not. after searching through his stuff, going under the bus into his luggage...still no passport. they basically escorted him somehwere to purchase a new temporary passport. who knew this was even possible?? and i'm still questioning how our busdriver who has knowingly crossed this border many many times not have his passport with him!! and seem so casual about it!! so we're standing on the border, a beautiful sunny day...maybe we should have just run for it. ahh well.

see all photos »

Anyway...that day was out of the question for seeing the city but at night a cool kiwi dude i met at the hostel and i headed to a club to see a ska show i found out about...it was great!! the bar is insane and is made up completely of car parts (use your imagination cause i really can't describe it...) moving and spinning and basically just looking cool. car seats and everything...it was a maze in there...everyime we thought we had seen the whole place, we found another level or passageway. the show was great, some sort of ska/jazz genre. loved it...skanked around and just had a really fun time. also enjoyed the very cheaply priced czech beer!! also got to chatting with some czech girls exchanging cool band info. and i now have two new facebook friends...what a small world it is indeed. my jaw dropped when she said "so...myspace, facebook??" haha.

see all photos »

Another incredible experience came 2 days later. I had walked all over the city by this time marvelling at the architecture and the great vibrancy of the city. More importantly i saw an amazing theatre where mozart was playing. well...his music anyway...prague doesn't have that kind of pull. Was tempted to go...it was pretty expensive, but i was convinced after my guided walking tour, where the guide explained that it was this theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni. ok...i was convinced...i really didn't care how much it cost at this point. So it turns out that instead of just mozart highlights, i would get to see a full opera, The Magic Flute, and it only cost me 30k...the equivilant? about $1. amazing. i couldn't believe it...i kept saying "are you sure...do i have a pole in front of me?? do i have to clean the bathrooms after the show?? 30k??! anyway...seat was great...show was incredible...the theatre itself...oh man...i was grinning the entire time. i just couldn't believe it...gave me chills. i think i was sitting on the edge of the seat the entire show...just rocking out. people around me were probably quite confused...especially considering i looked like some ruffian punk kid off the street...which...well...i basically was. mozart wouldn't have minded. and let me tell you...i don't think anyone in there enjoyed it as much as i did. "pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pageno!!"