Prague

Prague Castle
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I arrived in Prague early Tuesday morning on a night train from Krakow. I got to my hostel so I could drop my luggage off and see the city. I go a check my email and Matt wrote me and said, we are in Vienna our train in arriving in Prague at 3:30. So this was a surprise as I didn’t think Matt would be coming for a couple of days or not at all. I have some time to kill so I figure I will walk through the old town. Prague’s buildings are very nice for a central European country. The old town streets’ wind all over and there is new stuff around each corner. I make it to the town square where I first see an astronomical clock. It tells the date and time some how. Then I just sat and enjoyed the town square for a little bit. Then I took a stroll to the river edge. There I saw the large Prague castle. There were very nice views of the city. I then walked over to the Charles’ Bridge. It a bridge that has stood for 500+ years and on it is a bunch of statues that line it. There are many little stands selling souvenirs and paintings. There was also this band that was playing old jazz music and they were pretty good. I had to hurry over to pick up Matt. Took him to the hostel and asked the receptionist were the best local food around here is. She said right across the street. We go there and it down stairs in this old room with many local people enjoying food and beer. We order beer and some pork. It was a great meal and the best meal Doug and Matt has had in a long time. It came to $8 a piece. Some places in Prague are similar in price to Poland. After dinner we strolled the old town and bridge at night.

Some ol' time jazz
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The next day we woke up early so we could beat the rush to see the Castle. We walked up the narrow little path to the castle. Once inside the walls it felt like a little city. It had shops and cafes in all the different buildings. Matt was insistent on see the window where two priests were thrown out that started the 30 years war. He had a whole class on it. Well were we wanted to go it cost $20 to get in but you get a package deal to see the whole Castle. We decided on not seeing it and just finish the rest of the castle from the outside. Matt wanted to get a puppet. He found a show with better price and got a Spanish conquistador. At night we meet two Australian women and a guy from London and headed out with them for the night. We went to a cool bar that had many different rooms that winded around underground. The only bad part is we had to walk all the way back, but it wasn’t too far.

Matt was insistent on see the window where two priests were thrown out that started the 30 years war.

The view from prague castle
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The third day we just enjoyed the views and found Matt and Doug a place for another night. I also wanted to see this place that every building was small. Ania told me it was here favorite place in Prague. It was at the castle, we missed it the first time. All the buildings are small with little doors and windows. There are cafes and souvenir shops that are along it. We went to the start of it and they wanted over $2 to walk that street. We figure we weren’t going to pay because it was just a street not something you charge to see. I was pretty upset and that basically summed up my trip to Prague.

Now I am going to rant about why I am not a fan of Prague. Everyone you talked to raves about Prague. It’s so beautiful and a great castle and the Paris of the East. Well it basically one big tourist trap. Everything in the tourist areas are over priced even compared to rest of Europe. Water is $3 and shot glass is $4+ and a souvenir was $20. They wanted money to see every little thing, it was a burden and it felt like you couldn’t enjoy yourself. On the metro people with plain clothes would pop out and check your ticket just because you were a tourist and only you. They had metro cop Nazis. They just slowed down all travel in the city. The people weren’t the friendliest. We had to wait 1.5 hours for our meal one time. Then in the middle of the street or enjoying some lunch the scariest people would come up and ask you right in your face if you wanted to buy dope and they would bother you about it. It was clean city but the people felt very dirty. I just ended up not having as much fun as I expected. I had high expectations for the city and it fell way short. No bohemian lifestyle there. After all of the cities I have visited, I would say go to Budapest or Krakow and skip Prague. If you have to go make you trip a short one.

I am off to Gdansk. It is an overnight train. I have wanted to see the seaside of Poland for a long time. I hope we have good weather. I will write when I get back.