Prague Blog

As the train came to a stop at the station, we rushed to get off, because it didn't seem like the train stopped for very long at the stations. Jane looked up directions to our hostel on her phone and we tried to find the metro. We wandered around and found it, but the ticket machines only took coins and we had only big bills in Czech crowns since we had just gone to the ATM. The ticket window was closed because it was Sunday, so we really didn't know what to do. We wandered around the station and finally found someone to ask and he said to buy them at one of the convenience stores. So we were off and running, going back to the C line in the sketchiest station I'd seen in a while. We were super paranoid about being ripped off because of all the scams we read about in the book, but everyone gave us back the right change. The officials came by showing their badges and checking tickets while we were on the subway, and it was a little scary. After that, it was smooth sailing. We are getting really good at figuring out transit systems. Once we got to our stop, it was way less sketchy, and once we were above ground, it was gorgeous! We only had to walk a few blocks to our hostel, which was right in the old town, two blocks from the old town square. It was really pretty. We checked in, and Jane had to run down to the ATM to get more Czech money because they only took cash. We went to our room right around the corner and met our roommates, 3 boys from Scotland and one from England (their friend that is staying in a different hostel). We chatted with one of them, Johnny, for a while, and then we went to see the square near by and get some food. We got some sandwiches at a stand across the street from our hostel that Johnny had recommended, and walked into the old town square. We saw the Astronomical Clock and read Rick Steves, identifying all the buildings in the square. We wandered around and did a pretty big loop. We walked by the Mustek Metro, where we had gotten off, in the New Town. We saw the Natural History Museum (a grand building) in the distance. We also made our way to a huge outdoor market that had produce and crafts and toys. It was really cool but we were a little too tired to buy. We looked for a Golem guy for Amanda but didn't have luck. I got a sorbet on the way back and Jane got a coffee frappe that ended up being disappointing. We got back to the hostel and chilled for a bit and then the guys came back. We hung out and talked with them for a while, joking about accents and different words and listening to their funny stories about fighting each other and how one of them some how had a "guardian angel drug dealer" who he didn't want come try to "save" him from his best buddy. It was hilarious.

We went out to dinner with them, and they said we should cross the bridge to the other side of town where it was less touristy. They had done a free tour and recommended it to us, and Johnny kept sharing what he had learned on it with us. We decided to do the 11am tomorrow. We stopped in an English bookstore while two of the guys went to the ATM. Johnny doesn't eat when he travels, apparently, and was all loopy. Clearly this doesn't jive well with the Graham and Jane plan. He has lost a lot of weight I guess. The English guy wasn't with us, he was on a date with a girl he met on the pub crawl. I find this hilarious and want to run into him. No dice on that. We found a menu that looked ok and we were directed away from the terrace and downstairs to the back of the restaurant. It was decorated like a cave on acid; all sorts of neon colors everywhere and stalactites and spackeled twigs and crazy paintings of other worldly creatures adorned the walls. Johnny thought he was really loosing it and really tripped out from not eating. It was funny. Everyone had a nice time, and the food was good, except my homemade ravioli were too few and WAY two salty. Johnny got traditional goulash in a bread bowl. Apparently they don't have bread bowls in Scotland, because the guys were amazed by this and didn't understand. Funny. Jane had good spinach pizza. We liked the Scottish guys, they were very fun and chill and comfortable with themselves and obviously really good friends. Johnny really recommended the communist museum, but his friends couldn't understand how he spent 3 or 4 hours there. He also told us about how he "stormed" the castle, because he went the wrong way and ended up climbing up a wooded area to get there. He thought this was the best thing ever. He told us about the guards that stare straight ahead and do not move and how cool they were. We wonder what purpose they serve.

After dinner we walked back toward our part of town. We decided to grab a beer and we heard jazz coming out from a window of a basement. Johnny wanted to check it out so we went around and found the entrance to a restaurant and went downstairs. They wanted a cover charge that wasn't insignificant, so we decided to get a beer (Pillsner, invented in Czech Republic) at the bar and listen from there. We sat around a table and the boys poked at a candle a lot and taught Jane the coaster flipping game. We chilled there and chatted and decided not to get another beer and head out. On the way back, we stopped and listen to some violinists on the street. They weren't as good as the amazing guy on the Charles Bridge, though. It was nice to hear classical music. I was singing along to all the Ave Marias along the way, and the guys made me sing the American National anthem at one point. It was funny. They sort of sang me theirs, but not really. We went home and crashed. The other 2 or 3 roommates where giant blond guys from Holland who weren't back yet from their pub crawl or whatever. They woke me up some when they came home I think.

In the morning, we were awoken by the POUNDING on the door and absolute yelling of the Holland guys friend. Jane opened the door for him and he kept talking really loudly despite the 5 sleeping strangers in the room and the fact that it was 8:30 in the morning. I got up and blogged on the free internet at the hostel, which is not as great as it sounds because everyone is always using it. We had the free breakfast while I blogged (it wasn't that good) and then got ready for the day and our 11 am tour. We went to the square around 1030 so we could find the people, but it was very easy. They gave us numbered tickets and we waited around for more people to come. Some of the tour kids were out corralling people, so a big group of people joined us and then we were split into groups. Our tour guide was an Irish girl named Aoife (pronounced Eefa) who was very loud and a little awkward, but very nice. The tour taught us about the history of the Czech people, and the themes were that they invented things and no one noticed and other people got the credit, and that they keep getting taken over but they always land on their feet. We learned about how the boii tribe came first, giving rise to the name "bohemia". Also, they invented beer and used tanks for the first time (armoured cart with a gun). We went through the old town and the new town and the Jewish quarter. In the old town we learned about how the Astronomical Clock tells three types of time (Bohemian, roman, and sunrise and sunset) and puts on a show every hour. It was pretty amazing 500 years ago. So amazing that the city called the clock maker and told him never to make one for anyone else again. He said he wouldn't, but they blinded him with a hot fire poker to make sure. We learned about how the Jews were persecuted for so long and they were only allowed to live in the Jewish quarter and so it got ridiculously packed and the graveyard had to be layered. They had lived there since the middle ages and once they were allowed to re settle anywhere in the twentieth century, most people left because it was run down. So the city bulldozed most of it and now its very art nouveau. Also we learned about the Golem, a robot of sorts created by Rabbi Low in the Prague ghetto in the 16th century to defend the Jews there from anti Semitic attacks. He made Golem out of clay and brought him to life by sticking a prayer in his mouth. It worked out for a while and the Golem did the heavy lifting, but eventually got out of control and was deactivated, but he was stored in the attic of the old new synagogue and could be used whenever needed. Legend says it stayed there till WWII when a Nazi soldier went up in the attic and never was seen again. The old new synagogue is the oldest in Prague, dating from 1270. Its called old new because of a German translation of the Hebrew words for "on condition" al-tnai, because an angel lent them stones from the temple in Jerusalem "on condition" that they would be returned when the messiah comes.

We ended up at the bank of the river looking at the Charles Bridge. Prague has more statues than any other city in the world and its Castle is the biggest in Europe. The Charles Bridge is covered with statues as well. We learned about his history with floods and how nothing stayed until the King consulted his team and told them to figure out how to build a bridge that would never be washed away by flood. They noodled that one out and said he had to start building it in the year 1357 on the 9th of July at 5:31 (a palindrome). That's what happened, and it never has washed away. We learned about one recent flood that filled the subway system and everyone was evacuated. Most of the animals in the zoo were too, but some were too big. Gaston, a sea lion, got loose and swam all the way to Germany before he was captured and brought back. He had a blast but he died because he spent too much time in fresh water. There is a statue of him at the zoo. In the middle of the tour we stopped for a pee break and lunch at Bohemia bagel. Jane and I didn't need to eat, because we had just had our little ham and cheese packaged sandwiches that we get with breakfast at our hostel, but we were excited to see a bagel place and couldn't wait to come back.

After the tour we went back to the hostel and I blogged while Jane met our new roommates: 6 girls from Ireland. They mentioned they were going on a pub crawl that night and invited us to join them. They were very young (18 or 19 i think) and a couple of them were very nice. We decided to go back out on the town and check off one more thing so we wouldn't be too busy the net couple of days. We went to the new town and did a little self guided walk from Rick Steves. We went up to the National Museum (which Jane is convinced was in Mission Impossible). Its a HUGE building that's very impressive at the top of Wenceslas "square" (its really like a wide road with a median). We found this little underground place for dinner and we got really good broccoli soup and then split some pasta with beef. It was pretty good, definitely different and Czech. I think it had mustard or something in the sauce. We went back out to the top of the square after. We found all the buildings of interest around there and the statue Good King Wenceslas. He is a big deal to the Czech people, and it is said that at there darkest hour, he will come riding out of Blanik Mountain with an army of knights and rescue the nation. We also found the memorial to the victims of communism, specifically Jan Palach who lit himself on fire in 1969 for the cause of Czech Independence. The upsetting thing is that it worked, sorta. On the 20th anniversary of his death, protests lead to the over through of the communist government. We saw the Lucerna Gallery and a crazy statue of Wenceslas on an upside down horse suspended from the ceiling. We went back out to the bottom of Wenceslas Square and headed back to the hostel. We talked about the pub crawl and decided it was a good idea. We were staying right in town, so we didn't need to worry about public transportation home, which is usually an issue, and Prague is one of our favorite places so far, and the tour guides really recommend it (one of them runs it), and we would have friends to go with.

Back in the room, a bomb had gone off and there were clothes everywhere. Jane and I put on an outfit (I wore the dress) and flip flops and were ready to go. The girls had millions of outfits and all shared and took forever to get ready. They had palettes of makeup and straighteners and everything. It was crazy. They were pregaming too and started this whole process late. We went to the clock at 930 or so (it had said 9:15) and waited with the people. The guy who ran the pub crawl must have been the offensive and funny American guy that the Irish boys had on their tour, and he was really loud. He started to tell us how the police wanted to shut them down and he had to read a list of laws we must abide by. I was thinking "oh great" but then he looked at his sheet and said something along the lines of "lets party!!" it was amusing. We walked and walked to the first pub, which was in a really random location, and paid and got wristbands. The deal was unlimited drinking for an hour at the first place and then welcome shots at every other place. We weren't interested in drinking an infinate amount of booze, but it was fun there, but crowded. They were passing around shots of Absinthe (no way Jose) and other stuff that I didn't not want. We just had a couple of beers and talked to some people. The next three places were ok, the welcome shot thing was a lie, and I got over the whole scene by the grimy disco at the end. The highlight of the night was the vodka and strawberry juice a strange Australian man bought us. We left the last club and it took forever because Jane had made some Spanish speaking friends and had to google map them directions to their hostel. We took our two favorite Irish girls with us, since they were ready to go. I was dying for a snack and Jane kept telling me nothing would be open but then all of a sudden we were getting pizza and calzones with the girls. I was a very happy camper with my spinach calzone.

The next day I woke up early to blog. I had a really bad charlie horse in the night and was limping. Jane and the girls woke up at about 930 and Jane gets breakfast before it ends at 10. She met some Irish guy named James in the TV room. I blogged and blogged while eating dry cereal. The milk at these places is DISGUSTING. Its not cold and its thick and sweet and comes from a box and it makes me very sad. After I finish and we get dressed, we head to the castle. We stopped along Charles Bridge to look at the art and crafts people are selling. Across the river we stopped for a snack, fruit cup and some kind off breakfast type cakes from a nice place. It was horrible. I think the fruit had gone bad. We sat on a curb eating as much as we could and then started walking in a general uphill direction. We found an AMAZING building at the top, some palace, that had amazing designs and etchings all over it. We had decided not to get the ticket to go into the castle because a guy I met in the internet room said it wasn't worth it. We saw the ground some and then got in line to see the cathedral, St. Vitus. It was really cool. It was started in 1344, but not finished until 1929 due to all the wars and plagues. Its super Gothic (some real, some neo), but some of the stained glass is Art Nouveau, including one amazing work by Alfons Mucha. We really liked that. We walked through the church, dodging tours, and saw the tomb of St. Vitus, which is huge and silver and in a very odd location sort of in the walk way. It was weird. There were some cool windows, mosaics and carvings that we checked out before leaving. We wandered around a little before going to an over priced (but not too bad) cafe for lunch. Jane got a sandwich and I got some sliced potato cheese block thing that was very good. We planned out what else we wanted to see.

We couldn't get into the Basilica and Convent of St. George, because we didn't have a ticket. You buy this big ticket that lets you into everything and if you don't have it you cant go into anything. We had decided it was too expensive (250 or 350 crowns, about 13 or 18 dollars, depending on the ticket), especially when we heard it wasn't that good. So we started walking toward the monastery and a good viewing point. The Strahov Monastary and Library was a very nice place. Very peaceful. We found the museum of miniatures, which I wanted to see and had found in Rick Steves. It wasn't that much money (50 crowns, or about 2.50) and it was SOOO COOL. This artist, Anatoly Kaonyenko, from St. Petersburg, works at the smallest scale you can imagine. He has GOT to be nuts. He has mastered breathing techniques so that he can make art so small you can barely see it with the naked eye. We looked through microscopes and saw copper trains on a human hair, a flea with horse shoes, portraits on cut poppy seeds, and a prayer printed on a hair. He had miniature copies of master paintings, and all sorts of interesting things. We loved the camel caravan inside the eye of a needle. It took him 7.5 years to shoe that flea. Its awesome and crazy and totally cool. I loved it.

Then we found the viewing point and took some pictures. Nothing that great, although it was very grey out. We walked down the hill. Forever. near the bottom, we popped into a music shop and I wanted to buy a tote bag for my lessons. We detoured quickly to see the "little quarter" that Rick Steves mentioned, but we bailed quickly because we were so tired and there wasn't much there. We doubled back to try to visit St. Nicholas Church, which has amazing frescoes, but it was closed by the time we realized we had walked by it a bunch of times. We are just as happy when things are closed or whatever, we just wanted to go back. It was sprinkling at this point and we were very tired. Near the old town we got these pretzel things that they cook on a rotating log thing and they come out in a ring that looks like a big bracelet. We got two vanilla almond ones (they were out of Cinnamon) and headed home. We took a NAP!

The Irish girls woke us up a little and we chatted with them some. They were going on another pub crawl. NO thanks. One of the girls had fallen asleep in some Mexican guys lap for an hour at the dance club and he braided her hair. Legit braided half her hair in tiny, professional braids in a grid pattern. It was the strangest and funniest thing i had heard in a really long time. I think I was blogging when Jane found this out and she came to tell me. So hilarious. Another girl, the odd one with the lisp, had two of the biggest hickeys I have ever seen. She was debating scarf vs. make up for going out. GOOD GOD CHILDREN. We were adamant about staying in and going to bed early. We went to Bohemia Bagel for dinner a little later, and a pub crawl was assembling there as well. Great. We moved from the beer pong corner to another booth and had turkey on Swiss and left. We were going to do some journalling and note jotting for the blog but it was too rowdy and we were too tired. When we got back I blogged some and Jane tired to journal, but the girls were even messier, and louder and pregaming like crazy. Poor Jane was so tired she couldn't see straight and the girls didn't leave the room till 1:15. So much for a chill night in and early bed.

Wednesday, we woke up and grabbed breakfast and hit the Jewish Quarter. We got a ticket which included 4 synagogues, the cemetery, and the ceremonial hall. The Jewish Museum has exhibits of different time periods and topics at each of the synagogues. We started at the Pinkas Synagogue, which is an amazing memorial to the victims of the Nazis from Czech Republic. The names of everyone who died are written on the walls. That's a lot of writing. It was very cool. On our tour we learned that Madeline Albright came here and found the names of her grandparents or something, and she didn't even know she had Jewish heritage, being raised catholic, never mind the whole holocaust victim thing. Upstairs is an exhibit of the art of the children form the Terezin Concentration Camp. A teacher smuggled in art supplies and encouraged art as a form of therapy and taught drawing etc to the kids. In that camp, there was a tremendous effort to organize and form community by the Jewish elders. The Nazis allowed their activities to some extent and used them for propaganda about what a great time everyone was having. The art was impressive and very interesting. Most kids just wanted to go home. It was very moving and cool. From the Pinkas, we saw the cemetery, which is very crowded and you cant take pictures. Some hot shots are buried there, like Rabbi Low and David Oppenheim. It was used from 1439 (oldest tombstone, that of poet Avigdor Kara) to 1787). From the cemetery we went to the ceremonial hall, which was used by the burial society. It has an exhibit about Jewish customs, particularly surrounding funerals and burial arrangements. This was very hard for me. After that, we went to the Klausen Synagogue. It had information and artifacts about Jewish customs and traditions, focusing on holidays and festivals. I learned about lots of things, but mostly that I knew a lot about Jewish stuff. I told Jane about the holidays I knew about and had celebrated with the Friedmans. After that, we saw the Old-New synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Prague. It was build in the middle of the 13th century. Its not part of the museum, but we had a combo ticket that included that. They still hold services there, its the main synagogue for the area. Its very small but interesting. Next we went to the Maisel Synagogue. It had an exhibition on the history of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia from the 10th century to the end of the 18th century. There was a LOT to read, so we just did the best we could. The Spanish Synagogue was last, and it was SO cool. We had learned on our tour that it was build to honor the period of religious tolerance the Jews had experienced in Spain or because it was built on the site of the oldest synagogue and was used by Byzantine Jews. Either way its in the Moorish style and looks like a mosque, with Islamic style patterning everywhere. Inside, its all intricately patterned and gilded. I really loved it and loved finding all the Stars of David in the patterns. The exhibit there was about the history of the Jews from the 19th century on. They have another exhibit of silver recovered from the Nazis. Apparently Hitler was collecting stuff and storing it here for his forthcoming museum of the extinct Jewish race, so some great artifacts surrvived the war.

We finally finished the ENTIRE Jewish Museum and now could eat. We found a pasta place and had the usual. Lasagna for Jane, Spinach tortellini for me. It was very good, but Jane didn't love hers (I did) and mine wasn't really enough food (as usual, why do I keep doing this?). We were cold (I was freezing), so we headed back to the old town to our hostel to change and then see some sights there. We met our new roommates, Keith, Brian, Michael and Tommy, who were from Oregon (I think Portland). They seemed really nice and we would have liked to hang out with them more, but we were on a mission. We had a lot to do. We got a Cinnamon bracelet pretzel (an important thing on our list) and then went to the Tyn Church in the center of the old town. The outside is awesome, with lots of spires with stars on them. It was a Hussite church, but now its Catholic. We had a hard time finding the entrance, since there are restaurants in front of it and you have to go through an arch way between them to get in. It was weird. The church was beautiful but had been too plain and protestant so all sorts of Baroque alters and stuff attached to the columns. Weird. Next stop was to the Church of St George, to see the mummified arm. On our tour we heard about how a thief tried to steal a necklace off the statue of Mary one night and she came to life and grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. In the morning he pleaded for mercy but the priest or whoever could only cut off his arm. As soon as they sawed through it, Mary let go and went back to her peaceful pose. What do you do with an arm then? Clearly you embalm it and hang it in the church for everyone to see what happens when you steal from the church. At first we couldn't find it, because we were looking in the wrong place, but then the obnoxious tour/pub crawl guy brought his tour in and we found it. It was very dark and small, but certainly an arm. So we could check that off the list. It was neat. Then we ran over to Bohemia Bagel to grab a brownie (also a must on our list, they had looked really good) and use the bathroom before the tour came in and clogged the place.

We were doing really well running around Prague on our last day checking off everything we wanted to do. We even saw the clock do its show, sorta. We had already heard what happened, a parade of apostles after the image of death nods his head and rings the bell and the images of vanity, greed, and hedonism shake there heads, not wanting time to pass or death to come. We heard it was more fun to watch the huge crowds be disappointed than to watch the show, and we caught it from the side and couldn't see much, but the crowd cheered when it was over. Confusing. Jane did a handstand in front of it and we moved on to the market.

My guide book had said that Prague brings out the shopper in you, and this was very true. We just couldn't resist all the crap for sale. We went back to the outdoor market and got charms to make bracelets. Our favorite Irish girl had done this and it looked fun and cheap. We took a long time picking them out. I bought another souvenir too. We were popping into virtually every crappy souvenir shop looking for the perfect Golem, and having little luck. We went to the Jewish Quarter, because they had the best ones. I really wanted one too at this point. Everything was closed and we were running around frantically trying to find anything that was open in that area. It was very disappointing. We then dusted ourselves off and went over to the bridge, to see if we could find any over there in the tourist trap. We looked at lots of the stuff and had a nice time shopping. I got a cool barrette from an artist and then we went into more souvenir shops on the other side. We got hats that say Prague on them. Jane was over the moon because the hat looks so cute on her no matter what she does with it. This is a very rare occurrence indeed, and quite thrilling. Hers is army green and I got a brown one. Last on our list was to go see this Frank Ghery building that Jane was interested in called "The Dancing House". We had to walk through the little quarter and cross over the river, but eventually we found it. I felt like we were on some kind of pilgrimage, because it was pretty far away. But we got to see the islands of Prague on the way. The Dancing House was supposed to be of Fred and Ginger, it was interesting. We will show you pictures.

On the way back we window shopped and were tired and hungry and bummed about Golem. Jane had one for Amanda but I wanted some more. I thought they were cool. We decided to stay in the morning and come back to the Jewish Quarter to get them and take a train midday since we were enjoying Praque and the shopping and not enjoying the thought of waking up at 7 to get an 8:30 train. We went home and met new roommates, two girls Lauren and Hannah. They are sisters and were very nice. We felt like we could really relate to them. They seemed a lot like us. They said we acted just like they did. They are from Ohio and also have a hard time with nightlife while traveling because its so tiring. We chatted with them but were starving, so we went down stairs to the Chinese place under our hostel. It was 10 and they were open till 11 and it was empty, but not too sketchy. We ordered some dumplings and chicken and noodles, and it wasn't really enough food, but we didn't care. We were practically falling asleep at the place. I really wanted to blog but I was way too tired. We both showered and it felt so good. We crashed hard after all that running around!

The next day, the boys (who had woken us up with much banging and yelling at their friend who came home early from the pub crawl with the key and didn't tell anyone) got up at about 7:50 to catch their train. I chatted with one of the girls after they left, and then Jane gets moving at about 8:30. We packed up and checked out and put our bags in the baggage room. We treat ourselves to a "proper" breakfast at Bohemia Bagel. Sausage egg and cheeses and a drink. The bagel was decent and we didn't finish them. We went on a crazy Golem hunt near the different parts of the Jewish Museum. Some of the vendors weren't even set up yet when we got there! We comparison shopped and finally decided on some. We had a bathroom break and then went to the market to buy Jane another leather cord for her her necklace, since it didn't seem like it would last long. She got another elephant and clasp for it too, so when it breaks and falls off and we don't notice till its too late, she has a back up. I got one too. I also got a wooden thing with wheels that holds coasters. Don't laugh at me its cool.

After getting our bags at the hostel we took the subway to the train station and waited in a giant line to make a reservation. There was a group of 10-12 Spanish girls just camped out at the ticket window. I was so annoyed because I could not understand what could be taking so long. Eventually they opened another window and the line moved around the clog, and we found out that we didn't need a reservation, so we killed time wandering the tiny station before getting on our train. Luckily we got on when we did because people had been boarding and there weren't that many seats left that were next to each other. I was SO tired. I was also uncomfortable and hot, but I managed to sleep the better part of 3 hours. Jane dozed some and journaled and googled stuff about Austria. The train was slow and really shaky and stopped a lot and my whole shin was asleep at one point. I was SO mad at the train. We ate the rest of our bagels and our sandwiches and ham and cheeses from the hostel before I passed out. When I woke up, Jane had eaten her snickers so I ate mine too (time killing treat, we were trying to spend Czech money, it didn't really work). We listened to iPods and waited for the Sudbanhof (South Station) in Vienna, Austria!