Monday, November 15, 2010

Prague

I suspect that when most tourists think back to their time spent in Prague they recall the beauty of this unique, quaint town in Central Europe. However, when I think of Prague, I envision jelly donuts, giant tv screens, and deranged bums. The constant debate that often ended in hostile disagreements on this trip was always concerning where we would eat. I love food but Trent loves penny-pinching. Prague was the second of our 11 cities and was the first time I lost my cool with my button-pushing brother. The famous quote from this leg of the trip was, "Trent, we are in beautiful Prague. I refuse to eat at the train station again." He laughed in my face and even though I was fuming, I had to laugh at his imitation of me.

Our first morning brought a very pleasant surprise at our hostel: free jelly donuts. This obviously pleased both the oinker in me and the tight-wad in Trent. I was 26 and had never had a jelly donut in my life. Sprinkled donuts were always my first choice and I was never excited about a donut "surprising" me with what was inside. However, I bit down into the powdered sugar-covered pastry and, with apricot filling spilling down my chin, my eyes widened and I knew I had discovered a new love. We toured inside the famous castle and walked the famous Charles bridge but my memory of these jelly donuts is much more vivid.

When we headed out for our first day on the town, I quickly realized a major packing mistake. Assuming summer weather would be similar to that of Southern California, I had only brought one flimsy zip-up and one pair of pants. Our first stop was at a shop to get me a jacket and to get us both Nederland scarves. If we were going to jump on this bandwagon, we wanted to do it properly. We tried to be sophisticated and learn about the history of the city by joining a free tour. However, we both got super bored and I recalled my awkward encounter trying to tip the tour guide in Berlin so I was more than happy to follow Trent as we covertly skipped out and went on our own "educational tour." Here's what we learned on our self-guided tour of Prague:
Old cities have cool, bizarre statues that are fun to imitate.
Trent's head is the size of a giant tunnel leading to the Charles Bridge.
The architecture in Prague is incredible.
Jesus sometimes posed like the Fonz.
Trent's "skunk" enjoys snacking on apple strudels too.
Old Town Prague is beautiful but not so "quaint" when it is swarming with tourists.
Trent has an abnormal amount of neck skin.

When we tired of "touring", we sat on the Charles Bridge and played "spot the American." We returned to Old Town that night for our first experience watching soccer with thousands of other die-hard/bandwagon soccer fans. I wish I had written more details in my journal about what happened this night. I wrote random and pointless facts like what time the sun set but only wrote, "sat next to crazy homeless woman. Man danced to Ricky Martin." Apparently, I assumed this would jog my memory but it didn't. I don't know how on earth I can't remember a stranger dancing to "She bangs" but I did. Despite the Ricky Martin dancer, or possibly BECAUSE OF the Ricky Martin dancer, this was our favorite setting to watch the Eurocup. We were struck by the bizarre juxtaposition of a beautiful old castle set as the backdrop for a giant, modern television .
That stupid skunk made several appearances in Prague. I'm not sure what sparked these facial expressions but I'm guessing it was either due to the biting cold or psychotic homeless people dancing around us.

After the games most tourists found bars but Trent and I wondered around to see the city at night. Our jaws dropped when we stumbled upon this view of the castle and bridge:
Now I understood why people raved about Prague. Prior to this moment, I was honestly feeling a bit like we were in a giant Disneyland- we were surrounded by obnoxious tourists clad in fanny packs and Jesus sandals so it was hard to feel the "magic" of this city. However, there were several moments like this one when we were away from drunken, ignorant tourists and could appreciate the beauty of this magical city.

We also tried to take a picture of ourselves with the Charles Bridge in the background. However, for the lighting on my camera to work, I had to hold my hand perfectly still for 10 seconds which meant we also had to hold our faces perfectly still for 10 seconds. It wasn't easy and we looked pretty ridiculous and all I have to show for our efforts is this blurry picture.
On day two we ventured to a different hostel outside of the city so we could see some greenery, avoid some of the tourists, and get a "local flavor."
We went for a run along this river where our hostel was located. My only memory of this hostel was being in our room and Trent making me do planks for 60 seconds but he kept messing up the counting and I was getting genuinely frustrated with him.
While in the "local area" we learned that the "local Czechs" are quite fond of graffiti.

Hopefully the graffiti doesn't say something terribly crude. Even though I'm a bit annoyed that the lady ruined our perfect timer shot, I love that she is looking at us, clearly confused about why we were staring straight across the train tracks.

This very full day began with a free tour of the famous castle. "Free" only because Trent found a way for us to sneak in. I don't recall how he did it but I remember feeling very nervous that guards were going to stop us at any moment but they never did. The only castles we had experienced were either in the sand or at Disneyland and it quickly became apparent that Disneyland is a cheap imitation of the real deal. So although there were throngs of tourists like at Disneyland, the inside of this legit castle was quite different. It was musty and majestic and whispered wonders and awe that Disneyland can never imitate. Here are our reverent faces:
The stained glass was like none we had ever seen. Simply amazing. After soaking in the beauty of the windows and the castle, we began our hike back down to the city. In the following picture you'll see us standing on a bridge with the castle in the background. For all the running and walking we did, it is rather surprising we didn't lose any weight. Well, maybe those jelly donuts played a small roll.
Trent had told me about the game "ditch em" so on our walk back, I decided to play with just two of us. While we were trudging across the Charles Bridge, weaving in and out of the sea of people, I stopped. I slipped behind some large men and then hid behind a statue and watched Trent walk for a few yards and then notice and turn around laughing. It was then I realized why the game is only fun if you have more than 2 people. I was alone, crouching behind a statue doing a shoulder-shaking laugh with no one else to enjoy the moment and strangers glancing at me like I was crazy.

Our next destination was a tower we climbed to get a bird's eye view of the city. I know I said I wouldn't post pictures of random buildings but the city looked even more incredible from up here.
This church with the turquoise roof was our next destination. I dragged Trent to what I thought would be a symphony but turned out to be an organ/trumpet concert. We both fell asleep.
So much for our attempt to be "cultured." Luckily our power naps geared us up for a lively night of soccer.

This time I got the brats and let Trent pick our seats. He didn't find pot-smokers but he did end up in bum central. The irony of this is that Travis, Trent's twin, has always called Trent "bum." I laughed pretty hard as I carried our brats and found Trent here:
There were about 7-10 homeless people surrounding us the whole game. We left after the first game because one particular bum had grown eerily fascinated with Trent. He was convinced that Trent was Jesus. So we went and found some hot chocolate and laughed a lot in this coffee shop but I can't remember why.
And then we returned for the second soccer match. However, Trent's new disciple hadn't disappeared. We saw him dancing like a mad man in the crowd getting very strange looks and and then ducked our heads when he stormed towards us looking like he was ready to bash heads in.
However, he immediately softened when he saw Trent and came right over to us. When Trent finished his hot chocolate, his disciple asked for the cup and then licked the entire inside of the cup. Trent and I sat agog, hoping this crazed man would not pull out a knife. He sat beside us and watched Trent as we watched our team beat France.
We had to ask a stranger to take this picture and it was a bit awkward. He kept looking up at us like he thought we weren't ready for the picture.

Our last day in Prague was an unexpected adventure. Long story short, we didn't get the bus we needed to for the 3 hour ride to our next city so we needed the internet to find another bus and buy tickets. As we wondered the streets, we saw a hostel advertising "free internet." We slipped inside and there was no one to be found. So we wandered the halls and found a computer in the stairwell. We whispered back and forth as we tried to figure out how to navigate a website that had no English. A janitor busted us after about a half hour but we both have mastered the "clueless American" act and confused the poor man so he left us alone and we slipped out of there with bus tickets and a feeling of accomplishment. Our three hour bus ride brought us to our next stop: Czesky Krumlov, a city which turned out to be one of our favorites on the trip.

1 comment:

trent said...

gayde! A TRUE BUM CITY, AND I LOVE READING YOUR BRILLIANT THOUGHTS AND YOU ENABLE ME TO RELIVE THE TRIP THROUGH THIS BLOG...IF NO ONE ELSE IS INTRIGUED I AM!!!!! MY FAVORITE PART WAS FOR SURE YOU PLAYING DITCH EM!!