Prague, Czech Republic

After some intense detective work, I came to the conclusion that Prague was NOT underwater, nor was it at risk of becoming underwater during my stay!

It was all over the news that literally half of the entire country, 7 of it's 14 regions suffered from heavy flooding, a lot of people were evacuated, there were some deaths... Maybe you can understand why I was a little leery about going on this trip.



So I called a lot of people. I called the hostel we were booked at, and boy...can you say communication problems? I think the person I was talking to and I were both saying it...we just didn't understand each other. All I wanted to know was if the city was under water but they thought I wanted something to do with the reservation so they kept asking me all these questions... what's your name, when are you coming, how many people are coming, what did you eat for lunch.... Finally I got a 'no, the hostel is ok'. Needless to say, I looked for another opinion. I called a travel agency, which somehow knew nothing about the flooding, even though it was all over international news... See if I ever book a trip through the Travel Cuts in Waterloo again. Travelers beware! Finally I called the Canadian Embassy in Czech, and the woman I spoke with sounded completely offended at my question about how safe visiting would be this weekend. Ok, so the verdict is....I'm going to Prague!!

I was pretty excited about this trip, I've heard from a lot of people that it's 'the most beautiful city in Europe.' We also went to 'The Biggest Club in Eastern Europe', but I think they should rename it 'The Biggest Daycare in Eastern Europe Where We Give Your Children Booze.' Seriously, I felt like the chaperone at a highschool dance. I have never, ever had to use the line "I'm sorry, I just don't date people who can't grow facial hair yet" before. This club was all over travelers websites as this amazing club.. it's 5 levels high, a different genre of music on each floor...sounds like fun right? So we go in...and 45 seconds later I'm thinking I must be in the wrong place. I hear loud music, I see the bar....but what are all these munchkins doing here? The average age was about 16 years old. We asked some people. I was so tempted to ask them if their parents had any idea where they were, dressed like that and drinking alcohol... Dear gawd I must be getting old...

So we stayed for a bit and had fun, as always. I took an online test the other day to determine what my 'theme song' is. Turns out it's Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Not much to those lyrics, but the song makes my happy, so when they played it on the oldies floor at this silly club I toottalllyy got my groove on.

Next stop, a house club. Old opinion: house suuucckks. So boring to dance to... there are no lyrics, I can't be a diva while I dance. New Opinion: Okkkk so maybe soomme of it is oookkk.

Prague is actually a pretty dangerous place. The pick-pockets are incredibly tallented, there is alot of prostitution and violent crime is on the rise. So knowing this, myself and two of the others decided to take a cab back to the hostel to avoid walking through the streets late at night. If you ever go to Prague, don't take a taxi. I found out a little too late that Prague taxi drivers are famous for their corruption. We showed the guy on the map where we wanted to go...and ya...he totally didnt take us there. He took us somewhere else, took our money, and left us there before we realized we were in the wrong spot. So then we had to walk home anyways, because we had no more money. I was fuurrioouuss!!!! All it would take is one undercover cop to hand out a big fine and the drivers would stop doing that, I have no idea why they're allowed to get away with it, especially since tourism is I believe Prague's main industry, and corrupt cabbies doesn't exactly encourage it. Jimmy walked home later that night and got his wallet stolen by a prostitute and her pimp. And later at a coffee shop they tried to put a bunch of extra stuff on our bill, and then got mad and kicked us out when we tried to explain we never had any of it. This weekend pretty much everybody got cheated or ripped off in one way or another...

BUT! Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place to visit. It's one place that I won't say 'OMG YOU HAVE TO VISIT IT!"... it was nice, a very picturesque place but it doesn't make my list of 'must-sees'.

Prague somehow managed to survive both world wars so alot of the buildings are very very old. Some of them are reaaalllyy cute, all different coulours like yellow and pink with cute molding and designs. It sort of did look like it was something straight out of a fairy tale.



There was also an adorable Easter Market in the Old Town Square this weekend with all kinds of booths displaying all kinds of goodies. Czech is famous for their wooden toys, glass and crystal, and also their hand painted Easter eggs, so all that stuff was fun to look at. Oh, and it's where the original pilsner beer comes from. Everybody else uses that word now, but I don't think it's brewed the same way as it is in the Czech Republic. That's what I'm drinking over dinner with Jarrett, Jimmy and Petar at the top of my post.

Hmm I'm not sure what else to say. This isn't really one of my 'educational posts' I guess... I did learn some about the Czech history on a walking tour we took, but can't think of anything incredibly interesting to share. Oh, actually once upon a time when Czech was under communist rule (and hated it) some students protested by setting themselves on fire. They burned themselves. And obviously died, although weeks later. You would have to believe in your cause sooo much to do something like that.... And I still don't get it.. I mean, ok so you make a hell of a statement, but then what good are you to the world, you can't continue to make a difference... I guess maybe that one act made a lasting difference... It still sounds insane to me, but maybe it's just because try as I might I can't seem to slip into their shoes...

As always, you can check out the rest of my pictures here. There are some nice ones of the city, gives you an idea of what the place is like.