Praha / Prague

J Well we've been in the city of Praha as the Czech people call it, or Prague as us silly English speaking folks have decided. It's interesting really, Wien is Vienna, and really every major city in Europe has an anglo-ized name.

Our first night was spent hunting for groceries, finding the post office to send off some postcards (hopefully in time for Christmas) and settling into our new hostel. We booked a double bed, and got 4 singles (quite the room for just the two of us), the breakfast included is warm milk with tasteless cornflakes (gross) and doughnuts. Yes you heard correctly. I mean is it cheaper to buy doughnuts then a toaster, a few loafs and some jam? The strange things you experience staying in hostels, not to mention some of the strange people. So far we've lucked out and only met one weirdo, and hostels are fun because your never lonely, there's always someone nearby, sometimes real close nearby.. do I miss my personal space? A bit.

















Enough of the hostel experience, lets talk about Prague. Firstly, like Budapest.. it had a strong Jewish population pre WWII, and to this day the city is divided, Old Town, New Town, and the Jewish Quarter. We thoroughly enjoy taking trams around the city, and the metro system works well although its not as extensive as London for example, but then again the sights are mostly centralized around the old city (its not a far walk to see mostly everything).


Yesterday we wandered the city, took pictures, hit another christmas market and tried a few local delicacies. Then we went to the museum of communism, which was really neat, it explained a lot of the history that took place here in Prague. Later after dining on some sausages from a street vendor we went to a Black Light show of the musical Cats (no spoken words, although the music accompaning it was completely in English, ha) . The theatre was a bit of a joke but then again (as Mich pointed out) we were in Prague and not back at the Opera house in Budapest (besides the tickets cost half of what the opera did). The show however was quite entertaining, we may see another before leaving as we're here for 5 nights all told.


Today we had a late start, slept in and then went in search of a local computer store, we've been pondering a PDA as internet isn't always free, and worse then that we rarely are able to plug in to upload pictures. However after learning the OS would be in Czech, we decided to wait and see if a better option was available in Germany.

By noon we made it to the Franz Kafka museum, which was quite interesting, especially since nether of us knew anything about him previously. I think I'd like to read a few of his books in the future (he didn't much care for his father, he was confused about his place in the world as a Jew, he was well educated, cinical, oh and strangly.. a lawyer!). We didn't buy any books at the gift shop (of course), being that we brought books from home which haven't seen much light, something which we're hoping to change and soon, especially since we're almost running out of things to do here in Prague. (suggestions welcome)


We saw a bit more of the city afterward, but decided because of the weather to put off the castle until tomorrow. We visited a Catholic church where a wax figure of the infant baby Jesus is kept, they have a little museum devoted to him, and we witnessed a few dozen people reciting the ritual prayer on the cards in front of the "high alter" where the figurine is placed. Afterward we got lost, stopped at McDonalds for a potty break (yes we had to pay, however its not terribly expensive $0.3 - $0.6), and found some strange arcitecture before heading home. We ate the sandwiches we had packed for lunch for dinner, (saving pasta for tomorrow night, boring, but cheap) and jumped in line to use the computer. We're going to try to hit-the-hay early and get to the castle for 9am, as daylight usually only lasts till 4pm now and apparently theres a lot to see on the grounds.

Oh and the iPod, which I just transfered some pictures to, seems to be acting like it might work, it showed me songs and everything, I'm leaving it to suck some juice off one of the PCs here at the hostel. It's broken one day, and working the next, I love to hate it.


In closing.. weird things in Prague:

They smoke in public, in buildings, and in public buildings.

We got dinner at a restaraunt off the beaten track for $18 CND, with drinks, and yet if we ordered two meals at McDonalds in the touristy area.. it would cost the same.

We've mastered "hello", "please", and "yes/no" but can't seem to remember "thank you", which of course is generally the most used word you need to learn. lol

That's all for now.