Prague

St. Patty’s day in Prague. We got to the city early evening, and saw that it was a hassle of public transportation to get to our hostel, so we decided upon a cab. Our hostel website said cabs should cost around 200 crowns, roughly 10 dollars. No problem right? We got charged over 700 crowns. Ripped off, maybe? Anyway, our hostel, Czech Inn, was an extremely cool hostel, probably one of the nicer ones we’ve stayed in. It’s been renovated recently, and had a very modern/contemporary design to it. Glossed concrete floors, rooms with high ceilings (and high bunk beds too), and just up-to-date facilities, not always easy to find when staying at hostels. We headed to dinner at U Bulini, just down the street, and had a satisfying meal and a few drinks to start the night off. Naber had the best dish of the night, Devil’s Pot, or a beef goulash served in a bread bowl.

Since it was St. Patty’s, should be plenty of nightlife going on… so you would think. Our hostel had suggested a bar called U Sudu, which was just on the edge of Old Town. We found the bar, and headed in. For the first few minutes, we could not figure out why anyone would suggest this bar. It was small and smoky, the bar being no longer than 20 feet. The room had 4 or 5 tables, which were full of older people drinking beer or wine. As it was cold and windy outside, we ordered a drink anyway. Naber had needed to use the bathroom, and when he came back, he let us in on a little discovery. Tucked away in the back corner of this room was a tiny low-ceiling staircase that lead down into a cellar. This room was much larger, full of younger people drinking. At the end of this room was another small staircase which lead into a hallway, with rooms splitting off on either side. This bar had a total of 7 rooms, each with its own DJ and different genre of music, with the exception of the bar when you first walked in, which turned out to be the wine bar. In other words, this bar was massive, and almost completely underground with curved brick ceilings. Very cool. We found a table, got a few drinks and some more, and I listened while Naber and James got into a heated argument regarding a Grosse Pointe high school choir teacher and why she was so ‘controversial,’ and whether she had an effective and acceptable way of teaching students. Enlightening.

A handful of drinks (and Red Bulls) later, we decided it was St. Patty’s… might as well hit up a club while in Prague. It was well past 1 in the morning by now, so we headed towards a couple of the clubs that had been suggested by either the hostel or some friends. One club was only open Thurs-Sat, and another was hosting some sort of private party. A bit disappointed, considering the occasion, but apparently they don’t care much for the Irish celebrations in the Czech Republic. We made our way back to our hostel, thinking to grab a drink or two at the bar in there, but to our dismay, that was closed down by the time we got back. Guess we were calling it a night.

We woke up a bit later the next day, and opted out of the 140 crown breakfast offered by the hostel, springing to go to Café Louvre in the Old Town are instead. Leave it to Naber to pick a French place. You should ask him of his opinion of Parisians some time. It will leave you thoroughly entertained for 15 minutes. But that’s neither here nor there. After coffee and some bread, we set off along the Vltava River, and crossed over the Charles Bridge and into the Mala Strana area. We wandered through the streets a bit, and made our way up to the Prague Castle. When you think the word castle, you typically think tall towers, high walls, majestic-looking building, maybe a fire-breathing dragon, etc., right? Well not this one. Since the castle already sits on top of a hill, it’s made up of several buildings that run along the top of the hill, and it has many courtyards inside. The biggest building is actually the cathedral in the middle, which was really cool, but just not your everyday spitting image of a castle. Nevertheless, we made the obligatory walk-through, and at least got some cool city views. We sat down for lunch at some place that wasn’t worthy enough to have its name remembered, as we got hit with an unexpected service charge and such for a mediocre meal. After lunch, we walked along the river, then meandered back into Old Town to the Powder Gate and Wenceslas Square up to the National Museum, and found our way back to the hostel. I should mention that Prague is a beautiful city. It has a darker aura to it, maybe because it’s just part of Eastern Europe, which doesn’t have all the Golden Age history and period that Western Europe seems to have. Or maybe I don’t really know what I’m talking about. But either way, there’s more of a dark charm to the city.

Back at the hostel, we met our Canadian roommate, Cindy. Being from Quebec and having studied in France, she was also just traveling around Europe. Apparently Parisians treat French-Canadians badly too, as their French accent was inferior to those from France. At least Naber and her had some things in common. Being pleasant company, she came along for dinner at a place called Cheers, a very cool restaurant and bar. Afterwards, Naber, James and myself sat down at the hostel bar for a nightcap before turning in.

I had fully intended on making a free walking tour of the Old and New Towns the next morning. So I got up early, ready to hop in the shower and get the rest of the guys up. As I took a gander out the window, there was snow coming down. Not evening wanting to see Naber’s reaction to walking around in some snow, I promptly returned to bed. The snow had stopped coming down later in the morning and we went to Café Meduza for breakfast. A great little place, which served vey eclectic food including a Czech interpretation of huevos rancheros, chocolate crepes and breakfast noodle dumplings stuffed with all the fixings. Not to mention delicious cappuccinos. Afterwards, we walked to see the Fred and Ginger dancing building, and crossed back over the river to walk in the Devil’s Stream area where Mission Impossible was filmed. We also did a walk-by of the John Lennon a wall, a small area with Lennon lyrics and poem graffiti. While not significant by looks alone, it was the place where students had started protesting communism in the 1980s. While the government would whitewash the wall, overnight it was filled with graffiti again, and this cycle repeated itself almost daily, leading up to a clash between students and police on the Charles Bridge. We crossed back over the bridge into the Old Town Square, which is easily one of the more impressive squares we’ve seen this trip. As it was another chilly day out, we warmed up with some hot chocolate and mulled wine, and watched the astronomical clock go off on the hour. Afterwards, we climbed up to the top of the tower, overlooking the square and the rest of Prague. We took a stroll through the Old Jewish Quarter afterwards, completing our exploration of Old Town, and headed back to the hostel to relax before dinner. We decided upon a place called Hergetova Cihelna, a restaurant right on the river next to the Charles Bridge. It came recommended by James’ friend. No expense was spared for this dinner. Drinks, wine, beef tartar, duck, chicken stuffed with prawn, beef cheeks, etc. It was absolutely delicious, and worth every penny. We made our way back to the hostel, stuffed and ready to fall into food coma. A great dinner to close out Prague.