Sorry we haven't updated our blog since we sent it out to you! We don't have internet at home and a smoky, dirty internet cafe with a German keyboard doesn't exactly invoke the little creativity I have. So, I found a very American/Hippy coffee shop called Coffee Mamas that has free internet and is close to Rick's office. On days that Rick doesn't need his lap top, I order a chai and sit in Coffee Mamas for a couple of hours getting back in touch with the outside world.
Now on to Prague! Rick and I decided last Thursday that our weekends were going to quickly slip by and that we needed to take advantage of them. Since Prague is only a 4 1/2 hour train ride from Berlin, it seemed like a good place to go for a very short weekend.
I spent a few hours that day in Coffee Mamas looking for an inexpensive hotel and getting a feel for the layout of the city. Thankfully Prague still uses it's own currency which the dollar holds strong against so I was able to find a very reasonably priced hotel within walking distance (my definition of that has changed since I now walk for hours each day) of all the major sights and areas of the city.
We arrived late Friday night and were surprised by the old, dirty, closed train station we arrived at. After attempting to use public transportation and failing as well as not wanting to wander around longer than we needed to due to the bad part of town we were in, we jumped in a taxi. We arrived safely at the hotel only to be shocked when the taxi driver asked for 9000 czech dollars. Rick had to find an ATM becuase we didn't have that much. It turned out not to be as outragious as we origonally thought once we calculated the exchange rate but it was indeed shocking.
After checking in we headed to a traditional Czech Pub to catch a late dinner and get a feel for the culture. Someone had recommended this particular place to us and it was quite different than anything I've ever experienced.
We sat down at a long table that nearly spanned the length of the room. Everyone seems to just sit together and before we knew what was happening, a waiter slammed two beers down in front of us without a word and headed off. Two guys in their twenties were sitting just down the table from us and found our shocked and confused faces quite amusing. We started chatting with them and they closed the gap between us and joined us for the rest of the night. They were really nice but quirky German guys who spoke pretty good English and seemed to have a better since for how things worked at the restaurant than we did. We ordered a traditional meal with sausage, cabbage, and horse radish (that's my best guess anyway) and ate while listening to a group of drunk Czechs sing happy birthday to each other in English. (I wouldn't be suprised if that was the extent of their English.)
On Saturday we toured all around and saw the famous Prague Castle, beautiful old architecture, and participated in some kind of a festival with stands serving very traditional Czech food and pastries and a polka band. We had a great time wondering around, tasting the food, and enjoying the music.
It was a fun trip but my overall impression of Prague is very different than I anticipated. While the buildings, castles, traditions, and artwork are beautiful, the culture isn't. The only people that were nice to us were the local Starbucks employees and other tourists.
For example, on our way back to the train station on Sunday we took the metro and approached two ladies with a map to ask if the train would take us to the stop we needed to get to. They waved us off, and kept walking all the while avoiding looking at us. It was quite incredible how unfriendly and rude Czech people seemed to be and the service at restaurants was the same way.
We also learned from another American tourist we chatted with that Prague is known for sex, drugs, and alcohol. It just felt like a very dark place at times. In spite of the culture, it was still a good trip and we're glad we went but don't have any plans to return very soon. Unfotunately we forgot our camera so we don't have any digital photos to add to this posting!
