My first trial was figuring out to get to the airport at six o'clock in the morning. Thankfully Richard showed me the "RoissyBus" which is a bus leaving from the Opera metro stop in Paris with a non-stop service to Charles De Gaulle airport. The bus left at 5:45am, but the first train didn't arrive to take me to Opera until 5:38am so I thought for sure I'd miss it since it's its at least six or seven minutes from Parmentier (M) to Opera (M). I arrived at Opera at about 5:46am and ran out the exit to find the bus just pulling up. In hindsight, the bus didn't actually leave until 6:00am so I wouldn't have missed it, but I was definitely worried. A half-hour drive later I checked into my "SmartWings" flight, cruised through security with my carry-on and boarded my flight to Prague.
An hour or so later we landed at the Prague airport and I grabbed my pack and headed out towards the exit. The first thing I needed was some cash money. I had a bit of a snafu with my bank where they wouldn't let me use my ATM card in any country besides France. In order to rectify the problem I had to fax them three forms of ID front and back and three signatures, with a contact phone number and then wait up to forty-eight hours for them to call back at their convenience. Seeings how I didn't have a scanner, fax machine, or phone, this wasn't going to happen...so I have no access to my money outside of France. My option left was to bring enough Euros with me to exchange for CZK (crowns), so I swung by a currency exchange booth in the airport on the way out and traded my money. The exchange rate is about 25Kc to 1 Euro ($1.50 USD). More on this later. After getting crowns I bought a bus ticket for 26Kc and jumped on the bus that would bring me to the city center. I had directions to my hostel with me which instructed me to take the bus, then get on the metro, then get on a tram, then walk...haha. It sounded confusing, but ended up being easy. One cool thing I learned right away was that a single transportation ticket works on all forms of transport. I can use my same ticket for the bus, train, and tram. It has a 75-minute time limit on it so I can use it for whatever I like within that time. You can buy different lengths for whatever your needs may be. After following all of the directions I finally made it to the "Little Town Hostel" and to my room.
When I got in to the room I met a guy from Quebec named Alexis who told me a bit about the hostel and how it had been. He's a backpacker who has been traveling for quite a bit so it's always nice to hear stories and where all he has been, etc. Apparently all of the ten beds were full now that I'd arrived so I was bound to meet some people soon enough. After getting settled in a bit and locking my gear in the locker I got suited up for a walk and headed out on the town. Equipped with my map from the hostel and some nice warm clothes that I'm incredibly glad I brought, it was time for adventure! It was COLD in Prague! Way colder than it had been anywhere else I'd visited so far. So glad I brought warm clothes. So, so glad.
My first stop on the walk was food. I was a bit wary of spending too much money since I didn't have access to my funds, and what I had was just what I had...so I decided to just get something quick and grabbed some Kebab. After eating a decent meal at a really good price, I wandered into a couple of souvenir shops to see what they had and realized something amazing...things are cheap here! Having been in Paris, I got use to paying a lot for almost everything, so it was very refreshing to see things priced normally. For instance, a pint of beer in Prague costs between 25 and 50 Kc normally. That equals to about 1-2 Euros. The cheapest pint of beer I've found in Paris was 4 Euros, and in most cases you're looking at 7-9 Euros for a pint of quality beer. Don't tell anyone, but I even paid 12 Euros for a pint once in Paris. (That is $18 USD). I realized then that I could probably drink about a hundred pints over the next couple of days and not run out of money. Brain cells maybe, but I'd have plenty of cash. :)
I kept on walking and eventually made my way to the main city square in "old town" where I came across the famous Christmas/Holiday Markets! This was amazing! It smelled of roasted chestnuts, wine, and wurst. I spent a long time wandering through the markets tasting different foods, looking through the shops at all the trinkets and holiday gifts, and admiring the sites it had to offer. Everyone was so happy and into the Christmas spirit that it made me very excited to go home in two weeks. It's one of those things that makes you realize how simultaneously the world can be so big and yet so very small at the same time. People all over the earth are merry and happy during the holiday season, and it's truly inspiring and an amazing, enjoyable experience to be around them.
In the old town square there is a clock tower they call the 'astronomical clock'. It's very neat and interesting looking! I read a bit about the history to know what it was and what it does, you can read about it here. Prague Astronomical Clock Wiki.
After exploring a bit more I walked back to the hostel and met a few more of the hostel-mates who were from Canada. We talked for awhile and shared travel stories, before they all got ready to head off to an ice-hockey game at a nearby rink. Yes, the Canadians found a hockey game to go to...in Prague. Lawl. Alexis from Quebec also went with them so I was by myself at the hostel awhile just writing and catching up on emails, etc when yet another mate came by named "T". He was from Malaysia and spoke little English so our conversations were limited, but he seemed like a pretty cool fellow. Few minutes later I checked out BeerAdvocate.com to see where the good beer pubs were in Prague. The first one I found was called, "Hastalky Dedek Restaurace". The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't as touristy as most of the pubs near old town and my hostel, as they didn't immediately start speaking to me in English. I asked for a pint of something good and was given a "Mušketýr" by the barman. Great stuff! Cheap too, it was about 30Kc for a pint. Check them out here: http://www.hastalskydedek.cz/
After the pub I decided to go visit Prague Castle. It's the largest medieval castle in Europe, holds the Guinness Record for being the largest "ancient" castle, and as you can imagine is just absolutely breathtaking. In the pic below you can see it up on the hill.
It took me about forty-five minutes to walk up to the castle and I spent another two hours or so exploring and taking photos with my cellphone. Part of me wants to write and tell you all about it, but it's simply just too amazing for words. It's a castle for fuck's sake. A CASTLE. I was just blown away the entire time. Unbelievable stuff.
To see more pics of the castle that were actually taken properly, look here. Or if you like, read all about it's history by visiting the Prague Castle Wikipedia Article.
After returning from the castle I decided my next stop would be some eats, so I stopped into a steak house I found and grabbed a seat. I ordered a chicken steak with a fruit sauce and a side of chips (French Fries). The food was great, as was the beer I had with it. It was a coffee flavored beer called Chodovar. I was completely stuffed, and kind of drunk so I decided to head back to the hostel to see what was happening there. When I arrived, there were yet three more people in the kitchen who I'd not yet met. A girl from Montreal, Quebec, named Camille and a guy and girl traveling together from Brazil named Victor and Mairra. They had just finished cooking an amazing dinner as I walked in. Soup, cheeses, bread, vegetables, olives, wine, etc. and were so nice and invited me to join them. Even though I was completely stuffed from my meal just minutes before I decided to sit with them and have a glass of wine and try some of Victor's amazing soup. We talked, ate, and drank for a couple hours then, great fun. All three of them had great stories of backpacking all over the world and Europe. This is what traveling is all about for me, just meeting these amazing people, getting to know them, hearing stories and sharing some of my own. Eventually all of the Canadians returned from the hockey game and we had almost the entire gang there finally. As you can probably guess, we all decided to go do some drinking! There was a pub in the basement of the hostel so we hopped in the lift and went down for some drinks and some fun! Along the way we picked up one more mate from another room named Simon from Norway. We all drank a lot of beer, did some shots, and learned from the barmaid how to say "cheers" in Czech. Na zdraví! My first day in Prague came to an end a few hours later, not a bad start.
The next morning I had the worst headache I can remember having in recent weeks. Thankfully it didn't last very long but I was damn shocked at how much it hurt for a bit there. Drinking from noon until midnight will do that I suppose. I had ordered breakfast at the hostel so I got dressed and went and ate in a room across the hall. Simple but good. Juice, Coffee, toast, muffins, and cereal. Camille and Alexis from Quebec were both headed off that morning so we said our goodbyes, facebook friended, and they were off. I spent the next four hours simply wandering around the city. I spent some time in the markets again, had some sausage and hot wine, and explored a lot of the city. Here are a few pics from the cellphone.
One of the most beautiful things in Prague is the Charles Bridge. It's a very historic bridge since it was the first one built that crossed the Vltava river and connected Prague's Old Town with the Prague Castle and the other adjacent areas. It's stunning really. Another piece of history that words won't do much for. Google it if you're interested. I crossed the bridge on the way back to the hostel and headed back inside to rest for a bit, a four hour walk does wonders on the feet. Ack!
Later that day a new hostel mate arrived, a girl named Jessica from Arkansas, USA. We talked for a bit about all of the places we had traveled and such and exchanged some cool stories once again. I ended up hanging out with her for most of the day and exploring a bit more of the city. We even got a few pictures of us doing some gymnastics on the Charles Bridge hah, I did a handstand. Did I mention it was ridiculously cold? Coldest city I'd visited yet, so removing my jacket to do a handstand on the bridge was a big deal! But, how many times in my life would I be able to do a handstand on the Charles Bridge, sitting high above the Vltava River, in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic, in Europe? Probably not many. :)
I was running out of cash so I need to hit up a place to exchange a bit more currency. Thankfully I had discovered 100 Euros that I had hidden in my belt weeks and weeks ago. Yes I am damn smart. There are so many Currency stores in Prague! At least one on every block and sometimes more than that. If you ever visit, exchange at the airport only enough to get your bus ticket (26Kc) but save the bulk of it for later where you'll get a much better rate. Whilst exploring I had seen one of them advertising 2500Kc for 100 Euros. I had this number in my head so I was going to check every exchange place until they offered me this. The first one I went in offered me 1800Kc. I almost laughed out loud, and started to walk away when the guy said "Wait! 2400Kc". I wanted to slap him through the glass, like I'd really take him seriously with an offer going from 1800 to 2400. 2400 isn't bad but I just laughed and walked out. I visited six more stores, the first five offered me 2400 and the sixth did the same, but as I was walking out he says, "Fine, what do you want?" I replied, "2500". "Okay fine." he says. My elite negotiating skills are awesome aren't they? Hah! I returned to the hostel with my money and we hit up an Irish Pub for some dinner. JJ's I think it was called. Good food, friendly people, great beer. As I said in my Tips For Traveling Europe - Part II, Irish Pub's always deliver.
Returning to the hostel we met yet another two people who had arrived at the hostel. A girl from China and a girl from Korea who was living in Ireland and traveling around. Such interesting people everywhere!
The next morning was my last in Prague, so I had planned to use the time left to spend a bunch of money. I wanted to buy some Christmas gifts and souvenirs, as well as try some of the food in the Christmas Markets that I hadn't tasted yet. Jessica was going off on a tour of the Castle so we said our goodbyes and I headed off into the markets to spend my hard earned crowns. Some great gifts came out of this by the way!
The only mildly exciting thing left that happened was when I couldn't figure out for the life of me where the heck to buy a train/bus/tram ticket. In case you were wondering, I finally found them for sale at the local Tabac. (Tobacco Store). Tram to Train to Bus to Plane to Train and I finally got home to my apartment in Paris. As tired as I was, the next day I was leaving for London! I had an amazing time in Prague thanks to the great city, the nice and amazing people I met, and everything else the city had to offer. I'd recommend it to anyone! Try to visit some day!
Next it's off to the United Kingdom for the week!
Posts
