...So no one could tell Elena what to do now that her money pouch was on the way to Bratislava. Finally, some woman suggested that we should ask the train when it returned at 6 that night. Plan under way.
We set out in Prah
a (Czech spelling) for the hotel thinking it was only a block or two away. Blocks in Praha are double the size of blocks in NYC. Prague's train station is also at the bottom of a big hill in Stare Mestro (Old Town), and our hotel was right in the center of Nove Mestro (New Town) at the top. As we are carrying our luggage, walking uphill, trying to fin
d Hotel Adalon, it starts to rain. I'm leading the group but have my glasses on which did not help with the pouring rain. We notice that street numbers do not go sequentially even and odd (1, 3, 5 etc) but go 47, 53, 69, 71... no one knows why. We get to where 1885 is (yes, we started at 1) and the only hotel there is not named Hotel Adalon. It's raining, there are no more hotels on this street, we're at the address and in front of us is this gorgeous yellow hotel with a different name. Elena and I walk in to ask them where the hotel is starting with "We know we're not at the right place but...". The clerk looks at our paper and says "Oh, this is us, we changed our name." Mouths drop to the floor. This place has fancy lighting, chandeliers, glass doors, cherub paintings and statues everywhere. This was the second cheapest hotel we booked. We went to our rooms and Elena and I discovered that not only were we staying in style with a king size bed and plasma tv but also skylights. [Me right when we discovered our room, Our bathroom]
a (Czech spelling) for the hotel thinking it was only a block or two away. Blocks in Praha are double the size of blocks in NYC. Prague's train station is also at the bottom of a big hill in Stare Mestro (Old Town), and our hotel was right in the center of Nove Mestro (New Town) at the top. As we are carrying our luggage, walking uphill, trying to fin
d Hotel Adalon, it starts to rain. I'm leading the group but have my glasses on which did not help with the pouring rain. We notice that street numbers do not go sequentially even and odd (1, 3, 5 etc) but go 47, 53, 69, 71... no one knows why. We get to where 1885 is (yes, we started at 1) and the only hotel there is not named Hotel Adalon. It's raining, there are no more hotels on this street, we're at the address and in front of us is this gorgeous yellow hotel with a different name. Elena and I walk in to ask them where the hotel is starting with "We know we're not at the right place but...". The clerk looks at our paper and says "Oh, this is us, we changed our name." Mouths drop to the floor. This place has fancy lighting, chandeliers, glass doors, cherub paintings and statues everywhere. This was the second cheapest hotel we booked. We went to our rooms and Elena and I discovered that not only were we staying in style with a king size bed and plasma tv but also skylights. [Me right when we discovered our room, Our bathroom]I love Prague.
We all took naps and the boys went out for a bite to eat (Elena & I were gonna attempt the one meal a day plan...) but by 4:30 we could not get a hold of them so Elena and I decided to conquer on our own. First stop - train station to try and get her money pouch. After waiting for a long time and talking to maybe the one Czech person who was fluent (and understandable) in English, we went up to the platform to see our nice overnight train. Elena asked multiple conductors to this train if they found a pouch - all saying no and literally turning, walking away from her and ignoring her. Finally, she forced some man to tell her who to contact and he gave her an email address. Lovely. So Elena's things are in some bin somewhere in Eastern Europe (and don't worry we cancelled her cards right then so we were responsible in some aspects!).
We left for the restaurant we told the boys to meet us at and ordered the largest, bes
t beers of our life. Witbier. I actually ordered banana Witbier first which was interesting but very good. The beers they brought us cost as much as a 1 pint of the worst on tap in England and were the size of at least 2, maybe 3 pints. And it was delicious (it had a very Corona-y taste to it). We then ordered our huge meals, also costing what normally would be pub fare back on the island. Elena and I were in heaven. The boys, however, never showed up and the waitresses definitely thought we were crazy Americans trying to look like we had friends.
t beers of our life. Witbier. I actually ordered banana Witbier first which was interesting but very good. The beers they brought us cost as much as a 1 pint of the worst on tap in England and were the size of at least 2, maybe 3 pints. And it was delicious (it had a very Corona-y taste to it). We then ordered our huge meals, also costing what normally would be pub fare back on the island. Elena and I were in heaven. The boys, however, never showed up and the waitresses definitely thought we were crazy Americans trying to look like we had friends.So after our DELICIOUS meal, Elena & I were feeling pretty good and thought we should try and see what Praha was like (it was only 8). We ended up purchasing the most delicious cookies and heading to an almost empty English sports bar off of Wencesles Square. There we tried Pilsner which 
is, by far, the worst beer on earth. But we did make friends with the bartenders (as the boys said later, if you didn't, it wouldn't be Sarah and Elena) who taught me how to say "please" & "Thank you" and other words in Czech - all of which I could tell you but I'm guaranteed to say wrong. We also watched Czech idol which was hilarious because we would go "Are they good?" "No," says the bartender... "What is he saying?" "He says they are no good." Maybe you would have to be there but after seeing our American Idol, watching X-Factor back on the island (the Original AI), we were LOVING Czech Idol. Especially when they sang a song in English. [Our bartender amigo & Elena... I think his name was Peter... but I really couldn't understand what he said]
is, by far, the worst beer on earth. But we did make friends with the bartenders (as the boys said later, if you didn't, it wouldn't be Sarah and Elena) who taught me how to say "please" & "Thank you" and other words in Czech - all of which I could tell you but I'm guaranteed to say wrong. We also watched Czech idol which was hilarious because we would go "Are they good?" "No," says the bartender... "What is he saying?" "He says they are no good." Maybe you would have to be there but after seeing our American Idol, watching X-Factor back on the island (the Original AI), we were LOVING Czech Idol. Especially when they sang a song in English. [Our bartender amigo & Elena... I think his name was Peter... but I really couldn't understand what he said]It was about 10 by that time, so we decided to call it a night and get out of the city before it got too dangerous (which come to find out, Prague is actually pretty safe if you're on the buddy system... no one even looked at us) and went to bed, hoping the boys would call us in the morning...
And then 5 am rolled around and we had maybe the loudest banging on our door that you can imagine. Elena and I stared at each other for a good minute and a half debating on opening the door (there aren't peep holes in Europe) but I was convinced that is was the boys. When there was a break in the knocks, I heard Josh stiffel a laugh and we opened the door to 3 quite inebriated American boys who proclaimed their love for Prague after the bar crawl they had been on. We kicked them out with thoughts of giving them quite the early wake up call.
The next d
ay was an exploration of Prague. Old Town is absolutely gorgeoues - the cobblestoned streets are lined with pastel buildings that are so pretty. Apparently, Prague is an architectural hot spot. Down in the square there are many large churches and the famous Astronomical Clock that puts on this display every hour with the apostles and Jesus, and apparently Judas turns away to Jesus (even though I didn't catch that) and it's a big deal. It is pretty cool but the mass of crowds that it brought was unbelieveable. I guess it's because the Czech are so proud of this clock that rumor has it when the maker made it, they imprisoned him so he couldn't go leave and make another for another city or something like that and then they killed him. Lovely.
ay was an exploration of Prague. Old Town is absolutely gorgeoues - the cobblestoned streets are lined with pastel buildings that are so pretty. Apparently, Prague is an architectural hot spot. Down in the square there are many large churches and the famous Astronomical Clock that puts on this display every hour with the apostles and Jesus, and apparently Judas turns away to Jesus (even though I didn't catch that) and it's a big deal. It is pretty cool but the mass of crowds that it brought was unbelieveable. I guess it's because the Czech are so proud of this clock that rumor has it when the maker made it, they imprisoned him so he couldn't go leave and make another for another city or something like that and then they killed him. Lovely.We stumbled upon many interesting things through our day walk including a girl fr
om Doylestown who was doing bar crawls (yes, we'll get to that later), a Kafka statue, many more crazy buildings, fun toy stores, and back allies with synagoges (and I think we saw Chopin's birthplace, but I'm not necessarily sure because I can't read Czech...). We decided to clean up and eat in the Old Town Square for dinner and then join Lucia (Doylestown girl) for a bar crawl. The dinner was absolutely amazing, outside on a terrace that was beautiful and full of life. The Czech are not as relaxed and welcoming as the Dutch, but they certainly are nice enough that you feel at home just sitting around, watching the life. Every night there is actually some type of entertainment in the Old Town Square and after a not so great opera singer, there was a heavy metal band. That sang in Czech. Quite intriguing.
om Doylestown who was doing bar crawls (yes, we'll get to that later), a Kafka statue, many more crazy buildings, fun toy stores, and back allies with synagoges (and I think we saw Chopin's birthplace, but I'm not necessarily sure because I can't read Czech...). We decided to clean up and eat in the Old Town Square for dinner and then join Lucia (Doylestown girl) for a bar crawl. The dinner was absolutely amazing, outside on a terrace that was beautiful and full of life. The Czech are not as relaxed and welcoming as the Dutch, but they certainly are nice enough that you feel at home just sitting around, watching the life. Every night there is actually some type of entertainment in the Old Town Square and after a not so great opera singer, there was a heavy metal band. That sang in Czech. Quite intriguing.The boys insisted on a bar crawl with the girls that turned into an actually lovely tim
e. I met a bunch of Australian rugby players who were loads of fun and in return for them teaching me about the land down under (my aussie accent is aces), I taught them how to play flip cup, and my favorite one, Tom, how to play beer pong. Naturally, he was my favorite because when he found out I was from Pennsylvania he said "Are you a Nittany Lion?" - Sounds little but people knowing where PA is let alone that PSU is there is impressive. He's from where Maggie goes to school and lives about an hour away from Lancs now so we compared notes of everything which was quite entertaining. I also stayed away from the Pilsner and tried Absinthe, which I found highly disgusting. Maybe if I were to have sucked it up and drank more I would have found out what all the fuss was about? Probably better that I didn't... [The Aussies (Tom in the blue shirt across from me) & Elena & Me playing Flip Cup]
e. I met a bunch of Australian rugby players who were loads of fun and in return for them teaching me about the land down under (my aussie accent is aces), I taught them how to play flip cup, and my favorite one, Tom, how to play beer pong. Naturally, he was my favorite because when he found out I was from Pennsylvania he said "Are you a Nittany Lion?" - Sounds little but people knowing where PA is let alone that PSU is there is impressive. He's from where Maggie goes to school and lives about an hour away from Lancs now so we compared notes of everything which was quite entertaining. I also stayed away from the Pilsner and tried Absinthe, which I found highly disgusting. Maybe if I were to have sucked it up and drank more I would have found out what all the fuss was about? Probably better that I didn't... [The Aussies (Tom in the blue shirt across from me) & Elena & Me playing Flip Cup]The next morning before our night flight to Rome, we walked the river and saw Charles Bridge. We were all exhausted from the travels (and the boys two bar crawls were taking a toll on their moods which Elena & I did not appreciate) and were excited to see Rome. We weren't excited to see the prices of Italy, however...
To be continued (and pictures again!)
[- The five of us in front of the Vlatva - Me & Elena - The boys Absinthe drinks (woah Green!) - Charles Bridge- Aussie Tom & Me - The National Museum of the Czech Republic - Prague at night - Bed like in Sex & The City - Street Lamp - Velvet Revolution Memorial - Kafka statue - 3 Pictures for of the Old Town Square - Tower - Wencesles Square]
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