People told me Prague is "touristy" now. I assumed that meant tidied-up and rather tourist-oriented, like Brussels was, but nothing prepared me for this place. Completely packed wall to wall with people. Tourists with backpacks, sunglasses, and two cameras strung around their necks choke the streets. You can barely get around without bumping in to someone or getting bumped in to. I started getting as claustrophobic as I do in Costco in rush hour. It is every bit the same feeling you get at Disneyland when you're jammed in with thousands of other people, all looking around going "oooh, it's so pretty!" It was absolutely awful.
We did finally manage to get out of the very central tourist district and walk around on the outskirts a bit more. Thank goodness for that, because otherwise I would have hated Prague for ever after. It is actually quite beautiful, but you have to get away from all the people in order to see it - and it is really hard to get away from the people.
There's an awesome club a few blocks down from my hostel. The whole interior is covered in Mad Max-style welded together machine parts, most of which move in some way or another. Tables, seats, wall decorations, and the second floor of seating, which would surely violate some building code back in the states. It's fantastic. And half a liter of beer costs about a dollar. Sure a swell change from the $8 pints in Norway and Sweden.
We've decided that our hostel room is cursed. The first night, I checked in to what I was told was a mixed-gender dorm (fairly standard) that happened to have all girls at the time. Several hours after I checked in, I came back to find the girls all talking about the "weird old guy" who had just checked in to our room. I think he was an itinerant bicyclist or something, but he talked to himself and seemed generally a bit "off"... About 3:00 am, we were all awakened to him standing in the middle of the room shouting at the girl in the bunk across from his "Stop snoring! What's wrong with you! Why are you snoring so loud?"
Of course, the snoring hadn't bothered anyone except him, but now were all awake and wondering 1) why this guy had actually gotten up and walked across the room to voice his complaint, 2) what he was going to do next, and 3) if it was a good idea to go back to sleep.
The next morning, we talked to the hostel staff and they moved him to a mostly male dorm. I think they thought we were over-reacting until he started yelling at one of the girls - in front of the staff - that it was her fault he'd had to change rooms. Tons o' fun.
Then, last night, again about 3:00 am, some woman walked in to our locked room, wandered about with a laundry basket, tried to walk off with someone's towel, and finally left when the towel's owner confronted her. This morning one of the guys realized that his cell phone and MP3 player were missing from his night stand. We still have no idea what was going on there... but anyway, I've had enough of Prague, so I am finally on my way down to Rome to pick up my much-needed battery charger. 18-hour train ride, here I come!
We did finally manage to get out of the very central tourist district and walk around on the outskirts a bit more. Thank goodness for that, because otherwise I would have hated Prague for ever after. It is actually quite beautiful, but you have to get away from all the people in order to see it - and it is really hard to get away from the people.
There's an awesome club a few blocks down from my hostel. The whole interior is covered in Mad Max-style welded together machine parts, most of which move in some way or another. Tables, seats, wall decorations, and the second floor of seating, which would surely violate some building code back in the states. It's fantastic. And half a liter of beer costs about a dollar. Sure a swell change from the $8 pints in Norway and Sweden.
We've decided that our hostel room is cursed. The first night, I checked in to what I was told was a mixed-gender dorm (fairly standard) that happened to have all girls at the time. Several hours after I checked in, I came back to find the girls all talking about the "weird old guy" who had just checked in to our room. I think he was an itinerant bicyclist or something, but he talked to himself and seemed generally a bit "off"... About 3:00 am, we were all awakened to him standing in the middle of the room shouting at the girl in the bunk across from his "Stop snoring! What's wrong with you! Why are you snoring so loud?"
Of course, the snoring hadn't bothered anyone except him, but now were all awake and wondering 1) why this guy had actually gotten up and walked across the room to voice his complaint, 2) what he was going to do next, and 3) if it was a good idea to go back to sleep.
The next morning, we talked to the hostel staff and they moved him to a mostly male dorm. I think they thought we were over-reacting until he started yelling at one of the girls - in front of the staff - that it was her fault he'd had to change rooms. Tons o' fun.
Then, last night, again about 3:00 am, some woman walked in to our locked room, wandered about with a laundry basket, tried to walk off with someone's towel, and finally left when the towel's owner confronted her. This morning one of the guys realized that his cell phone and MP3 player were missing from his night stand. We still have no idea what was going on there... but anyway, I've had enough of Prague, so I am finally on my way down to Rome to pick up my much-needed battery charger. 18-hour train ride, here I come!
posted by Kristal at 1:57 AM
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