Czechs and Crowns

Hello from somewhere between Berlin and Bonn! We are currently on our train ride back to Bonn from our second free weekend in Prague. After every week I always wish that we had spent more time in the cities that we visited. There is simply too much to see and too little time in the five weeks we have in Europe.

Being unknowledgeable like I always, I was a little shocked to find out about the change in currency and language. Nevertheless, as soon as we arrived at Sir Toby’s I fell in love with Prague. The people at the hostel were so incredibly welcoming, there were plenty of English speakers—from Canadians to Australians, and the downstairs pub not only was very comfortable and “homey-feeling,” but also had some of the best drinks I have ever had. And as always, free Wifi and BBQ dinner is something were very pleased about after a long train ride. Then some American guys that we met at the basement pub invited us to go out with them. Even though most of our group was tired, I really wanted to go with them because they had been in Prague for the past few days and knew how to get to the legitimate “night-life” places around the area. Morgan, Michelle, Mario, and I surprisingly ended up going out with our new friends. Our first stop was a labyrinth of underground bars and pubs that had multiple bars connected to each other by a small hallway or flight of stairs. Then we went to Cross Club, a multiple-story club that was bombarded by smoke, all sorts of drugs, and zombie-like intoxicated people. It was a scene I have never witnessed anywhere in the States. The rapid techno music reminded me of being in a rave, except a million times sped up. The walls were covered with moving automobile parts, with wheels over wheels spinning each other. This night was a good experience overall, and I feel like I got a taste of what the real night life of Czech was like—not just a night from a “tourist’s” point of view.

On our second day in Prague, we woke up early to go on the free tour. We walked through Old Town, passed by a couple of the churches, and ended the tour on the Charles Bridge. The city is really beautiful, and I am sad that I was not able to take any pictures after my camera battery died. Walking across the bridge was an awesome experience though. It was particularly windy on the bridge, and both sides across the entire bridge were lined up with booths and mini-markets where localists would try to sell their photography or art work. It reminded me a lot of the markets and booths in downtown Austin. We then climbed up a hill that felt like we were hiking up a mountain, and went to the Castle of Prague. The view from the top of the hill was beautiful, and looked exactly like how it did on the Bachelorette. Afterwards, we all came back to the hostel and ate dinner before going to the bar-hopping event with Sir Toby’s. The event was 400 Crowns/16 Euros, which included unlimited beer/wine for an hour and two free shots, and we ended the night at the infamous five-story disco. It was a successful night and we all got home from the cab at around 4:30 in the morning.

The only thing that I did not like about our experience in Prague was getting thrown off by the currency change. When we were withdrawing cash from an ATM, a guy told Caleb that “he needed” change and snatched a 1000 Crown bill from his hand and quickly ran off after giving him two fake bills. It was frustrating because none of us had realized that the two 500 bills were not in Crowns and we had waited so long to chase after the guy. When we were coming back to the hostel in the cab, we ran out of Crowns and offered the cab driver to pay in Euros and he incorrectly made us pay much more than we were supposed to. Aside from some bad luck, I thoroughly enjoyed my first time in the Czech Republic. From the way people dress to the crazy night life, Prague as a whole is very attractive to me. I definitely plan to visit Prague and come back to Sir Toby’s with my friends in the near future.