So, I slept the entire flight to Prague and when I landed, I realized that the Czech Republic doesn't use the Euro yet. I swore I read that they use both the Euro and the Koruna in their effort to convert over, but no. So, I went to the ATM and my options were something ridiculous like K500, K1000, K3000. At this point, I know nothing about conversions, so I push a button in the middle and hope I'm making a good choice. I guess it's roughly $5 to K100, give or take, so, taking out K2000 wasn't as painful as I thought. I bought pizza in the airport.
Note: don't do this.
The pizza had the taste and consistency of cardboard and I thought maybe they had left the serving board underneath. No. On top of this was a ketchupy substance and some sheets of meat and cheese. WHAT.
All I kept thinking was that Chicago and New York need to put aside their differences, come together and have a pizza intervention with Prague. Woof.
So, I finished the pizza and got a hold of Ricky.
Ricky's a really good friend of mine from high school and through college. He was also my homecoming date when I was a junior in high school and we dated for two weeks Freshman year. Scandalous, right? I love the kid.
He had been backpacking with a couple of his friends and we decided before the trip that there was no way we could be roughly in the same part of the world at the same and not somehow meet up.
TOTAL TANGENT: I'm in the Munich Airport leaving for home and I may or may not be sitting across from Kevin Bacon. And he may or may not have gained 200 lbs. It's probably not him. I will take a picture for a vote.----
Anyway, so, I take a cab into the old city and have no idea what it means at this point to pay K530 for this (as it ends up, that's a good price.) Prague is beautiful. Really, truly. The landscape is gorgeous and the old buildings are so intricately detailed and sprawl on forever. Everything kind of blends into pastel creams and reds. Very romantic... and here I am meeting up with three bros.
I'm not sure how to describe a "bro" but I'm going to try to define it for the less young crowd: Short for brother, it's kind of like a frat guy- loves to drink, party, usually pretty decent looking, and oozing with confidence and awesome. Yes, I just laughed actually putting words to it.
Oh, and Raging is basically just partying hard. I'll say that word a lot, considering I heard it a lot in Prague.
These guys aren't necessarily dumb; all three have their degrees in Engineering from either U of I or Iowa. They're just hilarious and love to rage. Ricky is pretty openminded and will take any dare that you throw at him. His friend from U of I that I had met before was TK. TK is the most confidently ridiculous person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life. With a head like a T-Rex, this kid loves to dance and drink like a champion. Chuck is the other guy. I had never met him before but he had grown up with TK and was cool enough. Needless to say, I don't think I stopped laughing the entire time with them.
Prague is a maze of streets split by a river down the center separating the old city and the castle side- some streets allow cars, others don't. I stayed in the old city within 3 blocks of Prague's famous Glockenspiel (I'm not sure what they call it, but that's what I'm calling it.) The hostel was next to... well, multiple strip clubs. I was trying to think of the other things around, but most of our surroundings were comprised of tourist shops and strip clubs... shopping and nudity. Can't say I didn't feel like I truly belonged. Just kidding. (Love you, mom).
The guys weren't at the hostel so I checked into their room on my own- because in Prague you can say that you need the key to the private room with three guys and they hand it right over. Our room was about 10x14, give or take, and consisted of two bunk beds that were about 2 feet apart on either side of the room. So, close quarters. There was also a huge window with French doors that opened up to a 30 foot drop but was amazing for people watching. I started getting situated when the guys walked in. It was so great to see them. Big hugs... :)
We decided to take advantage of the limited amount of time that I had with them and went straight out to see the Prague Metronome. This was accomplished by going up a ton of stairs Rocky-Balboa style and watching the guys sing "Eye of the Tiger" and be really cool... but when we got to the top, the view was incredible. Prague was quickly becoming less of a "Stop to see a good friend" type of place and a place that is so incredibly charming and beautiful that I fell in love with it. Nothing there is overstated. Sure, there are things you need to see, such as the Old City, and the Castle, and the bridge, but it's one of those places that just speaks for itself. I haven't felt like that since I went to Barcelona in 2006. Great place, same feeling. So, besides providing excellent views and being a super Metronome, this place was also the local hangout for teenage skaters. The perfect concrete jungle for a ton of czech kids pretending to be Dave Mirra. It was also about 3pm, so it wasn't too hot or cold. About 65/70 degrees and sunny. Perfect weather. We went to this beer garden in the park, because you can drink in public in Europe, we got Staroprammen, the local beer, and some authentic Eastern Europe Kielbasa. At first we were skeptical but it ended up being
To be continued...
