Beautiful/Sketchy Czech Republic

On Friday, I took the day off work to go see a place, which I expected to be far different from anywhere else I had ever been. While I was correct in some aspects, the Czech Republic was surprisingly western and I felt very safe. We arrived in Prague at 10am, headed over to the hostel and quickly found ourselves in our first Czech restaurant. For the low low price of 90 Czech Koruna, which is about 5 CAD, I was able to have a big plate of Goulash, with a large pint of beer. Great start to the adventure as our stomaches were filled and we were off to hit the town.

The first day was spent seeing Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and the Old Town Square. The castle was pretty impressive, as it used to be where all of the Czech rulers lived. As well, the view from the castle looked out over the entire city, which made for quite the sight. The main touristy sights didn't really leave that big of an impact on me. I was more interested in all of the sculptures and detailing on seemingly every building.

Since England is not known for hockey, it has been near impossible to see any. We were even joking (maybe half-joking) about going to an English Elite League hockey game. However, our wishes were granted when we found out that one of the best Czech teams, HC Slavia Praha, was playing. We headed over to the stadium, which was quite the sight. The stadium has a capacity of 18,000, is brand new and will be hosting the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightening next season. The game was pretty fast paced, but not quite as skillful as the NHL. Also, there was not a lot of hitting, which made it a bit boring near the end. Nonetheless, my hockey fix for the time being was satisfied.

Flying into the Czech Republic, I knew zero Czech - I couldn't even say hello! (Ahoy, for your knowledge) My struggles learning their language came to the surface at the hockey game when I went to order some food from the concession. As I queued, I noticed that the food options were 'hot dog' and 'kielbasa'. I chuckled to myself and thought `no problem, this should be easy`. When I got to the front, I simply said `Hot Dog` and motioned 1 with my hand. The pained, confused expression on the girl's face was not what I was hoping for. I repeated my request and she began looking around nervously for another cashier who spoke English. Finally, I put on my best Eastern European accent and said `Huut Duug`. She smiled and happily brought me a hot dog. Unbelievable.

That night, with the recommendations of the awesome hostel staff, we went to this club nearby called Mecca. Despite hearing everything is cheap in Prague, we were shocked to hear that a drink cost as much as it does in London and the cover charge was a staggering £10. Only later did we find out that the club was trying to be as American as possible. Their interpretation of American means gouge the customers as much as possible. This place was the exception though and we had no other problems at other clubs. Everywhere else had pints of beer for £0.75 and I even had a big liter of beer for £1.25.

After the club, I was introduced to a bit of the sketchiness which is Prague. Two of us decided that food was a must and went to hop on the tram to head to the downtown core, where the only restaurants were open. While waiting for a tram, a young Czech guy came up to us and started telling us this small party that was happening and how we should come. He lovingly described it as being able to see `A True Czech Underground Experience`. Considering there was about a 1% chance of this party not being a death trap, we politely declined.

Saturday was spent on a day trip to a place east of Prague called Kutna Hora. This place is famous for its bone church. Basically, this church was a memorial type thing and had the bones of 40,000 people. Some artist comes in and decides bone art would be a pretty cool medium. After carefully crafting a chandelier and Czech coat of arms, while aligning the walls with bones, his work was complete. The experience was in a word Creepy. It felt like death inside the church walls. Just looking at the chandelier made you shutter. If you'll look closely, you'll notice that the base of the structure is connected to the ceiling with jaw bones. Eerie...

Sunday was a relaxing day, as we had seen most of the touristy parts of Prague. The last thing on our list was to climb Petrin Tower, the highest point in the city to see the sun set. As we started walking towards the tower, we began to realize how far away and high it really is. By the time, we reached the top, we were getting pretty beat. However, the view was even better than that from Prague Castle, and was extraordinary since the sky was crystal clear. On the way down, we did a bit of unintentional mountain climbing as we went off the beaten path and settled into a nice Czech restaurant for our last meal. A quick taxi to the airport and we were back to London for another work week, only to repeat the process in a few days with Amsterdam.Na zdraví