Prague!

So, in Europe, they have this rule where they give all people a massive amount of vacation days; and while we are allowed to roll them over into the new year, we must use them by the end of January. This, combined with the fact that is was one of my collegue’s birthdays (Alex Tam) made us decide to go to Prague! I took a long weekend (Thurs to Tuesday) off and hopped on a plane for my weekend adventure!

Since I was using my vacation days, I arrived a day earlier and left a day later than my travel companions (They arrived Fri to Sun, while I was Thurs to Mon). Here is a day by day breakdown of my experiences there:

THURSDAY – I had an afternoon flight out of London, so arrived at the airport around 10:00 for my 1:00PM flight. It was a short two hours to Prague and I hit down on the ground a little after 4:00 and was checked into my hostel by 5:30! I was a little worried about being there alone my first night because I did not speak any Czech, but I should have guessed, everyone knew English! I made my way to small street vendor and helped my self to a Sausage on a stick! It was tasty. I then made my way to a bar in the city centre, where they tell many Americans to stop at first. I made my way there, and soon realized that while Prague is a fun city on the weekends, it virtually is asleep on other nights. As I made my way to the bar I was excited to have an authentic Czech beer, Pilsner Urquell! Yes, you might have had it in America, as it is popular there, but unlike Australian Fosters, this beer is as synonymous with Czech as Guinness is with Dublin. To top it all off, the beer cost around $1! I was in total shock, but in a very good way. I now know why Prague is labelled one of the top Stag (Bachelor) and Hen (Bachelorette) party destinations in central Europe! The bartender was also great, he told me where I should go on Friday and Saturday. It was also at this time I saw two people at the bar who looked like they could be fun. I wanted to make the best of the night so I introduced myself and asked if they knew of any other fun places to go. They told me of course, and invited me to tag along. Score! Locals who agreed to take me out my first night. Three Czech pubs later, I arrived back to my hostel fully happy with the first night I had (Thanks Jye and Gabreal).

FRIDAY – The second day I had to check out of the hostel, to move to the hotel that we were all staying at, courtesy of Alex Tams girlfriend, Amy Troung (Thank you Amy!). Once they arrived, we used the first day to do some basic exploring. We first went to a really cool building called ‘THE WALKING BUILDING’. If you go to Prague, you should definitely check it out. We then decided to grab some food and randomly found this authentic looking Czech restaurant. Once inside, we were yet again taken aback at how cheap the items on the menu were. We ordered, and soon our meals, or should I say meat, arrived the table. I happened to order Marinated Pork Ribs, with a chilli oil. These massive ribs came out on a metal spike and were stacked one-on-top of the other, and boy were they juicy and delicious! Once stuffed, we made our way over Charles Bridge to the Prague Castle and Cathedral on the other side of the river. After some amazing sightseeing, and a very long uphill track, we were ready for a quick beer at a local pub. We went into the first one we saw, which also happened to look closed, and it turned out to be one of Prague’s oldest pubs. The staff still wore garbs (clothes) from the 1900’s, and the inside really looked like it was the set from a movie. It was one of the coolest finds on our trip. Later that night we met up with one of Leanne’s friends friend, Tomas (pronounces To-Mash), who took us out for a very interesting night. One that ended with us trying Absinth (with Wormwood and Thujone).

SATURDAY – We all woke up bright and early (at 10:00) and made our way to the city centre for the 3-hour walking tour, which started off right by the Prague Clock. Now for those of you who have not been to Prague, this clock attracts people from all over the world. For those of you who have been to Prague, you will also know that this was rated the second most upsetting tourist attraction (right after Stonehenge). Well, the walking tour took us all around the city, and we were even able to see the old Jewish town and the Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was probably 50 feet high because they only gave the Jews a small area of land for their dead back in the day. Further, since Jews do not believe in cremation or above ground burials, they had to improvise, but placing tombs, over tombs, over tombs. It was pretty interesting to see, since there were so many tombstones over the top of the mound. After many hours of walking around, we wandered back to the hotel to rest before our big night out for Alex’s birthday. I had managed to get us Discount Entry cards to the largest club in Central Europe, Kaze Lane. It was a pretty fun club, with low ceilings not made for tall people dancing (which I learned the hard way). They had a variety of floors, each playing it’s own music. This night was a lot of fun as well!

SUNDAY – Leanne left early in the morning. Alex, Amy and I wandered around for a bit before they had to leave and I was left to entertaining myself for one more day. What to do, what to do? I wandered back to the hostel to check in and saw someone in the lobby looking just as lost as me. We started talking and decided to find a fun place to go out to. We had a couple drinks at the hostel (they had a really great bar built in) and made our way to grab a bite to eat. It was kinda funny because when we finally ended up at a bar, I ran into people I met the first and the second nights. My friend was like ‘Are you sure you don’t live here!’ It was funny that I already ran into people after only being in the city for a weekend. But I will say it was a fun weekend.

Prague has definitely been my favourite European city to visit thus far, with a great historical story, great pubs, cheap beer, fun and nice people, and a place you can get by only knowing English! I don’t know what European city is next for me, but I will be going to Leeds to visit my friend Ollie with my other friend Andrew (both Monash University Alumni buddies), later this month. It should be a great time. Also later this month, is the second Marquette University Alumni Event, celebrating InterNational Marquette Day on January 29th! It should be a great event, and we already have 16 people registered, that is more than some National clubs do in the US. I say our club is getting off to a great start!

Well, I hope you are all well back home and, as usual, thanks for reading. I am back to work tomorrow and am actually looking forward to it.