Caution Wet Floor

Thursday, July 31, 2008 - Thursday, August 7, 2008

“Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws.” -  Franz Kafka

Church of Our Lady in front of Tyn

Letiště Ruzyně is the aerial gateway to the city Kafka refers to and although it is not a magnificent sight, I was quite happy to see it even though it was shortly after Midnight. Mind you I did travel first class. (a big thank you to TIAA-CREF and those airline miles and upgrades) As I cleared customs, my European Union passport made the task quite easy. Just a quick line in fact. My next act is to walk out where I run into my friend Layne. She had been living in Prague for a year at that point teaching English to Pre-School students. This is something that will be important later, I assure you. Another thing to point out is that for the past few years, I do not sleep well before a flight so I just don’t sleep. It’s much easier when I fly at the end of a long day but if flying is all I am doing, yeah it does not work.

So here I am outside with Layne waiting for transportation, she thought the Bus would be the best option given price and what not. Now it’s important to point out that a Taxi Driver was offering me a 15 kilometer (6 miles and change) ride for 300-350 czk (Czech Koruna) To put this in perspective about $20 give or take depending on the exchange rate. A bus & tram ticket costs about $2 give or take. The next bus came at 12:45 just 40 minutes after I got out. So to recap 15 kilometers for $20 or wait 40 then take 25 minutes on buses and trams for $2. Normally I would just have paid the $20 and been in bed in no time but this is not my city and I left it to Layne who as previously mentioned had been there for a year. We get on the bus and we’re off.

Astrological Clock in Staré Město

Two stops in to the trip, we get to a stop called Divorká Šárka where EVERYBODY got off. We stayed on. As the bus kept going, She was beginning to realize that the trip was taking too long and the route was unfamiliar to her. Now in her defense I should say that this was the first time she took the night bus from Letiště Ruzyně, however if that is the case shouldn’t she have checked the map before we left?

Normally in this case one would ask the driver right. Well that would require some knowledge of Czech. To put it mildly I understood more Czech than she did and that’s not good. Anyways we get to Sídliště Stodůlky which is in South West Prague, we were trying to get to Dejvicka which in North West Prague. Oh yeah WRONG side of the city. The bus driver tried to explain to us how to get to where we want to go and tries quite hard not to laugh at us. We called a Czech friend of hers who tells us that nope we really don’t want to go where we are already. Perfect, all I could do was laugh at that point cause I was so tired.

Now you would think this would be the end of the ride, nope we get another bus which takes us to a tram stop. Here we catch a tram with a bunch of people heading home from drinking and whatnot. So now were are off. The tram stops and we get off to run (oh yes run with my bag and everything) to catch another one. Three stops in, She realizes we are going the wrong way. When we finally get off at the stop and yours truly is dying having been up for about 48 hours and then the next obstacle presents itself. You see if we had gone the right route this would have a down hill walk but since we went so far out of the way this became a yup you guessed it up hill walk. Normally not a daunting task but for a tired person a hill, with a duffle bag slung over your shoulder, is your worst enemy. At the end of this long trip we saved $18 and took more than THREE hours to go 15 kilometers.

View from the Top of the Astrological Tower

Now with a start like this you might think I had a horrible trip. Not at all, it definitely got better and was one of the best trips of my life. Although the next day I stayed in bed as I attempted to recover. Once I started my actual trip though, it was AMAZING.

Staré Město (Old Town) - Prague Astronomical Clock & Tower, Church of Our Lady in front of Týn, Jan Hus Memorial and The Old Town Square - Wonderful and picturesque a place I have been waiting a very long time to see and it did not disappoint. The clock tower was great and every hour on the hour people gather to see it do it’s thing. Although I am afraid of heights, I climbed the tower not once but TWICE. The first time, I was not the only scared American up there and I took great comfort in that. The second time, I not only walked up the stairs but down them as well instead of taking the lift down.

Nové Město (New Town) - Wenceslas Square - Once a square whose transportation was dominated by cable cars like San Francisco, now has all the trappings of Capitalism including fast food restaurants and department stores from London, like Marks & Spencer and Debenhams.

Malá Strana (Lesser Town) - Prague Castle, Royal Gardens, Charles Bridge, Infant Jesus of Prague(where I went to Mass in Czech no less) - The view from the Royal Gardens is amazing as it overlooks the city.

View from the Charles Bridge

Josefov (Jewish Quarter) - Franz Kafka’s birthplace, High Synagogue, Jewish Town Hall, Klaus Synagogue, Maisel Synagogue, Pinkas Synagogue, Spanish Synagogue, Old Jewish Cemetery, Jewish Ceremonial Hall. - The most impressive part is the museum where all the people who died during the holocaust have their names inscribed on these white walls. It is sight you would not believe if you had not seen it yourself.

Other places I went to were Letna Park (where I got to see my first beer garden since my days in New England), Stromovka Park (big and beautiful, it was right next to where I was staying), and a little place out in Jiřího z Poděbrad (yes I can pronounce it thanks to Kamila and Marketa) or JZP as Layne calls it (she can’t pronounce it) named Bar and Books. It’s a quaint little American style Cigar bar in a part of Prague that does not get a lot of tourists (let me tell you these are few and far between).

Now one thing you will see as this journal continues that I will be splitting out each day not something I did in Prague. Something tells me like Kafka says this is a place I am going to keep going back to. So maybe when I go back I will do a better job with that.

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