Yerno Pivo Prossim! (One beer please)
The train from Berlin to Prague had a broken a/c unit so it was a warm ride to say the least. However, I had packed some cold beers and insulated them well in my backpack with my hoodie and they were a welcomed relief. There was a nice woman who sat next to me on the train and we got talking through our commiseration of the hot train. Her name is Anna and she is from Melbourne, Australia. She is on a quite long Eurotrip and we compared notes on places we'd been to and where we were planning on going.
We both had similar mindsets about traveling so at the end of the journey, we exchanged info so we could meet in the city and explore it together. I found my hostel with ease and checked in. I was quite anxious and nervous because it was my first time ever staying in a hostel but as soon as I walked into the room, I was met with smiling faces and words of welcome. After I locked up my stuff and took a much-needed shower, a few of my roommates, Connor, Duvonte, Ryan and Eisuke all joined me for a couple pints at the hostel bar as I taught them Toepen, the Dutch card game I learned from Folkert. They were quite good after a few rounds and we decided to go get a proper meal.
We got a recommendation from the hostel on a good place to eat and headed out. We grabbed a table amidst a room full of clapping patrons with an accordion player leading the charge. We ordered liters of Pilsner Urquell, the nation's most popular beer. Over mugs of beer, we told our stories of where we were from, where we had been and where we were going. I had recently been in contact with an old middle school acquaintance who spent a lot of time in Prague and she gave me some wonderful tips on things to eat and drink. I ordered Veprova as per her suggestion which was a few different types of roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut. A few of the guys followed suit and it was amazingly delicious, especially the sauerkraut. When the food arrived, apparently Eisuke had either a miscommunication with the server or wasn't paying enough attention to the menu because they placed an entire roast pig in front of him. We couldn't control our laughter and we kept giving him grief but he put down a lot of it and shared it with us.
photo credit to Ryan Shearer
As we had about 10 pounds of leftovers being packed up in to go containers, we talked about what to do in the evening and decided on a bar to get some beers. Anna reached out to me about meeting up to experience the nightlife so after a few beers with the guys, I headed out to the old town area to see what I could get into.
As I was looking for a WiFi hot spot to connect to, I made a comment to a night concierge at a boutique hotel that it was HOT! He agreed with me and asked me where I was from. After our formalities, I told him I was just looking for WiFi to stay in contact with a friend and he invited me into the hotel to use their WiFi. He asked me to sit down so I could relax and he poured me a beer to boot! His name is Richard and he was so incredibly nice. He started telling me the recent history of the Czech Republic and it was fascinating to hear about as there was so much information I was completely oblivious to about the recent events of the country.
Anna met me in the hotel lobby and the three of us chatted for another half hour or more which was a wonderful experience. Once we said our goodbyes, Anna and I headed out to explore. Soon after, she jumped into a conversation she overheard and by chance it was between a few young people who lived in Prague. They said they were going to a local hot spot and so we followed suit. We ended up in a bar/club which had decent drinks, music and a dance floor. We tore it up for several hours and then one of the local transplants told us not to get tired because we were going to watch the sunrise on a boat. We got another drink and kept the party going.
Around 5am, a group of 6 of us took off and started walking for the river. There was a party boat that was open and we all hopped on and kept the party rolling. We all talked and had some drinks and before we knew it, the sun was rising over the rustic city of Prague. What a sight it was! At 7:30 am or so, I was ready to sleep where I stood so I took a quick cab back to the hostel and called it quits.
I awoke around noon along with all of the others who had had a crazy night as well, and we contemplated a daily agenda. I headed out for an espresso and lunch to get back in the game. I went to a restaurant and ordered another recommended dish, svickova which consisted of beef in a creamy vegetable sauce with bread dumplings and cranberry sauce. It was so tasty but probably not the best dish for the amazingly hot and humid weather. However, a couple of cold pints did pretty well to wash it down and keep me cool on the hot day.
I went to meet up with Anna for another round of sightseeing and I hopped on a subway to reach old town. The escalators to get to the subway must have been 4-5 stories in height and it gave me an incredible sense of vertigo. I had to hold onto the handrail and the journey down honestly took at least 60 seconds. After Anna and I met up, we walked to the old town square to see the buildings as well as the Charles Bridge. We had a good time walking around and then I headed back to hang with the fellas. I grabbed a dinner of gulas which is beef stew in a dark sauce with dumplings, red onions and spicy peppers. It was an array of flavors that awakened the palette and left a burning sensation on my tongue.
Back at the hostel, we played a couple rounds of Toepen and then went to the room to hang for a few. I got my guitar out and started jamming a couple songs for the fun of it. My roommates were enjoying it so I played on and because it was so hot in the room, I moved to sitting on the windowsill which faced a street. As I jammed a few more, several groups of people walked by and because I was on the second floor, they stopped to listen and record and say hi. It was fun and we met a few people staying in the hostel. We decided to head out for a few drinks and take it easy... little did we know what was coming up.
We were in a bar enjoying some Krusovice beer and Toepen when the bartender came up and asked us if we wanted to do a, "happy trolley" shot. Once he explained it, we only ordered two; one for Ryan and one for the rest of us to try.
A few minutes later, the bartender comes back with two miniature red wagons each holding four shot glasses filled with a variety of shots of different colors. The first was black, followed by gold, blue and finally red. "The way it works," he said is to "drink one shot when we stop drumming on the table." With the rules clearly laid out, he started drumming on the table and we followed suit. Bam! He slapped the table one last time and Ryan downed the first shot. Digga Digga Digga came the sounds of us beating the table again until the abrupt stop came and Ryan downed another shot. After two more rounds, the shot glasses were empty and Ryan sat there, wide-eyed and a hand on his chest.
In order, he had just done a shot of Jaeger, tequila, vodka-caracao, and 70% absinthe in 30 seconds. We were astonished. The rest of us just sipped at the shots to try them and even just a sip of the absinthe made my chest light on fire. The bartenders were amazed at how staunch and resolute Ryan was after taking them all. We took off with Ryan standing on his own and headed back to sleep in anticipation of our departures the next day.
I have to say that all of my apprehensions and anxiety disappeared after this first time in a hostel and I had a new appreciation for the experience. We exchanged goodbyes as quick as we had said hellos and with that, we all went our separate ways with memories that will live on forever. I headed to the train station, made friends with two really nice Scots, and chatted and read my way through the seven hour train ride to Budapest.
It's funny how being in a certain situation can make you feel like you've known people your whole life. I experienced it in China and it was very similar in Prague.
I'm just going to quickly mention Budapest here. It was dreadfully hot and humid when I got in after a seven hour train ride and the hostel was not quite as nice as the one in Prague. I could barely do anything the first night as I was so tired and the humidity doesn't let the heat disappear with the sun. When I awoke the next day, I decided to switch to an apartment for only about 25 dollars more than the hostel and I had it all to myself.
I walked around the city checking out the castle, the parliament, some parks, bridges and a beautiful river splitting the city into two sides. It took me maybe four or five hours to get around most of the city and the views were stunning, it was just unbearably hot and humid. I feel like I probably missed out on a couple of things as I had not researched it beforehand and I didn't have much insider knowledge. If I make it back in the future, I'll definitely have to spend more time there with someone who knows what's what. I was glad to be on a train to Milan the next day and even though it took 16 hours, it was a good time and I met some friendly people.
My blog about Italy will hopefully be up soon!
Good relationships are everything.
Tony G
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