Prague, Prag, Praha. Ein wunderschönes Stadt.

‘A beautiful city’.
That’s what it says in the heading for all those people who haven’t had the lovely challenge of learning German. But I have to admit, as my skills (and slight arrogance) in German grow, my English becomes worse. Not happy Jan.

Yet that’s not why you’re here. You’ve not come to listen to complaints and sit there idly as nothing can be done about it (except for clicking that little ‘x’ at the top of your web browser… but then we could never be together through the use of my blog). You have come though to hear about the joyous adventures that I’ve been having, and what I’ve been up to most recently. So sit back, relax, make some popcorn and read about the only jewel i’ve found amongst the worlds great cities that even comes close to my beloved Sydney; Prague. :]

It all began on a cold winters day…. Just kidding. I’m quite sure I remember it as blistering hot. In fact, it very well may have been… As it was a public holiday, I had to get up very early to travel with my host mum to the nearest train station or I’d have no means of getting to Munich on time for our train to Prague. I managed to struggle out of bed and into the shower, feeling quite instantaneously refreshed. Much more awake and less bitter (it occurs most often in the mornings), we drove to the station and caught the 6am train to Augsburg where I changed and ventured on further to Munich, full of anticipation for the long weekend ahead.

Meeting up early at Burger King (the [filthy] American version of Hungry Jacks), we slowly headed over to our train and squeezed onboard for the six hour journey. It was hellish if anything, having to sit in the corridor, as people (who had not reserved seats) sat in the cabins. All we could do was sit, wait, and mouth/sing the words to Katy Perry songs to annoy the other passengers. It was most certainly a success. :]
Win for the exchange students.

As the train eased into Prague’s outskirts, we pounced on the opportunity to pinch some more comfortable accomodation from those who wanted to take pictures and stand in awe at the sights of the surrounding cityscape. We still won. We got seats and a show. :]

The train finally drew into the station and we disembarked with our ridiculous amount of luggage and were off to the nearest currency exchange. The luck some people had in finding somewhere in which we could exchange our money for 0% was quite astounding. But I still feel as if we may have been slightly ripped off. Oh well, that’s Eastern Europe.

We got our Czech Crowns and then headed to our Hostel. We did a lot as a tourist would typically do in that first day- we got lost multiple times, got hassled by gypsies and lugged around giant suitcases. But all in all we were happy. Our Hostel was amazing. I have to promote it though. I simply must say that if you’re ever in Prague and looking for value accomodation, the link above will lead you to it. ;]

The first night was a memorable one. We were informed of a bar crawl that begins at a lovely place called the Drunken Monkey. Being the stupid people we were, we didn’t think to double check where it was, got lost in the city, and wandered around for about 2 hours trying to locate this mysterious venue, which no one seemed to have heard of. We were in the poo. But we did get to see a lot of the city and we ended up having a wad of fun just trodding around like lunatics, eating ice cream and haunting the many souvenir shops.

The night ended smoothly and the next day we awoke to a lovely free breakfast. Well worth the 13 Euro per night. The day turned was filled with sweltering temperatures and we spent the majority of it taking a detailed tour around the city, being able to see all the wonderful sites. Some included

During the day tour we also were informed about a bar crawl whilst having a break and bite to eat in the Bohemia Bagel, an American-inspired cafe. We took them up on their offer and had the night of our lives.

The next day, after only a few hours sleep, we checked out the castle and cathedral that overlook the city. It was the best of our ‘tours’. We saw the whole city and managed to take some beautiful shots. That night we kept it simple and didn’t go out. Well, at least we didn’t go clubbing, although the hispanic people did. Us english speakers were a wise bunch and decided to have some dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant but, flabbergasted with the prices, we moved on to somewhere a little cheaper and a little bit more well known, the Bohemia Bagel. After finishing our DELICIOUS meals, we did decide to check out the LGBT district, although not thriving, we had an okay time and returned to the hostel in preparation for the next day’s early rising. To which we woke up an hour before we had to leave… Fail. :]

As one last activity in the city, Micky created a minor challenge for us, to which I’m proud to announce that our group graciously lost (we quit so we could eat some noodles). It was a photo/egg-hunt challenge of sorts. The list of what to do included:

1x photo with hot Czech boy
1x photo with hot Czech girl
1x photo with sexy Skoda
Translate four sentences from German into Chezch
Swap one Bavarian beer for something of greater value
Cook a raw egg.

I’m proud to say we failed though. Those noodles were damn good. Nonetheless, we still had some fun on that day harassing the locals. :] If only we could try again… we wouldn’t give in so easily knowing one of the other groups managed to trade their beer for strips of carpet… a mighty effort. :p

To check out all the photos, see the gallery at the bottom of this post.

Ever so grateful that most of the time was spent with those dear exchange students that I’ve come to call my family. Legit… we’re not friends. We’re brothers and sisters. And we’d be nothing this year without each other. God love ‘em all :]

This is for you guys!
Peace out.
Ryan
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