Praha (Prague)

I leave Krakow on a rather small and rather crowded train.  Surfing across the 
coaches to find an available seat, I end up joining a pair of friendly Brits in 
their compartment.  Unfortunately, the seats don't fold down.  My new roommates 
are able to sleep through the night, but I find it extremely difficult to sleep 
in a sitting position (and variations of it).

I check in to a cool hostel with an old grand piano sitting in the middle of my 
room.  I talk a little with my roommates before heading into the common room for 
a coffee.  They're from the States, which is a little odd since I haven't met 
any Americans backpackers yet throughout my travels.

As I join the travellers in the common room for a chat, I notice something's up 
-  almost all of them are Americans.  Now I'm really getting suspicious.

Venturing into the city, my questions are answered.  The city is packed with 
tourists.  The small fruit market in the old town charges prices that exceed 
prices here in Canada.  It seems every store is either a souvenir shop or 
"tourist restaurant", complete with English-only menus.

At the perimeter of the old town lies a pedestrian shopping street lined with 
Esprit, Gap, Benneton, McDonald's, KFC, etc. etc. etc.  I don't really 
understand the concept of shopping at these stores abroad, unless prices are 
significantly lower.  There's nothing Czech along this street.  In fact, there's 
a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant filled with diners, probably intimidated by Czech 
food (roast pork and dumplings is so scary stuff!).  

Apparently, Prague's reputation as a tourist destination has reached the masses, 
and Americans flock here for cheap fun - I coin it Central Europe's Cancun.  

Being the first day in Prague, I know I have to see all the main sights.  I 
don't know why I do this, because it's tiring and boring.  I think a part of me 
thinks I might miss something special if I don't give it a chance.

First I head into the Old Town Square to see the astronomical clock.  Hordes of 
tourists wait on the hour to see statue of the twelve disciples appear.  All I 
can say is that it is perhaps the most overrated and lame spectacle I've seen 
during my trip.  Even the tourists think so.

Making my way to the famous Charles Bridge, I discover that the best way to 
cross the crowded bridge would probably be to body surf.  It's also loaded with 
the typical musicians, portrait artists, and cheap watercolour souvenirs that 
accompanies a touristy site.  I make my way across, looking at all the statues 
on the side, where St. John of Nepomuk was thrown off and touching some statue 
everyone seems to be touching for good luck along the way.  I can't imagine how 
bad it is in the summer, and I make a vow never to cross that bridge again.

I avoid taking photographs altogether since it's hard to get a real shot of 
anything with so many tourists around.  The only thing I end up photographing is 
a dead swan lying on the banks of the river.

On the other side of the bridge, the number of tourists dwindle to an acceptable 
level.  I wander off into the less-crowded Mala Strana neighbourhood for a while 
before visiting the main sights on this side of the river: Church of St. 
Nicholas and Prague Castle.  At this point in my trip, I'm really tired of 
large, fancy churches, but the Church of St. Nicholas is immense enough that it 
catches my attention for a brief moment.  

I hike up to Prague Castle - I think it's the biggest castle I've been to on my 
trip, but I find it utterly boring simply because I'm tired of seeing castles.  
I try to spice things up by taking a 283 step climb to the peak of the castle's 
church.  The view isn't really worth the effort, but it's fun watching people 
gasping and wheezing as they ascend.  

Disappointed, I walk back down the steps from the castle, pass the numerous 
souvenir vendors planted there, and head back into the old town in search of 
food.

I end up in a trendy eatery, and sit and chat with a Korean visitor over a tasty 
Czech lamb dinner.  I noticed something here in many of the restaurants of the 
Czech Republic and Poland.  Main dishes are incomplete on their own, and it's 
standard to order the side dish (potatoes, rice, dumplings) separately, although 
it all comes on one plate.

I order knedli (dumplings) on the side, since it's a Czech staple.  For some 
reason I think the dumplings would be more or less like perogies, but it turns 
out to be just doughy bread.

I finish the day with a short visit to the Mucha museum followed by a trip to 
the National Gallery for a concert performance.  It's really small and intimate.  
Visitors sit on cushions on the steps of the main hall while two popular opera 
singers perform a selection of popular opera pieces.  It's moderately 
entertaining, though I believe the performance is designed for tourists who want 
to see some singing but not pay to go to the national opera house.  I guessed 
this from the amount of nodding off in the performance, applause at the 
inappropriate times, and no calls for "encore".  It's also deafening to sit so 
close to opera singers.

The day ends, but not before I receive heavy doses of "enlightenment" from my 
neighbours south of the border:  

- One fellow who was in Prague for 2 weeks boasted of being a virtual Czech 
citizen because of the duration of his stay.  Yet he couldn't name another 
city/town outside of Prague in the Czech Republic nor could he speak a word of 
basic Czech.

- I encountered visitors wondering why there weren't as many English speaking 
store associates as they would have liked

- The typical conversations of explaining where Toronto (or Canada!) is.  In one 
instance, I tried to explain to a girl from Chicago Toronto's close proximity to 
her city, even using The Great Lakes as a reference, but she was oblivious to 
anything outside of Lake Michigan.  In fact, it was a completely pointless 
exercise as her only knowledge of Canada is that it's a land mass somewhere - 
that would explain why I had to tell her that Toronto is indeed, in Canada.

- Another American protested the remark that "they live in their own world" in 
front of an international group of hostellers, so an Aussie challenged him by 
bringing up the Bali bombing incident.  A moment of silence followed with an 
admission of defeat.

- I was most disturbed by one fellow asking for schedules to Ceske Budejovice.  
Reading it as if it were English, he appallingly pronounced it "Bood-joe-vise", 
when it should be pronounced "Boo-dye-yo-vit-se".  Some basic knowledge of 
Eastern European languages would at least tell him that j's are always 
pronounced as y's.  

- One German traveller recanted this conversation to me on one of his visits to 
the States:  

(American) "You guys have a funny accent.  What is it?"
"German"
"What country is that from?"
"Germany"
"I've never heard of it.  Where is Germany?"
"Europe"
"I've never heard of it.  Where is Europe?"

End of conversation.


Next: Praha the Revenge