Rachel and I found our journey beginning with a late lunch of döner immediately followed by a walk to the Bahnhof and a free trip down to Frankfurt by train. Once there, we sought and found the bus that would take us on the 1 hour and 45 minute trip to the airport in Hahn. Little did we realize that this bus would cost us 12€ each! Gar. The trip on the bus was less than interesting but it got us to the airport. There we encountered our first real excitement: security at a non-US airport. I admit to being very curious as to how it would be and I was not disappointed. Shoes could stay on but you had to take off all your tops down to the t-shirt and to be safe (I learned afterwards) everything out of your pockets. I had a chapstick and my belt on still when I came through the detector. The man who waved me through had me put my arms up and I got the wand...which promptly goes off for my belt and once that was off, my chapstick. The man removed the cap carefully while asking what it was and then proceeded to run my belt and chapstick through the scanner. Rachel was similarly scrutinized by a female. But wait! I had a flashlight in my bag which they did some sort of swab test on with a paper in a plastic bag! During this, I calmly stood there and tried not to have a smirk on my face from my bemusement. Anyway, we got through.
The flight was on Ryanair and I hear tell they are based out of Ireland, which means that all of my inflight instructions were in English first with German second. The flight was supposed to be an hour but we had a 130 km/h tail wind which got us to Prague in 30 minutes. Shortest flight I've ever been on. From Prague airport, we bussed to a subway station and took the S-Bahn to the center of town! The time is 10:30p. We step up and out of the subway to buildings that look old, weathered and chock full of history. Spires dot every other structure and a tenth of them are lit up by large soft colored floodlights. We pick a direction and mosey that way. A huge promenade greets us. It is dotted with Glühwein stands that also sell sausages of all kinds. This mall way slopes gently up and at the top is a huge old structure that is now a museum but at one time I could have seen it as a capitol building. But it could have always been a museum, I don't know.
Rachel and I proceeded to zig-zag our way from there to the river and in 2 hours we had seen very nearly all of the new (new being 400ish years old) city. Around 12:30 we decided to head back to a small alleyway we had walked through that had several 24 hour bar/cafés that looked just right for college kids like us. We picked one that looked nice, sat down and stayed there for the next 4 hours. It was amazing. We had failed to really learn any phrases in Czech but I managed to order 2 coffees (hold up two fingers, say coffee with a 'please' in my voice). The bartender was very nice in that he didn't talk to us but kept on eye on his customers and was ready to help anytime. I liked that. The coffee was incredible. It bordered on Turkish coffee because it was very thick and rich. I ordered a second round. About an hour into our stay, a soft pop followed by the lights going out interrupted my reading of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The barkeep comes out and starts jibber jabbering with some of the ladies at another table. They sound like they're all joking around about the lights and the atmosphere of the place is one of amusement only. The barkeep grabs a flashlight and is looking around and makes his way downstairs, all the while cracking jokes (we think) in Czech which just sounds awesome (think of Zelenka from Stargate: Atlantis). Well, the lights come back on after about 5 minutes and life at 2 in the morning in Prague goes on.
to be continued...
One of the statues near the top of the promenade.
One of the many kiosks dotting the area. Yum!
1 comment:
You NEVER have to preface a story entitled "Prague" with worries about boredom. Prague = opposite of boredom!
Post a Comment