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Alright so it's been a while since we last talked. A lot has happened since my last blog but I'll start with my eastern European road trip. After I got back from Poland, Aga and I started planning a little road trip that turned into a rather large one. The plan was for me to fly to Krakow, then drive to Prague, and a few days later Cesky Krumlov (where the movie hostel was filmed).
I only was able to get six days off for this trip so I had to make the most of it. I left for Poland on Monday morning. As soon as I arrived I was greeted by Aga and we were off to Prague. The directions that I got would have gotten us to Prague in a little under five hours. But the directions that Aga got and wanted to use took us the better part of 9 hours.
The drive to Prague was pretty nice. Large rolling hills with many castles. The closer we got to Prague the uglier it got. It seems that commercialism has gone from one side of the spectrum to the other. When the Soviets were in power only Russian and Czech brands were advertised on the roads and highways. When the Soviets left it opened up a huge market for western products and chains to make their way in to the country. Now as you drive the highway it seems you can't see any scenery for all the signs. Doesn't matter what the product is if they can make a sign for it chances are you'll see it somewhere on a Czech highway.
When we finally arrived in Prague it was a jumble of highways and new buildings. We were staying in a hostel along the river Vlatava just on the outskirts of the old town. It was a great place. It was really cheap, had a golf course right next to it, water sports on the river and beach volleyball going on as well. Best of all it was right next to a tram stop so we could get into the old town in about 10 minutes.
The first night we were tired from the drive so we grabbed some food at a nice little bistro and went to bed. When we woke the next day I was pretty excited to see all the sites that Prague had to offer. I had always wanted to go to Prague ever since I saw the movie XXX.
We spent the day pretty much just wandering around the town. We saw the famous sites like the castle, the astronomical clock, and St. Charles Bridge. The only draw back was that the part of the bridge that the statue of St. Charles was located was cordoned off for construction works. So I didn't get to rub the statue for good luck.
Probably the most exciting thing I saw was (and you're going to laugh) the bridge that they shot the Amsterdam scene in the movie Eurotrip. Eurotrip was a big part of my decision to go to Europe the first time in 2005 so I thought it was really cool to be on the location of where it was shot.
That night we decided that we had seen all that we wanted to see in Prague so we decided to go somewhere else, before going to Cesky Krumlov. Now I'm what I think is known as a "big thinker". Sort of the Clark Griswald of our day. Always planning trips and events to the grandest scale. My idea was to go to Budapest and scrap Cesky Krumlov all together. I made sure Aga was ok with it and I booked the hostel.
For our last night in Prague we found an Irish pub and Aga had her first taste of Guinness. While we were sitting there we met a Canadian guy from Halifax and an American guy from Minneapolis. We were talking about how you could go to some of the farms around Prague and shoot vintage cold war era weapons for a small fee. Then the American guy started telling us a story of how in Cambodia you can do the same thing. Only you have live targets. As this yank was riding in a taxi from the Thai frontier to Cambodia the taxi driver asked them "do you want to blow up a cow with a bazooka?" Now as I was thinking and as this American admitted to thinking. Even though no one in their right mind would ever want to shoot a cow with a bazooka. It makes you stop for a minute and think. I mean that has to be a once in a lifetime kind of offer. I know I would have to think twice, but in the end he came to his senses and let the cow live.
So the next day was a really boring drive. Very flat terrain through Slovakia and into Hungary. I've never driven through Saskatchewan but I've heard stories and I assume this drive is what it would be like. As you enter Budapest the scenery changes from flat farm land to hills and mountains. It takes about a half hour to actually drive through Buda (Budapest is actually made of of two cities Buda and Pest). When you finally reach the river and cross into Pest, you're greeted with one of the most breathtaking scenes in Europe. On a sunny day, which it was this day the river was just glistening. Surrounded by the parliament building on the Pest side and Buda Castle on the hill top of the Buda side.
We found our hostel and grabbed a quick shower and then walked around to see what Budapest was all about. We found a traditional Hungarian restaurant and had some goulash. It was really good. They give you this red pepper paprika sauce that you can put in the goulash to spice it up. The man told me that it was dangerous. Now I have been really into the spicy food in England so I was game to give it a go. I tried some and it actually wasn't too spicy at all. I ended up eating the whole lot. When the man came back he was astonished at my performance and gave me a free bottle of the stuff to take back with me.
Now after I paid for the meal which came to about the same price as a large coffee at Tim Hortons, we walked along the river and then went to an open beer garden and enjoyed the summer night.
The next day we were up bright and early to go see what I think was a big let down. Statue Park. Statue Park is a park that the city built to house all of it's former Soviet era statues. The statues were actually really neat, but that was about it. The infrastructure around the park wasn't very well maintained and it all looked very rushed. Of course maybe that was the point. Keeping it all very subdued and minimal. The statues might not have been the same if I was seeing them while sipping a Stalin shake and eating a Lenin burger.
The one thing I have noticed in this part of Europe during my travels is that the people have no shame. The man leading the bus to the Statue Park, was a pretty funny guy. Then he went into saying how he will lead tours of the park for tips. If that was Canada, you would lead the tour and hope for tips, not ask for tips or there won't be a tour. It didn't help that he had that distinctly eastern European inbred look about him either.
After we got back into the city center we walked to City Park. City Park is a park in the north end of Pest. It houses a castle, the worlds oldest thermal spa, and my favourite part, a zoo. We went to take pictures of the spa and castle and then made our way to the zoo. It had been ages since I was last at a proper zoo. Probably since my parents took me to the Toronto Zoo when I was a child, which all I can remember of that is sitting at a picnic table while the peacocks looked at me.
The zoo was pretty good. The African exhibit was amazing. The only problem I had was the Polar Bear. It was quite sad really. It was 35 degree's out and his water tank wasn't very cold. To top it all off his exhibit was in plain view of the seal exhibit. That's like putting a piece of cake in front of Rita McNeil and telling her she can't have any.
After the zoo we made our long walk back to the hostel and rested up a little. Then we went out for dinner on the Buda side. It was a great dinner. Afterwards we went up to see Buda Castle. It was absolutely amazing. It was the first castle I had seen at night in Europe that might have been it. Or it might have been the ball room dancers doing the waltz in the middle of one of the castle court yards. What ever it was it was absolutely magical. One of those moments where the tourists fade and you see the elegance of what Europe is really all about.
After the castle we made our way back to the hostel. In the morning we packed our stuff and made the long trip back to Krakow. We got in in the early evening and relaxed for what would be our last night together. In the morning we said our goodbyes and I was off to England again.
After this trip I worked the rest of the summer and went to Oktoberfest. That blog will follow in the next few weeks. I will warn you it's not for the faint of heart. I don't have any really travel plans for the moment. So for now at least, the cows in Cambodia are safe.
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