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Welcome back, folks..
Sorry I haven't written this blog sooner. I've been really busy working (yes, I do work, ask anyone) and sleeping. Hectic times here in Deutschland. But by popular demand (from my mother) I am here to tell you all about my time in Prague!
So, I set off for Prague on Friday the 22nd of Feb. It was going to cost me 55 euros to get to the airport by train plus a bunch of annoying transfers and so on. I love everything about Germany - EXCEPT Deutsche Bahn (DB). Second only to s***ty Rail on the list of 'worst railway systems ever.' Okay, it's not that bad. But 55 euro?! I mean, come on. That's more than what my flight to Prague cost. Anyway, so I decided to have my first experience with the Mitfahrgelegenheit! Which for those of you playing along at home is a car pooling system used widely in Germany, perhaps because it's approximately 150% more efficient and cheaper than DB. I was a little nervous because you are effectively getting into the car with a complete stranger and paying them to take you somewhere you can only hope is the right place. But all went smoothly and I got to the airport for no less than 15 euros! Winning. So I had a 4 hour wait at the airport, oh how I looove waiting at airports! Especially airports without free wi-fi. They would have to be my favourite thing ever, don't know about you. Anyway I alleviated my boredom with a book and a couple of beers and before I knew it it was time to jetset to Prague. I was so excited because I got to meet up with my Patty Cake (more commonly known as 'Patrick) who I met on my very first weekend away.
In my gate I met 2 German boys who beckoned me to sit with them, and at first I thought 'oh these guys are kinda cute, and they seem nice.' About 30 seconds or so, give or take, into the conversation I changed my mind. What a pair of creeps! "Where are you going? Where are you staying? Have you got a boyfriend? Who are you here with? How are you getting to your place from the airport?" I could not get out of there fast enough! I told them they were creepy and they proceeded to ask me if I'd seen the movies 'Hostel' and 'Taken.' Yep, safe to say I ran for the hills as soon as the plane landed.
I withdrew a bit of Czech money, which is the weirdest, most annoying and pointless currency I've encountered. It's literally worth nothing! To put it in perspective A 500 Czech Kurona Bill is worth roughly $25 Aussie dollars.
So I finally get to my hostel to be greeted by Pat and his two friends, who were kinda weird but they can't read this so it doesn't matter :P So they hand me a beer and we decide to hit the town even though by this stage it's close to 11pm. So we just stayed around the area near our hostel, found some weird little cuban/spanish club which was full of old people, the weird guys left and Pat and I decided to sample the non-stop across from our hostel. The name is quite literal, it never closes. You can drink or gamble at any given time of the day. It was here we met Thomas, one of the friendlier locals who ensured we had a great night! And also a special mention to Thomas' dog, Gothic, and some random animal who I named Pear (don't fight it Pat, you know it was the best name ever). Not sure what time we crawled into bed but I think the sun wasn't far from rising.
I woke up on Saturday feeling like a million dollars, Pat was a different story haha :P He had himself a mighty fine hangover. It was snowing more than I've seen it snow so far, nevertheless we decided to drag ourselves out to do a bit of sight seeing.
We caught the tram in and saw the beautiful Prague Castle, the view from which was magnificent but unfortunately a little bit tainted by a lot of snow. You could see the whole city from here, then we had to walk down a bunch of steps and I was holding the wall the whole time because it was so slippery! We then made our way to the famous Charles Bridge, which was again covered in snow but extremely impressive anyway :) Prague is a very beautiful city indeed with a lot of history.
By this stage we were freezing our doodles off and decided to make our way back to the hostel for a much needed nap and some evening plans. We decided to go to a place called 'The Pub,' which is an awesome place where you can pour your own beer and compete with the other tables. But first we wanted to find some friends to play king of beers with, and it was in the hostel 'common room' if you could call it that, where we met Isa, Robin, Raffael and Muhammad. But we ran out of time to play King's and made our way to the Pub, thanks to the awesome navigating skills of Raffael :) We poured ourselves a few too many beers and got to know each other, then went back to the non-stop in search of our friend Thomas, but he wasn't there! So we enjoyed a few more drinks amongst ourselves and made our way back to the hostel. OH and sometime during all of this I turned 22. Happy birthday to me :)
Sunday I woke up in a bit of a haze, but jumped straight on face time to the family because it was my birthday! I had lots of love pouring in through facebook posts and messages, doesn't matter how many birthdays I have I never get sick of them. Thanks to everyone for making me feel so loved! And thanks to Pat, for coming to meet me for my birthday, but unfortunately he had to leave to go back to Germany and get things organised for his next Ireland trip.
I don't mind travelling alone, but on my birthday it was a little bittersweet. I found it hard to meet decent people for the first time in all my travels. But I wasn't gonna let it stop me. I decided to go for a nice day trip on my own then take myself out for a hostel organised pub crawl that night.
So my birthday day consisted of a visit to the Old Town Square, a very historical and beautiful area of Prague. Around here I found a chocolate museum, a sex machine museum, a nice restaurant for a lovely birthday lunch and a few random shops in between. It was nice to be by myself and explore, but I was looking forward to that night to experience some more of Prague night life.
So I went on the pub crawl which left at about 9:30. I was the only person from my hostel on this crawl and we started at another hostel. There were SO many people at this hostel, and all I could think was 'I should have stayed here!' But not to worry, I soon began talking to some people who joined the crawl. Everyone was really cool and up for a good night. The crawl itself was fun and we went to some great places, but about halfway through the night I decided I just wasn't feeling it and I left. I know what you're probably thinking 'Wow you were partying in the middle of Prague and you just got sad and left! You're crazy.' But the fact is, I just wanted to be with my family and friends on my birthday. And this includes my German family, as I really missed them a lot this weekend. I will add a little more on this at the end of my blog.
Monday came and I woke up feeling a bit lonely. But I decided I didn't want to waste my short time in Prague, so I forced myself out of bed to do some more sightseeing. This time I decided to see the Natural Museum, which is currently being restored but the building itself is very beautiful. They had moved all of the artefacts to another building nearby. Somewhere between leaving the hostel and arriving here, I decided to get a tattoo later in the day, as a birthday present to myself. The museum itself was pretty interesting, it was all about the history of Prague and how people lived back in the day. About halfway around I started randomly talking to an American guy who struck up a conversation with me because he noticed I was reading the info in English. I was so happy to have found someone to talk to, and after we were done with the museum we went to get something for lunch. Then he helped me find a tattoo parlour. And yes don't worry, it was legit and clean and all of the above. I got a tattoo I've been wanting for a while, and in case you're wondering it's 'MCMXL.' Just above my left ankle. Which is the Roman numerals for the year 1940, which is when all of my Grandparents were born. I've always found it really cool they were all born in the same year, and of course I love my Grandparents unconditionally and now I carry a piece of them with me everywhere I go :) Of my 3 tattoos, it's so far my favourite. Very happy with how it turned out!
So anyway I had planned to go back to the hostel and pack my bags for my 7am flight, then head back out to see a bit of Prague by night. The American guy said I should message him and tell him what I'm up to and he might meet up with me later.
I messaged him and we met up at about 10:30. He showed me around the main sights at night time, and then we went to a couple of bars. We went to this really fun place for a Monday, had a couple of drinks and a dance and I had a really good time. I then made my way back to the hostel for a quick sleep before my flight.
I landed safely in Germany right on Schedule, around 9:30a.m. I had to wait until 2pm for another lift with the mitfahrgelegenheit. So I had my first experience with sleeping at an airport. Which was surprisingly comfortable and totally normal by any traveller's standards. I tried to call my driver at 1pm to confirm he was still coming, but no answer. I tried a few more times then decided to read the e-mail from him to make sure I had it right. Turns out I had missed the tiny little word 'not' when I read it the first time. Your driver has 'not' accepted your request. DANG IT! So I tried to call a few more people who had offers up with no success. Deutsch Bahn, you win this round. I paid my fifty-effing-five euros and FINALLY got back home at about 7pm.
So that's Prague, done and dusted! For the first time in my travels I was disappointed. Not in Prague itself, but with the people and the time I made for myself for my birthday. But then I realised, the simple fact of the matter is...I'm here for a whole year. It's unrealistic to expect that every single day is going to be out of this world amazing. Yeah I got sad and lonely in Prague, so what? There's going to be days like that. At the end of the day it's one weekend of many, and this has been the best 3 months of my life so far.
Special mention to my host parents, I decided to spoil them with a gift voucher for their favourite restaurant and a very late birthday present for my host Mum - a Fossil Watch. You guys are totally worth it. I couldn't have done any of this without you and I love being a part of your family :)
That's it from me, Sayonara for now!
Love, Kate
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