Prague, Czech Republic

I spent 6 days in Prague, Czech Republic, in this hostel which wasn't too bad, except that it wasn't in a downtown location, and the area it was in was ghetto-ish. They did give me a complimentary beer as I checked in, and it's true what they say that the beer in Czech Rep. is both cheap AND great-tasting. It's very frothy, so usually pours from the tap take a long time, but its worth the wait.

My German friends Nina and Ingo eventually came to Prague as well, since Nina was meeting up with her Canadian cousin and his friends... good timing! But the first part of this trip I spent on my own, taking hundreds of photos a day it seemed. I fit right in though as there were so many other tourists here, for the World Cup, presumably. Nina had lived in Prague for a short time, so she took us to some great restaurants and pubs, and I had more than a good time!

I also made a bunch of friends in the hostel, mostly Brits and Mexicans it seemed. One British couple I met, told me a nightmare of a story where they were accosted by a 'ticket cop' on the metro. You see, in many places in Europe, you are supposed to buy a ticket to ride on a bus or train but you don't have to show it to the driver. All you do is get it time stamped in a machine that's on the bus. But if some ticket cop asks to see your ticket, you'd better have one or else a heavy fine is levied. So anyways, the Brit couple got stopped and showed their tickets, but the cop said that their tickets were invalid even though they knew they stamped it. They got their British embassy involved but they couldn't help them, and the cop took away one of their driver's licenses... luckily they didn't have their passports on them or else they'd be SOL. Nothing like that happened to me but I was checked for having a ticket multiple times, so I think if you look touristy (i.e. non-Yugoslavic and/or backpack-toting), don't try to ride the bus for free cos you'll be pressing your luck!

But even though I had a good time in Prague, six days might've been a bit too long of a stay, considering I needed an entire day off just to get over a hang-over and still saw just about everything in my guidebook. But this part of my trip was really memorable, probably one of the top 3 places I went to in Europe. I'll always remember Prague's retro-futuristic subway stations, looooooong escalators, and good beer! I was disappointed in the myth that Czech Rep. has the most beautiful women - not that they didn't have any, but I was far more impressed with Budapest's selection! More on that in a future post.

Click here to see the Prague photo album!