It's all about the benjamins. Prague '09. Part 2 of 3.

"Prague, prague prague prague prague, prague praggy praggy prauge"

-- Tim Glemkowski, to the tune of Salt n' Peppa's "push it"

If i were to tell you that i would make you a full pork roast dinner, complete with 2 different kinds of dumplings etc., for just over 5 dollars, you would most likely:

a) laugh
b) ask me to repeat myself, assuming i had misspoke
c) refuse the offer, assuming it was too good to be true.

Now, if i were to then say that you could get a pint of beer as well for just around $1.15, and that your friend who accidentally ordered water would then end up paying more than you for it (Christian Bobak), you would start looking for video cameras. 'this is a joke, right?'

If you haven't caught on already, this is precisely the deal we received in this tiny restaurant right by our hostel, and it was just what we needed to get over our cranky selves. We spent most of the meal laughing over how good it tasted and how little we paid for it.

It got even better when we went to a tiny little bakery/convenience store and realized that everything was gloriously cheap. Bread? like 15 cents. red bull? dollar. 6-packs of beer? dollar plus.

We eventually met back up with dominica and tomas, and they took us around the city. we spent most of the night wandering around going, "we're in PRAGUE dude haha what the hellll". looking back, it was kind of pathetic. The only landmark worth mentioning by name is St. Charles Bridge, which is absolutely gorgeous. this doesn't mean, though, that nothing else is worth mentioning. the entire "old town" part of the city is a captivating sight, completely inexpressible through such a measly medium like a blog. I hate to say this, and in fact my hands are trembling as i begin to type this, but...i finally found a city i enjoyed more than Boston. maybe. Maybe!

I've been saving the best for last: throughout the night we discovered the beauty of THE. THE. THE. best beer in the world (and i pray i spell this correctly): Velkopopovicky Kolser Dark. We proceeded to discover that, in fact, Czech beer dominates everything, and that we've been lied to our entire lives about German and Austrian beer reigning supreme.

(ok ok so one last story worth re-telling: Elliot's mom and dad had been to Prague 3 years previous, and his dad has reminded him repeatedly since about Velkopopovicky and this random jazz club behind some church. Finding the beer was easy -- it's all over the city. Far more exciting was when we accidentally stumbled upon the jazz club. Elliot didn't even know the name, but as soon as he saw the outside he (claims to have) "sensed it". sure enough, we went inside and it matched the description his dad gave perfectly.)

heaven on earth. Prague '09. Part 1 of 3.

We do not believe in ourselves until some reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to ,worthy of our trust, sacred to our truth.  Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

-- e.e. cummings

remember how i had to wake up at 3:45? didn't happen. woke up to Andrew Cole violently shaking my bed while Elliot angrily pounded on our door at 3:55.  I had, fortunately, packed before going to bed.  i hopped out of bed, dressed in record time, grabbed my passport, and sprinted downstairs. if stair skipping was an Olympic sport, i'm the Michael Phelps of stair skipping. 

minus the awkwardly tight bathing suit.

We speed-walked the 40 minutes to the train station and got there with a minute to spare.  The train ride was beautiful.  I found myself looking around for movie cameras as our train strolled by tiny, snow-covered villages.  Children, backpacks on guard and snowballs in hand, ran around around outside before hopping on board to go to school.  We were on our way to Prague. 6 of us. with no agenda. perfect.

perfect, until the train took an extra 40 minutes to get to Vienna.  a worried and anxious Dominica took us up and out of the station, running towards the bus station. we got there as people were putting their luggage on board. just in time. again.  

At this point, i'm going to pause from narrative and point out an already obvious fact that will only become redundant over time: if we did not have dominica with us, we would have been absolutely screwed.  but we did, and our own little slovakian GPS led us from place to place with perfect accuracy.

After a total of ten hours of travel, we got to Prague.  Our first impressions were less than awful.  Overcast and dirty, it looked like a poor man's Providence. After ten hours, the last thing you want to feel is underwhelmed. not only did we feel disappointed, but dominica's friend who was supposed to meet us there was yet to arrive. and we realized we didn't have the address of the Hostel (cleverly named the "Czech Inn".  about 45 minutes past, we got to the hostel and split from dominica and Tomas.  Tired, frustrated, and unsure of what was to come, we checked into our room and set off for dinner.

sunny and 75.

a great weekend ahead.

leaving at 3:45 am (yes, a-period-m-period) with Elliot, Tim, Erin Fitzpatrick, Christian Boback, and a European student, Dominica, for Vienna, where we're hopping on a bus to Prague (Czech Republic) for the weekend.  

i'll be back Sunday night...where i may or may not be able to watch the superbowl because ResLife here doesn't want to show us the game until TUESDAY. TUESDAY. 

TUESDAYYYYYY.

do they realize that my homepage is espn.com?  or that half of my fbook friends' status will read either "OMFG THE CARDINALZZZZ RLY?!?!?" or "i hate the steeelerrsssssss"?  

regardless, i'll see you monday. peace.