Prague day 3.5-5 (updated)

Again, this is not edited or reviewed very well, I am sure there are errors in grammar.  I really dislike this but I don't have a lot of time to fix them.  I will edit this blog once I finish the vacation!

Our luck continued...  We stumbled upon the university at the top of the hill after we went up the mini Eiffel Tower (petin?).   On campus there was a big festival with good music and great beer for one dollar.  There was a mid sized crowd making a lot of noise and as we approached we wondered if it was dancing or fighting because we couldn't see what was happening.  Some kind of competition based off the noise and cheering.  I kind of politely started weaving in the crowd to be able to see what was going on and slowly the scene of women mud wrestling developed.  I definitely did not expect that or even think about seeing that.  All I could think was Europe rocks. We (taylor and i) enjoyed a sausage and a beer, and just sat and listened to music talking about the army (he is in the Australian army) and our travels.  It felt nice to just be there like a local.  I'm still not sure of prague is just always this active or if its pure luck.  The students said it was a festival that happened every April 24th.

We went back and met up with Dan.  I was going to take it easy...  But the night got ahold of me and I just couldn't go home.  Prague is awesome.  I have given in to the city and my health, I'm losing the immune system battle and I kind of expect to pay for it later but hopefully I get lucky and stay strong with my vitamin c tablets.

On the morning of day 4 I met a friend of a friend who was studying in prague (but came from Slovakia) .  This girl was I guess a fairly normal prague / Slovakian but on American standards very foreign and attractive.  I didn't spend any time telling her how different she looked but I probably could have.  I just enjoyed the time and the ease of looking at her as she helped us for the next hour and talked about a lot of things.  I asked a million questions and when I realized I was asking all the questions I asked her if she had any questions.  She replied no.  A few moments later she asked a million questions, and after she finished 20 minutes later I wrote in the translator "and you said you didn't have any questions."  It was a funny moment I would like to remember.

The friend of a friend and I talked a bit longer than we realized and I missed the first train time.  She agreed to walk with us and take us across the city to our train, out of pure generosity.  What a nice nice person.

On a side note, As of this point on day four Taylor and I have probably slept a combined 7 hours (tops) each for 4 days (3 nights).  There is just too much to do here and the weather / conditions / crowds couldn't be more in our favor.

We got on our train and as we took off I looked out the window to see 3-4 naked white old men backsides...  They were skinny dipping or something... In site of the trains with kids and women on them.  Strange.  

I lost my ticket and had to repurchase another ticket on the train.  The lady tried to look at me like I was trying to break the law but I had my receipt and my train times printout from the receptionist.  Realizing we were legitimate she helped us and sold us another ticket.  We gave her a generous tip (a few dollars) and went on our way sitting in the hallway of the train.

Arriving at kutna hora was a little different than prague and Berlin.  It was very small town feeling.  We picked up a taxi and headed to the centrum.  It cost around 5-6$ for the 4 kilometer taxi which dropped us off at a nice little cafe in the centrum.  I had some pizza (7$ for a medium home made multi topping) and milk (for sustainment), water (for rehydration), and Pepsi (to sip for taste and to settle my stomach).  

After food we decided it was time to see the sites.  Taylor noted that things have been closing early and it was nearing 5pm fast.  We asked a taxi to take us to the main site we wanted to see : kostnice bone sanctuary.  They called it by a different name that started with an "O," ossuary or something...    The ride to kostnice was almost the exact ride we just took from the train station to the centrum and cost about the same.  I'm not sure if it was back tracking or if everything looked the same but it's safe to say go to the bone sanctuary prior to the centrum.  I have a picture with some info of the bone sanctuary I will eventually post (posted.  see facebook).

After the bone sanctuary I sat with Taylor to eat a 1$ ice cream cone and had to comment about eating a cone for a dollar in a local small town somewhere in east Czech Republic on a beautiful sunny day.  It was a nice reminder as the taxi pulled up to take us to our next destination: church of st Barbora.

The church of st Barbora was a good choice for the next site.  It was the first of many sites in succession on a straight walk through this pretty little town.  I felt like kutna hora was a very cozy little town and said "I am almost sure I will come back to this spot and walk these roads again."  We turned out to be too late for the last showing of the silver mine at 1530.  The silver mines are said to be what made prague the richest city in the world, and did not look like the mine I had pictured.  It was literally in the middle of town (at least I think, I did not get to see it... only stop at its doors).  After the mines we stopped by the mint and called it a day - Taylor was exhausted, and I wasn't far behind.  He said he was a 12/10 bad.

On the way out of kutna hora I stopped into a little wine and smoke shop - I wanted to buy some cigars for a friend and some wine for me.  They had Cuban cigars for 4$ and a lot of wine for roughly 10$.  I asked for the best wine under 20$ and be handed me a bottle of red wine insisting "best wine in Czech."  It was 11$ and later after tasting it - I would put it with the best wines I've ever had (pic posted. see youtube / facebook).

We bought our train tickets at the station back in prague (I bought my ticket for budapest, taylor bought one for berlin) and this time I made sure to reserve a window seat - it cost 6$ and was a separate ticket.  My main train ticket was good for any train at any time on the 26th to Budapest from prague.  The assigned seating was only good for one specific train.  I bought first class seat for around 88$ (not sure what the difference is but the 2nd class was only 20$ cheaper).

Finally back at the hostel I had to do laundry, I was out of almost everything.  Dan through in his shirt and pants from a few days earlier and we started a 2 day quest on figuring out the machines at the hostel.  I've never seen machines like this - automatically put in detergent etc...  

Dan and I decided to do the pub crawl again - and I wanted to just take it easy.  I had plans to have wine with some friends and just chill out for my last night.  

While on the pub crawl somehow an australian girl no more than 100 pounds called me out on drinking.  I told her I was taking it easy and she wouldn't live it down.  I told her about the habanero alcohol that was coming up in the next bar and she was all for it.  I promoted the idea to many people but not many were very happy about it.  Getting the first few to say yes was like asking people to donate money to get pepper sprayed.  But there were random people that were just in prague to have fun and said sure without double thinking.  One of these people was a Russian named "Yuri."  "Yuri" didn't just say yes, he mistook the free welcome drink for the habanero shot and slammed it immediately.  He made weird faces and then tapped me on the shoulder.  I had no idea what he was doing but did notice he was doing odd faces.  He said "bro, this is weak," in a heavy accent.  I was impressed, true to Russian style this guy had no fear.  The language barrier introduced  problems such as this, I explained to him we were still gathering people for the drink.

Of the 15 or so that took the habanero I'm not going to lie I might have been the worst.  I really don't like spicy things and the dang Russian made me laugh as I drank so it shot up my nose.  Some people took it and had no notable reaction other then the wow (this is hot) face.  My new bunk mate later told me he is a huge spice food person having tried ghost peppers and the other hottest peppers in the world.  He confirmed that was impressively hot on a scale vs. the worlds spices.  The Australian lass took that shot like a champ and the plan to gain an advantage backfired.  I took a really explaining photo with her in which I was basically crying and she was antagonizing me.  Ah, oh well.  It was a great try but I was off for wine with Taylor (who was sleeping until now) and gang.

I had some more pizza at the end of the night - it was so delicious.  Nothing was as good as the restaurant in Berlin, but nothing else in Berlin compared to prague food (I couldn't find much good food in Berlin but its everywhere in prague).  I wouldn't say prague has any specific foods that are amazing, but I would say they have a noticeable talent of serving a lot of "good" food, of which I am extremely thankful for.  I ate so well here , for so little.  I think this is what helped me battle my lack of sleep.

Waking up in the morning was a storm of finishing laundry (the dryers were not working and we didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure them out).  I eventually got everything in order and took a taxi to the train station.  Good bye prague...  I will miss you and have so many good things to say about you.

The train ride was night and day from the entry to prague.  I took a few pictures.  I had both window seats reserved and they pulled out to make a bed.  Not as nice as you may be thinking but still pretty nice.  I slept like a champ to the views between prague and Budapest until the train filled three hours later and an older man sat down.  The last hour of the train ride I had the 6 person room to myself again as the sun was beginning to set and again made a bed.  Train rides can be really awesome.  Welcome to Budapest.

Closing on prague, there is just too much to remember.  What a time unlike any other trip I've taken.  They say Budapest is better...  I just can't believe it is, but we will see.