Prague

Karel was our first host in Prague. He lived a little outside the city so it took us awhile to find his place. We were running on little sleep so that probably didn't help things either. We got to his place a little after 1pm and discovered he only had one small bed for the both of us. That's fine, one of us could sleep on the floor - we've done it before. But the floor was pretty dirty so we weren't particularly looking forward to it. Karel is 26 and single so his place was a bachelor pad to the max.

We went to get food with him at the local bar around the corner which is where Karel spends a lot of his time. Two of his friends were there so we sat down next to them. Unfortunately we weren't really clicking very well with Karel and his friends. I don't think his friends spoke english and we didn't really have anything in common to talk about. I tried really hard to keep asking questions and get Karel to open up but he would usually just answer and then not really reciprocate anything. It was a little odd. I guess I assume with CS most people are going to be outgoing but this is obviously a generalization that doesn't apply to everybody. Karel is a nice guy, but we just didn't really have anything in common with him so it was hard to figure out how to act around him or what to say.

After lunch we headed into the city for our traditional day of getting lost a lot, finding a map hopefully and just acclimating ourselves to the new city. We found an information center and while we were there a girl came in to ask some questions. She was American and had a big backpack on so she was obviously traveling. The lady in the information center was really, really rude to her and I felt bad for her since she seemed to be traveling alone. When I stepped out of the info center she was still outside looking up some ticket prices for a black light show that was next door so I struck up a convo with her. Her name is Jacquelyn and it turns out she was couchsurfing around Europe as well! She is originally from Chicago, in her second year of school and had been studying abroad in Rome. We invited her to hang out with us for the day and that turned in to hanging out for the entire time she was there.

In our wanderings we happened upon a candy store. Inside the people were actually making the candy right in front of us. It was this hard candy stuff that I'd never seen before and the two boys making it were pretty much hired to be the eye candy in a candy store. One especially was very pretty. I found myself watching him more than the candy making, haha. We got some samples as well and it was delicious. After a while we finally pulled ourselves out of the shop, walked around some more, got dinner and then planned to meet up with Jackie again the next morning before she headed off to her couchsurfers place.

We got back to Karel's and when I got online another girl I had requested to stay with had emailed me and said that her CS guests had car problems and weren't going to stay with her anymore so she had room for us if we still needed a place. Since she could sleep both of us and was closer to the city we decided to take her up on her offer hoping Karel would understand.

The next day we met up with Jackie and found out her CS host was awful. He had forgot she was coming, forgot her name, treated her rudely, didn't have a clean place for her to sit and all in all was just not okay. When I heard this I invited her to come stay with us. The girl who we were going to meet up with later in the day, Leah, originally was going to host 4 guys and none of them showed up so I assumed she'd have room for Jackie and us now. I went out on a limb with this assumption but I feel like that is what CS is all about. Also - we were going to the Prague CS meeting that night so if Leah didn't have room for her hopefully she could have found a place to stay there.

That morning we crossed the famous Charles bridge which is lines with 30 statues that can be considered the catholic church hall of fame. Then we headed up to the castle to look around. The Prague castle is apparently the biggest in the world. The area it covers is huge, but it doesn't really look like an ancient castle in the same way some of the other really impressive ones have, so the fact that it was the biggest in the world didn't really seem apparent to an onlooker. After that we went to check out this building called the dancing building and then headed up to the main square to meet up with Leah for the first time.

When we got to where we were supposed to meet with Leah and found out she could host Jackie and was hosting another guy at the same time who was meeting us as well. He showed up a couple minutes later and when I saw him I instantly had to stop myself from laughing out loud. His name was David and he is originally from Jerusalem. He's been travelling through the Baltic region and Prague was the most northwest he was getting. That's not why I wanted to laugh though. Here's the story:

CouchSurfing is a great website. Whenever people log on it tells you other surfers in the area that are logged on as well or who have recently logged on. This is helpful because people can send each other messages as they travel to see if anyone wants to meet up and travel together or hang out for the day. A great way to get to know people when you are travelling alone. Unfortunately, as with everything else in life, sometimes this system gets abused. In just about every country I get messages from people travelling or who live in the city we are currently in who want to meet up and hang out - all from boys of course. Some of the are really genuine and they do just want to get a drink and show me their city. Some however are pretty much just boys asking me out on a date; definitely not what CS was set up for. Since I have limited time on the computer I usually don't answer these messages unless it is someone really involved with CS who seems like they want to show us around and we want to meet up with them.

Anyways, I had gotten one in Budapest from a guy who said he was going to be in Budapest in three days and was wondering if I wanted to travel with him. The message was really sweet and nice but I wasn't going to be in Budapest anymore by the time he got there and at the time I read it thinking he wanted me to pick up and travel the rest of the way with him. Looking back at it I think he just meant hanging out for the day or while we were in Budapest, which would make much more sense. well this guy ended up being David. When I first saw him with Hilary, Leah and Jackie I wasn't 100% sure it was him so I didn't say anything. The more the day when on though and the more I learned about him I knew it had to be the same guy. The names matched, he was from Jerusalem, he was a professional chess player, the countries he travelled to were the same. I went back later that night and checked on my computer before I said anything to Hilary but when I confirmed it was him I couldn't help but laugh and tell Hilary about it. David is super sweet and I really liked him, so the fact that I had ignored his message to me made me feel a little bad about the situation. Hilary made me tell Leah the story and she thought it was hilarious. She said it was the second best CS story she's heard.

I meant to tell David about this at some point while we were staying together but I never did. Whoops. I wasn't sure if he'd remember, made the connection or what so I just figured it was easier and less awkward not to bring it up unless it was good timing. Still a funny story in the end though. Small world. I'm really glad it worked out the way it did though. Like I said, I really liked David and am super glad we ended up travelling together after all. :)

Ok, back to meeting Leah. She is a girl full of energy and fire. So talkative and easy to laugh with. A big contrast from Karel. She took us to food and beer right away, and made all 4 of us super comfortable with staying with her. This was the turning point of Prague. Yay! After lunch we parted ways and planned to meet up with Leah again at 8:30. David went with Leah and Jackie and us hung out a bit more until we had to go back to Karel's to get our stuff. I was dreading this as I had no idea how to tell Karel the situation without offending him. He was a nice guy, nothing bad happened, we just wanted to be closer to the city, have a bed we both fit on and be around someone who would have more in common with us. Plus Jackie was staying with Leah now and we wanted to stay with her and David. The more people there are the more fun it usually is.

We told Karel and he seemed to be understanding. He's a quiet guy with not much emotion towards us so it was hard to tell if he cared or not, but hopefully he understood our intentions. We told him about the CS meeting we were going to that night and that he should come join us. He said he would although I didn't really think the chances of that were high. Hilary thought otherwise and really believed he was going to show up. She didn't understand why I thought otherwise. I didn't know either, I just did. I tend to read people pretty well and can tell when they are being genuine about something. Karel just didn't seem all that interested to the point is where he was going to take all the necessary transportation trips out to the meeting. In the end he didn't end up showing up but did send me an email about it and proposed meeting up on Saturday, that didn't end up happening either but at least we both made the effort.

We got to Leah's on time and settled in to her place, which was much bigger and cleaner. :) Her flatmate is also a CSer, Reuben, and was welcoming to us. The two of them host people all of the time and it seemed like they have a full house of 2-4 extra people constantly so they have extra sets of keys, towels, shampoo, etc. They are also super laid back about their CSers. Both of their lives are busy and I get the feeling they both like to party so there were a couple nights where one of them didn't come home and even one night where neither of them came home until the next morning. So they literally just had 4 people staying at their place never knowing how was coming or going or what we were doing. I love it. They are so trusting. I hope that never ends negatively for them. Their attitudes are ones I hope to have someday.

We talked with Leah for awhile and then headed to the CS meeting at a pub which wasn't to far away. We went with David and were meeting Jackie there. When we got there I found Jackie and she seemed like she was in distress. I instantly gave her a hug and asked her what happened. Turns out her CS host was not home and not answering her calls so she couldn't get into his place to get her stuff. She was worried to the point of contemplating calling the cops on him if she couldn't get a hold of him by the next day. Luckily, that wasn't necessary. After the bar the four of us headed to her host's place, got her stuff and we all went back to Leah's.

The CS meeting was a TON of fun. I wish we had gone to more of these in each city. The group of people you meet at these meetings are all great people and a very eclectic group who welcomes anyone and everyone. I ended up meeting a lot of people there, but got into a longer discussion with David and a guy from Germany. It was really interesting learning everything they had to tell me about their home countries. In Israel everyone is required to do military service - women 2 years, men 3. So David was telling us a lot about that and his experience with it. All eye opening information I had no idea about before. One of the things I love about traveling is getting to talk to citizens from these countries I know little about and getting a mini education with every conversation. I feel like I have learned more about the world in the past two months than I did four years sitting in college classrooms. Totally different type of education. Plus, I was sitting with a guy from German and a guy from Israel in a bar in Prague speaking English. I don't think you can get more random and international than that!

After the meeting we got Jackie's bag and went back to Leah's. I was exhausted so I went to bed pretty quickly after Hilary. The next morning I found out Leah, Jackie and David had stayed up until 4am talking. Impressive. I wish I would have been able to stay away, but I've been on the verge of getting sick so I needed sleep!

David had told us about these free tours of Prague so the next day Hilary, Jackie and I all got up to hop on the 11:45 city tour. Normally we stay away from those kinds of things but Prague has so much history to it and Leah said it was really good so we decided to give it a try. I'm so glad we did. The tour guide was really good and we learned a ton about everything we had already seen that we had no idea about before. It was so good we decided to go on the 3pm castle tour as well. These free tours are in practically every major city and now I really wish we would have done more of them. It's something I would definitely suggest to people. You learn so much more about the history and significance of things.

We met a group of people who were mostly American students studying in Berlin that had taken a weekend trip to Prague on these tours. Hilary had been talking to one girl most of the tours and by the second I ended up talking for most of the time to her friend. They were really sweet girls and offered to show us around when we get to Berlin, score!

After the tour Jackie, Hilary and I went to a pub/brewery that was on the castle grounds and had freshly brewed monk beer at it. We had to sit outside so it was cold, but the beer was good. Next on our list was to go to a Black Light Show. Prague is famous for originating these so we felt we should check it out. I was pretty iffy about it and felt that I could do with or without it. It was $20 so not that expensive but when travelling every dollar makes a difference. We ended up going though and I'm still not really sure how I feel about this. The show itself was bizarre and neither Hilary nor I could make sense of it. The black lights and animations and puppetry were all very unique and something I'll probably never see again on one stage so I guess I'm glad for that part of it. But literally, after the show Hilary and I walked out and all we could do was laugh because we were so confused at what had just happened the past hour. Oh well. All part of the experience.

After the show we met up with Jackie again. She was leaving to Amsterdam on a midnight bus so we had just enough time to grab a drink and see her off. We all tried Pilsner since that is what Czech is famous for. Turns out it still tastes the same. Definitely the worst beer I've had in Prague since there are SO many delicious beers, but it wasn't that bad. I like blonds so that helps. Hilary doesn't so she was not pleased with it at all. From there on out I stuck to mostly darks and Hilary to her ambers. It had been a long day so we headed home for some good sleep after the drinks. The next day was the Prague Beer Festival so we wanted to be nice and rested for it. :)

I stayed up later that planned talking to David and the next morning ended up sleeping in until around 11:30. It was Saturday though so I figured it was okay since it was a weekend, ha. Hilary - the crazy girl - stayed up until 5am blogging and such on the computer so she slept in until 1pm. We got a late start on the day, but the great thing about staying in countries for 6 to 7 days is we can do that and not feel rushed. Leah had recommended a place for lunch and we all had beer goulash soup which was warm and delicious and then a Velvet dark beer which was probably the smoothest beer I've ever had. Yum.

After our lunch Hilary and I headed to the beer festival. The place wasn't as lively as we were hoping so we only stayed for a beer and then planned to come back later in the night when hopefully things would be a little more exciting. We met up with David to check out this water fountain we had heard about that was supposed to be really cool with lights and music and people dancing. When we got there though we were disappointed with it and decided not to pay the money to get inside. Especially when we found out the show we were there for was playing Metallica. Thanks, but no thanks. Instead we talked David into going back to the beer festival with us and ended up having a good time and great beer. The festival actually had less people when we got back but they were more drunk and up and dancing now so there was some good people watching opportunities. Once Hilary and I had our fill - 4 beers total and a bowl of garlic soup. We headed back to Leah's.

At the metro station we saw a guy walk past us with one of the Prague beer cups and Hilary yelled at him asking how he stole that. He ended up coming over and spoke perfect english to us. He friends then came over to join us - all with stolen mugs in their hands. Jealous! We ended up talking to them the metro ride home having a good 'ol drunken time. They offered us drinks of their beer and then two of them actually gave me their cups. Sweet! We later found out that all of the beer drinking we were doing on the metro was very illegal and we would have gotten in big trouble if we'd been caught. Whoops. I plead ignorance on that one.

Miguel was the guy we originally met. He was half American, half Mexican working and living in Prague. The girl he was with was Tonielle who was an Aussie who's been travelling and working around Europe the past year. She met Miguel in a hostel for one day a year ago in London. They stayed friends and she was visiting him for a couple days. How cool. Hilary got their information and we planned to call them and hang out the next day.

I was so tired when we got home and David had jumped in the shower so I ended up falling asleep without brushing my teeth or washing my face. Stale beer in your mouth is a great feeling to wake up to. We had another later start the next day and David was leaving so we ended up going to another restaurant by suggestion of Reuben, had huge potato pancakes with meat, onions and cheese. They were so big Hilary and I split one and were each nicely full. We got up, gave David a hug goodbye and he left. I really hope I get to see him again someday. I guess I'll just have to figure out a way to make it to Jerusalem!

We were meeting Miguel and Tonielle at 5:30 so we spent the down time until then shopping for our souvenirs and walking around a little more. At 5:30 we ended up meeting up with the other two and headed to a famous restaurant/pub that Hilary had gotten a recommendation to go to. Their beers were a little more expensive than everything else we've been drinking. Most beers here are around $1 for a half liter. This was around $2.50. But the beer was delicious. They also had these shots which I still don't really know what they were exactly. We hung out there for a while getting to know our new friends and before we new it we'd all had 4 beers and 3 shots and were nicely feeling the effects.

Miguel wanted us all to go back to his place to hang out some more so we stopped by a convenience store to get more beer and snacks. Then a quick side trip to his friends how to pick up some very legal weed :) from a friend of his and headed back to his place. Hilary was pretty beat by the time we got there so she crashed in Miguel's flatmate's bed. The other three of us ended up staying up until 4ish. Quite a random night.

We woke up in the morning around 7:30 (it's Monday now), woke up Miguel and Tonielle and asked them to tell us how to get home, haha. We pretty much had no idea where we were and in all honesty we were just laughing at everything that had happened the night before that led us to where we were. Good times. We had originally planned to leave around 9:30am to Berlin, but considering the circumstance the chances of that happening were slim to none. We went back to Leah's, packed said goodbye to her and headed out for the 12:30 train.

Overall Prague was amazing. We met some cool people, did a lot of really good beer drinking and just had a blast in general going with the flow. I'm going to miss Prague! But Berlin, here we come...