What a week!

Last blog was on Monday and today is Friday. I must say that I have experienced alot here in Prague. In a nutshell here's what has happend: the St. Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Cesky Krumlov, River Vltava, Southern Bohemia, Medieval dungeons, Terezin concentration camp, Nazi propaganda, underground tunnels, thousands of Jews dead, Kutna Hora, silver mines, Gothic Cathedral of St. Barbara, Kostnice (Ossuary), decorated with 40000 human bones, medieval coin making, and plenty of visits to large town squares.

In between all that, good food, beer, bars, meeting other travellers, walking around the city, getting lost, forgetting the map, hanging out in town squares, meeting locals, finding small bars, eating Czech Pizza, McDonalds, KFC, cold weather, sunny weather, fog, rain, snow, Pilsner, Budweiser, and "NON-STOP"

We'll be experiencing the Prague nightlife tonight going out with my friend Wes who has lived here for 5 years. Hopefully I will be able to last the night since I'm already drained from the trip. I'll need a couple of Redbulls.

NFL in Prague

We found a small Irish Pub last night that was showing the games. There were a handful of people there hanging out. Only a few were Americans. I started the night with a Johnny Walker Black on the rocks. Only $4 American dollars. Buying bottled water is more expensive than alcohol and beer. Garth had cider, and I continued ordering different Czech drinks. Berechova is a cinnamony drink. It tasted like Goldchlagger but way better. Then I had some Slivovice. Man, that stuff is potent. After that one shot, I was already buzzed. Garth then ordered a shot of absinthe for me. I think that put me in a good state at that point. I continued with beers after that. When we closed out out check it was about 1100 crowns which is about $50 American dollars. Way cheap for the amount of alcohol we got.

Stumbling out of the pub we decided to look for something to eat. We ended up at McDonalds again! That's twice within 2 days of being in Prague. No more McD's for the rest of the trip.

When we got back to the hotel, the front door was locked. We looked at each other and thought we would be sleeping outside on the bench. Luckily someone was there and let us in.

Alot of walking today...

It's around 6pm Prague time and we're back at the hotel after a day of walking. Garth and I got up late this morning... a little before noon so we had a late start. We're still on LA time but we should be ok by tomorrow.

We started off the day walking towards the St. Charles bridge. We got to the entrance, walked through the arch and over the bridge. It's a bridge that got us across to the other side of the river. That's it. Apparently it's livelier during the summer with bands and artists, but at this time of year, it was pretty much dead. Just people walking across.

With empty stomachs we looked for a place to eat. We walked a few blocks looking to find a cool Czech place to eat, but there was nothing in site. We ended up finding a McDonalds and being hungry, we went in. I had a McRoyal with Jalapenos and Garth had a McRoyal with cheese. The meal came with the typical burger, fries, and drink, but it also came with a blueberry muffin. You don't see that it the states.

After our authentic Czech lunch we continued walking towards the Castle and about a block down, of course, we found plenty of small Czech restaurants. DOH! Oh well, maybe we'll walk down that way sometime tomorrow.

So we continued towards the castle. The town is very pedestrian friendly. There are more cobble stone walkways than there are roads for cars which makes getting around easy.

At the castle we took time to admire the architecture and the great views overlooking the city. Here's a picture from the top.

After the castle we headed back towards Old Town Square where we got ourselves lost looking for a cell phone shop. We found a Vodafone at the mall and I bought a $10 SIM card for my phone so at least we'd have some sort way to call and make reservations. The mall was huge. It was called the 200 shops mall. Five levels of shops. I'm definitely going back there later to do some shopping.

We're back at the hotel now looking for a sports bar we can watch the Eagles an Cardinals. We passed up a few pubs along the way so we're gonna check those out.

That's it for now.

Still on LA time...

So it's 5am here in Prague which would make it 8pm LA time. Garth and I are both up trying to figure out what this stupid VAT tax is that the restaurant charged us last night. They charged us an extra 19%. WTF? Some sort of tourist tax that they charge you if they think you're a tourist. I gotta ask Wes about that when we see him on Monday.

I guess I'll try going back to sleep for an hour or two. Hopefully I won't be too tired today.

In Prague

Garth and I got into Prague around 4:30pm Prague time. The flight from Amsterdam to Prague was empty. The airport was even more deserted... I guess no one is visiting Prague around this time of year.

The hotel room is big with two small twin beds. No view, but who cares, we're not here to admire the city from the hotel room.

We had our first meal at some pub in New Town. I had 2 beers and a really good beefsteak with a fried egg and ham for only 120 crowns (about 6 USD). Not bad.

I think we're done for the day. All the travelling and no sleep I think I'm out of steam for the day.

In Amsterdam

It is now 4:28AM PST on 1/17/2009. 1:28PM in Amsterdam. There’s no free internet service here so I’m writing this on Notepad to post to my blog later when we get to our hotel.

So as I mentioned earlier we are now in Amsterdam waiting for our connecting flight to prague after a 9 hour flight. The flight over was uncomfortable to say the least. The person behind me had her knees up on the back of my chair and the space between seats seemed much less than other airlines I’ve flown. I wasn’t able to sleep at all and my feet are swollen cause I did not get up once. The food was crap but the crew was very nice and accommodating. I’m just glad we’re off the plane now. The flight to Prague from Amsterdam is only an hour and a half, so at least we won’t be in the plane for that long.

LAX sucks... Destination: Prague

So I'm sitting at Gate 28 at LAX airport waiting for my flight to Amsterdam to board (final destination Prague) as I write my first ever blog. I'm travelling to Prague with my buddy Garth. He's reading up on Prague and trying to figure out what we're gonna do. I'm glad I'm travelling with him cause I'm not really good at planning things like this. I'm a more spontaneous, go with the flow traveller.

I didn't get much sleep last night on purpose. I figured I'd stay up late so I can sleep on the plane. Hopefully my seats aren't next to any loud crying babies.

There's a family of 5 across from me and I'm thinking to myself how glad I am that I do not have kids yet. I wonder how my mom and dad ever put up with my brother and I when we would travel.

I had a yummy rotisseri beef foccacia from Wolf Gang Pucks earlier. It was either that or a Burger King Whopper. I think I made the better choice.

About another hour before boarding time. Man, we got here early.