Meet the Cousin-in-law

Friday, December 5, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic

Well today I got up and took care of a little business. I have been needing to send a few things home so I pack up a box and made my way over to the post office to get it sent off to mom and dad. In the large post offices in Europe I am finding that you have to pull a number and then wait until your number is called. However what number you pull depends on the service you want and when I got there this morning I found that all the options were written in Czech so I still had no idea which one I needed. I found a nice lady who didn’t speak English but I just showed her the giant box with the Canadian address and she got me in the right line. Once there I realized that it was going to cost more in cash than I had on hand but the guy was like no problem, just head to the ATM and I will wait. So nice. Let's hope everything makes it.

Some of the sights in Old Town Square.

Once that got mailed it was time for me to head over to the Astronomical Clock. This is one of Prague’s must sees. I had seen the clock many times as it is in Old Town Square and would be difficult for you not to see. However, I had not been there to see the little show it puts on at the top of the hour. Now I had read that although people will always stand around to see the show….it is really unimpressive. Well there were a lot of people around and the show was even less impressive than I had thought but now I can say I saw it.

The Astronomical Clock, Basically death rings a bell, the 12 apostles parade through a window, a cock crows and it all takes about 45 seconds.

Really I was there at that time of day (1300 or 1pm) because I was meeting up with Heather’s cousin Graeme. He had been in the city last night for a concert and then was meeting a few other Canadians here later tonight so he had the afternoon free to meet up with me. Like I said before we had never actually met before so I think we were both a little worried about recognizing each other but it turned out he looks very much like his Facebook pictures so it was no problem. We wandered around the Christmas market for a bit (both of us were impressed with our complete lack of progress when it came to wandering) but Graeme has all kinds of interesting stories about Prague so it was fun. I wish I had written a few down as I cannot remember them all now.

We then joined up with a free tour at around 1400 (2pm). Funny though because the free tour actually cost 80 Kc but whatever. The tour is given by a history student at the local university. We did not get to take her usually tour because there were only 9 of us and she requires at least 10 people for that tour (whatever) but she did take us on a tour up to Prague Castle and showed us a few things along the way.

One place we stopped at was this piece of artwork that is a stack of books with a mirror on the top and bottom to make it look like an endless tunnel.

I think Graeme and I agreed that it kind of made us both want to play Jenga. I took some pictures as did some of the others on the tour….and then we noticed the sign that said no pictures.

On the way back up to the Castle we saw the Metronome that sits on top of the hill. I am told that it now stands where a statue of Stalin use to be and that the Czech people hate it.

We also went past Jan Palach Square. It is named after Jan Palach, a Czech student who lit himself on fire in protest of the Soviet Invasion in January 1969. There is also a memorial for him in front of the National Museum which happens to be on the spot where Palach fell and died. Palach is not the only Czech student to have committed suicide by lighing themselves on fire in protest but he is the most famous.

Standing on Manes Bridge. That is Charles Bridge in the background.

Graeme also pointed out some of the plaques that can be seen on the outside of houses. It the past these plaques would have identified the house before we started numbering them. So you may live at the sheep and goat house and you would have a plaque with a sheep and a goat on it and that is how people would find you. I think that is much more fun than the number system, however I cannot follow a sequence of animal pictures so would have an extremely hard time getting around.

Another shot of St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.

This is the outside of St. George's Basilica and St. George's Convent at Prague Castle.

Graeme found this chair randomly occupying this parking spot....so he had to sit in it.

Once the tour was over we wandered around a little and tried to find the hostel Graeme would be staying at for the night. We did not find it right away so took a break and ate some dinner (and have a beer) and then went looking again. We did in fact find it this time but the people we were meeting were not there yet so we headed back across Charles Bridge and that kind of thing. I probably have forgotten to mention that a couple Canadian girls that Graeme knows (the teach English in the same town he is in) were coming into town and meeting up with another girl they know (also from Canada) and we were all going to meet at the hostel and then head to a club. Of course I was not staying at the hostel. I had a nice set-up already, but I was not opposed to hanging out there having a few drinks. So at one point we did head back to Brent’s place so I could change, met up with the girls and then headed to the hostel. This was the moment that I realized how annoying heels are on cobblestone but if all those Czech women can do it so can I.

Anyway, we had to go get some beer and Graeme held up a convenience store. Ok he didn’t really but if someone had walked in they might of thought that was what was happening. We kind of knocked a bottle of beer on the floor and it broke and the shop keeper did not seem to notice (because he totally did not react…at all) so Graeme picked up a piece of the glass bottle to show him….he still did not react but Graeme was standing there with a shard of glass point towards the shopkeeper. It is now a fun story.

The boys at Mecca. Nick, Andrew, Jake and Graeme.

Anyway, we made it over to the hostel to meet up with the rest of the group. There was Julia and Jacqueline (Graeme’s friends) and Lindsay (Julia and Jacqueline’s friend) and Jake and Nick (from Australia and the US respectively and people Lindsay had met while travelling) and Andrew (from Ireland, who happened to be staying in the same room of the hostel as the rest of them so joined the group). After a few drinks at the hostel we hopped in some cabs and headed to Mecca. Mecca is a 2 level dance club in Prague. I really did have a good time and unlike clubs I am use to they do not stop serving alcohol and turn the music off at 0130 so we were there until around 0300.

Andrew, Jake, Julia, Nick and Me at Mecca.

Then a quick stop at KFC (I seriously cannot remember the last time I ate at KFC) because it was open 24 hours and well we were hungry and then back to Brent’s for a few hours sleep. Eventually I was going to have to get up and head to the train station to make my way to Austria. I guess we shall see what time that actually turns out to be.

Nick and I. Nick worked for Obama during the election. My kind of guy.

Julie