Prague – Chek me out!

I am in Prague. Can’t believe that I have been to all of these places so far and that I am in Prague! We arrived in early in the afternoon and went for a walking tour of the city, starting at the castle on the hill and walking down into the old quarter. I loved it here. The old quarter is beautiful and there is this great celestial clock. It is one of a kind. The clock maker finished it a few hundred years back and the city officials were so worried that there would be others made the same that they blinded the clockmaker so that he couldn’t replicate it. Crazy. Now, fair enough, the clock maker wasn’t too happy at being blinded so he climbed the tower and shoved his arm into the cogs of the huge clock and while ripping his arm up, he also managed to pull out some important bits of clock. Problem was, they had lots of people that could fix clocks, just none that could make one like that.

We had a Prague Pub Crawl on the first night in the city. It was crazy but fun. We all walked down to the first bar and the first bar had what is fondly known as the ‘hour of power’. It was free shots of absinth or vodka and cranberry, beer, wine and soft drinks. I tried absinth for the first time. Liked it. A lot. Had four shots of it. It burnt so nicely going down. I also had two shots of vodka.

Now, while I know to give my body time between shots, I know that shots take a bit of time to move through the body, some of our younger contikians have not learnt yet, and some just don’t care to learn. One girl was so drunk by the end of the first bar she had to go to hospital. She is okay now, thank god. Another girl got so drunk that she spent half of her time hitting on anything with a penis and the other half of the time drinking. She also pissed her pants twice and told everyone without shame. All the teachers on the tour feel fairly certain that she is on the aspergers spectrum. She is so quiet and one drink and BAM! Everyone was ready to commit murder by the end of the night. She was intense. Another guy, one who has a bit of an alcohol problem, stood at the bar at the first bar and drank shot after shot. He also had a secret staff of booze in his pockets which he partook of. By half way through the night he could barely stand. We all kept telling him to stop drinking, to have some water. It didn’t work. He didn’t listen. At the end of the night, two of the others on the tour had to half walk/half carry him back to the hotel. He passed out a few times on the way. It is not funny and it is annoying have to keep an eye on him because he can’t control himself.

At about one in the morning me and Calum left the last bar and made the walk back to the hotel. Calum was hilarious. He was drunk and he had forgotten his jacket. He was also serious that we should be going left. ‘Dead set, Deb, we need to go left. I swear, dead set.’ He kept saying this every time we reached a new street. I had a map. If I had relied on him we would have ended up going back to the bloody bar. He was goneburgers. He also insisted on asking directions from people who spoke barely any English. I more than once politely pushed him aside and showed them the map and where we had to go.

In the end we found a friendly Peruvian who had been living in Prague for a year. He showed us the way back to the hotel.
You know when you have just down a big walk and you are wide awake. That was me at 1.30am after walking back. I decided that now would be a good time to do my washing. My clothes that I had been wearing at the pubs stunk. In Prague you can still smoke in bars, cafes, hotels. Everywhere. I had forgotten how much your clothes and hair end up stinking when you are in that environment. I think I have become a little spoilt by our NZ rules on smoking.
By the time I had showered and cleaned my clothes it was 3am. Finally tired, I slept.

 Prague by day is equally stunning. I would really love to find an apartment in the old town, on the main square. I got to do some pretty different things that day. It started off at 10.30am when I walked into the main square. I grabbed a coffee and sat on a bench in the square and people watched for about an hour. I texted Jade and asked where she and Jodie were. They were going to meet me there. I also found Calum. Jodie and Jade got lost and it was starting to get cold so me and Calum decided to check out the Sex Museum. Yes, an actual museum about sex. I always thought I had a pretty good idea about the different kinks that people have, and I like to think I am an open minded person, but wow. I felt really quite naive. There were contraptions and dildos and seats that had been created in the 1800s. There was a hilarious machine that was an anti-masturbation machine for boys. Apparently one end was attached to the penis, and off it was a long wire that ran into their parent’s room. When the poor boy had an erection it would set of an alarm in the parent’s room. Hahaha. It was a museum though, so there was lots of information and quite an open feel about the place. It was strange to be standing beside a complete stranger looking at a dildo the size and width of my arm. Also at the sex museum was 1925 porn. We went into the small theatre expecting flashing of boobs, maybe some ankles and legs. Nope. Apparently this Spanish king really wanted some porn, so he hired one of his friends and two prostitutes and had he whole thing filmed. It was so awkward and they all looked bored. Everyone was laughing. It was just so... I don’t know. I had never watched porn before and my first look in is at 1925 porn. Oh, and did I mention it was a silent film with music playing in the background, silent movie music.

After that ‘cultural’ experience, Jade, Jodie, Calum and I all went for lunch at a caveman restaurant. Apparently in the evenings the waiters all get dressed up in costume and they don’t speak, they just grunt and to order you have to draw pictures of what you want. To get their attention you have to bang rocks on the table. Sadly, we didn’t get to do that but we did get to eat with our hands. I had ribs. It was good eating.
We headed back into the main square, grabbed another coffee and walked the markets and shops before meeting with everyone for a show. We were booked into seeing a blacklight show. It was great. Kind of like Circ de Sole on a small scale. The best part, better than the dancing and acrobatics was the clowns. Absolutely hilarious. Well worth the money and me and Jodie were right in the front row.

We were absolutely knackered when we got back to the hotel. I think we are all getting really tired. Everyone is reaching the point where we can’t believe that we have been travelling together for 20 days and that we only have 4 to go. Insane. Equally, we are glad it is getting to the end. Most of us just want to sleep in our own beds and not be living out of a suitcase. I want to not wash my dirty knickers in the shower or sink. I am so tired that I am starting to look forward to 30 hours on a plane, where I can sleep and watch Harry Potter. I think I am having HP withdrawl.