Prague, Czech Republic

I woke up even before my alarm went off, so I just decided to get up and get an early breakfast. I walked upstairs to where breakfast was served, and checked out the selection. It was a modest meal; a bowl of cereal, ham with a slice of cheese, and a bread roll with jam. I ate it happily, trying to get as much a fill of it as I could (you have to take advantage of every free meal). When I headed out for the day it was around 10am. I began walking along the bridge across the train tracks, the way I had gone the night before. Perhaps the way looked different in the light. Although easier to see where I was going, the light made little difference. It still looked pretty sketchy. My roommate Tom, who's also a music student from New Jersey, told me that just a little ways from where I was last night, there's a little dirt path that takes you up the bridge and over into the main city. I looked for the little path he was talking about, and eventually found it, but it took my walking like 4 blocks through backstreets to find it. I would not have done that at night on my first night out. Down the path took me right along the river where several old men were fishing, and then as he said, up to the bridge across to the city.

I was really interested to see what so many people in the states were raving about Prague. It seemed to me just like pretty much any other city in Europe, only a lot filthier. When I got across to the other side of the bridge, my impression of the city hadn't changed any. This side seemed just as dirty, and sketchy as the other. On my way through to City Center, I passed a number of smoke shops and what seemed like thousands of bars, and besides an occasional clothing store, that was about it. After an hour of this same old thing, I was wondering to myself what the big deal of this city is. It had a couple beautiful churches, I'll grant you that, but so does everywhere else here. If the appeal is that this city is a place to get wasted and high, and hang around in clubs, you have Amsterdam for that.

Back home, Prague was like the city everyone wanted to study in. It's the hip, trendy place in America to say you were going to. It seems every American, even over here, says it was their favorite stop on their trip. "It's such and interesting city" they all said. "So cultured, and beautiful" I'd hear them say over and over again. Was I in the right Prague? All I saw so far was a homeless population that seemed even slightly larger than the normal population, some grafitti, and a whole lot of concrete. I might as well be in downtown LA. As I kept walking, I eventually found City Center next to the National Museum, and things started to get a little better.

The main street in City Center is quite beautiful, and there are lots of things to do there. There are clubs all over the place, and shops with little interesting trinkets. Food stands are everywhere in the Center, and they're really nice and cheap too. It seems the further up north and closer to the river you get, the better Prague gets. I came out of the Center and just grazed by the old town on my way to Charles Bridge. Across that is the beautiful Castle Gardens, and a little winding path leading into a small medieval-looking town at the foot of Prague Castle. Walking through the town was a whole lot of fun. Antique shops are everywhere. It seems people in Prague don't throw anything away, they just sell it to tourists. I went in, looking for a cool antique compass. In fact, I'd been looking for one since Venice. I can't seem to find one that fits my journey yet though. Everything I've found (if they even have a compass, which most places don't) is really big and bulky. I need something I can haul around, and maybe wear on my neck, like locket sized. There's a wide variety of old pocket watches, which are pretty cool, and I did manage to buy myself an old antique pipe I really loved, but no compass anywhere.

Up the Castle steps, the walls opened up into a lively city square. There were street musicians all over, playing classical masterpieces or a little bit of traditional Czech folk music. The guards at the Castle gate stood motionless as endless tourists tormented them. Food here was overpriced, and it all seemed like you might imagine a tourist attraction to be. I'm not complaining though, I love walking through beautiful places, watching street performers and listening to musicians. It's nice that the Czech people try to give us tourists a little of an adventure into the traditional culture, even if it is just for show. Also along the way, were several of these handmade marionette shops, which were amazing to look through. It's baffling to me how people can control these little puppets to do the things they can do, and some of these controls were so intricate! I walked all over the city for hours, trying to make sure I got a fair look at Prague so I could judge honestly how the city really compares to the others. I headed back to the hostel before dark because I'd decided I had to try the nightlife of Prague, and go clubbing. So I had some time before dark to take a quick nap, and a shower before heading out for a night on the town.

Before I left, I asked the lady at the front desk of the hostel which clubs were really worth seeing. She gave me a list of 4, which she thought were the best in Prague, and showed me where they were on the map. Two of them were right across the street from each other, so I thought I'd start there, and see what I liked. I took the metro to right near where the two clubs were.

The first was called The Rock Cafe, and I figured that might be close to my sort of scene, so I walked in smiling like you're always supposed to walk into a new place. I did a quick stroll around the place, figure out where everything is, and seeing all the sorts of people. There's a club technique I learned in which you're supposed to mentally mark how many in each group clustered together, and how many of them are men and how many women. You're supposed to look for groups of girls together, never a single one sitting alone. Girls alone are either waiting for someone, or want to be left alone. So I did my walk around the club, and then realized there were stairs leading down to a lower level, but there was a bouncer selling tickets to go down. I asked a group of people what was down there, and they said it was some kind of battle of the bands. It sounded pretty cool, so I paid the entrance fee to go down and have a look. As soon as I got down there I noticed something interesting. Everyone all of the sudden Seemed really young. In fact, I think I was probably the oldest guy in the room other than the few 40 somethings who sat in the corner. I found a nice group of kids to talk to, and asked what the average age is of people who go here, and they said somewhere around 16 or 17. Ok...well that changes some things. I'm not gonna hang around and be THAT guy. Although, I already payed for the entrance fee down here, so I might as well listen to some Czech high school rock bands. I ordered a drink from the bar, and stayed through the first band. They were actually really good, I thought. They weren't quite great yet, but they were definitely good. As I stood there I thought about how proud Brandon Hughes would be of me right now, and how much fun we'd be having if he were here.

After about an hour, I left there to go try the one across the street. However, as soon as I entered, I noticed everyone in this club was twice my age. I thought to myself, this must be where all the parents of the kids across the street are. I left there abruptly, and started over to the next one on the list, The Duplex. This club was located right on the Main Street of City Center, right on top of a huge hotel. The entrance was at the bottom, and you had to take the lift up to the top floor. It was perfect! It was just what I expected from a Prague night club. There were lights, and loud music, and even hired dancers on platforms in the center of the dance floor. The club was 2 stories, with a bar and lounge area on the bottom floor, and the dance floor up above it. There was also a balcony on the lower floor with a couple tables and a view of the whole city. I started slow, doing my rounds, and figuring out who was with whom sitting where, as well as first making sure there were people my age (which there were). When finally deciding I was going to stay, I checked in my jacket and ordered a drink. Hanging by the bar is never a good idea in a party event. You have to keep moving, and mingling. When people see you talking to other people, they assume you must be worth talking to, as apposed to the random guy in the corner who just watches everyone have a good time.

The first thing I notice after ordering my drink is a huge group of really, really good looking girls sitting at a table, and not a single guy present. At first I thought, this must be a trap, maybe all their guys are somewhere else or something. How could all those beautiful girls even get in here without (it seems) even being approached. Well why not, I decided, I might as well go over and say hello. I'll most likely be eaten alive, but it's a good learning scenerio, and I can't sit here all night. I grabbed my drink, and smiling confidently, I asked if they were all here together. I knew they were, but it didn't matter what I said as long as I said it confidently and started the conversation. They had some trouble understanding me, as it often happens, but rather than fall back and start again, I went with something simpler. "Are you from here?" They understood that, and all answered no. "We're from Sicilly" the one of them said who could speak some amount of English. "We're here on holiday." What a coincidence, I thought, and did a little dance in side my head. I now had something to talk about. I told the one girl, who acted as my interpreter, about my journey, why I was now here in a Prague night club. They were delighted by the concept that tried so hard to dumb down my english for them to understand, and in some cases tried to speak what little Italian I could. However, they were even more delighted by the fact that I was from America, and California at that. They were all over me as if I were some kind of celebrity right from Hollywood, and they about peed themselves when I mentioned my profession as a Cinema Composer. There were 8, (trust me, I counted very carefully several times), 8 gorgeous Sicilian women huddled around me all night long inviting me to dance with them, and making eyes at me whenever I entered their sight. Every other guy in that whole club hated my guts, because when I walked onto the dance floor, I had 8 beautiful Sicilian women with me. It was amazing. One of them in particular I really took a liking to. Her name was Julliana, and she was gorgeous, of course, but she also had this very feisty flirty air about her. She barely spoke any English, but somewhat more than most of them, so I could have very small conversations with her, and she understood me. I had an absolute blast hanging out with the girls, and then towards the end of the night they introduced me to the professors of their all girls school who were traveling with them, and whom had apparently been sitting just off to the side all night making sure the girls were ok. That was a litte awkward (and perhaps answered the riddle as to why no one else had approached them before I did). However, I sat down with the professors too, and we all talked for about an hour more, and they all really liked me. One of them said I had really kind, honest eyes which made her sure I was a good person. They said they'd love to one day travel to California and made it seem like such a glamorous place. I told them next time I go to Italy, I'd have to make sure to go to Sicilly, because truly from what they told me, it sounds amazing.

At about 1am we all had left the club. They went off back to their hotel, and I started walking back to my hostel. The metro lines stopped running some time around midnight, so I had to walk. Walking was much more fun though anyway. I walked along the river, and felt like a million bucks. I had so much fun being the American celebrity in a Prague night club. I'm glad I got to go clubbing in Prague, it's definitely one of those must-do things when traveling Europe. Mostly Prague locals aren't really all that friendly, but find yourself some Sicilians, and you'll be all set.

When I finally got back, I was surprised to find some new roommates. That is, if you can say surprised; I heard them from 3 blocks away. My 5 new Polish roommates had gone through 3 bottles of Vodka, and a bottle of Rum, and were sitting on the couch drunk off their asses. When I came through the door, they all greeted me excitedly with a loud yell as if we'd been old friends for years. Then they introduced themselves, one at a time, and then the first one would go again because he forgot he already went, and so the whole thing would start over again. We went through that a couple of times, and then they insisted I sit down with them and have a drink. Needless to say, I already knew where this road was headed, so I respectfully declined. Still they insisted, not taking no for an answer, they poured me a glass of Vodka. I pushed the glass away, and said I'd take a rein check, and promised to sit down with them and drink all night tomorrow, knowing they'd forget all about that tomorrow. I entered the room where the beds were, and tried to get some sleep. However, my new Polish friends drank and sang Tina Turner songs at the top of their lungs till 4 in the morning.

Prague's a pretty nice city. It's beautiful as long as you stay in city center, or near the river on the northern side (which are all the big tourist areas). Both me and Tom were a bit disappointed with the music scene here, though. I did see some interesting teenage Prague rock music, and there are several jazz clubs which put out decent sounds, but I was expecting the vibe to be a whole lot more bohemian than it is. I didn't see the culture here that I did in Greece, Italy, or Austria. I couldn't find any sort of Artsy village area that wasn't made to look that way for tourists. I also didn't find the people to be all that friendly. There are a couple of exceptions, of course, but most people I met who I liked came from elsewhere.

On the upside, This city does have some absolutely beautiful sights. The whole city is all lit up at night, and the Castle looks like right out of Cinderella. The little shops are very charming, and things (even in the tourist places) are usually reasonably priced. The Club scene is great here, and you can find a tobacco shop on just about every corner. I think Prague's a great city to stop into every so often, but frankly, if I were going to live somewhere abroad, I'd much prefer Belfast, Florence, Athens, or Cairo.
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