Noha: Prague Journal 1 (Housing and Surroundings)

Dear Reader (I will keep believing you exist), if I had more time, I would write a shorter blog (Stolen from Mark Twain). However, even writing a draft is time consuming so enjoy my mediocre pictures and my long rants.

Day 1: Train and Lodging

We woke up bright an early to catch the 6:52 train from Strasbourg to Munich. We had a Eurail pass (which cost us a fortune and is “supposed” to allow us to ride any train for 10 days within 2 months. However, to make things difficult, they implemented something called reservation at an additional cost. There is NO trusted source to tell you if the train requires the reservation or not (different websites contradict each other). Each time we board a train, we are confused whether we need reservation, Most seats are marked with “reservation” signs, so we are always sitting looking over our shoulder for someone to come and say: this is my seat. EuroRail people, either make reservation always required or Not.

The scenery from the window is almost always beautiful.

However, every time I try to take a picture with Peter and the scenery, I end up with this.

We had a picnic on the train constituting the french bread and cheese (which also has been our dinner for most of the last week and half).

Cheese: Bethmal, Tom Fach, and Brezouad.

We have got to find something different to eat!

The ride (other than reservations and seating) was very nice. Train is the pinnacle of traveling methods (at least in Europe). You just sit comfortably (unless someone claims your seat), watch beautiful scenery and end up at your destination on time. No security lines, luggage allowance, take off, turbulence, fear for your life, landing, etc…. It is worth a mention that flying between european cities is much cheaper than the train (can be one third of the cost) but to me, this is money well spent.

We arrived to Munich (my first time in Germany in a non-airport). We spent the time looking through the food options at the station and ended up hurryingly buying Macdonald’s before boarding the train. Just from observing the station, I find that my idea of Germany is confirmed. Everything is very logical and effective. The bathroom was probably the best public bathroom I have ever seen. Also, they put escalators and ramps all around the station to make things easier for people carrying bags (Duh!). It sounds logical but did not occur to Train station designers in France and Belgium. The only area without escalator was the one leading to MacDonald’s which I found to be a well deserved punishment.

The bathroom looked like a carwash

After another 6 hours ride from Munich to Prague (where we had the full compartment to ourselves) except for some intruders that came and go (including a nice Czech family with a cute kid) we arrived to Prague.

The station looked unpolished and littly dingy but I felt like I have been transported to the 70s so I was charmed ofcourse. One reason was that there was a piano and every few minutes someone different would play, people would stand by and listen, then applaud the player. These were not the usual street musicians but actual passengers. While Peter was trying to figure out the ticket machine, I watched the piano players.

Sorry, I was not able to take a better picture. If you strain, you can see the piano and people listening.

Sorry, I was not able to take a better picture. If you strain enough, you can see the piano and people listening.

You should know that in Czech Republic, even though a member of the EU, they do not use the Euro. They use the Koruna (crown). One US Dollar is 18 Koruna. We drew the equivalent of $150 from the ATM and found ourselves with 3,000 Koruna. We had a hard time breaking a bill of 1,000 until some man in a pharmacy felt bad for us.

The subway ride (our only so far in this trip) was easy and we got to Mala Strana station.

View in front of the subway station.

We tried to find our way from the station. We ended up on a street where a few other people would ask us if we are going to their same hostel.

I was very worried about what the apartment will turn out and regretting committing to a month after what happened in Paris. The airbnb host had told us to go to his restaurant which is by the apartment. The restaurant name is “Tkalcovsky dvur”. It took me a few false positives thinking I found it because I see a name ending in “Dvur” until I figured that “Dvur” means restaurant! We finally found it, and the host’s wife took us to the building and told us that she is not the actual owner and that we will wait for him (here we go again…).

This is our door

The host opened right away, we went inside the building. It looks kind of old, and I started to worry even more.

For once, the picture looks better than reality

The owner (Antonin) doesn’t speak English and that’s why he needed a middleman. We walk into the apartment and it was nice ( Phew! )Definitely an upgrade from the past ones. The living room is very spacious, and everything was clean (not as clean as I would want it to be but clean enough). The owner kept giving us detailed instructions. There were some thoughtful bits, such as two flip flops, he will wash our towels and linen, a czech cellphone, etc…

We had our 10th in a row bread and cheese dinner and looked in vain for an English speaking channel on the cable TV.

Day 2: House Surroundings

The next day, I stayed in all day because I had to work while Peter went out to get groceries and laundry. We had lunch in a Mediterranean restaurant (Luka Lu) which had the most kitsch decor I have ever seen but we had good Pasta and lamb sausage. The restaurant as alot of other places in Prague played very cheesy music ( for Egyptians: The kind of music that played in between programs on Channel 2 while showing pictures of flowers blooming). i found the music so charming (nostalgia on my side).

I kept asking him to open his eyes for the picture and he kept calling me a racist.

Weird random stuff on their walls

This is actually the ceiling!

I thought that the area where we chose the apartment was less touristy than others (because we prefer to get a local feel of the city), but boy was I wrong. I feel like all the other tourists are at our door step.

View right as we open the door.

All the tourists are coming from the Kafka museum which is right next door.

All the tourists are going towards the Charles Bridge which is 2 minutes further from our doorstep. The Charles Bridge is one of the most popular attractions (righfully)

Everyone is on the Charles Bridge. Peter doesn’t like to walk on it because it is too crowded.

It is also full of artists and some of them are good. They do portraits and caricatures. They are thoughtful enough to advertise how long it will take.

The Charles bridge is full of artists and some of them are good. They do portraits and caricatures. They are thoughtful enough to advertise how long it will take.

Also musicians. The Jazz festival is next month.

Other than the tourist attractions, there are some cool spots around our house such as the “Shakespeare and Sons” bookstore and a small beach to the Vitava river under the Charles bridge.