Almost leaving, part 2

This will be my last entry since I leave my hotel at 4am tomorrow morning which means the next time I will have access to my internet on my laptop will be when I get home, and blogging about my trip after my trip seems depressing. After obsessing about dinner to the point where I let myself get too hungry, I decided against going to the vegetarian place again and to instead go to a place down the block from my hotel which I have patronized a few times since I’ve been here. I am having some pre-return-home anxiety and I decided comfort was a better choice. That other restaurant is really good but I don’t feel at home there. And I’m opting for comfort food rather than a salad (I just ordered the tempeh burger and grilled vegetables- I know this is not comfort food for everyone but I have had it and it’s good. I also got some wine. Fuck it- I’ll stop drinking everyday when I go back to my life).

This will be quick since I didn’t fill this day with tons of activities. I ate light at the hotel so I could go back to the Globe for breakfast. I decided against french toast when I remembered that I have not had good bread here. I had pancakes. They were ok- certainly not Crepevine pancakes and with a very small portion of maple syrup. But still better than the fruit-yogurt-granola breakfast I’ve been having every morning since I’ve been here. While I was there, I worked on my manuscript. I bought a couple of store t-shirts from after obsessively trying a woman’s large on and then the x-large and then the large again. The woman who worked there said they are cut very small. Her exact words were ‘I can’t get one boob in there,’ which I am very certain I have said several times myself about various articles of clothing. Well, I can say I’m in great shape if it doesn’t shrink. The woman there said that she thinks they are pre-shrunk but cannot say for sure because they don’t use dryers in Prague because the electricity is so expensive. She also talked to me about how they handle this in laundromats but I must have stopped listening because I don’t know what they do in laundromats. Oh that’s right, she was actually saying that often when people rent an apartment in Prague, the appliances are not included (don’t know how we got on that from the laundromat) and so you have to move into a place and then buy your refridgerator, oven, etc. 

I walked to Stare Mesto to see it one more time, take pictures of things I am sure I have multiple pictures of already. I walked to and across the Charles Bridge and did pictures again. I am not posting more pictures because you have seen it all before. I saw a guy playing this really interesting drum; I almost bought his CD but didn’t. I saw the string band again and they were awesome again. I got short videos of both. Seeing live music on the bridge was a good way to say good bye to it.

I was back at my hotel for a number of hours, partially snacking, partially getting ready for my departure, partially reading my book. But I couldn’t put off my dinner anymore and so I finally came here, Kaverna Zanzibar. I have my wine and I’m waiting for my food.

I’ve been thinking about being here and the energy of being in a new place. Already the energy of going to these places has changed in the last two weeks. I really love it here but I am a tourist. I always think that the experience is somewhat contrived unless you live in the place, or can experience it with someone who lives there. I can never RETURN here as it is because it is now familiar. If I came back, I would likely have a re-do of what I already did, unless I moved here. The other way to experience a place anew to go back with someone else, but I don’t see that happening. So this really is a fleeting moment. Even if I come back one day, it will be different. Maybe it will be better. (My food just came. I just ate a vegetable I cannot identify. I just abandoned the top of my bun). 

What I don’t want to think about is anxiety about returning home. I have this problem where I think if I am gone too long, especially in another country, some bad shit went down. It’s like if I can’t keep an eye on everything, it’s going to fall to shit. Nothing has ever fallen to shit while I’ve been away (except that thing that happened with my roommate in Boulder in 2000). Work is going to be busy but I have supportive coworkers and it will be fine. And chances are I’m not getting evicted. So I have to periodically talk myself down. I constantly check in with myself and ask ‘is that worry still there?’ Of course it is, or else I wouldn’t be asking myself that. 

So I guess this is it until my next trip. This place really did agree with me more than Thailand. Maybe I should stop getting travel advice from psychics. I have snacks prepared for the plane ride, along with reading material and knitting. I always say, you never get a viable excuse to sit on your ass for hours on end; better make the most of it.

Now I’ll pay the check, go back to my hotel room to eat fruit and knit and watch the second half of the QandA video from last night  (it’s a panel show from Australia- really interesting- check it out).

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Delia

PS- I really hope they don’t loose my luggage. Last two international trips I made, they lost my luggage. So I say now, lost luggage is the only condition under which there will be another entry for this trip. I hope you don’t hear from me.

Almost leaving, part 1

I decided I’d venture to the Letna gardens because the views of Prague from there are supposed to be incredible. But it was the furthest distance I’d walk; it involves walking north of the Charles Bridge and crossing another bridge across the river. Just to give you an idea, it took me about an hour to walk there. It was a good day for it. It was cooler than it has been for a while. And it didn’t disappoint; the views were amazing. I’d looked the garden up on the internet and had seen pictures of the actual gardens that were really beautiful but I have to say that it seemed like a lot of big lawns with a few patches of flowers. I’m sure it’s prettier in other parts of the park but once I’m in an environment that is two nature-y, I’m pretty convinced that if I wander to far from my chosen path, I’ll be swallowed by a forest and lost forever. I got some nice people to take my picture. I passed the metronome and sat in the beer garden before it opened. When it did open at 11am, I considered getting a beer, since that is the thing to do; I would likely have done it if it was warmer out. 

So I left and went to the vegetarian place I went on Saturday. (Those sculptures are a memorial to Jan Palach) I got a spinach wrap with pumpkin in it (I’m pretty sure pumpkins are not in season). I looked at the ‘breatharian menu’ and apparently the ‘food’ is to be inhaled (like literally, not just like eaten really fast). The food as quite good again. The waiter was still cute. The restaurant is still adorable; if I was shameless I would have taken pictures of all the rooms. I went to a store and made a purchase for a very important person and then headed back to my hotel.

As is the case at home, I am most tired in late morning/early afternoon. I forced myself to go back out because I’m afraid that a nap will mess up my sleep cycle, tenuous as it has been. I went back to the cafe down the block and had two more cappuccinos and continued to read All the Birds In the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders, who either lives in or frequents my neighborhood in SF. So far I love it. Only downside is it’s a big hardcover and it will be going with me in my carry-on.

I’ve wanted to make the most out of the Globe Bookstore while I’m still here so I grabbed my laptop and went there. I bought myself an unnecessary journal (unnecessary because I have so many journals, I already bought one for myself, and this brand is sold in the states) because it’s so pretty. I went to the cafe and ordered a beer and then a rather large glass of Morovian wine. It was happy hour; those two drinks came to about $2.15. When I get towards the end of a trip, I tend to be more lax about eating and drinking because if I go to hell with myself, I’ll only have done it for two days, not ten. It was lovely. I drank and worked on my manuscript. The guy who works there is very sweet (American, unless he just learned English from an American) and I feel comfortable among my fellow laptop-ed writer/workers. They only do brunch on weekends but they have breakfast daily and I decided my last daytime meal will be french toast vs pancakes. 

My intention was to have one last Czech meal. I had a restaurant picked out but then I remembered that the Prague Beer Museum has live music. I went there and got goulash again and it was better than the other goulash I had. I nursed a small beer for an hour so I could stick around for the band. I got some great mistranslations done because the musicians on my right spoke English, the people on my left spoke Czech and the people in front of me spoke Spanish. I stayed for the first set, when the place was empty and the few people there were talking or eating. It was two guys, both American; one with a guitar singing and one with a harmonica. So I got to see live music. I would try it again tonight except I have to wake up at 3:30am tomorrow.

Oh and what else have I been obsessing over? How to not waste the food I bought here and still  eat out for my last meals. I have bananas, apples, carrots (which will all go on the plane with me) and cherry tomatoes. And two fruit bars. This is the inane bullshit I waste my brain-space with.

More people have come into the hotel and I was awoken at 2am by some people who came home. They sound like they are slamming and stomping but I think it’s just that the acoustics in here are really good. If I put something on the kitchen table, there’s practically an echo. So I think it’s going to the white-noise maker tonight.

Today I go to the bookstore cafe at 10am for breakfast and then make my last trip into old town to say goodbye to it. :(

Since I'm up way before breakfast....

I didn’t think I’d have time to write but I was up at 6:15 so here I am. So let me now say that all this time I’ve been thinking that when I get those messages from Verizon saying I’m using up my data on my phone that I was running out of texts. Nope. I just looked and I have unlimited texts. I’m an ass.

On Wednesday I returned to the Jirihoz Podebrad market to get fruit for the rest of my trip and plane ride home, as well as three more of those yummy fruit and nut bars. On the way there I stopped at a drug store and bought sunscreen. I’m sporting a pretty nice tan but at this point, it was going to be too much. It’s just my arms, chest back etc. I forgot to put the sunscreen on my feet so now those have a weird tan line from my shoes (which smell just as bad as they did in Thailand by now). At the farmer’s market people were drinking beer at 9am. Just saying.

I went back to the nearby restaurant to work on my manuscript. I ordered cappuccino. I was delightful. 

I decided to walk along the water to check out some architecture. I had seen most of it before but there was a statue - the Frantisek Palacky memorial (I just looked him up and he was important in the Czech National Revival in the 19th century) which I had seen but not noticed how cool it was. 

I walked across the Charles Bridge and went back to that vegan restaurant to have (also had to look this up since I can’t pronounce it) Svickova but made with tempeh. I went to the Ginger Bread museum and got a ginger break roll with whipped cream. I was not that good.

I had walked to the other side of the bridge to see the Wallenstein Gardens near the Wallenstein Palace which is where the senate is. The gardens were pretty and had a rather pissed off white peacock. A tourist was feeding it, even though there are signs saying don’t feel the animals. I hung out there for a while. I did some shopping but was unsuccessful in finding anything I can wear besides these three dresses. (I refuse to wear it today. I’m tired of wondering if my stomach is sticking out and I want to be in jeans again.)

I tried to go to a wine bar but it appears to be closed, which is weird because it’s supposed to be kind of famous. The Globe Bookstore, happens to be down the block; it’s the English bookstore and cafe. I had something called a Mexican Colada- it was very good. I also was reminded they have trivia Wednesday nights and so their cafe was booked after 7pm. Then I started wondering if I should have tried to attend that although I know I knew about it when I went there the first time and had decided against it. There were a handful of mostly Americans in there doing work. I liked it and will probably go back to work. 

I’d had this fantasy of getting another Czech meal and beer but I cannot find another restaurant that serves that dish strapacky (I want to try it at another place). I checked out a ton of places and it was mostly very meat heavy dishes that were not calling me. And after my Mexican Colada, I was not dying for that beer either. I went back to another vegetarian restaurant near my hotel and got baked eggplant which was their version of parmesan; it was good but I scraped half the cheese off. I (what is the past tense of forego? forwent?) didn’t go to a place for a drink on the way back and just settled in my room. I thought I’d get to bed before 10 but   didn’t. I’m on my fourth book. 

Today my plan is to go to the park in that neighborhood I didn’t like last Friday. The park is huge and supposedly has the best views. And a beer garden. 

Oh the places I go.

Okay I know I said no more metro, but one of the museums is in that complicated part of the city where I can’t figure out the roads. So just this last time today I did it. I went to the Prague City Museum to learn about Prague from the beginning of all humanity until the 19th century. I spent a good portion of the time avoiding the class on a field trip with the teacher with a very loud voice. The exhibits were good with real artifacts and some art. The highlight is a 1:480 scale model made my Antonin Langweil of Prague around 1830 made of pasteboard paper on a wooden framework. It was cool- they have a screen you can press to see different parts of the model and when you do, a camera moves to show that part of the model on a monitor, so you can see more detail.  

I went to the National Museum (the new building because the original building is closed for construction) to see the exhibit of Jiri Sozansky’s art commemorating Jan Palach. I loved the paintings. There were some disturbing photographs but I don’t know what they were of. I looked it up and I still can’t figure it out. I was already in Nove Mesto and I was going to see what landmarks and cool stuff I could strategically pass by, but I didn’t have to be that strategic. I found a bunch of stuff by accident. That is what this city is like; you just run into art in your travels. I wasn’t aiming to see Lucerna Palace, a art nouveau building which is essentially a fancy shopping mall with a sculpture of a famous artist hanging from the ceiling. I suppose to SEE this stuff, you have to be a visitor. New Yorkers don’t stare at the Empire State Building and San Franciscans don’t take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and I am sure (Praguers? Pragians?) walk by this stuff with barely a notice.

I made my way to the Leica Gallery to see some photography. It was ok and brief. They said I would get 50% off food in their cafe with the price of my ticket but I had already had Starbucks with my last raw-fruit-and-nut bar (have to go buy more when that farmers market is back). I walked down some prominent streets just to see what they had. 

I also keep thinking everything is so far away. I walked into Stare Mesto almost without meaning to. I finally ate the cinnamon dough tube with vanilla ice cream. I must be spoiled by all the organic ice cream in SF because it tasted a little like chemicals. But it’s kind of hard to not eat the ice cream since it’s in the middle of the tube. (see below) There was really no graceful way through it. I’ve been seeing people eat these things all week and it never occurred to me to watch how they do it. Anyway, I did it; it doesn’t need to happen again, especially since I made reservations at the Italian place in my area that you need reservations for. So I walked around that area a while then back to the Prague Jewish Museum area and then to the water. It’s still beautiful there. I took pictures and sat around and eventually went back to my hotel. I was planning on going back out to work on the manuscript before dinner, but I didn’t want to drink alcohol and it was too late for caffeine (I’m pretty sure they don’t have decaf around here), so I stayed in and did some busy work. 

I went to the pizza place (really it’s an Italian restaurant) a few blocks away. It’s not expensive but it feels expensive and I am aware that I generally feel less comfortable in these places. I got a salad and pizza with ham, mushroom and basil (but the basil was not prominent which was great. What is this nonsense about treating basil like it’s a main ingredient? It’s too strong a flavor to treat it like lettuce. Subtlety is key!)

As of right now I have two days left (it was three when I originally wrote this) and I have pretty much seen everything I want to see. There are a few things here and there but nothing that’s a big deal. So I have three days in a beautiful city to continue to look around, eat, drink and write. And yet I am uneasy with not having a direction. They say this is what a vacation is supposed to be but that whole relaxation thing does not come easy for me. I’m going to try it out. At the least, I am revisiting the vegetarian restaurants I liked and checking out a Lebanese place and hopefully hit a garden or too. Oh, and those fruit bars.

The weather has been beautiful. Today was the most beautiful. Good thing I bought these dresses and too bad I have to keep wearing them over and over again.

When I feel bad about being a tourist, an awkward, English-speaking, confused trouist, I remind myself that I grew up in NYC and now live in SF, perhaps the two most tourist-heavy cities in the U.S. (I’m sure I could look this up but I’m not going to). And I don’t feel particular distain for people who come to my city to look out our cool shit. 

Two days in one

On Sunday I went to the Prague Jewish Museum which is less a museum and more a collection of sites including synagogues, a ceremonial hall a memorial for victims of the Holocaust, and a cemetery. My favorite was the Spanish Synagogue because it was just frankly the prettiest. There was a lot of info available and I did get to learn a little bit more about Jewish holidays and rites of passage. The sites are spread out on different streets so there was some souvenir shopping in between. The ticket is good for seven days but I saw pretty much everything. This was in the Stare Mesto neighborhood, which is the old town and where most of the action is. The road system is completely confusing (that is where I got lost on my first day) and you can wander around forever and probably occasionally pass the same blocks multiple times by accident. I had lunch at Country Life, which I thought would be the last vegetarian restaurant I try. It’s more of a cafeteria but it was pretty tasty. I spent a good portion of the afternoon shopping, but not for me. I had a very brief urge to buy myself a ring the clerk told me she could give me for $80, but it as an impractical item that I would rarely get to wear. They have these pieces that are flowers made from garnet and different colored quartzes- really pretty and really in danger of getting caught on anything that you put your hand near. I have included a picture of the kind of style I’m talking about, although the one I wanted to buy had blue in it instead of green. (They also tell me the silver is plated and won’t make me break out, but I am skeptical). (I am realizing I am very fond of parentheticals). Besides shopping, I was just wandering around and taking it all in. Oh, I also bought more chocolate, also not of me, but they give generous samples at the store.  

After I was done with shopping, I was hungry but it was too early for dinner so I found another vegetarian restaurant which is affiliated with one it went to this weekend. I had a snack and walked to a bar that my book recommended. It is for locals and I got a lot of mistranslation done there. I then took what I plan to be my last metro ride back to my neighborhood. I went to a Czech restaurant and got Czech goulash. I don’t know if it’s because I like Hungarian goulash better; while it was good, my mother’s is better. I had beer. So far on this trip I have not drank on only two days. I stayed up knitting and watching John Oliver and Larry        Willmore on Youtube. Oh and here is a picture of a creepy street performer.

On Monday, I was going to allow myself to start the day later. Usually I’m out the door and walking somewhere by 9am. In this case, I had to go to a laundromat because the laundry service with the hotel would charge me $2.25 to clean one pair of underwear. I must have been tired because I kept getting lost on the way to the laundromat which was about four blocks away. I knew how to get there but I just kept walking in the wrong direction. It clearly caters to English speaking travelers, which was pretty much the majority of the people in there.  It was a very pleasant experience, (see picture of where you can wait for your clothes) and even though their detergent smells, I have not broken out in a rash, so that’s a good sign. I also had a diet coke (Coke Light) out of a glass bottle. Remember when I gave up Diet Coke for my new years resolution? Well on this trip I gave up giving it up. 

I went to a tavern down the block to work on my manuscript. I got an inconveniently small cup of coffee. (I think I have to start ordering cappuccinos or lattes or one of those other fancy things I know nothing about). Then I went to a vegetarian restaurant I’ve been to before; it’s part of a club and super cute. Then I walked to the Nove Mesto neighborhood. I’ve been to this area before. There is a ton of interesting architecture everywhere, but in this area especially, and this time I actually looked up and noticed some of it. I went to the street market to buy an apple and then to the Mucha museum. He’s been very present in Prague; there are two other exhibits, one of which I saw on Friday, but this is a museum dedicated to him. The museum was rather small; I got through it in less than an hour. You’ve seen Mucha’s work before; he’s known for art nouveau ads with women on them. What I liked about him is his pictures are kind of simple but he conveys a lot of emotion in that simplicity. They had a video about his life. That’s nice; I want all museums to have biographical videos. After that I went to the Communism Museum. There was a lot of reading. A large German man stood right in front of me while I was reading a placard. Bastard. I wish I retained info in this way better but I learn better from listening and talking than from reading. They also had a video but if focused on protests in the 60s and the Velvet Revolution. I’m going to be seeing an exhibit by an artist who has a project dedicated to Jan Palach a student who ‘self-immolated’ in protest of the invasion of Czechslovakia by five nations as part of the Warsaw Pact. I just wikipedia’s that to make sure I got that all right but I’ll learn more when I see the exhibit. I was interested because of the art but then I heard about Jan Palach at the Communism Museum too.

Oh I went to the Moser store. Moser is THE glassmaker. Yes it was recommended in my book. Although I’ve been looking for a piece for my mother, I knew this was way too expensive. Still I wanted to see their work. The store itself is exquisite and I would have taken pictures except the woman who worked there literally followed me the entire time I was there. Then another salesperson joined her. I was the only person where the merchandise is. The book should have warned that they treat you like a potential shoplifter in there. I had an urge to just walk in circles to see what they would do. It was not a comfortable ‘just looking’ experience.

I went to a wine bar recommended in my book. (In case you haven’t noticed, I do very little that is not in the book. In my defense, I have looked up other theaters and clubs and museums but my book really does have the more interesting locations). Anyway, it said it was a good place to try Moravian wines. When I walked into the bar the very nice man told me their wifi was out so they didn’t have their menu because their menu is on a tablet. I had a merlot and he talked me into little spring roles which were quite tasty. I’ll say something about the food I’ve had here; it’s not bland. If one was averse to salt, they might really have a problem. I luckily do not have that problem. I’ve also decided I’m going to have to get one of those cinnamon dough tubes before I leave. I’m sure I know exactly what it will taste like but if it tastes like a cinnamon dough tube, then that’s pretty good. I went back to my hotel and then back to the tavern for dinner. I got the tempeh burger and grilled vegetables (and water. No beer. No wine. Just water). 

Back in my room, I finished my second book on this trip, and knit while watching John Oliver and some Samantha Bee (I cannot see Comedy Central Shows from Prague). Since I’m not working out, I can knit for longer without it bothering my arms and wrists, but I have not made the progress on my shrug I’d hoped I would.

Today I’m likely going back to Nove Mesto to see the museums I missed.

Excerpt! and a picture of Czech goulash

1- Cramped plane ride - the more I carry to amuse myself, the more I’d like to wedge my left foot in the armpit of the passenger in front of me. There’s something for everyone with trans-cultural meal choices. Carry on. There is very little chance of the plane crashing. Freedom might make me crazy. Currency equations cool this room ahead of time. I can afford to be self-indulgent. Hello Channing Tatum elf- the travel benzos do not make you intelligible. My feet, my impossible feet. ATM trans-currency math. There is no such thing as a ‘g-string emergency.’ Ravage this land too. Waste is a sign of prosperity.

2- My complicated body 

a blue vulva

to submit

acid talkative

sacrifice to the gods 

re-calibrate

suck corncob for 

ten minutes even rain 

in the umbrella

Just one dude/dude couple in

the northern most parallelogram 

A blue flower

in the fish spa. 

Four blind flutes, data overage 

Read the label 

Little Twin Star 

let the air out

this future clusterfuck

emotional petri dish. 

Oh but white people! 

Mister hipster beard 

by bowls of bad American R&B 

a blue scoop of ice cream 

Whisper three words

some sexiness serves my 

pizza kilogram

The bros are British 

tongue lay the nail dance 

Celadon stomach howdy

ruddy jaw 

clank promotes religion

a frantic florid lubricant

Seedlack tax system

more shut up 

my knitting entrance fee

2- I’m supposed to walk occasionally to avoid DVTs. Hopefully my lung won’t explode because I can’t say ‘my lung exploded’ in Thai and that’s probably not the kind of thing you can just tell by looking at someone. Some quirky American Director can film me dying to the Scooby Doo theme song. Two thumbs up for the toilet. Bidets everywhere. I’m marginally well-traveled. I can squat like a pro. Elastic shoes cradle my need to know cities on my soles. Antibiotics for stomach bug. Blisters.  I’m a bigger asshole than usual. Just in case of malaria.

More markets!

There are numerous farmer’s markets in Prague but two in my book were on Saturdays only. I went to both. I walked to the Naplavka Farmer’s Market; it was nice but quick- I was out of there in five minutes. A little later I took the metro to the Dejvice Farmer’s Market, which was more like a cultural food festival. For one thing, they had someone selling those raw fruit and nut bars; I bought one to eat and later bought three to take back to the hotel. There were stalls selling food and some kitchen items. And there were numerous stalls dedicated to food and items from different countries, mostly Africa and Asia. There might have been countries I’ve never heard of (or countries I have heard of but did not recognize because they were spelled in Czech). We’re talking Eqypt, Ghana, Morocco, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. There was live music and beer and wine everywhere. I had grilled calamari. I stayed for a bit, practiced saying ‘good day’ and ‘thank you’ in Czech so I seem less like a douche bag.

By the way, these people can drink. The beer culture here is like the coffee culture in SF. In the middle of the afternoon people are at sidewalk cafes drinking beer. And the smoking. If I were going to smoke again, this would be the place to do it. Of course I’m not going to because when I smoke I get nauseous. A lot of restaurants allow smoking. I’ve inhaled more second hand smoke in the last week than I have in years. Luckily for me, unlike most former smokers, I’ve never had an aversion to cigarette smoke. 

I came back to the hotel and talked to my mom for some time (Hi Mom!) and then went to a cafe behind a tobacco shop called Cafe Dobre Trafiky. I tried to work on a new project, but got no where, so worked on the old one. 

One of the things I do when I write in a foreign country is ‘mistranslation,’ which is when you write what it sounds like people are saying. When I allow myself to be ridiculous, I can come up with some interesting language this way. Yesterday I heard a Czech man say ‘fuck-nado.’ Yes. A tornado of fuck. I will surely utilize this later.

 I had theater tickets but wanted to go to yet another vegetarian restaurant (I got one more to try I am hoping to get to today). The one I went to last night was Lehka Hlava. The food was good an there waiter was cute. They had a menu for ‘breatharians.’

I went to the Image Theater to see their Black Light Theater. It’s basically a pitch black stage with people dressed in florescent customs, holding florescent props, doing stuff. In between there were two guys who did kind of slapstick stuff (not in black light). I found that part annoying. I didn’t get the comedy. The only part of that I liked was when they came into the audience. I was sitting on the end so I got to be included. They were pretending to open people’s heads to see what was in their brains. In my case there was a baby that apparently looked like the guy sitting behind me. So the theater was so-so. Puppets shows are also big here (as are marionette shops). Maybe I’ll go to one. There is one based on Don Giovani. I don’t know that story. There were a bunch of clubs I had researched near the theater. I considered going to the one very close; I could hear the music. Then I was reminded why I hadn’t wanted to go there to begin with. They had a ZZ Top cover band. I fuckin’ hate ZZ top.

Afterwards I figured I was near the Charles Bridge and I should see what it was like at night. I walked there and it was very pretty. I tried to get a good picture but don’t know how successful I was. I always think that if I had one of those big cameras with the big lenses, I would look more like a ‘photographer’ and less like a ‘tourist,’ but then I would have this big thing hanging from my neck all the time instead of the discrete little thing I slip in and out of my bag.

So that was my day. Back to the metro. I had to wait a whole five minutes for my train; it’s usually less than three. I know this because there is a screen that tells you. 

From here on in, I think I’ll be staying in my neighborhood, the one west of me that I have not tackled yet, the one north of here which is the old town with all the stuff, and maybe across the bridge. So I’m going to try to only walk for the most part. 

Some ups, some down, or more like all-arounds.

If Thursday was a good day, Friday was a decidedly less-good day. I was going to spend a good portion of the day in a neighborhood more removed from all the action because it has some museums I wanted to go to. I had some frustrations getting there. Did I tell you I have the frustration tolerance of a toddler? First, I tried to use the ATM at the metro station but it did not have an option for English so there I am trying to translate the words on my phone, but unsuccessfully. (By the way, I can’t help thinking that traveling alone has become a lot less bad-ass since the smart phone. The other day, on the train back from Kutna Hora, the train stopped at a station in Prague and I was able to look up whether it was the right one to get off at before it left the station again). So I got on the metro. And they’re right about the metro system being very easy to negotiate here. I got to the stop of the National Gallery- Valetrzni Palac, but I couldn’t find a street sign for the life of me and it’s one of those stations that is surrounded by tracks and highways. Oh and that ATM didn’t have English either. So I commenced walking the wrong direction. Then I turned around. Then I found that the street the museum is on is lined with banks and ATMs. Nice! 

I get to the museum. It’s pretty incredible…and huge. They have a Alfonso Mucha exhibit and Ai Weiwei Zodiac Heads outside, but also have a regular collection with Klimt, Picasso, and some great modern art. It’s 6 floors of art. It’s sprawling. It’s a lot of art. As a side note, the virtue of taking pictures of art is that it makes it easier to write off of later; I was able to get pages and pages of writing done later without being distracted or knowing I have three more floors to get through. Anyway, I think it took me two hours to get through it and that is with me rushing through the last two floors. By then I was kind of museum’ed out and cranky. I was going to go to another gallery. 

I stopped at the museum cafe for a snack (my second emergency apple streusel of the trip so far), looked up the gallery on my phone to see what exhibits they had, and decided I was okay to skip it. The only other thing to check out was a market near by. I took the tram, more because I didn’t know how to figure out the road system than because I didn’t want to walk. The market was mostly selling cheap clothes and household items but there was an inside part that had numerous produce vendors. So I got some more fruit- apples, apricot and strawberries. Then I took the tram to the metro to my hotel and decided I was done with that part of the city. 

I stopped back at the hotel, made myself a small salad. Here is where the obsessing began. I got it in my head I should go ‘out’ and perhaps ‘out’ meant to see live music. So I looked at the clubs in my book and found one with a psychobilly band playing with a woman who plays an upright base. I thought about going. But then I thought I would be the oldest person there and it’s late and what do I do with myself when I get there? I went back and forth, mostly to avoid the self-judgment of not going. But as soon as I thought about going I was in a worse mood because the thought going was stressful. So I decided not to go. Maybe I could do something Saturday night. My plan had been to go to a cafe to write and then get dinner later. But I was hungry and it was too early to have dinner. So I kept eating fruit but it wasn’t working. I didn’t want to eat dinner early, then my Friday night will end at 7pm and I’ll feel bad about myself. And then I saw the restaurant down the block is a nice place to have wine and chill out. But is ok for me to be drinking so much (mind you, I’m concerned about calories, not getting shit-faced). Then I wonder if not going to Budapest is a mistake since I’ve obviously already run out of things to do in Prague and then I’ll spend more evenings like this feeling bad. 

I spend a lot of my time like this, trying to figure out what to do so I don’t feel bad. It happens at home too but in different ways. I’ve been told, I’m trying to avoid disappointment. And what would be disappointing? If I did something and felt bad about myself. I flew 6000 miles alone but the hardest part is figuring out how to spend my weekend nights. I am quite aware that none of this shit matters. I will never see these people again and this is all in my head. And there are much worse things to worry about. Because I feel awkward I am afraid of begin found out as awkward. 

In the end I went to that restaurant down the street. I had a good feeling about it. And I decided to have wine more in an effort to get out of my head. By the way, I looked it up- the glasses of wine are .15 liters which is 5.072oz- who knew? I had a very nice light dinner and wrote pages and pages with my phone and camera to remind me of the things I had seen in the last two days. Of course all this over thinking infiltrates my writing and it’s like I write through it, getting the gunk out, like rinsing out a glass before you use it. The fact is I have a bunch of free time to do what I want and I have numerous writing projects in progress and it IS appropriate for me to use this time to work on them. Making progress on them would make me happy. And being in a cafe drinking coffee and writing in a foreign country makes me happy. 

When I got back to my hotel, I decided to remedy the Saturday night going-out stress I would go to the theater. I got a ticket for what looks like an interesting show. So maybe I do have to plan for things while I am here, or at least be in a place where I can keep busy. Since I am not curing my neuroses in the next week and I am in this beautiful city, I might as well do what I can to enjoy it.

Tonight I hope to go to yet another vegetarian restaurant before the theater. Whenever I travel, I find these incredible vegetarian places. I still have a couple on my list to try.