Look at me being all spontaneous and shit

Let me start off my saying, this is a dress I bought for the weather. 

Thursday was jammed packed, although I hadn’t really planned it that way. It was a really good day and I think it might be because I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about every next move I was going to make. I was able to just do what I felt like doing. The virtue of having ample time to see everything (not trying to fit another country into this trip) is that I know I can come back if I miss something. It was nice. I very rarely move through the world that way. This is why I talk myself out of going to a gym when I travel; as soon as there is something I have to fit into my schedule regularly, my mind becomes a tyrant about my time.

Anyway, I considered skipping Prague Castle because it’s the biggest tourist attraction and very crowded. But I looked at the pictures online and wanted to see it in person. I didn’t get there at opening, but not much later, and it was already pretty crowded. My guidebook cautioned against going there on the weekend due to the crowds. But guess who would likely not be there on the weekend? School children! Lots of them. And tourists with very different body boundaries than I have because I was getting pushed into a lot. The downside to traveling to a non-English speaking country is that you can’t tell people to back the fuck up. I probably could have gotten away with English but I kept my mouth shut. 

Another thing my book said was that the ticket is good for two days, so it’s better to do two mornings than an all-day with the crowds. That had been my intent but I kind of got through most if it by accident. So I won’t be returning. I got the ticket that allowed me access to the most buildings and paid for the permit to take pictures. Yes I took lots of pictures but with less urgency. Another thing I discovered is that my phone may take better pictures than my camera. At least when I am trying to get stained glass windows, the filters help. I won’t bore you with all the places I went within the castle walls. The highlight was St Vitus Cathedral. Also a very sweet employee talked me into going up the cathedral tower (she didn’t have to try very hard). I have a pretty well-known fear of heights so you would think I would not want to climb 287 stairs….but I did. Well worth the $6 extra. The views were incredible. 

Somewhere in there I bought some souvenirs. I stopped for coffee and ate a Clif Bar (My favorite new flavor is Sierra Trail Mix and I just found out that Clif Bar is recalling it and two other flavors because it might have some kinda thing in it to make you sick. Consider this a public service announcement. I threw away my other one last night).

On the way into town, I bought some Prague chocolate for my family. I headed to a gallery called Museum Montenelli, that was closed on Monday. It was small and free and the art was pretty interesting (and by interesting I mean very pretty artistic porn… and some other stuff). 

Oh and food - this was a food day. I had said this was going to be the day I do the sausage and beer thing. But what happens? I get side tracked by a vegan restaurant. I’m not sorry. It was good. 

I did more shopping, looking for some garnet earrings for my mother. Garnet is a thing here. I was shown an obnoxiously ornate ring I considered for myself (The clerk assured me that because the silver is coated with white gold, I would not have a reaction. And if she’s wrong, what am I going to do? Run back to Prague on my way home from work one day and get a refund?) 

Oh and I stumbled across a street band while crossing Charles Bridge playing pop hits on string instruments. They were doing Mama Mia by ABBA and it was fuckin’ incredible. I bought two of their CD’s. 

I tried to go to the Museum of the Decorative Arts but when I got there, I found it was closed for reconstruction (second museum that I’ve found to be closed for reconstruction). So I went to the Dvorak Sec Contemporary Museum. Also small, also free, also penises. 

 At this point, I was back at the Old Town Square. There was a street performer. He had tattoos and wore a kilt so I had to watch. He talked a lot before he got to his thing, which was apparently to lie down on top of broken glass and have a woman stand on him. You can tell he didn’t want to do it. You could see he had a demeanor of ‘I can’t believe I’m still doing this shit.’ When he mentioned he was going to ask the crowd for donations, a bunch of people walked away. When he was done, he seems pretty disappointed when not more people donated (as he was standing there with obvious cuts on his back). I gave him the change I had. He was very poorly compensated, sadly.

It started to rain a bit. I headed to a wine bar in my guide book. Glasses of wine here are very cheap but you would not describe them (as my friend Stacey would say) as ‘generous pours.’ We’re talking about 3oz. Still good for the price. This place was a little rich for my blood. I could have afforded to do dinner but the idea of spending so much when I can eat a ton for a fraction of the price didn’t sit well. They gave me an amuse-bouche of octopus salad on bread. I ordered ham croquettes and a ‘salad’ with potato and tuna. I wish I’d taken a picture of that but didn’t. I felt self conscious because the place was empty at 6pm and then wait safe were standing there just looking. Anyway, it’s one of those places where you can eat the food in two bites but eat it in ten because you’re supposed to savor it or some shit. It was good. But it was not dinner. Just as a point of reference- a bottle of water, a glass of wine and two tapes was about $14. Not a lot by U.S. standards at all, but a lot for Prague. Because of that, I felt justified in eating again. I went back to my hood and went to the Prague Beer Museum which is a couple blocks down from my hotel. I got an appetizer that was a ‘sausage sampler’ of five types, and a side of grilled vegetable. I figured the sausage would be little things. No, they were essentially the size of very thin hot dogs- FIVE of them. I got two .31 liter beers. It was all tasty. it was about $10. 

So there you go. Back to salad today I think. It’s raining again but it’s ok because I thought maybe I’d be leisurely today and not leave the hotel until closer to 10am. I may venture to a further neighborhood today. I also want to see what kind of weekend thing I can go to- like live music or something. From what I am seeing, the shows start pretty early, which is nice. No plans but I’ll figure it out.