Eastern Europe Wrap-Up

So alot has happened since I last updated. I saw some more ridiculously absurd palaces with decadence beyond our feeble republic-minded conceptions, became a tourist in the Vienna State Opera House (my vain attempts at acquiring tickets drove me to join the fanny-pack-clad Asian tourists,) and afterward spent a few hours walking through one of the best exhibitions of German Art that I've seen yet. Later, I crossed the border from Austria into the Czech Republic! After a 5-hour train ride, I arrived in Prague, the Gateway City into Eastern Europe. At 9:30pm I was set free into the world of, well, disgusting city. A mere seconds after unboarding, I was affronted by a bum screaming something in Czech. If it weren't for the other 20 people rushing from the train station with me, it would have probably been too unbearable. I would have turned around and bought a ticket back to Vienna, where I saw no bums. As I walked toward my hostel, I not only got lost somewhere between 5 and 7 times, I also had the pleasure of walking past somebody on all fours puking on the sidewalk. God was watching out for me, because at about the time I was so over exasperated by my condition of being lost to the point of sitting down and taking up residence on the street, I happened upon a landmark that google maps told me was across the street from my hostel (see the picture taken the next morning.) I was saved.

I checked in and immediately crashed. That five-hour trip on a loud and bumpy train was not conducive to a nap. Even if it were, the sheer fear of being robbed at knife point would have kept me on edge. Thank you for scaring me to death, over-cautious travel guide book.

In the morning, things weren't that bad. I think I was just a bit stressed about being disoriented and being assailed by a babbling angry man. The language barrier was much more stressful than I had anticipated. French has very many similarities to English that I can usually figure out key points on a map or even remember certain key facts (like which subway or bus stop to get off at) like I did in Brussels, but Prague was a totally different story. Czech is a Slavic language, which branches away from the Indo-European language trunk much earlier than the western languages. Street names were a wash of consonants and accented vowels, so I literally had to look at the street signs every corner to even remember which street I had been trampling for the previous 15 minutes. Reading the metro maps was just as futile. If it weren't for my guidebook, I would have found nothing. Ever.

I took a brief trample through the old city, across the famous Charles Bridge, up the (very, very long and steep) hill towards Prague Castle, only to be informed that Barack Obama was signing a piece of paper so the castle was closed to tourists. I begrudgingly turned around, mumbling something similar to "damn, American politicians screw up my travel plans even in Prague" The ancient city was surprisingly small (read: I saw the pertinent sights in a matter of 2 hours, on foot), so I found myself with a few hours on my hand. I traveled south to the Vysherad, the ancient home of Czech Kings, saw Wenceslas Square, and began to realize my usual epiphany of "oh my gosh, so much important stuff happened here."

For Example: Soviet Invasion, 1968

Adam visits Wenceslas Square, 2010
And then I saw some Hogwarts-style buildings, such as the church in the town center:

The next day I tried again to see the Prague Castle. I once again walked up that nasty hill, only to be confronted by the Prague Po-Po again. Apparently I must wait for Dear Barack to finish his morning tea before I could walk around the grounds. I, once again, begrudgingly walked down the hill. I sat down in a park and did some people watching for about an hour. I waited until after lunch and made my way up again. I finally got to go in.

When I was done with that, there was nothing else to see. I chilled out for a few hours, then made my way to the train station to catch a bus (yes, it makes no sense) to Nuremburg to go back home. I slept in my own bed and could shower in my own shower. It was glorious.

I'm running off to Amsterdam on Tuesday morning. Whoot.