Prague is da bomb. For me though it likely is not for the same reason that most people love it. This city is a place I can recharge in. A place I don't have to (or even want to) be a tourist. My friend Marek lives here and all three times I've visited him, his flat becomes this bizarre oasis for me. But let me start this post properly...
I left Budapest Saturday morning and said sad 'see you later!' to Denise and Sara. Easily made my way to the train station and boarded my first class coach for the 7 hour journey. I was sharing a cabin with Caroline and Scott, a middle aged American couple who own a wholesale furniture business. They had never been on a train before so I tried to offer up some tricks, such as don't use the toilets when the train isn't moving or where to find the food coach. They were your fairly typical American tourists, complaining about irrelevant things and wearing white socks with shorts and Scott's lovely loud Bermuda shirt. But they helped to pass the time.
I arrived in Prague and quickly found Marek in front of the train station and we headed back to his place. Same great flat, some new furniture and in no time we were catching up over coffee in the kitchen. He had called up a few friends and five of us met up for dinner. Augh, it was fabulous... I haven't had a tofu steak as good as that since Thailand! All the crew spoke at least a little English, but understandably much of the conversation was also in Czech. I do so love eavesdropping on other languages. It is rather impressive what one can gather just interpreting situations without a clue about the words themselves.
After dinner we took off to a bar called the Dog's Bullucks (which I had to intentionally spell incorrectly lest the website censor the name). This place is underground and has a wee dance floor and so we had some drinks and got our booties shaking. But the best part of the night was the bachelorette party happening at the table behind us. They had headbands with two penises attached to the top. I told the boys I really wanted one, but the girls just weren't giving them up. So Marek decided a plan and he distracted a couple of them whilst Veronika lifted a set off the table for me. It was very covert, I honestly had no idea what was happening. It was simply brilliant. We all just had a great night and laughed a lot. Nothing like a goofy Canadian making faces in a penis headband to make the night interesting.
The following day we got up (ungodly early) and did... Well a big ol' pile of nothing. Marek and I talked and ate some food, watched some movies and drank some coffee. Then he had to work for a bit and headed out to a cafe (he's a translator and is also working on a screenplay) and so I napped. Then we ate some more and watched Spanish horror films.
Today I at least got out of the flat for a bit and we went to the movie studio for Marek to sign some contracts regarding the screenplay and then we went for lunch and wandered the mall a bit. Then back home for a bit of work, him legitimately and me for travel planning. And then we watched way too many episodes of Beavis and Butthead. Yep. The evening was rounded out with another dinner out with friends and more laughter and Czech conversations. But the cherry on the day was watching the third installment in the Spanish horror films. (Seriously, REC is pretty good if anyone is looking for something scary to watch.)
I've already seen the bridges and the castles, I've really just enjoyed hanging out and laughing up a storm with a good friend. And I know I repeat myself, but this trip just constantly shows me how lucky I am to know such amazing and diverse people. GTs.