Segway Segue

February 4, 2013

I finally took the Segway tour! It was two hours and quite fun. Freezing cold though. Shockingly, I wasn't as terrible as I expected to be. There were definitely a few moments of pure terror, but nothing catastrophically dramatic happened. It was just me and the guide as well, and she was very patient. I also think she could read the terror in my face occasionally because she would say things like "You hanging in there?" But later she took the speed governor off and I was zooming along and I felt like Tron.

The funniest moment was at the end when I was trying to get off. I took one foot off and the things just started spinning, going around in a little circle. I was standing there with one foot dangling off, doing that kind of panicked "ahhhhhhhh" groan. This guy from the front desk ran and had to help me. Luckily, it was pretty minor mishap, in the grand scheme of my life. How fucking cute do I look on this Segway though?

I went to Prague Castle and a toy museum that morning. Prague Castle was nice, but I'm getting a bit spoiled with cathedrals and old things. They did have some very cool Muchas stained glass.

The toy museum was great though! They had old toys from the WWI and such. Really interesting to see. I already tweeted it, but let me say it again: Thank you Northeastern for not putting a date on my student ID. I've gotten so many student discounts.

Very Fantastic Mr. Fox I thought! For Eric Allen

The toy museum had a big collection for 50 Years of Barbie. I was nostalgic looking at all the sweet 90s Barbies I had. Thanks for all the Barbies, Mom & Dad.

girls girls all types of girls, girls I do adore

If you ever want to feel stumpy, take a photo next to Barbie

I'm currently killing an hour and a half in the Prague train station, waiting for my train to Vienna. In other news, I got my first European nosebleed! It wouldn't be a Liz Kelley Adventure without a nosebleed.

I'm now thinking the rest of my trip will be: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Zagreb, Venice, Munich, Frankfurt, Iceland, NYC.

Czech It

February 3, 2013

Well, first of all, I am not going to Turkey. A US embassy was bombed in Ankara and a young female tourist from New York was murdered in Istanbul on January 21st after a solo backpacking excursion through Europe. So yeah, no. Nope nope nope. I'm sad about it, but I'll just have to go another time.

So Prague. Yesterday I went to the Lennon Wall, which is just a lil baby Berlin Wall, pretty much. There were three different groups of British tweens that were taking lots of photos in front of it and writing quotes like "Live. Laugh. Love." But I don't judge too harshly because I whipped out my iPhone to take a photo for my blog. I wasn't the one that wrote Harry Potter.

Then I went to the Museum of Decorative Arts and wowee. I'm so glad I'm a graphic designer because I love this shit. (Do you love this shit?) I had no idea art nouveau was so big here. To be honest, I knew totally nothing about Prague before getting here. At one point in my life, someone said "Prague's cool." Therefore, I go to Prague.

Stained glass at Museum of Decorative Arts

crazy elaborate beaded table centerpiece thing

In that same vein, I went to the Alphonso Mucha museum. I like Mucha even if he is "commercial." Hipster problems. But do I like him enough to buy a $80 scarf? Hell to the no. That place had the most outrageous museum shop I've encountered yet.

Then I went on a pub crawl which was fun in that pub crawl way. Apparently I'm very Canadian because I apologize too much. Also, four people at my hostel came to the consensus that I have the exact same voice as Donna from That 70s Show. I get it, but I think it's 70% just because I'm American. Then I said "Eric Foreman!" and we all laughed and it was jolly.

Today I had a full day with a trip to Kutna Hora, an hour train ride outside Prague. I paid for a tour and I feel so spoiled! I have a GUIDE and he buys the tickets and tells me which train to get on and tells me history and takes me to a wonderful Czech restaurant for lunch and I love him. Yes I'm paying for it, but that bothers me not at all. We were a small group of five.

Our guide is Pavel and he's great. Probably like 40, married, Czech, dad. Does not seem to give any fucks. "Over there is main square, but it is not interesting so we don't go." He told us a lot about the recent Czech elections on the train ride. Also he says "pagan" like "peggin" and I'm only mildly joking when I say I love him. For this visual, picture a Chris O'Dowd type character with a beard and Czech accent.

Haha, I just wrote a whole paragraph about our guide before talking about why I went to Kutna Hora. Priorities! Kutna Hora was the silver mine town that pretty much funded all of Prague. Pavel pointed out three different buildings that were half finished because the silver stopped. Whoops.

The main reason for my visit is for the grando tourist trap that is The Bone Chapel. Nancy Drew and the Mystery of Bone Chapel. This guy decorated a chapel with the bones of over 40,000 people. Plague victims and soldiers. It serves as a giant memento mori; like don't forget you're mortal so behave. It's not satanic or anything. It was cool to see. A bit twisted. Please don't let my bones be used for decoration though, please and thanks. Peace n blessins.

For lunch I had wild boar goulash with gingerbread dumplings and a Czech beer. Pivo! Ugh so good. I wish I could just run that back and eat it again. Round two.

Let me tell you, the Czech people hate tourists. Apparently it's mostly a cultural thing. The Czechs do NOT do small talk, partly because the hesitation to divulge information with strangers has carried over from communist spy days. And since they don't do small talk, they complain. And everyone loves to complain about tourists. This is what Pavel was saying, but that the younger generations are changing.

Tonight I may do the Segway tour (eee!) and then Prague Castle tomorrow morning. Then I'm off to Vienna on Tuesday for a day or two, followed by Budapest. Since Turkey isn't happening anymore, I don't really know what's happening. Barcelona may be in my future.

Happy birthday to Adley Kloth! Happy birthday tomorrow to Amanda Hawkins! Happy Half Way Mark to my trip! Happy Superbowl to America! If I'm awake and kickin' I think I'll go to an American bar tonight. It starts at midnight here though so ick blah, maybe not.

Oh and the Georgia thing was a fail. I kept forgetting. Look at all this weirdness on this Czech keyboard ů§¨ěšč¤¤

Staying: Charles Bridge Hostel

Prahahaha

February 1, 2013

Let's talk about Prague baby. Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that can be. Let's talk about Prague!!* Well I had a very bad taste in my mouth about Prague initially. But I think it's just because I was hungry and a dog pooped in the train station Claire's. 4/5 times I'm in a bad mood, I'm actually just hungry.

Yesterday I was super hungry (and therefore grumbles) and decided to get some food from a street vendor. "I'm so cool and adventurous!" However, I didn't fully understand what was happening and ordered "Parma Prosciutto Ham" from the menu which I thought was a thing, but now realize was just multiple translations. I received two giant hunks of ham. Seriously, two tennis ball sized cubes of ham. So as far as things go, this wasn't a terrible outcome. Good ham at least. I always know I've screwed up somewhere when the guy taking my order says "Really?" But at that point, I'm in too deep and just say "Yes." To add insult to dumb-American injury, it was in the touristy part and overpriced. I ate $12 of nothing but ham on the streets of Prague. Put that on my tombstone.

Today I did a walking tour. Prague is very very pretty. There's a huge Art Nouveau and Baroque presence here that I was unaware of. I'm excited to go to the Muchas Museum.

Then I went to a random cafe for dinner and an old Czech man adorably harassed me. He used to live in San Fran and kept holding my hand and telling me how New York is the coolest. And America is SO BIG. He was pretty drunk, but very sweet. "In Czech Republic it is very cold outside but very warm inside!" His name was George. He looked like Alan Arkin if you need a visual.

Tomorrow I'm going to Kutna Hora in CZ that has a BONE CHAPEL. Oh yeah yeah yeah.

Ok, here's some photos of Prague.

*this blog will get me a Pulitzer.

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