While Prague was rainy the whole time I was there, I ended up having a good time. It’s a really nice city with a lot to see. My second day there I walked around for probably 10 hours just checking everything out. I went to the Communism Museum, which is in the same building as a casino and a McDonalds (go capitalism?). It was small, but interesting and had some cool stuff on display. Their advertisements were the best though. There were vicious looking matroyska dolls on one of them and the other, my personal favorite, had a picture of a man who looked like Stalin next to two women that looked like porn stars and it said “Get intimate with Communism.” I think I have a photo of it, if I do I’ll post it. But besides the museum, I saw the Astronomical Clock (Pražský orloj) in the Old Town Square. Every hour, the doors at the top of the clock open up and there’s a procession of figures. It was impressive. I also walked down to Charles Bridge (Karlův most), which is lined with statues. The bridge was partially under reconstruction, but it was nice nonetheless. I walked around the Jewish area for a bit, through the New Town area, and all over the place. I w
alked along the river and eventually came to the Frank Gehry building there called The Dancing House (Tančící dům). It was wavy and kind of cool in that Gehry fashion, but I wasn’t overly impressed by it. I also found this excellent little vegetarian restaurant and had some delicious and cheap food there. When I was done I went into the Old Town Square to write in my journal while waiting for Gloria from Austria to get in. While I was writing, this guy came up and sat down on the bench next time and kind of stared for a little while before asking me “Are you student?” Turns out he was a drunk Slovakian guy who just wanted to practice his English, but he hadn’t really spoken it since leaving high school. I felt bad because I couldn’t understand everything he was trying to say, but in the end it was an amusing experience and it’s always nice to meet random people while traveling on your own.The next day Gloria and went to the Kafka museum. I’ve never read any Kafka, but Hannah said the museum was good and I should check it out. She was right – the museum was really cool. I definitely want to read some Kafka at some point. Also, random, but outside the museum there’s a hilarious fountain that is two male statues peeing. I chuckled when I saw it.
After the museum, Gloria and I went to the castle area. We walked around it, but didn’t pay to go in or anything. We wandered around for a while by the castle, then through the rest of the city. A little bit later we went to that vegetarian restaurant that I had gone to the night before. It’s so good! After that we had some fun by going to two bars.
The last day in Prague I slept in a bit, and it was storming or just raining all day so I spent it inside getting things sorted out for my upcoming adventures. I almost missed my train to Berlin because I was at the wrong station, but I made it on time and it ended up being about 40 minutes late. It arrived eventually, which brings me to where I am now – Berlin!
I left the train station and walked past the Reichstag. Then I walked along the river towards the Museuminsel, an “island” with several museums. That was near where I was meeting Mary, a friend of mine from Middlebury who is letting me stay at her place here in Berlin! After we met up, we dropped off my stuff and went to a vegan restaurant with one of her German friends named Jerome. I had a delicious tofu burger and some really tasty fries, and being in Germany I had to try a dark hefeweizen. All of it was good. After dinner we met up with one of Mary’s other friends named Amanda who was at a bar with a guy named Russell. Turned out to be a gay bar having a Michael Jackson night, but it was good fun. Mary didn’t realize it was a gay bar at first, which is pretty amusing, and it was my first time going to one.
The next day we met up with Anatole and walked around for a little while. She showed us the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), and tons of other cool buildings. But the main attraction of the day was the Gay Pride parade. It was huge! I had never been to a pride parade before, and I’m glad I went to this one. There were so many people there and the whole thing was supported by the city, political parties (even their “conservative” party), and plenty of other organizations. There were lots of costumes, drag, music, and just people in general. My camera batteries had died so I didn’t get any pictures of anything that day, but it was a good day.
That evening we went to Wabe for a concert. Three bands played – The Folks, The Wake Woods, and The Blue Van. The first two were pretty good, the last one I wasn’t really feeling. We met up with a guy that Mary knows and some of his friends there. It was a good night.
Today Mary showed Anatole and I the New Synagogue (Neue Synagoge). There was an exhibition on the history of the synagogue and Judaism. There was pretty intense security going in – a couple of cops outside, and then airport-type security measures going in. We then walked around for a little bit and got some falafel, but came back early so Mary could do some work. I’m just hanging out right now waiting for Anatole to get here so we can go out somewhere. Hannah mentioned this place that looks cool called Kunsthaus Tacheles, so I think we’re going to go there. But who knows! Tomorrow we’re going to go to Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall, and then Anatole and I will be off on an overnight train to Krakow. I’ll update again when I can!
