We made our way to Prague from Berlin, which proved to be a long, beautiful journey. Czechoslovakia is gorgeous. I'm not sure if it was the spring weather but I (Gabe) loved it. There were beautiful rivers with small hamlets running on either side. While some areas were filled with derelict buildings, it is very hard to ignore the unbelievable natural beauty surrounding the place. Upon arrival we quickly exchanged our money at the train station and began to walk towards our hostel. Prague is big…very big in fact. The walk took us as what Mr. Cruz would describe to be a "cool minute". I (Amanda) would say though that Sir Toby's was a reward worth our efforts. The place was pretty wonderful with spacious accommodations, high ceilings, hard wood floors, and comfortable beds. The kitchen was also fully equipped and had a unique style that I could see us replicating should we ever create a kitchen of our own.
We took a free tour advertised by the hostel in an attempt to get to know the area. We met in the Old Town Square and were immediately drawn to an old man singing "Ave Maria" while occasionally stopping to break into alternating tenor saxophone and trombone solos. He was a really cool guy and we enjoyed his talent for about 20 minutes while we waited for the tour to start. In the end we dropped a few coins into his saxophone case and his companion gave us a postcard with the musician on the front. After approaching the tour guides we were told that his name is Vladimir Pinta and he is the longest running street musician in Prague, he's been playing since he was three.
Our first stop on the tour was the astronomical clock which ranks number 2 on the most disappointing attractions in Europe, right behind the Mona Lisa. Fortunately I (Gabe) had never heard of the clock and the tour guide made a good sell. The clock has a ton of interesting features and gives time in ways I didn't think possible. Some of the more interesting things are time of year, what phase the moon is in, the amount of daylight left in the day, and when an ellipse is visible from somewhere on earth.
Next we toured some of the backstreets through Prague; We visited the last standing building where Mozart had performed, as well as some of the more beautiful examples of baroque and gothic architecture Eastern Europe has to offer.
Our guide, a native Czech, told us about a number of the inventions his people had created over time including soft contact lenses, sugar cubes, and beer. After the long tour we wanted to go and experience the third of those inventions by visiting a bar my brother Dan had recommend called The Little Goat; unfortunately, it was closed and we didn't get a chance.
We decided that instead we would pick up some groceries and I would cook us up some food while tasting the beer the hostel had on tap.
Overall, Prague was a city where at times it seemed to be exploding with energy, while alternatively at times it felt deflated and sad. Like Poland, the transition of modes of production from a command economy to a market system have really gouged certain areas. The city centre thrives while the countryside dies was a mantra that kept running through my head.
Tourism is one of the reasons for this but another is the mentality of the people living in the country. A while later after leaving Prague we were in Budapest and I conversed with a Polish 18 year old visiting Hungary. He talked about the differences in mentality between the various generations and how he felt the older Polish people wanted everything given to them. It was an interesting peek into internal politics of a transition economy. While we didn't get to talk with a ton of Native Czechs I can imagine some of the same differences between generations exist. Certainly walking around the outskirts of town we were able to see some of the rubble of older buildings from the Soviet Era abandoned. While they seemed very evident to us at the time I don't think that we would have noticed these things if we hadn't picked a hostel on the outskirts of town.
While the city centre was very gorgeous I think perhaps what we valued most about our time spent in Prague were the people we met and the conversations we shared over dinners. While we love each other and find great value in communicating between ourselves, it was also really nice to engage in stimulating conversation, fresh with new perspectives.
*Side note: We have discovered the perfect place for Gabe's four year old niece to attend college, unless her preferences change somewhere along the way. We did our research and this is a legit private institution with bachelors degrees in I.T. and Economics. Honestly, combining unicorns and Econ I don't see how you could go wrong…
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