Czech It Off The List

Round two of Eastern Europe Excursion: Prague, Czech Republic. We took a bus from Budapest to Prague that lasted 8 hours. Now, an 8-hour bus ride at first seems like an utterly miserable experience, right? WRONG! This was, sin duda, the best bus ride of my entire life. The seats were super comfy, they reclined, I had a whole row to myself the entire way, each leg of the trip featured a different movie (3 in all, including The Notebook!), we got FREE cappucinos, there was WIFI ON THE BUS, AND it was only 17 EUROS!!!!! AMAZING!!! Ha. We tried to explain it to people later but they didn't quite share our enthusiasm, so I don't expect it from anyone else, either. I just thought I'd share the joy.

Anyway, I was super excited about this trip because we have an insider connection in Prague! Enter Marcus--German (but also American because he was born in Indianapolis...represent!), medical student in Prague, son of Gunter--German, medical school classmate of Bill--my dad. Marcus and I go way back. I even have proof. See?

Evidence of our long-lost friendship. I'm on the left, Marcus on the right.

A few weeks before our trip I added who I hoped was the correct Marcus on Facebook and he graciously offered to be our host and tour guide. Seeing as, just like in Hungary, we don't know a single word of Czech (although I picked up a fair amount over the course of the 2 days), we eagerly accepted Marcus' offer. We arrived in Prague Saturday around 5, again in the pitch black dark of night. We found our hostel easy peasy lemon squeezy--an impressive feat, I'd say--and then went out to walk around for a while so we wouldn't be eager beavers and arrive for dinner at an hour way too early to be socially acceptable. We saw Prague Castle from afar and Old Town Square from up close. 'Tis the season in Prague and Christmas is in the air. Everywhere. In Old Town Square and other smaller squares around town they are having Christmas markets with rows and rows of vendors selling traditional Czech food like Langosé, sausage, sweets, hot wine (not as delicious as it sounds), and all sorts of Christmas trinkets. It's incredibly beautiful and charming with all the lights up, garland and red bows everywhere, and a GIANT Christmas tree in the middle of the square.

After we explored for a while (and learned how to say "I don't speak Czech" in Czech), we went for traditional Czech food at the traditional Czech eating hour. Caitlin and I each had part of a pig, although the location of these parts is still unbeknownst to us. If my memory serves me right, I had saddle of piglet, and Caitlin had fatback. Will someone please enlighten us as to what exactly we were eating?? It was delicious, but I just need to know. Now.

After dinner we got ready to go out with Marcus and friends. We met up with him at his Med school Christmas party, at a club, hosted by the faculty. I think I can compare it to if Notre Dame faculty hosted a party for students at Club Fever. Kind of weird, but still really fun! Marcus and I finally rekindled the friendship of our wee years and Caitlin and I met some of his friends: Abraham John Mathews (such a solid Biblical name, no?) and Seiver. Both are really cool guys.

When the future doctors of the Czech Republic party started to wind down, we attempted to relocate to another venue. However, large amounts of pre-Jetset eggnog on the boys' part made them slightly incapable of finding said other venue. We got another nighttime tour of the city--mostly backstreets and residential neighborhoods--but by the time we made it to Kostel, Caitlin and I were so tired that we asked Marcus to take us home pretty soon after. But not before we took some pictures "for our Dads!!" Caitlin has them on her camera...they'll be coming soon.

The next day we dragged Marcus out at the crack of noon for a day of sightseeing. We ventured up to Prague Castle which isn't actually a castle, just a Cathedral and the "Castle area"...I think. Marcus showed us some important buildings that looked nice from the outside but none of us knew what they were so we just called them churches. The city is so beautiful! Prague is one of the only cities that survived WWII unscathed, so everything is old and gorgeous and unbelievable.

We met up with Abez and Seiver for lunch. They apparently were craving a taste of the homeland because instead of Czech food we went for fish and chips at the English pub nearby. After lunch, Caitlin and I dragged the boys to more tourist attractions (slash it was their idea)--the top of the Clock Tower where you can see all of Prague. It was such a beautiful view of the city! Definitely worth the 2 euros and a 5 minute climb up the ramp (the gentlemen hopped in the elevator before we girls could squeeze in).

Favorite picture of the trip, possibly.

Marcus, The Bacon Wallet and I in front of the Clock Tower. The boys LOVED (I think...I hope?) The Bacon Wallet. Fast friends for sure.

We wandered over to check out Winceslas Square, saw the square and decided to take refuge from the cold with a few pints in an Irish pub. Marcus ditched us for better company and ugly socks after a while, but Seiver and Abraham stuck around to be our babysitters for the rest of the night. We stayed at the bar for a while, comparing music, movie and TV tastes, British vs. American English (e.g. TORCH) and just having an all-around ace time. We ended the night at--surprise!--shopping mall #2 of Eastern Europe Excursion. We went bowling! I don't know about Caitlin, but normally I am a terrible bowler. I've never scored more than 100, and I prefer to use bumpers. I had to be a big girl this time, though, and go without. Remember that saying, "Girls rule, boyz drool?" Well, Caitlin and I solidly schooled those boyz in both games. Caitlin won the first and I won the second. NBD. Successful night with the sort of locals.

Monday, while Marcus was in Czech class, Caitlin and I set out to do all the really touristy things we would have felt bad dragging the boys along for. We visited the Lennon wall...

The Bacon Wallet LOVES John Lennon.

...and found a surprise ND logo right above John Lennon's face!

Represent.

I'm dying to know who did it--you're my hero.

We went back to the Christmas market one last time to buy some souvenirs before meeting Marcus and Abraham for lunch and going back to Toledo. Marcus was nice enough to take us to the airport (all the way to security, even!), which was clutch because with 3 different modes of transportation and heavy backpacks weighing on our freshly massaged shoulders, there's no way we would have made it on time. After an unexpected, unexplained hour and a half delay, we finally got on the plane, left beautiful Prague and went home to Spain. One day left, presents still to buy, not wanting to say goodbye to my Spain family--at home and at the Fundación. Lots of sadness impending.