Prague, Czech Republic

Last day

I didn't get out of bed until the afternoon. I've seen pretty much everything I've wanted to see here and am about ready to leave. Still, there was an entire day ahead of me (well, half a day). Decided to spend my last day here the way I spent most of my days here: wandering through the Old Town Square.

Found an arms shop.

Careless love

As I approached the square, I heard Careless Love being played. It didn't sound recorded, so I rushed to the square to see where it was coming from. It was Staromestsky Dixieland Praha.

These guys were really entertaining. The bassist sang in Czech, the trumpeter sang in English, but didn't speak a word of it. A crowd gathered and we watched until the hail dispersed us.

Here are some short clips:

Wedding beneath the Astronomical Clock

Lots of people were gathered around the base of the clock for wedding photos. Thing is, they chose to start taking photos at about a quarter to the hour, which was a bad idea because everyone began crowding around to watch the clock show.

Stormy weather

The weather here is weird. One minute, it looks like the onset of the apocalypse, the next, we have blue skies.

The hail let up after a little bit, but most of the people who had previously been crowding the square had been scared off. I was able to walk around in relative solitude. Just when I thought the square couldn't get any nicer.

There are a multitude of little booths just behind the Clock and beside the square. I watched a blacksmith hammer something on an anvil, bought a small souvenir and had a chicken burger.

Went back to the room and started some preliminary packing. I love this duffel bag. I should have bought one in Canada to take here.

Night time

Walked through the square to get to Charles Bridge. There I found a group of people huddled around a man playing, of all things, wine glasses filled with water. It was interesting to watch and not a bad way to wind down my time here.

Here are some short clips of the guy playing. It's pretty dark and the sound quality is shit, but I was using a digicam, so what can you really expect?

Edelweiss:

Love Me Tender:

On the way home, I had the most disgusting dinner ever. When you ask for a cheeseburger here, they give you a burger made out of cheese. They were out of bread, so I just got the patty. Good thing I ordered two.

So that's it. I'm all done here now. I had an early flight the following morning, so I didn't stay out late. Went home, finished packing and started looking at the best way to get to the airport.

It was fun here, but I'm ready to go. Have been since this morning. And besides, my mind is already in NYC, the final destination in my trip.

The next morning

For 12 kc (about 60 cents Canadian), I was able to get all the way from where I was staying (IP Pavlova) to the airport - which is about a 40 minute trip. Not bad. The Prague airport...man, this is the third time I've been here in two weeks and the first time, I was here for six hours, bored out of my mind.

As I was on the moving sidewalk thing, two security guards going the other way took one look at me, stopped and ran back to talk to me.

"Excuse me sir, what passport do you have?" asked the male security guard, taking large steps to stay parallel to me.

"Canadian."

He looked back at his female partner, who was holding a clipboard and she nodded at him. Guy must be a trainee or something.

"Sir, may I see it please?"

I pretended not to understand for a little bit, just so that he would have to keep walking, but eventually showed it to him. The guy didn't even take it from my hand. Just looked at the front, saw that I was indeed a Canuck, said Thank You and let me on my merry way.

Waiting to get in past the security gates, the line doesn't seem to be moving. The last time I was here, I was alone, but today, it's rammed solid. It's ok though, seeing as how I have 3 hours to go before I can even board the plane.

Some revelations have come about on my trip. Being afforded the time alone has allowed me to sort out a lot of things in the ol' melon.

So far, it's been a fantastic trip, and there's still one third of it to go. This time, I will be travelling with two friends. Let's just hope that I haven't forgotten how to act around people.

Chances are, however, I have.