Parker #3: May 27

May 27th is a day that will go down in history. We were super busy all day and have soooo many great stories to share, so here is my advice: Don't be debbie downer, read this ENTIRE blog because it is way more than worth it. Promise, cross my heart, pinky swear etc. First though, I must share a true and terrifying story of Praha's history.

Although not common in North America, there is in fact a rare species of dragon that is native to the mountains in and around Praha. These dragons are almost entirely extinct (there is only one known right now) but trust me his presence in Praha does not go unnoticed. You see, the dragon is the reason that all ATMs in Praha insist on giving us our money in denominations of thousands (or stacks for those of you in the A). Let me explain. As I'm sure you already know from reading our blogs, kronas (1 USD= 20.9 kronas) are the Czech currency and the bane of my existence. They are a pain to deal with but honestly wouldn't be so bad if we had krona coins to use. Whether it is some sick ongoing joke, or the dragon just has an obsession with shiny things is irrelevant, but the truth of the matter is that he has taken 96.58% of Praha's coins to the hoard in his 3-million-dollar villa just outside the city. All of this lands me attempting to buy 20 krona sodas with 2000 krona bills. Really?!?! Not funny dragon. Not funny.

As usual, I was (to my grudging appreciation) awakened today by Cédric and pushed out the door so that our day would start at a reasonable hour. We hiked maybe a mile in a half from our hostel to breakfast near the Praha castle. It was AWESOME! Fantastic bagels and service and if you ever go to Praha, ask us because this place is totally great. But enough about food. (haha yeah right. Food is pretty much a 24 hour obsession for us but I'll try to spare too many details).

After breakfast we went the rest of the way up the massive hill (located across Charles Bridge and on the other side of the Vltava River) to Praha castle. Praha Castle was awesome and I have many more details following, though to preface these I have to say that it is not really a castle; at least not anymore. Praha castle was really a village with massive fortifications and the Palace and Cathedral inside. Anyway, in order to enter the Castle grounds we needed to buy tickets. Being cheap, we all got the lowest ticket and opted to skip on the audio-guides; all of us except Sam that is. Poor, poor Sam was suckered into buying the 500 krona guide and in addition (because he forgot his student ID) a 375 ticket. So pretty much 875 kronas compared to our 175. Sam was fine with this though because he was proud of his choice to get an audio-guide. They had told him that there were no English signs in the castle, it was a pass to the front of lines, and that he could keep it until six. Haha not really; basically this was one giant scam and Sam fell for it 100%! His speaker didn't really work, it did not get him to the front of a single line, almost every single sign in the castle was in English, and they automatically "upgraded" his rental from 2hrs to all day for a difference of only 300 kronas. What a deal! (yes, that is most definitely sarcasm).

The Castle was awesome however and made all the hassle worth it. We started with Powder tower, a museum of the Czech army's uniforms and weapons. Next was the Convent of St. George, an art museum, though in our opinions not as good as the many others we've seen so far. Then we toured the Basilica of St. George (a "small" church aside from the main cathedral) and a tiny part of the Palace. Neither of which, as Mr. Buczek might say, blew anyone's skirt up. I'm not saying it was bad, because it was really pretty cool, it's just…well….don't expect all churches in Europe to match up to Notre Dame. We next headed over to the Cathedral (probably my favorite part of the Castle) and enjoyed more beautiful stained glass and architecture. Finally, (ha not done with Praha castle yet this is just the last stop before a really, really late lunch) we went through a museum for the history of Praha Castle. I think we all loved this (especially Cédric) and our favorites were the many scale models of the castle and its surroundings.

For lunch we went back into town a little and had a decent low-key-kinda meal. I had some rock'n goulash which is a traditional Hungarian dish. (yes I am aware that Praha aka Prague is not in Hungary but it was tasty okay!)

After lunch we returned to finish the remaining parts of the Castle; there is a LOT to do at Praha Castle. We first went to the Crown Jewels of Bohemia exhibit, but the jewels were not at all the coolest part. Not even the AMAZING i mean truly SPECTACULAR view over Praha was the best part. By surprise we stumbled upon THE Window of the Defenestration of Prague!!!!!!!! For those of you who don't know here's a short history lesson… which Cédric enthusiastically shared…the Defenestration of Prague was the act of angry protestant rioters throwing catholic diplomats out the window of a castle tower sparking the Thirty Years War. Ouch! Since I've now seen the exact window myself I can honestly say it is quite a fall, though the men did survive because they apparently fell in some fortunately placed horse poop (or hay; historians aren't sure but I know which one I'd rather fall in). After spending the better part of our day at Praha Castle we finally enjoyed one last view over the city and took the old castle stairs down to the river.

Once at the bottom of the hill/mountain we took a metro over to the Jewish Quarter which honestly wasn't anything too special. Next we walked a couple of blocks over to old Praha square to see another cathedral and the famous astrological clock. The clock was just as beautiful as in pictures and really quite a marvel. It is basically an iClock several hundred years ahead of its time because it tells you the time (no way), date, month, saints day, moon and sun's positions, and which sign of the Zodiac we're in. We enjoyed a quick ice cream break from a convenience store and were serenaded by an amazing trumpet player in a medieval fashion from the top of the clock tower. We then went by the hostel to drop off our pillaged goods (not really but who doesn't love pirates) from the store. On the way we got to walk through the New Town square were we saw a few minutes of a really cool concert that was apparently set up and sponsored by the city. Upon our quick return from the hostel to the main part of downtown we found a pizza spot and had the best pizza in all of the Czech Republic!

After our fairly early dinner we went back to our hostel (or as we called it, the palace) to rest and prepare for our exciting plans for the night. (just wait and keep reading). We entertained ourselves by listening to music on my ipod speakers and writing the Bernelle's postcard. Sam also made a facebook video to cheer up his sis, Hannah, who had just gotten her wisdom teeth out. Told yeah, we just rested for maybe an hour but after that Sam, I, Henry and Cédric left for THE Club.

First, for all the concerned parents and/or friends/family at home, let me say that our "discotequing" (thats the cool european word for clubbing) was just an adventure in the GREAT sport of people watching. Remember parents that you trusted us to go to Europe for three weeks so believe me when I say that spectating was all the fun we needed in this amazing five-story, music-pounding, and laser-light-filled mega-club. (I believe the biggest in Central Europe). Our first experience in clubbing was of course being patted down and inspected by the club's two bouncers. We all made it in after a short fiasco in which we forced Henry to relinquish his Glock 18, hunting knife and Uzis, but thats another story. Next we crossed through the threshold and into the unknown…

On the first floor we passed an enormous but vacant bar (in was only 11:30 and the club is open until 5) and found a dance floor in the back. We observed from above several girls dancing and of course the proverbial sketchy old guy dancing by himself but clearly hoping to make his way into the young women's good graces. Nothing more was good there so we headed to the next floor which was even less busy although still really, really cool. The third floor was the more of same but the forth or black-light floor was where the party was at. After finding the perfect couches to people-watch from we settled in and began our studies. Basically there were lots of hilarious people dancing (or trying to dance which made me feel better about few dancing skills) so i'll give you some highlights from the night. 1.) Everyone was dressy-casual as in jeans and a nice shirt and maybe a few dresses except for one dude. This guy wore the head of a horse costume around the entire time and it was simply spectacularly funny to watch. 2.) UGA Housing called Sam and he didn't know who it was so he answered, freaked out and promptly hung-up. Don't worry, we figured out it was a recorded message. 3.) Next it must be noted that everyone was between the age of about 16 to 25, except for the super sketchy man and two others: The random 50 year old couple who decided to hang out at the discotheque…um okay… 4.) At about 12:10 a random girl rushed into the club and mad a beeline for our dear friend Cédric. I think we were all confused and secretly hoping she was gonna ask him to dance but instead she glared at him and said in (most likely) Italian "cigaretto?" With nothing to do but shrug and say no we sent her on her way to ask the next person. By the way that was one tremendous downside to the club: almost everyone was smoking and only the lively atmosphere pulled us through. My last highlight is the guy with the peacock hairdo. We tried to get a picture of it for you but it was basically a circular mohawk on the back of his head (which was died pink) and I'm sure he is somehow related to a peacock because it was that impressive. All in all the 5-story club was amazing and so much fun because it was soooooo funny to watch everyone interacting (or failing to). There were lots of crazy people and dancing and we made up all kinds of fun guessing games as to who was thinking what but simply observing was the best part. I think it's really an in person kind of experience but hopefully these stories can give you an idea of just how hilarious and fun our night at the club was. Thats it for Praha, tomorrow we're getting up early (sleeping/blogging lots on the 5hr train ride) and heading to Wien (Vienna)!