36+ hours of traveling later

aka Prague continued...

Nope! Turns out we were actually in the correct city- we finally did something right! Managed to find a taxi service that was almost cheaper than the bus with all 3 of us and it brought us to the door of the lovely CzechInn where we were to reside for the next 2 nights. Oh and did they have the nicest showers, I almost took a second one after my first just because it felt so good to be clean. Great feeling you know, you should try it: go like 3 days without showering or washing your face, ride your city bus around all day just for the effect of traveling and brush your teeth in the train or bus station. Oh and be wearing the same clothes through it all… and when you finally get in that shower its practically the greatest feeling in the world!

Me counting the final coins left to my name.. paying for lunch.

Laura, Cami and I (the wolfpack) were all ready to get out and explore the city. We took a map and headed in the general direction of all the tall buildings that seemed pretty important. Got a quick bite to eat for 89 Czech Crowns (dirt cheap in American terms) and had an eventful day of sites. The Old Town square was my absolute favorite part of this 11-day excursion! It had the best food for the most amazing prices. Pastries with cinnamon and sugar, kielbasas, baked ham over the open fire, potato concoctions, I’m drooling just remembering.  Oh remember me mentioning my bank account back in the Brussels Airport, and how I was wondering how it was doing? Well, I checked, or rather my card most kindly informed me when my purchase of batteries for my camera was not quite accepted- either that or this was some brilliant way of my card telling me that these were crappy batteries?? Nonetheless, I was on a strict budget, $3.97 strict to be precise. I took a loan of 50 euros from the bank of Guatemalan, which managed to last me the entire weekend with 20 to spare! See, look Mom, I do know how to save! Aren’t you proud?!

After my nervous breakdown that morning, I decided that I wasn’t going to be able to go out that night and could definitely use a good nights sleep in a flat vertical position for the first time in… well, in a really long time. I leave Cami and Laura downtown for their ghost tour and head back to the hostel. Surprise!! My magnificent friends Alex and Ellie are in the room and of course getting ready to go out. “I can’t, I’m just going to stay in, I’m broke. Like really broke”

“Out of the question! You’re coming! Get ready! It will be your Christmas present from us!!”

Sitting in front of the John Lennon Wall. 

“Aww thanks guys, but I have nothing to wear that I haven’t already worn about 3 times in the past nine days. Literally have been repeating the shiznit out of my clothing.”

After another little breakdown, a reunion with my favorite little Florentine posse (aka the fun-givers), and an outfit thanks to the fabulous outfitter, Alex Camara, we were off to the Praga Pub Crawl!! Okay, prepare yourself, I am about to give you a little history on Prague which serves as background info for the first pub. If you don’t already know, Prague served as a very central location during the Cold War. All of the nuclear threats surrounding them gave them enough of a reason to prepare for the worst, which resulted in an entire underground city, almost the same size of Prague itself. I’m not sure if the underground shelters were ever really used, but they exist and today serve as great bars! Or ghost tours, or communism museums! There, finished with the history lesson! Hope that wasn’t too bad. On our way to the second bar, we felt adventurous and used the restroom in a total of 3 different hotels. I of course used my hospitality charm to distract while Ellie and Alex would sneak passed the front desk and into the lobby. Speaking from experience from the hotel lobby, Prague has some pretty nice hotels!

On the Charles Bridge!!

Perhaps my favorite club on the continent of Europe (so far in my European shenanigans) was the 80’s/90’s club we went to the next night. It was crazy how much fun seeing the wicked old music videos from Madonna and Spice Girls! Oh Spice Girls, so many memories. Anyways we danced until 3 in the morning when the Latino music started taking over and we couldn’t sing along any longer. But it was very entertaining to watch Cami recite word for word.

And yet another 11 bus ride back to Florence ahead of us. I’ll have to calculate it later, but I think I have logged over 100 hours on busses in Europe in this 4-month span.