Tag Archives: europe-2005

A $40 cab ride to a closed restaurant

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Yesterday, we ended up at an Irish pub to watch a soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester.  It was a pretty good game and the place served tasty cheeseburgers.  Afterwards, I got another Thai massage and then we headed toward the castle.  The castle was not as exciting as I had hoped, but the cathedral inside the castle was pretty amazing.  I even got to see a couple girls seductively posing with the cathedral.  The cathedral is Gothic with gold enhancements on the statues.

 

We were then interested in seeing some traditional folk dancing at U MARCANU, a restaurant in Prague 6.  It was closed, and unfortunately, the cab ride from the castle cost 1000 crowns (about $40).  Ah well, hopefully it’ll be open before we leave for Munich.

 

For nightlife, we went to a jazz club last night.  The performers were doing modern jazz and played two sets while we were there.  It seems that jazz is pretty popular in Prague, and I would recommend catching a show at one of the many jazz clubs if you get a chance.  Afterwards, we headed toward the Old Town Bridge for some discotecs.  We were going to go back to Karlovy Lazne, the largest club in middle Europe, but got sucked into another place.  We thought it was a “nightclub” but it ended up being a really neat bar with a couple go-go dancers.  The dancers unfortunately remained somewhat clothed, but they were probably the most beautiful girls that we’ve seen on this trip so far.  We talked with some Australians for a little while and then headed out.  Instead of going to the discotec, we headed to a nice pub called The Chateau.  It has a dance floor in the basement, but the place was pretty empty.  So it ended up being a nice place to just have a couple beers.

 

The first night that we went out in Prague, we went to two discotecs…. the first was called the Matrix, but that sucked. It reminded me of a house party.  The other was called Mecca and ended up being fairly entertaining.  It wasn’t a large club, but the people definitely seemed into having a good time.

 

btw, I’m going to have to kick kj in the nuts when I get home, for telling me that Bohemia was somewhere in the Caribbean.

Walking Prague

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Today we did a nice walking tour of Prague.  We walked all around Old Town and ventured across the Famous Old Town bridge.  I crawled up the 138 stairs that make up the Old Town Bridge tower and proceeded to hold on to the railing for dear life.  It did provide some pretty nice pictures, though.

 

Apparently, the Old Town Bridge was built around 1357 by Charles IV and was used by Kings to get to Castle Prague.

 

I have to admit that there are so many sites in Prague, that I feel that it would be easier for you to visit Prague than for me to describe all of it.  Also, I feel that I might pass by a building that would really stand out in another area.  It just seems as though all of the buildings are magnificent here.

 

btw, the internet cafes in Prague are much better than Budapest.  We can finally unload pictures…

By by Budapest, Hello Prague

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I actually woke up early (around 8:00am) and went for a nice run through Pest.  That sucked… but then we decided to go to the spa.  I swam for a while and then got a nice Thai massage.  I cannot explain how good the massage felt after all of this walking.  So good in fact, that I think I’ll get another along the way.  Later that night, I decided to sample some Hungarian Goulash. Also, word to the wise… avoid the 4000 huf shots 🙂  As far as Budapest goes, I think we could have visited about 2 weeks earlier.  The summer hours (at clubs and spas, etc) ended the weekend that we arrived.  It was still a very cool town, though.  I’m sure I’ll be back in the future.

 

By the grace of god, we woke up for our train.  I think I only got about an hour or two of sleep before catching the 6:00am train to Prague.  I tried to sleep some more on the train, but it wasn’t very easy.  Note to self, do not expect good sleep in a train chair. 

 

The buildings in Prague are amazing.  The amount of detail on just window ledges easily surpasses anything I’ve seen in the states.  I ran into a girl from Long Island last night and she gave us some info on where to go in Prague.  She has been here about 2 weeks and was nice enough to teach me some Czech.  So we went out to a couple clubs last night.  Another note to self.  The taxis in Prague are worse than the ones in Budapest.  Our taxi driver drove around in circles and ended up getting to the first club about 10 minutes after the other car got there.  Along the way, he argued with us where we wanted to go.  We finally had to direct him to the club.  We ended up drinking a lot of Absinthe and red bull, but didn’t see the green fairy.  I did learn that French and Swiss Absinthe is the way to go, though.

Budapest (round 2)

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Last night we went out in Pest after a full day of walking
around.  We went to a really neat outdoor beer garden.  Then
we ended up at a dorm party, which was sort of weird.  I talked to
a girl from Germany for a while and she could not understand why we
chose Budapest for a vacation destination.  She said something
like “it’s so dirty here…”  and I do have to admit that it
smells like piss more than any other city that I’ve been to. Anyway,
she is studying here for university and was very friendly. 

Again, I cannot get over how beautiful the girls are here.  Even
the non native girls are nice looking.  I could really see myself
living in eastern europe.  Other than that, this city seems a
little more relaxed than Amsterdam and some other cities.  Maybe
it is just because we’re here during the week.

Today we toured Buda…  We walked all around some monuments and
got some nice views of Pest.  Buda is pretty hilly, so it has a
nice vantage point of the rest of the city.  Once I can find a
fast enough internet cafe, I’ll post some pictures that have been
accumulating on my camera.  Most of the internet cafes are
slow.  The last one I was at was part of a yarn shop and I
couldn’t post a picture without the connection timing out. 
Hopefully things get better for that, with our luck with cameras

Also, we decided not to go to Vienna.  That way, we’ll get more
time in Budapest and Prague.  We’ll be taking a train from
Budapest to Prague on Thursday.

Well, I’m off to go taste some Goulash…

Chow…


Update: Here is a video of us going up a tram on the Buda side, overlooking Pest.

To Europe I go…

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I’m headed to Europe tomorrow… this will be my third trip and I
have to admit that I am really looking forward to it.  As it
stands right now, I arrive in Amsterdam Saturday (Sept. 10th)
morning.  I have a ticket from London to Chicago on Sunday Sept.
25th.  What happens in between will sort of be figured out along
the way.  The current plan is to go to Amsterdam, Budapest,
Prague, and Munich.  If there is time, I’d like to see Venice, but
that might be stretching things a bit slim. 

I’ll be meeting up with some friends
that have been cruizing around London and Barcelona for the last
week.  The beauty of this trip is that there is no real game plan,
other than having fun.  I’m planning on writing entries about the
trip as much as possible.  Now, I’d like to not censor what
happens on the trip, but I’ll make that choice as it’s presented. 

Also, if you’re going to be near any of those cities and want to meet, send me an email…