Czech me out!

Welcome to Prague! I spent this past long weekend there because some of my best friends from Fairfield were there on spring break. FU Glee Club was on a European tour of Prague, Vienna and Budapest, so what better long weekend then to go and meet my best friends in Europe??
The weekend was incredible, mostly because I got to see people I thought I wouldn't see for eight months..or never see again, i.e. graduating seniors. But.
Prague was beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking, the buildings and architecture was detailed, stucco, cream, lemon, sherbert colors, red gabled roofs, bridges, gargoyles, goulash, strognosa and cobblestone everywhere. It is probably the most romantic city I have ever been in.
I arrived Friday morning with three other girls, and we spent the night at the clown and bard hostel, http://www.clownandbard.com/
That was pretty fabulous, there was free breakfast and we were in the "Nice View" room, right next to the "Best View" room with two Chileans who were on summer holiday. We went out for a good Czech dinner, we were about 20 minutes walk from the Old Town Square, which was just close enough to walk before dinner and far enough to be away from the touristy spots and legit Czech cuisine. I had strognosa, which is basically meat in brown sauce with vegetables. Of course I had a Czech pilsner with dinner...they come in half liter mugs and are cheaper than water! I have never heard of such a thing, but it was at least 10 crowns cheaper. Wow. And they say the Irish are bad....
The next day we all met up with the Glee Club (reunions are always amazing) and I became official first-class moocher. I slept in the hotel (a hotel!) and ate free breakfast everyday, which was incredibly delicious, I have never seen a hotel breakfast that good anywhere! There were considerably less chocolate croissants when I left the dining room...anyway, I also took free dinner Saturday night. The most awkward part was probably when Carol, the choir director came up to me and said, "Who are you?" HAHhh. That was interesting, but she was just glad they could help feed me in Prague.
Anyway, Saturday night we went to a five floor discotecha, which was fabulous. I loved the third floor because it was oldies, but everywhere was awesome. We chased down a AAA taxi to get back to the hotel, because apparently the taxis are extremely corrupt in Prague. AAA was recommended by the hostel and so we ran after everyone we saw until it stopped -3 of us women- and the driver said, "Eh, ah, thees ees the first time someone as run afta my taxi, a-ha!"
We ended up paying 150 crowns less than the rest of the group, so that was fabulous.
The next two days were sight-seeing mazes. We went to Prague Castle and all that entails, including Kafka's house, the cathedral, and the palace where the famous "defenestration" incident happened. (Basically, the king was mad at three messengers, so he threw them out the window!) The Charles Bridge, Clock Tower, and Old Town Square were all included in the walking tour (again, mooching hardcore). Once that was over, a group of 15 of us traveled and went to the John Lennon Wall, built in 1968, the Sex Machines Museum and the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments (I skipped this one and voted for the Charles Bridge at sunset instead....)
We also ate and ate and drank and drank...constantly. Some of the pubs we went to had cool English names, like The White Whale and some were in Czech, like the Karlozy-Lavre. All in all, it was a weekend of culture, I really think so!
I bought a beautiful pashmina as well, and Monday night, my last night was incredible because it was just the girls. Six or seven of us went back to the five floor discotecha and only two floors were open, since it was Monday. Well. We were rocking.
Czech Republic isn't so wild, they have absinthe there and you don't have to buy a ticket to get on the metro or tram, just risk a 10,000 crown fine. No one got in trouble. TMI? Sorry. :)

The best part of Prague? When I came home, that's just it. I felt like I was coming home to Galway. Maybe I can be a Galway girl after all?