2004-10-15 | Prague, Czech Republic

I arrived at the train station and at the currency exchange (for Czech Kronas) the guy at the counter was trying to sell me into this shady hostel he had in his flat. Instead of that I went out in the city and relied on my powers of randomness (thanks Susan for making me realize that) to find me accommodation. I basically went into relative direction of where my guidebook said there was hostels.

I stopped at a few hostels that were overpriced and gross looking and this is where I made the decision to go high class.....YES.... a hotel. After getting no sleep the other night because of naked hostel sex, I decided I want my own room.

I found a room for 65 Euros and it RULED. I settled in, took a nice shower, cleaned my underwear in the sink and watched some crappy Czech TV. I also mapped out my next destination.... Switzerland. Once I was done organizing things I began to wander the city.

The first thing I noticed about the streets of Prague (besides the beautiful architecture and cobblestone roads) was that the drivers are crazy. For example, people driving straight don't have the right away, they must yield to side street traffic. Basically I almost saw some crazy accidents.

I ended up wandering across the amazing Vlatva river and into this Mala Strana district. I had lunch at a really nice steak house for dirt cheap. You eat like a king here.... King Wenceslas that is (the city saint and the dude that has a Christmas song written in his name).

After my meal I headed north toward the castle through this mountain with vast forestation engulfing it. The fall colors surely were showing through, it was really nice and it reminded me of good ol MI. There weren't many people walking around but it was raining mind you.

Along the way I bumped into some guys in the army with machine guns (kind of strange). I also bumped into a girl talking to them. She looked lost and I guess somehow I did to and we got to talking (gosh I am so sociable it makes me sick). Sarah is such a cool person and we got along great. I basically tagged along with her for a little, until we realized it would be nice to hang out the rest of the day and be shopping and eating buddies.

Mostly on the left bank we wandered around and hot a decent view of the castle. We had absolutely great conversation the whole time. Once we got to Charles bridge the shopping began. She liked how I could hold her stuff and make recommendations (what woman doesn't like to be assisted shopping... you can make any girl happy if you can shop with her).

Charles bridge was absolutely amazing. Each end had towers to them. There were tons of tourists (a pedestrian walkway) and there were some decent street sellers and performers. After that we walked to the old town square and saw the astronomical clock. But before that I spotted something even more astronomical, I found the coolest wine glasses ever. Well I have to update the rest later.... I am in Stugart Germany about to catch a connection to Zurich Switzerland.

Okay I am back...so.... the wine glasses. Sarah and I talked a lot about them and basically raved about them all day (mostly because I was thinking things through about purchasing them)

We were also on a mission to try the hot wine that is typical in Czech bars. We finally found a place (after trying this buffet) and it was most excellent. It was kind of like sweet tea with a kick. It definitely warmed our cold tummies. Next we went to another cool bar and ate a ton of peanuts and had two beers. We were entertained by some more good conversation and a very hard working bar tender.

After that I ended up purchasing 2 red and 3 blue wine glasses. These were so expensive (nearly 25 bucks a piece), but are like a piece of art you can drink out of. I would never spend that kind of money when at home, but I was in love with them (philia love that is). The funny thing too was that Sarah was as well. I wonder if she ever did buy them... let me know Sarah!

Her and I have the same tastes in nice stuff. But so far, this night was the most expensive on the trip. It was because we went to a really nice restaurant and had heaps of food and a bottle of wine. The funny thing about dinner was that I was still raving about the glasses and I made her give the glasses their first test run.

So we used our own wine glasses in this ancient looking restaurant we ate at. See my affinity for the glasses in this picture on St. Charles bridge.

All in all it was a random traveler friendship, but it was good. She made my first day wonderful and I made her last one as well. I finished the night by packing up my new babies (I mean wine glasses) and having a great expensive conversation with Susan. The way I padded my babies was by cutting up my hostel sheet that I rarely used. Now I can travel worry free with out them breaking. The great ending of my day was not hearing fake orgasms run rampant through my room.