La Bohemia.

i just got back from my most recent adventure: Prague, Czech Republic.
Amazing.
Things with me are always interesting....
Before my trip even started, Wednesday night, the night before my trip things were already getting complicated. i helped my roomates with their bags, the whole group was going back to L'aquila (where we were for the first three weeks) for thanksgiving. Upon comming back to the aparment i realize that i have once forgotten my key in my room. not to worry i thought, just buzz the landlady and have her let me in. well she was out. so i got a bit worried but decided to go to the pub, have dinner, come back in an hour to have her let me in. come back in an hour. shes still not in. crap! i got let in by someone else and luckily she was home with in a few minutes.
I wake up at 5 and head off to the airport to fly to prague.
I dont know much about prague. i just thought of castles, churches and the old soviet block. people had told me it was beautiful but i didnt know what to expect.

i get off the plane and now realize that i dont know how to get to the city. no one around me speaks english either. and the czech language is unbelievably difficult. it might as well be swahili. there are like 9 consonents in a row. after surveying my dilema i decide to just follow a group of people, maybe not the smartest move... but i had no other options. well turned out it worked. to the bus to the metro. on the metro same story... where the hell do i go?? well i managed to get off at the right stop and find the hotel with no difficulty. mind you, when i got off the train it was what felt like negative 10. i thought rome was getting chilly. nothing compared to this.
So i find the hotel, which was the Four Season. the highest rated hotel in all of prague.... but more about that later.
I tell them that the people i am with will not be in til later and could i leave my bag with them. well the lady at the desk tells me they just recieved a message from Mrs. McCagh that their plane is delayed and will not be here till 7. it was 2. oh god, what am i suppose to do? so i walked around the city a bit by myself but didnt want to wander too far for fear of getting lost. long story short i eventually meet up with the McCaghs at about 9pm. We check into our amazing hotel and have dinner at the four season resturant, which one of our books said is the nicest resturant in all of Czech.
The next morning we decided to get up early and have breakfast and tour around. We saw some of the sites and shopped a bit until we met up with Adam. Adam is studying in prague and goes to fairfield so he was one of maura's friends. It was awesome to have him show us around the city like a pro. He knew what most of the stuff was and speaks Czech well. In the evening we went to a organ and volin concert in one of the many old churches. it was all bach and mozart. it was cool.
That night we met up with adam and his friends and he took us out to some fun bars and clubs.
There is a really fun nightlife in prague, much different then here in roma.
The following morning we went on a scenic boat tour of the city. it was well worth the money. Prague has a really rich history due to the various regimes and wars. the nazis, the russians, etc.

After the boat tour we walked around old town and saw some of the things that we didnt get to see the first day. Got some soviners and then we went to dinner at a brewery. it was an awesome dinner, did you know that prague is home to Pilsner and Budweiser beers? the guy from bud visited Czech and took the idea back to the states, he copied the style of beer and the name.
We went back to the hotel after dinner and had some wine and things that we got the McCaghs for having us in this amazing hotel. then i packed up my bag because i thought i had a ten oclock flight home the next morning. i double checked my itinerary just in case.... well my flight was at 8. Bummer! that means i would have to be up and out by 5. well we were in prague so i was gonna go out either way and just sleep on the plane. We decided that i would just go out all night, come back at 5 grab my bag and head off. so needless to say it was an amazing night filled with stories not fit to print here because my grandmother reads this.

Well all goes according to the plan, we leave the club at 5, come home, i grab the bag, take the metro to the bus to the airport. i get there by 5:45.
this is where the fun begins.
I'm at the airport and cant find the desk to check in for smartwings. i look up on the board of all the flights, still no roma flight. in my mind im thinking, god i must be really early.
then a thought creeps in. oh no, that cant be possible, i didnt. no way!
i double check the itinerary.... 8 am smartwings from prague.... all good...... on the 27th of november.
JESUS CHRIST! i am an idiot.
now what do i do? the mccaghs were checking out that day. im stuck in this beautiful but god forsaken country. i decide to take the bus back to the metro back to the hotel and hope for the best. well im exhausted having been up for nearly 24hours and having gone out quite hard a few hours previously.
well i get on the right bus, head back, fall asleep on the bus due to utter exhausten. well i wake up a bit later to a czech man screaming at me in a language that i dont fathom. from is anger and gestures i figure he wants me off the bus. i get up, he pushes me out onto the street.

i was in the middle of a parking lot with nothing else around. no airport, no metro.completely by myself in the middle of prague freezing my butt off at 6 in the morning, and i was a bit inebriated. a sister pat's ears would have bled if she heard the things i was cursing. boy i was fired up and had no clue what to do.
i finally get on another bus that comes by about 40 minutes later. got back to the hotel, thank god they were still there. collapsed for about an hour and told my tale to the mccaghs who couldnt believe my unfortunate luck/utter stupidity.
well i went to adams house after the mccaghs checked out with kristi and casey, who were mauras friends from spain who came to prague and stayed with us also. he was just as shocked to see me as the mccaghs were. he said not to worry that i could crash at his place for the night. we hung out all day doing nothing really because i was so miserable and tired. i still had yet to sleep. he showed me around his neighborhood and we didnt do a whole lot. we came home watched a movie then went to see the other main square in prague that i missed.
at 11 i finally went to sleep for the first time in about 40 hours. exhausted.
i was scared that i would sleep so much that i would miss my flight.... again.
but i made it and now im home to tell my crazy tale.


i missed thanksgiving at home which i was bummed about but im glad the mccaghs were here with me. Prague was amazing. Probably my favorite city ive seen so far
this was my last trip so the next plane ride i take will be back to the states.....


ciao,
matty