Praha, Pivo, Prosim

Wine. It’s good for you.

It’s made from fruit.

Saturday September 19

Wine has quite a history throughout the world and here in the C.R., it’s no different. Every year in the late summer/early fall there are harvest festivals. These festivals are for a specific kind of wine called burcak. It’s young wine that is also fermented. It doesn’t taste like any wine you’ve had before. It’s available in both the red and white varieties.

2pm

So, cut to last weekend I went out with a bunch of people to the local burcak festival (there were actually several all over town that weekend) at Havlickovy Sady (a city park). The even at the park was really quite cool. Aside from tons of people, there was a big main stage as well as various tents/vendors for drinks, food & miscellaneous knick-knacks. The theme of the festival was some kind of 19thC. thing. I don’t know how to describe it other than saying many people were wearing period costume. There was also even the old-fashioned giant bikes; you know the ones with the huge front wheel and the teeny back wheel. To the side of the main stage was also a performance area (we happened to be sitting to the immediate right of it) where several Cirque du Soleil-type acrobatic performers did cool stuff throughout the day.

8 or 9pm

After the events at Havlickovy Sady, we headed over to Jiriho z Podebrad. There were yet more tents with more alcohol as well as several bands playing.

10 or 11pm

Off to Riegrovy Sady beer garden. Oy, the events get hazy at this point. Good times. I can report that some random drunk passed out guy was sitting across from me and the new TEFL kids decided to fuck with him so I snapped all kinds of hilarity.

1 or 2am

Next stop a bar in Vinohrady. Wow, I’m too old to do this power drinking. Yikes. I need to go home. But not until I finish my requisite pivo!

230am

After midnight the metro stops running and the trams change routes, numbers and times. I walked home. Most excellent. It’s good for circulation. That’s what I kept telling myself……’it’s for health….it’s for health!’

The verdict?Burcak is mighty tasty stuff.

*Burcak is sold in various quantities: ,33l ,5l 1.5l or 2lAlthough it looks a bit ghetto to be carrying around a 1.5 or 2l plastic container of wine, everyone does it. It’s in the pictures. You shall see.

Friday September 25

Another Friday night at Riegrovy Sady beer garden. It was rather chilly that night at not many people were out drinking. But perhaps that’s because it’s a three day weekend. I write this at 830 on Monday morning when I would normally be getting ready for work. Woo hoo for holidays! Nobody knows what the holiday actually IS today but we don’t care; it just gives us all another day off.

After Riegrovy we went to Akropolis. This is some random club/restaurant/bar in Zizkov. I’m normally opposed to paying a cover charge but this place was a paltry 30Kc. Oh well. I bit the bullet and did it. From what I saw the place wasn’t that fantastic. Although it looked quite large and also looked to be another one of those ‘how-many-rooms-in-the-basement-of-this-building-are-there’ kind of places. We ended up there with a friend of Sean Hardy’s who is hardcore French and introduces himself as (seriously), ‘Hello I am Freddy and I am ready.’ With the super thick Frenchie accent it’s even more hilarious than it reads.

Saturday September 26

I got a text message from Natalie and Jack saying they were going to Karlstejn Castle that day. Sweet! I hadn’t been there yet so I was game.

The Round-trip train ticket is only 109Kc so why not, right? We got on the 12:41 and headed out.

Tons of people got off at the same stop and we just figured that they all had the same idea as we did for a Saturday afternoon. Karlstejn is probably the closest castle to Prague that isn’t IN Prague so it’s quite a popular day-trip. Anyway, we soon realized that all these people were going to Karlstejn because of the annual burcak festival!! Sweet! I love this fucking country. We hadn’t planned on this extra bonus event! We were stoked.

Karlstejn is a really cute little town just W/SW of the city. It’s a good 2mi. trek up the castle but it’s right up the main street of the town so it’s by no means a difficult walk. Along the sides of the road were of course burcak vendors as well as lots of local trinkets, etc. Additionally, there was this big medieval theme going on, too. The castle was built in 1348 so there were tons of people dressed in period costume, etc. From the program information we read that at 230pm there was to be the ‘royal procession’ to the castle gates and then after there would be various performances inside the castle. Oh excellent!!! We made it up the hill to the gate and waited for the procession. I’d say there were a good 150-200 people involved in the procession. There did not mess around. Once inside the castle there was music, bellydancers & faqir as well as a court jeser/juggler/comic who the kids loved. Pretty cool stuff!

Along the way we guzzled a few beers and purchased a nice huge 1.5l of red burcak. The previous week I only had the white burcak and my personal rating of the red is higher than the white. I was told burcak tastes like cider or juice and I didn’t think the white tasted like either. Both versions have an obvious smell of fermentation and both are bubbly. (Actually, bottles of the stuff can explode from the bubbles. I nearly had the remaining red I have explode all over my yellow walls last night. I avoided disaster with my ninja-like skills.) The red burcak actually DOES taste more like ‘juice’ than anything and I can understand why it’s so easy to drink massive amounts of the stuff. Danger Will Robinson, danger!

We got on the 636pm train back to Prague and I was home by 8pm. All in all a fantastic start to a three-day weekend!

Sunday September 27

Since the day before we did a spontaneous trip to Karlstejn I was feeling the urge to do more. I consulted some online resources and travel books and waffled back and forth between Melnik, Krivoklat Castle, Kutna Hora & maybe Tabor. In the end, I decided on Tabor. Tabor is a town in Southern Bohemia. I had some friends go the day before and I got the thumbs up that it was a good trip so I went by myself.

I made it to the train station at noon and bought my ticket for 241Kc. The train departed on time (as everything does in this country) and I was off. The train was a (not really) nice old Communist-era clunker. It was old and rusty and had plenty of graffiti.

Arrival in Tabor was at about 2 and I made my way into the ‘old town’ area. Although I had no map, I’m usually quite good with directions (despite my possession of a vagina) and can make my way around places fairly easily. Along the way, I made the correct judgment calls and I found the old square with no problems. The main square of Tabor is really cute. I know centuries old cities shouldn’t be referred to as ‘cute’ but I’m a female, so it fits. Around the square are cool old buildings as well as a clock tower and an old church with an even bigger tower. I hiked up the church tower for 25Kc and it has a freaking fantastic view of the town. The walk up the tower is interesting. Up old stone steps and then to rickety wooden stairs that are quite steep. The rope ‘railing’ looks questionable but it seems to work. Additionally, I’ll note that you have to bend way down and walk UNDER the giant church bell to continue to the top. Ha ha nice! My Nikon was happy once I got to the top.

Back down in town I continued to walk around for a few hours and have a few beers. I even managed to get a Wi-Fi signal at a restaurant so I started Facebooking. A girl has gotta have her priorities. For those interested, I had garlic soup (oh yeah, good stuff) and roast pork knee on toast with cheese (also yummy). The main beverage in town is Budvar (where American Budweiser gets the name) but this is the ‘original’ stuff and people get pissed if one assumes the Czech and American versions are the same. Budvar is made in Ceske Budejovice which is a bit more south than Tabor. Ask the Google.

I decided to get on the 7pm train back to Prague and I was home by 9pm. Another good day!

Monday September 28

The last day of my long weekend. Did I stay in? Nope. BBQ, baby. It was the ‘Goodbye to Summer’ BBQ so there were many men grilling the meat while we woman foraged for berries and tend the fire. Ha, no not really. But something like that.

A GREAT WEEKEND!I’m going to post a bunch of photos to Facebook rather than here. Photos can only be loaded individually here and they also need to be resized. I want to share a lot of them so it would take a lot of time on my end to do these things. A mass upload on FB is in order. Stay tuned.

In a feat of bad English instruction I bring you some information about Czech hookers…

First, allow me to explain…

Last week, somehow the topic of prostitution came up in a lesson. Yes, you read that right. No holds barred in my classes.

Anyway, prostitution is legal here. That is, from what I had heard, prostitutes are legal if they operate within a brothel. I asked my student to confirm said knowledge. My student didn’t know the word ‘brothel’ so I provided a synonym: whorehouse. From there, I broke down the word further…. a whore = a prostitute a ‘ho’ = slang for a prostitute (I also said it is unwise to refer to a woman as a HO unless of course she really IS a ho)…. (Random: Czechs love learning American slang! They might not take many notes in class but if I preface some terms by saying they are ‘American slang,’ they quickly grab their pens and get to work.)

So, of course the student remembers the slang term HO which he used in a correct form today. I was so very proud at that moment and I expressed said pride in the knowledge that he now knows about hos.

Anyway, back to my story… so yes, it is true that prostitutes are required to conduct their business from a brothel. However, that’s not to say there aren’t your run-of-the-mill street hookers and jacked-up, one-toothed, peg-legged, crackwhores wandering the dark alleys of Prague. I’ve walked down Vaclavske Namesti numerous times at night and I can say I’ve never noticed a street ho parading her ass around the sausage stands for a fresh John. Maybe they don’t dress like your typical American street hooker complete with fish nets stockings, busted teeth and clear-heeled ho boots. I also don’t know how much the local and state police monitor the ho stroll so I sadly can’t report any hilarious hooker arrests involving flying shoes and spitting. Too bad–it would be a good blog.

So anyway back to my point…. my student told me that yes, they are supposed to work in the whorehouse but there is a famous stretch of road here in the Czech Republic that has some internationally famous hookers. No, I don’t mean that they are famous individually for any special or unique hooker skills they might possess. I just mean to say that from what Valer told me, there is a stretch of the E55 highway littered with Czech-speaking blow job queens. Somehow I find the prospect of being a highway hooker quite depressing. Of course I’m not suggesting that I think the life of a regular city ho is anything glamorous. No sir, I’ve seen Sally Jesse and Springer; I know how that shit goes down. But man, selling your ass for a quickie in the back of a semi truck hauling zucchini to Berlin must really be scraping the bottom of the proverbial pride barrel. Dang, y’all.

**I was going to provide a link but if you Google ‘prostitutes on E55,’ you’ll find some interesting stuff.

Living in a city of over one million has it’s advantages. Living in a European city of over one million has more advantages. Of course, this is coming from my American perspective but still…..

There are often festivals throughout the city. I don’t keep up with these (free) events as much as I should. A budget-minded person should research all the low-cost or freebie options available. Yesterday, I got an SMS from a friend that told me about Refufest. Well actually, the SMS said ‘Music festival at Kampa.’ When she said it was free I put on my shoes and headed out the door.

Since I live in a very central location, I figured I’d walk over; it was a nice day and it’s not that far. Take a look the map.

My place is on the right near Namesti Republiky. Kampa Island is on the west side of the river just below the middle. So, I walked through Old Town Square (which never gets old) and continued through Old Town and across Charles Bridge. However, I really didn’t consider the tourist traffic yesterday. The area in front of the astronomical clock in OTS is always crowded. Everyone stands around and waits for the little guys inside to do their magic. So, navigating around hordes of people can be quite a task. Crossing Charles Bridge is also quite interesting. With added construction on the bridge, that makes for less walking space for the same amount of people. I could have easily taken a tram across and would have been there in less time. Alas, I was on my way to a free event so all is well in the universe.

Kampa Island is a really nice part of town.

It’s located in Mala Strana (Little Quarter) and many embassies are located there. Architecturally, it’s rather unspoiled as many structures have remained largely untouched for years. The Kampa Museum is located there, too. Outside there are a few of David Cerny’s huge creepy slot-faced babies outside. Cerny is a rather famous Czech artist responsible for the babies crawling up Zizkov TV tower as well as the controversial piece, ‘Entropa.’

A real baby for scale!

I joined my friends in the grass near the stage and was able to enjoy the scenery/music/beer. Refufest is (as the name suggests) is a gathering that supports immigrants and refugees. Prague is quite multi-cultural and multi-ethnic so it’s really cool to be able to experience so many different kinds of music/food/people in this city. Living in an isolated tank of ‘white’ isn’t realistic to how the rest of the world lives. There were several tents for various non-profit type organizations that promote the plight of refugees and assist in their transition to new & safer productive lives. There were also a few tents for various vendors selling their wares as well as some areas for miscellaneous baked and fried treats. But, there was only one beer tent. This is Prague, people. We demand more areas for the sale of beer. Twenty-five korun for a beer isn’t too bad; the show was free so I didn’t complain. The kids at the event were all drinking some bright red carbonated drink that I still can’t quite figure out. It looks like one of those drinks that will immediately stain your face and give that ‘Kool-Aid moustache’ look.

Some of the entertainment was more interesting/better than others. I enjoyed the authentic stuff with the people wearing traditional clothing. It can be a bit eye-opening.

The woman on the left was very much feeling the music. I think.

Ok, a Buddhist monk AND fairtrade coffee. Just by posting this image, I declare that I’ve done my part for the day.

Tibetan singer woman….but also notice the person ’sleeping’ in the grass……

No, I wasn’t kidnapped and thrown into a meat freezer. This is the bathroom. Yes, with blue lights and a big scary metal door that slams.

I like the angry/suspicious guy behind Gemma.

Three things here to point out…..yes, a belly dancer, the ’sleeping’ person from before still hasn’t moved but yet now wears a coat and third, the girl who has her underpants exposed for all of Prague.

On the way home, I walked past a night marathon. It was set up right in the middle of OTS and there were lots of people gathered around. A big stage was set up with a giant projection screen. Another reason why I love this town; it was just random but cool.

…and a few more randoms from the day….

The red tent in the middle was the only beer tent!

No, I did not drop acid yesterday.

Note: I broke my small digital camera few weeks ago–the display is cracked and I can’t see a damn thing until I upload the pics. So, now I just take random pics and hope that I’m pointing the camera in the general direction.

First off I suppose the above is grammatically incorrect. ‘hospoda’ is Czech for pub but since the Czech language doesn’t use articles, my insertion of THE might make it just that much more retarded.

But anyway….

I’m not usually a ‘club’ kind of person. I’m all for a good drink and socializing but clubs are usually super crowded which invariably means that one ends up standing in an uncomfortable position for a long stretch of time. Additionally, I like to actually be able to speak to whomever I am with at the time and speak at a normal volume. Screaming in the ear of your friend that you have to go to the WC is just stupid. And then of course there’s the waiting in line for a drink part. This part sucks. If the club is a good one (e.g. busy), the bar will probably be 4 or 5 people deep so therein begins the seemingly endless cycle of bar, drink, bathroom, yell, dance, bar, drink, bathroom, yell, etc. For variety I suppose you could throw in an occasional drink spill or insult shouted from a stranger but the aforementioned is the general form.

Last night I went to The Cross Club. The Cross Club is in a bit of a more ‘industrial’ part of town. I don’t think it’s super desirable to live there but alas, it’s a popular place so I finally broke my cherry and and went with a posse of English teachers. (The place gets bonus points for being one tram away from my flat. Public transportation is great here but sometimes you just don’t want to wait for a transfer. Direct routes = happy)

Here’s how I’ll describe The Cross Club….. I assume that the proprietors of the club bought an old run down warehouse or building and decided to make it into a club. Then, they went to the nearest junkyard and bought all the parts to car engines they could find. On their way out of the junkyard they realized they could use a couple hundred old motherboards so they bought those too. Adding to the pile of crap, mix in a lot of pipes, rebar, moving parts and miscellaneous lights. And that’s just the decor of the downstairs bar. The music played was a random Euro metal mix. It could have been in Czech, Latvian or even Bulgarian–I have no idea. But strangely enough (or perhaps not), it actually ‘goes’ with the look of the bar. There is also a dance area and outdoor seating as well as an upstairs which has a completely different vibe. The upstairs is more chill and decorated in a completely different way. It’s much lighter in two ways–aesthetically and in tone/feeling. The music is different and it’s not densely packed like the junkyard/torture museum/art installation below.

I can happily report that a ,5L dark Kozel or Gambrinus is 28Kc. With the exchange rate presently around 18Kc/1USD, that’s a good price for a drink in a club.

The club’s webpage can’t be rolled over to English but if you check the ‘galerie’ in the toolbar on the left, you can see what the place looks like. Tell me if you think my description is accurate. I would have taken pictures myself but the display on my Nikon is busted. Boo. (The camera still works but I can’t change any of the settings nor can I have the joy of instant gratification. Boo. And this came about 2 weeks on the heels of me washing my mobile while it was still in my pants.)

New Schedule

I have a new work schedule starting this week and it’s going to be interesting. I need to put on my best teacher shoes and really manage my time this semester. God, I need more supplies too. The number of photocopies scattered around my room is embarrassing. I’m so NOT good for the environment. However, I’ll still and try to blog with regularity and I’ll post random stupid pictures of my Euro adventures.

Holla!

Nope, not sex talk. Sorry.

Busy August and my schedule is kicking up again next week but I promise I’ll put in my best effort to post a decent blog by the week’s end. Stay tuned. Thanks for your patience.