I should be doing a content analysis of 'deliberative qualities' on 227 pages of a 9/11 conspiracy theory discussion that took place online. Yes, I really am supposed to be doing that.

But am I? Nope. Instead I'm going to update about PRAHA!

Alright where was I...vienna...hapsburgs, hofburgs, schonbrunn, right. Now Prague.

Day 1:

It takes us awhile to find our hostel. We find the street, not the hostel. After traversing the same street up and down, we finally, finally find our hostel. Or rather, hotel. Anyways. It's tucked behind the actual street we'd been walking up and down, through an alley and a parking lot and then our really cute little hostel. Hotel. So we check in, and of course we don't have cash to pay our bill in full, because we just hopped off a train and now we're supposed to have Kc [czech crowns], not euros anymore. After some finagling, we get our room. We [I] splurged on this room, we got a private room and it's really nice to have our own bathroom/shower. We are STARVING so we find a cute little below-ground pub and eat a traditional Czech dinner: dumplings, beef, gravy. It's really heavy. And super super salty. Interesting. It's not a coincidence that the Czech are known for their beer, and not their cuisine.

At this point we are just beat for some reason. I can't remember why. Traveling wears on you, you know? The plan is to take a nap, then go see the Charles Bridge/old square when it's dark and everything is lit up. Except, we don't wake up. We just sleep. and sleep. and sleep. Straight until 8:30 the next morning. Ah well. I guess we needed it. And we have extra time in Prague compared to Budapest and Vienna so we're cool with it. So we arise at 8:30 the next morning and "productively wander" to Wenceslas Square. Colleen and I drink espresso in a cute restaraunt that's actually a tram in the middle of the square. We bicker, then window shop. Then we end up actual shopping, and I buy a sterling silver heart pendant that for some inexplicable reason caught my eye. We see the Astronomical clock, wander past the Tyn Church, go across the Charles bridge, see the ginormous Prague Castle [or Prazsky hrad, if you're Czech--biggest palace in the world, 7 football fields. we don't know if thats futbol or football but you get the idea, it's huge.] We wander up the Mala Strana green space. We find a nice perch overlooking the German Embassy below us, and there's no one on this side of the park. It's the most peace and quiet we've had in Europe. We whip out a couple of Staropramens and sip on them enjoying the quiet greenness. We hike up the rest of the hill after finishing our beers, wander around the top, and then climb back down the backside. It's a lot of walking, and by the time we reach the other side we are starving and there's no restaurants in this particular neck of the woods. We decide to try the Czech Republic's take on Chinese. Final verdict: pretty good. they light little tealights under your dish to keep it warm. They even gave us a free desert wine of some sort. But yikes, even the Chinese Czechs are super heavy on the salt. These people are crazy with their salt!

Tonight we hit up the Prague nightlife. We really want to trek to Akropolis for flaming absinthe drinks ...Akropolis is a happening club these days, and also the Pixies and the Strokes and lots of other famous people have played/hung out there. But Zizkov [the borough Akropolis is in] is just too damn far. Colleen's still suffering from blisters, and while I'm confident we could get there, I'm not so sure about the return trip back to our hostel when the metro has stopped running. We decide Akropolis is not in the cards and decide to hit up local pubs instead. And we were not disappointed, let me tell you. Well, initially we were, because the microbrewery we had heard people rave about [called U Fleku] was completely slammed. So then we hear people talking about Pivovarsky Dum, which my guidebook also happens to say is the best microbrewery in Prague. It's right next to our hostel, so we head there. It was super full as well, so we relegate ourselves to the bar and sip on the BEST microbrewed beer i have EVER tasted. The dark lager was really smooth, and i got half a litre of it for less than $1.75. Unpasteurized, no perservatives. straight from the tapper. We watched the manager/guy who seats people in for entertainment purposes while we sipped. This guy was huge with a big shiny bald head. People would come in, and hold up fingers for how many seats they wanted. See, the thing with Czechs is, once they get a seat they don't leave it. ever. it's not customary to vacate your seat in europe when you are done eating. you are expected to sit and have a few drinks, NOT get up and leave. So if you don't get to the good places early, you ain't never gettin' in. So this guy would look at these people holding up fingers, and then he would just be like "no. leave."

So then he turns to us, and tries talking to us in Czech, because we had just been standing by the bar even though we initially wanted a seat. at this point we weren't really hungry but this guy was giving us seats whether we liked it or not. we weren't going to tell him no, so we took the seats. And being that we weren't very hungry, we didn't really want to eat, but now we had seats in this crazy busy establishment that we couldn't give up because we were scared of big-shiny-head-man. so we pored over the menu for awhile, and i order herring and colleen gets a cheese plate. i end up getting a giant pickled sausage, not herring. dammit. oh well. After Pivovarsky Dum we traverse Stare Nove and stop by a few more pubs. But nothing was too hopping, and we were tired. again. We hesitate outside Rocky O'Reillys, which is full of Brits and Scots and Irishmen yelling at the tele and think about going in, but we can't go to an Irish pub for the third time in eastern europe! that would just be ridiculous.

there were more days in Prague, but I'll finish later. I think my roommate gave me her hacking disease and I don't feel so hot. I have to meet with a senator tomorrow and my head feels like it weighs 300 pounds. i'm going to get some rest.