Praha Česká Republika - Prague Czech Republic

Prague Album Here
Panoramas to come! 

A rough start, a rough end. at least almost everything in between was awesome.


Made the first train, missed the 2nd. Missing trains gives me time to think about what I miss in my life. Some where in southern Germany at 1am I lay on a wide platform bench that seems made for sleeping with the splatter of rain on a ribbed tin roof, an ugly rusted product of an industrial age droning out any thing else to be heard. A hefty layover at the next stop leaves me calm, knowing my next connection can still be made tho.

Ha. There's some misplaced confidence if I ever heard it. Made it to the next station only to discover that there is no next train and I cannot make my connection. Except now I am in some random sub station entirely outdoors, where nothing is open, including no bathrooms. I could barely get anyone to help me, unable to figure out the trains still running as all the train poster symbols are only in german and some trains don't run on Saturday. Figure it best to try to get to a main station so I'm waiting for a Frankfurt train now. I literally missed that 1st train by 1minute. Fack.

Once again I am alone. I have felt pretty alone since Sicily, with my homesickness overwhelming every attempted positive thought at this point. It's been so long since I spoke to anyone from home. I long to hear a familiar voice, just to hug my family and friends again. I will break ribs, I will hold them so hard. Crying on platform 2, running out of battery and feeling the most lost I've been on this trip. It's cold, raining, I have no money on my phone and I really need to pee but I'm dying of thirst, rationing water and staying conscious of basic survival techniques. I always say everything happens for a reason, this better be a damn good one. I keep telling myself it's only when things go wrong I feel like this but I'm coming to realise things going wrong just magnify how I feel initially. I am exhausted. I simultaneously envy and pity other travellers who don't have such strong ties to home. Envy I guess becuz it seems so easy on them and pity becuz they don't have what I have waiting for me, waiting for them. I really don't know what is to come of my life now. I was so sure of my plans. Now I'm here doubting my plans so consistently as drunken fools stumble around me and obnoxiously loud trains fly past like tornados, leaving me in the wake. The Frankfurt train is coming soon and I've hidden all my money on me in case they decide to take no sympathy upon me and demand I pay a fine.

After 22 hours I finally made it to where I was going. The sunrise over Germany on the upper deck of the bus commenced as I finally closed my eyes, weary but comforted that I was on the last leg of the journey. I woke 4 hours later just as we were entering Prague, finding it impossible to wipe the smile off my face in amazement of this place. I don't even know where to begin writing about it and I know it's not cuz I had no expectations for it that it's so awesome. It just is and it's apparent immediately upon entering city limits. I will wander around here for days fascinated by the dreamy architecture, uniform but eclectic, lining the streets in an understated baroque elegance.. Writing this, I look out over the river, perched in a window, swans beneath my feet and turrets peaking over sun drenched red roof tops. I've always wanted to sit in a windowsill and watch the world go by, squinting from sunlights' reflection in my gaze. Everything about this place is a dream come true.

I went for a walk earlier out into the indecisive weather only comparable to Bermuda. Took some bread to feed the swans and set out for a stroll, looping figure eights crossing one bridge and back on another. I happened upon a series of art installations near the river, reminding me of my days at OCAD. There is a rich art community here that apparently people from all over the world come to experience. Interactive art is so powerful and moving. To become part of the art is just..... I don't know... Memorable and impacting for lack of any better description. There was one space that was a labyrinth in complete darkness that u had to feel ur way thru, coming to the end like the light at the end of a tunnel, another just people hugging, in a sweet, smirking embrace. One was a dance club soaked in multicoloured hues of light and another seemed to note on how we humans tend to collect trash until we have lost ourselves within it. I just can't begin to describe how much of an impact this city is having upon me.

I am still in perpetual amazement, tho I haven't seen much. Excited for the concerts this weekend. Some of my favourite artists. House of pain, 30 seconds to mars, Skindred, Gogol Bardello and so many more for under 50€, tho I think I will spend the extra 20 to be upfront. Haven't been to a rock concert and really enjoyed it in a long while. It will be nice to have no one to weigh me down, just skip around by myself, enjoying the music and meeting people. Nice that most people speak English here, with that comes a certain kind of optimism when going out alone. - : / somehow, I managed to convince myself this festival was on a Friday when it was in fact on a Saturday. Tried to sneak in, pay off every security guard with no dice. I never want to talk about it again. In the mean time, I am gonna track most of the bands I missed and see them in other parts of Europe. 

My extreme degree of home sickness has subsided down to the tolerable level. I have been itching to get a tattoo for a while. I only get them at pivotal moments in my life, so I remember where I was and how I felt when I look back. I knew my next one would be snooku's feather on my forearm. My beloved cockatoo. Who would have thought u can have such a relationship with a bird. I thought about getting my other pets represented, but I just can't think of a way yet. All the tattoos since I last worked on my back seem so easy and short. I am scared to have my back worked on again after the last 4 hour sitting. I'll never do more than 2.5 hours again. It was too much. I felt as if my body couldn't take that amount of adrenaline, I was exhausted, delirious and a whole new level of uncomfortable becuz I made the mistake of not thinking how I would sleep and move normally with it wrapping around my body. Hilarious in hindsight, wearing a bathing suit top for a week straight and putting lotion on with a spoon. Never again. 

I have long concluded there are 2 kinds of tattooed people. Those that do it for the picture and often don't have any real ties to the picture and those that do it for the experience and the memory. I'm addicted to the shivers and goosebumps that come with the initial strokes, the memories ingrained into my skin and the weakness that leaves body with every passing minute of pain. What is pain but weakness leaving the body anyway? Meditation often uses pain to bring the mind into an altered state. Tattoos are the same. I don't like to sit there and chat, I meditate on my strength to overcome anything, why I am sitting in that particular place and getting that particular tattoo. When I get tattoos done, means just as much as the design.

I haven't seen much in the city cuz I've been busy practicing guitar and getting the shopping and research I needed to do, done. I have gone out twice, both nites to the same bar, Harley Bar. Exactly how it sounds, it is this completely ridiculous, pick up bar, that plays terrible music and reliably is always packed with mostly outrageous people. The second nite we went I wasn't in the mood for much. So I found myself a perfect perch and sat up there people watching for a couple hours. Good wing buddies are hard to come by, these 2 dudes had me in stitches watching them work the floor with great success. Twas such good entertainment. Don't think either of them were very comfortable with me knowing their game, tho I said I was thoroughly impressed by their team work and dedication to the rules of engagement. Haha. 

Met up with friends Peter and Craig, got wrecked at lunch and took a fancy old car around for about an hour. It was so awesome, our driver was great, the tour was hilarious and after he took us to the Lennon Wall, he dropped us off at our doorstep. The Lennon Wall started the Lennonism movement in Czech, not liked much by the communist government at the time. Somebody had plastered 'Jesus Loves You' on the wall, they obviously didn't get the memo that Czech has one of the highest rates of atheists, agnostics and alternative belief systems. More than 60% apparently. It was a blast driving around in this wicked car, while our driver took our directions when we told him to lie about the history. We all got so caught up in his hilarity, we forgot we told him to lie and now we're unsure of what was true and what wasn't. On the tour we saw the girl from avatar, the fastest tram in the world and where massages have happy endings! Hahaha, driver totally lived past our wildest expectations. 

I'm leaving Prague tomorrow, enroute to Amsterdam! Figures I\m sick again. Too much fun has a tendency of leaving me like this. It's cool, I got this 4 day bronchitis down to a fine art. 
: )
One day I'll be back here. Likely to buy property here, that seemed to be all I could think of while I walked around here. Hard not to think of I with so many awesome empty buildings around in a buyers market. Did I mention how wicked the public transport is? and only 26Krowns.