We arrived in Prague, got some Czech koruners (which I will refer to as Czech money thingy's), hopped on a bus we didn't pay for, and took a metro to the Castle side of the river. I've always wanted to go to Prague, but for no specific reason, no monument nor museum, I've just always wanted to go. Wish fulfilled, and Prague is simply so...so... so damn cool. If Praha were a person, it'd be about 24 years old, educated in everything, listen to good music, smoke hand rolled cigarettes, wear low cut jeans, sweet hats and big sunglasses, and drink double espressos. Praha is a hipster with history.
We checked out the main sights at our leisure and just wandered. We took in a breathtaking view from Pêtrin tower, saw the light come through stained glass and paint the interior of the Palace Cathedral, and got terrifically lost in nature. It's pretty nice traveling without a plan, wandering less for the sake of ticking famous sites off a list and more so to just be in a new place; not sprinting through on a time schedule snapping photos of guidebook hits. It's nice to just enjoy the change; to not need or want it to be more than just a chance of scenery and pace, a new place to exist.
We ate a delicious dinner at a vegetarian restaurant recommended to me by an old high school friend, and from there went to catch a midnight bus to Vienna. We arrived at the Wombat Hostel deliriously tired. Thank the ever-loving Lord that our room was ready early because if it weren't, I wouldn't be writing this. I would've passed out from exhaustion somewhere in the capital of Austria and never returned.
Took a nice nap and headed out around noon to explore. Saw a lot, ate some falafel, but spent my favorite part of the day on a huge grassy hill in front of a palace. We sat there, wrote, read, and I dozed off a bit in the warm sun...everything I could've wanted. Tim mentioned that he was enjoying every bit of the moment. I couldn't respond because I agreed to much.
At night, we got pizza and listened to a free "jazz" band. Yikes. Allow me to set a scene here. Tunnel Vienna advertises this free jazz concert. I love jazz. I love free things. Those bastards lured me right in like a moth to something shiny. The band goes on stage - the guitar player having an alarming resemblance to Kenny G (I say alarming because the world would implode if there were to exist more than one Kenny G) and they announce that they will open up with "Get this Party Started." Remember 7th grade dances? Pink? Yes, they did indeed do a cover.
So we're trapped through "Love Hurts," some other tunes that proved out of pseudo-Kenny G's vocal range, and lest I forget to mention, a rendition of Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You." Kelly Clarkson is a sweet all american girl. But in the name of all things holy, why would you call yourself a jazz group and torture ears with a karaoke-esque version of a pop hit?
Regardless, went to bed tired and happy, and woke up and checked out the pretty Danube river and hopped back on a bus (after sprinting to make it on time) to our homeless state in Prague. Attempted to see the Spanish Synagogue, but got there too late to enter. Signed the John Lennon wall and met a drunk hippy. Stumbled across Prague's "Witch Burning Ceremony" celebrating the end of winter. Nothin' I love better than a good old fashioned ritualistic burning in the late afternoon.
Sat by the water, watched the sun get lower and lower over Prague, and as it did so, the reflection of the city in the water grew more and more detailed as the street lights came on. Sat there quietly with Ginger and Tim, breathing in, and wondering, as I do so often, what I'm meant to do with all these memories.
watching the current
where do you look to find who you are?
in the reflection in front of you or
somewhere very far
away in the distance, off over there?
will you look hard enough
do you care
enough to search out reality
sift through all the bullshit and fog
until you see
what's really real?
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