Travel Wednesday!

So for my first Travel Wednesday I think I will pick Prague. It's a good easy start and I know so much about it and I love it there.

I went to Prague for the spring semester of 2007. I lived in a dorm with a few hundred other foreign, mostly american, students. Prague has a reputation of being a little bit of a party city and, I can speak from experience, it is well deserved. I have never been in a city where it was common for people to go straight from the bars to work. I am talking about business men not bartenders.

Albeit the crazy drinking and wonderfully affordable party scene the city itself is a wealth of history and sightseeing attractions. On my daily walk down the hill to school I walked through the presidents castle and right next to the royal gardens. The building where I had classes was where Vasclav Havel was teaching and beginning the velvet revolution. A few blocks, if you could call them that, further into the heart of the city the old town square with the doomsday astronomical clock. Beware the doom of you wallet to the hands of idle pickpockets at this attraction. Further still into the city and you could find yourself in Wenceslas Square. It's a huge rectangular plaza with a large statue at one end and plenty of shopping through out. Let me not forget the most famous Charles bridge fabled to hold the lost sword of the hero for which it is named said to return when the Czech people are in the time of their greatest need.

In visiting Prague to get away from the beaten tourist roads there are several things I would recommend:

1. Have a picnic at Vysehrad. It is a beautiful castle and less frequented than the presidents' castle. Right along the Vlata it gives you a splendid view and if the weather is night it makes for a splendid afternoon.

2. Watch the sunrise from the observation point on the side of Petrin. On top of this hill (Petrin) is a monastery and walking southeastward from the monastery and a tad to the right is a little train that goes up the side of the hill to a little observation point. My best mornings in Prague were spent drinking cheap red wine with my compatriots and watching the sun rise. Don't judge us for the booze... we hadn't slept yet.

3. Probably the most touristy but most certainly a worthwhile endeavor is right off of Wenceslas square is a wine cellar bar called U Sudu. It is an underground labyrinth of little rooms with various tables, Foosball, and wonderful pitchers of wine. I cannot even count the number of nights we spent in this bar before making the mandatory fried cheese sandwich stop on the way home.

And speaking of Czech cuisine try the potato dumplings and, of course, the fried cheese sandwich. I also tried pig knuckles one night which are not as bad as they sound and a fairly standard bar fare. An absolute must is honey cake or medovnik. There are not words to describe how wonderful it is.

Last but not least I feel that I should touch on my favorite gay bar, Termix. When entering the bar you must ring a doorbell out side a random sheet metal door. It plays Fur Elise. Once inside you will stand in a small coat check with a stairwell which after descending leads to a long bar room with a car sticking out of the wall. Yes a car. There is a private room up top that can be rented out but other wise is available for sitting and a nice small dance floor. They play all the right gay hits and several of the wrong ones. With all the cheap beer you can drink and hours that usually last until the sun is up.

I hope that each and every one of you has a chance to visit some day. Prague is one of my favorite places in the world and I miss it all the time. Maybe I'll see you there!