I have been in Prague for about 24 hours now and the city fits perfectly. The people are all extremely friendly, even though most do not speak English!! awesome! The architecture is ridiculous and there is no way to capture its beauty on film...although I keep trying.
My flight on Air France went fine. I got on board, ate dinner and then passed out. Woke up seven hours later as we were flying over England. Great flight! The food was really good too. The tram that takes you from one terminal to the next in Paris was a Mercedes...damn French people!! Nothing like riding in style at the airport!
I have so much to say about Prague that I'm not sure where to begin. I will fill in with more detail later. To begin with, I got to my first hotel with no problem yesterday. I checked in, dropped off my bags and set out to get acquainted with the neighborhood. I spent three hours walking around the area taking in all of the sites. I bought a sandwich and just before I was
ready to call it at night at 9pm (yeah, give me a break...I had been traveling) I stumbled upon the World Cup game. The city set up huge televisions in all of the town squares for locals to watch the game. I sat on the ground with about a hundred other people and ate my sandwich while watching the game. It was Argentina vs. Mexico. One man in the crowd was a big Mexico fan. Everytime they scored or had a great play, he stood up, screamed "MEEXXIIIICOOOOO!", did a lap around the square and gave everybody high fives. It was great!!
Speaking of the World Cup, I had my first brush with authentic hooligans. Well, maybe not hooligans as much as young, drunk fans. It was a group of German football fans who caught my attention when I first began my neighborhood walk. I heard the voices of young guys chanting in German. Of course, I had to find out where it was coming from. I followed the noise and it lead me to a group of about 7 or 8 young guys from Germany. They didn't speak English and I don't speak German. But, I went up to them and said "Deauthland!! Michael Ballack!!" and gave a pumping fist in the air. That seemed to be an international declaration and they repeated by gesture. We all started laughing and cheering. Then, they continued down the street with
their chanting and drinking their beers. Apparently it's ok to wander the streets of Prague with open beer cans, or big glasses of beer.
Their is a large police presence here in Prague. I'm told that it's like this year round, with a little additional cause of the WC. The police are all pretty cool though. They park and gather around the squares during the game and they patrol the streets. But they never seem to bother anyone and aren't crazy enforcers. They more hang out with each other, lean against their cars and smoke. Good times!
The hotel I'm at now is right across the street from the German Embassy and around the corner from the American Embassy. I'm told that this is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city because of it. Cars are stopped and checked for bombs (awesome!) before they are allowed down my street. My hotel room faces the German Embassy.
That is all the time I have for now. I hope everyone is doing well back home. I'll update more soon!!! Till then -
Jill
