Oops...Now Don't We Feel Silly

Another travel day. Argh, you never get used to them. They all kinda suck...expect for the train ride. Seriously, you have to get up before 10 am check out, pack up all the crap sprawled around the room and carry that backpack that magically keeps getting heavier. However, on this day I reached my limit. My backpack was so heavy that the metal support beam bended down. I was using a towel to keep it from jabbing into my back. I made it to the train station before I broke down in tears from the weight of it. Heavy, Heavy, Heavy. I had to take the laundry bag out of my clothes and carry it infront of me. Yes, I looked ridiculous and No, I did not take a picture.

It was a short ride to Prague, and a lovely one. We were pretty hungry and forgot to get snacks for the train so we went to the dinning cart. Now, the dinning cart attendant was not super friendly. Just kinda looked at us....no emotion....barely acknowledged us. However, it wasnt like he was being rude....it was more of a persona. Hard to explain. For example, I asked if I could still get breakfast...he says" Ya..tomm morning" Like he was making a joke, so I laughed and he just stared at me. Awkward. We learned later on.....these are Czech people.

Anyways, me and Christie decided to try the goulash. Sour cream, tomato sauce stuff and ALOT of cabbage. It wasnt so bad, kinda tasty....popular dish in the Czech Republic. However, later it was bad.....very very bad......lets just say were never having that painful dish again. Once we got to Prague we knew we had to take out money because the currency is in Kourons not Euros. However, we were excitied for 300 euros is 8000 kourons.

Now, we have proven through our backpacking that we can take the metro and find our hostel. But were tired....we got 8000 Kourons....so we figured we would take a cab. So we go to the taxi stand, ask how much, he says 980 kourons so we hop in. It was a quite cab ride, but much nicer then carrying a heavy backpack. We get to the receptionist and ask her about the currency and what its comparible to in Euros. 1 Euro = 23 Kourons. Shit.

Receptionist: You didnt take a cab did you?

Us: Ya we did

Receptionist: How much did you pay?

Us: 980 Kourons

Receptionist: You paid like 50 Euros for that cab ride.

Wow. Dont we feel stupid. Apparently, Prague cab drivers are famous for this. Because people (like us), get off the plane or train, have no sense of what the money is worth, and expect cabs to just give us a good rate. There is literally a police force dedicated to these guys. Sometimes, the cab drivers give different currency back....like Hungarian or Polish. Some Germans who checked in earlier were given 60 euros worth of change in Hungarian money....which equals about 5 euros. Anyways, live and learn I guess.

After all that, we decided to take a look around Prauge. However, the majority of our conversation was focused on getting the currency straight in our heads. Okay...so if those shoes are 450 Kourons what is that in Euros....well 230 is ten euros....so like 21 euros? Thats literaly what we did....until we just started bringing a calculator with us.

We found this nice cafe, which we were pretty sure was cheap and headed in. To our calculations, this was a CHEAP resturant. So, we went all out. However, soon we realized it was fancy fancy fancy. I ordered vegatable soup....they put down the bowl with just veggies in it, then the fancy waiter man pours the broth in. Our bill was 613.00. Which was only like 12 euros each. But MAN. Your heart skips a beat when thats the grand total on the bill. Takes a bit to get used to.

After walking around a bit more, we knew we were going to have an amazing time in Prague. Things are cheap....beer 1 euro, food dishes all under 10 euros..plus the scerny is to die for. Cobble stone roads, grandous buildings and alot of charm. However, that night we were exhausted. Berlin was rough on us, add on a travel day and we needed time to recoup. So we decided to take the opportunity to get a good nights rest, because Im sure we wouldnt be getting much sleep the rest of our stay.