Category: 
May 2, 2005
Had a few days in Prague for a work convention. Ended up staying the weekend since flights back were extremely expensive.
First off - we were staying where the convention was held - in the Hotel Corinthia Towers - which is rated as a 5 star hotel. I have to say that this hotel is nowhere near a 5 star hotel. The rooms were CRAP! With the paint peeling off the walls and the doors cracking. Gross. The furnishings were shabby and the room service breakfast sucked. The only good point about the place was that they had Beer and Bowling downstairs. I found this a bit odd, but pretty cool at the same time. The short of it: DO NOT STAY AT THAT DUMP
see how not touristy i am being?
Spent Saturday wandering around the city with Tim, Fee and Darby. Stopped to view the famous astronomical clock. There were about 1,000 people standing in front of it when the clock was about to strike 1:00. Tim was bitching, there were horses asses flying at me from all directions and I stopped to wait for the miracle to happen. 1:00 came. A little grim reaper looking thing was pulling a cord. Everyone stood there. Then the crowd dispersed. And I was still standing there. Wondering what the hell had happened. I was reminded of how not impressed I was with the pissing boy of Brussels. It is pretty impressive to think that the damned thing has been ticking along for 6 centuries, but I wasn’t privy to that fact as I stood there waiting for it do pop a giant Cuckoo out…
the asstronomical clock
Then we wandered along to see the old Jewish quarter. Went to the cemetary. It was closed for the only two days of the year. I guess that corpses have to take holidays as well. Took some photos through the grate and listened to Tim bitch some more.
We then all decided that it would fun to take a boat along the river and drink some beers since the weather was beautiful. Got to the boat place just as the boats were pulling away. Then ended up eating some Mexican dog food ass while our waiter ridiculed Tim with the menu.
the boys get some
Finally we began the venture towards the castle. Walking across the Charles Bridge we ran into an inebriated Julia and Sito so decided to grab a beer. Went to the beer place, that surprisingly enough, had a super friendly waitress. NOT. She was such a bitch! We saw her making faces at some of the customers.
tim saves the day
Spent the rest of the day wandering around the castle which was, of course with our luck, closed. Drank more beers and admired the sites.
Overall impression of Prague: The city is absolutely breathtaking. One of the most, if not the most, scenic and historical cities I have had the chance of visiting. It is worth it to go for this alone. The food was great. A bit heavy - dumplings and game - but I like that kind of stuff so bring it on. The people…well…from my experience there (and we really weren’t being loud, dumb tourists - well too much) the people are completely rude and openly show their hatred of us. This really put me off of the experience. I can understand hating tourists…but when you are working in a tourist shop then don’t be surprised and rude when tourists come in!
Proof that they really do hate us
David’s restaurant - where we had dinner. Great service, great Czech food. Highly recommended.
More on the clock than you ever needed to know
No comments as yet
I have to strongly protest against the use of the word ‘bitching’. I was merely pointing out that going to watch that clock was not worth it, and that there were too many tourists ot be able to fully enjoy the clock-experience. Turned out I was correct. Thank you.
Well,
that wasn´t very nice, was it?
I am from Czech Republic and I admit that nothing is perfect but still it made me sad.
It also made me sad. The place was so beautiful. I don’t expect everyone to roll out the red carpet, but if someone works in a business that caters mainly to tourists they should at least be tolerable. I would recommend for people to visit, but it is just annoying when you feel like everyone is trying to rip you off or hates your guts.
Well
The problem is Prague is a small city and it’s a bit too popular. The city center is really crowded but you hardly see some local people there. If you saw some people with ugly faces on the street its not very likely they were czechs anyway.
The tourist shops.. I work in a hostel in the center of prague on weekends and its amazing what kind of people you sometimes can meet.
I don’t consider myself xenophobic (as you said - i wouldn’t work in a hostel then) but after a few hours in the work i always get the impression that most of the british are just idiots which dont want anything else than get drunk and fuck, that most of the americans are so ignorant that it makes ones sick etc.
Maybe prague attracts bad tourists with its cheap beer and whorehouses, who knows..
Another thing is that from the point of view of local people, city center is beeing occupied by tourists. When you come to a shop, the shop assistant is most likely an ukrainian that speaks english but doesnt speak czech and prices are tree times higher than elsewhere.
So I hope one day prague will be at a position when most of tourists will come here to see the city, not for the cheap alcohol and sex, and that prices in the city will be accpetable for local people too. Then maybe we’ll all start to be more friendly