I awoke in some serious pain, dragged myself to the shower and out the door to catch my Taxi to the venue.  It was 8AM, and I was to go on at 9AM.  No traffic and a few close calls with my life later and I was at the venue, a big 4-star hotel on the edge of town near the main highway artery of the Czech Republic.  When I arrived I was greeted warmly by Barbara who was coordinating the event and was startled at the amount of staff they had for registration.  About 15, beautiful (and I mean BEAUTIFUL) Czech hostesses were ready and waiting to help guests check in and get their material.  (I had heard Czech women were attractive, but Wow, this was another league)) – I won’t bore anyone or myself with the details of the presentation, just know it went well and I survived.  The most interesting part of it was a short conversation with a British gentleman who had called Prague home for the last 8 years (except for a 1 year stint in New Zealand).  We chatted about technology for a bit, about New Zealand, and I think he caught me checking out a few of the hostesses (what was I supposed to do?) –

He comments, “Czech women are beautiful aren’t they?  The men, they don’t take care of themselves, they drink, eat, and don’t really care.  But the women, they look after themselves, dress well, are gorgeous and are the nicest, most genuine people he has met anywhere in the World.”    He hit the nail on the head – he was probably in his early thirties, clearly single, and clearly loving life here in Prague.  I understood why – my favorite comment was this:

“They are so nice, that the girl you met the night before will wake up and bring you breakfast in the morning – where else on Earth would that happen.”  

Hmm….  J

I was back to my hotel at 4:15 and had 2 hours to kill before I was to meet influentials and other local staff at a traditional Czech brewery called U Ruku – so I decided to take a walk.  I began my journey by walking towards the Old City and was struck first by the Powder Tower – I don’t know the history yet, I have a guide on Saturday, but it was amazing.  Detailed ornaments, amazing architecture, just beautiful.  My stroll took me to the heart of the old city, the central square – a loud, touristy, pedestrian only square that is encircled by some of the most amazing, beautiful buildings I have seen anywhere.  A few churches, a few older government buildings, and a big statue of somebody in the middle surrounded by Spanish tourists taking pictures and speaking loudly.  I couldn’t tell you what anything was called, but the experience was incredible.  In just a few minutes, my love affair with this city was beginning.  I walked on and decided to head towards the river and the famous Charles Bridge.  The bridge is hard to describe – it connects to half’s of the city, a horizon of beautifully ornate monuments, cathedrals and the famous Prague Castle in the distance.  It was dusk – and about -8 degC – cold as hell, the ground was icing over and my feet hurt (that is what I get for wearing my nice shoes instead of my New Balances!).  The walk along the bridge itself is crowded – small vendors selling knick-knacks, beggars playing music, and lots and lots of people milling around.  Every 20M or so there is an ornate sculpture with inscriptions in Czech – I’m sure I’ll learn more about them tomorrow (Saturday)…  I reached the end of the bridge and needed a break – so I took a seat next to another younger looking traveler… he turned to me a few minutes later as he rolled a ciggerette and with a welcome British Accent asked me for a light.  I had matches from the hotel and we struck up a fun conversation.

He was a teacher – had studied teaching English in Prague a year ago and was back for 1 week visiting a friend who had never left.  His dream was to travel through Japan and teaching English was his ticket.  He had just finished spending 8 months in China, was back for a few weeks on the East coast of England, Prague, and Budapest, before heading back to Japan to begin a stint there teaching.  He had great stories – 40 hour train rides, standing room only, from the South of China to Bei Jing during the Chinese new year – being able to eat dinner for 10p, and experiencing a culture where he said, “you just need to forget everything you learned and everything you know and start over.”  Our talks to turned to Prague, and the only way I could describe the city was “AWE INSPIRING” – there are few places in Europe that are so delicately preserved as Prague.  It seems to have escaped the common damage and rebuilding found of European cities caused by World War I and World War II.  (*When inquiring about this with the local team, they said the Prague survived because Czech’s always just surrendered immediately, so they could return to their daily business – they were not interested in fighting a war.  Interesting philosophy – but it did the history and architecture of the city well – keeping in tact buildings 500, 600 and 1000 years old – all in wonderful condition.)  We talked on about how great Prague was and turned our conversation to Australia – turns out he had recently spent 2 months backpacking from Cannes in the north of the continent down to Melbourne near the South.  We romanticized about how wonderful Sydney was and I told him about how badly I wanted to move there.  After thirty minutes of chatting with this stranger I needed to move on – it was nearly 6:10 and I was supposed to meet at U Ruku at 6:30.  I walked south along the water, past the National Theater (another amazing building) and arrived at U ruku.

U Ruku is a brewer that only serves its beer there - -they are famous in Prague for it, but have no distribution.  The beer is a dark brown color similar to new castle but with a consistency like Guiness with a lighter more airy foam.  It was good, strong, and welcome (I was freezing).  The rest of the evening was spent drinking this beer, taking shots of a yellow liquor that is traditionally Czech (I have no idea what it is called, except that it tastes a bit like Honey, sugar, and anise – and slowly kicked my ass – and eating healthy (read: really really really really bad for you) Czech food (sausage, duck, pork, dumplings, you get the idea).  We had a private room in the back – things were good, until a group of about 20 Dutch tourists came in and brought two old men, dressed in World War I uniforms sporting a tuba like horn, and an accordion.  For the next 60 hours they played loud, annoying music and we watched the drunk Dutch sing and dance a long.

I reached the end of my energy, excused myself, took a taxi back to the hotel, pushed a little farther into Michael Chabon’s Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (I recommend the read, it is about comic books, new york,, jews, during WWII – fascinating novel, and hey – it won the Pulitzer, so it has to be good J) and passed out.

It is now 1:30 on my 2nd day in Prague – spending most of the day in the office working.  It is snowing outside, so I don’t feel like walking around too much – I need to buy a better coat.  Meeting friends in the city tonight and looking forward to it.  Hopefully I’ll have more insightful commentary about the sites I have seen after my guided tour tomorrow.