Wednesday, January 24, 2007

European Getaway Day 15 (30-11-2006)

St Johann to Prague (Austria to Czech Republic)

To day we started out early, somehow it was decided that as we were crossing the boarder we should also do cross dressing. So us guys got up early and had to raid the chick’s bags that were staying at Bunnies pub. For some reason the cross dressing didn’t really work both ways and ended up with just the guys taking part. I have to say we all look really stunning. In the photo in order of left to right you have. Ashoor – he definitely has the legs for it, Aaron – with the mini skirt and nice earrings, Me – I was the conservative woman, Yo – the best he could manage but was later to get a face full of makeup, Lloydy – the slutty one (a Pauline Hansen look alike?) with a new waxed chest he did well, and then Daniel – Also a disco diva. Can I just point out that few of the guys went to the level of wearing a bra to hold up their fake boobs. I am proud to say I was not one of them.

At the boarder we got stopped as we were leaving the EU. As we got stopped we had to get checked as well. They had to go through the bags underneath and a guy with a massive head came on the bus. We all had to hold our passports up to our face to show that we were who was on our passport. The guy with the massive head also had a gun in his holster and didn’t look like a guy who would take any shit. A good thing we were all wearing drag to best match our passports I think. They had a problem with the girl from China, Lee he said that she should have a schlenge visa but when she checked with the embassy they said she didn’t, we were stuck there for about 30 mins. Other wise none of us could go over the boarder. Luckily Jaz spoke to them and then it was all sorted out and we could enter.

Interesting fact: between Austria and the Czech republic there is a ‘no mans land’ area all it has on it is a brothel hotel.

In the check republic a ‘night club’ is a brothel so if you go watch what you ask to go to. As prostitution is legal we played ‘spot the pro on the street’ the whole way to Prague. It was a good game but I swear some of them could have just been normal women walking home. On the way into Prague we stopped at a placed called Chesky Krumlov for a break and some lunch. All the guys took this chance to get changed back into our normal boys clothes, that and its was freezing in a dress.

Ok for all of you who have seen Hostel (the movie) check out this pic. This is how Chesky Krumlov looks and it is just like what you have to walk through to get to Bratislava. All of us on the tour that had seen this movie were freaking when we first walked in there as it was just like the movie. (for those that don’t know the movie is about people who go to a hostel and then are taken away and tortured/killed by people who pay to kill them). With this all put aside in our minds it was a very nice little town would have been good to see a bit more of it. But it was very quiet and we all kinda felt a bit creeped out thanks to Hollywood.

After lunch we made our way to Prague, when we arrived Jaz was not sure exactly where we were staying, it was out of two places. We first pulled up to a campsite which looked so scary. It was like in the middle of nowhere and was dark and deselect. We were lucky it turned out to not be this campsite as it was closed hence the reason it was so dark and no one around. We ended up going to a hostel which was just around the corner. This place was less scary, the lights were on and it looked like a proper building.

We unloaded the bus, set up the campsite and then went to get our room keys. As it was 4 people in a room Kieran and I stayed with Yo and David. For onceI was in a room where there were more guys than girls woohoo. We were given time to get ready as we were going to go to a disco tech (a real night club for dancing) after our walk around town. We got dressed and headed out, to get into town we had to catch a tram (number 26 if you cared) and then we had to get a train. The thing with trains is you really had to count your stops as you can’t understand a word the people are saying. It doesn’t even sound like they are pronouncing the stop.

We got off the train at the centre of town and we were given 45 mins to get some dinner. We walked around for a bit as we wanted to eat in a real restaurant and not have greasy takeaway. As it turns out good food was harder to find than we had thought. I was really looking forward to a goulash. We ended up settling as we ran out of time and just had McDonalds. After dinner we met up with the rest of the group and went for a walk around the town. We saw the main square which had a massive astronomical clock; there was the massive Charles Bridge and Prague castle. I can’t remember what they were called.

Prague is very beautiful and feels a little like you stepped back in time with its narrow cobble stoned streets and small stores everywhere. It has a very Bohemian atmosphere with many artists, concerts, photographers, and craftsmen, I now understand what Bohemian really is… Kieran.

After our walk around we ended up at a bar, bars in Prague are underground because drinking was outlawed and so they went underground literally. In this bar we tried Absinth as it was the real deal not the half stuff that they offer in other places it was still legal here. The best way to drink it is to pour some sugar on a spoon, tip a bit of Absinth on the spoon light it, let the sugar melt a bit, blow it out and then stir it into the shot like crazy. It didn’t taste the best and didn’t really do anything for me didn’t see any fairies or even feel drunk. Kieran found it gross check out this video of her freakin over the shot.


After we had our cheap drinks and shots we headed to another bar as the disco tech didn’t get pumping till later. We ended up at this bar which had go-go dancers ( girls in bikinis with limited moves but nice bodies) the girls were having a good time dancing and drinking. I wasn’t drunk enough to bust out my moves just yet, plus I didn’t feel like dancing. When we had enough of this club it was time to go to the disco tech which is a 5 level nightclub (our version not the brothel) we had to pay 10 Euros to get in and then left our jackets in the cloak room for another 2 Euros. Once in there we found out that there were only 2 out of the 5 levels open as it was so quiet.

The girls danced all night, one of the Melbourne girls Vanessa split her jeans it was funny, a couple of the other girls picked up. None of the boys did, it’s always the way. We ended up leaving earlier than some of the others as we wanted to explore the city the next day. We caught a taxi back to the hostel. The good thing about the taxis is you get to bargain with them on the price you will pay for them to take you somewhere. We ended up paying I think around 8 euros. Some of the guys somehow got home for around 3 euros. We got back to the hostel and were in bed at 4:15 am.

2 comments:

Alan said...

Sorry, that was NOT real absinthe.

Originally absinthe was from Switzerland and then from France. The area around the Swiss/French border has the best growing conditions for some of the key ingredients, including wormwood.

In the 1990's, Czech products called absinth, but with very little similarity, first appeared. Most play on the fact that it should be flamed and burnt, showing how little respect the Czech distillers have for their own creations, and building a negative image for the whole category.

Now real absinthe has returned, much of it from its original birthplace in the Val-de-Travers region of Switzerland. There is an ever-expanding group of absinthe lovers all over the world, drinking absinthe for its taste and not for its effects.

Anonymous said...

Hi Alan

Thanks for the update on what real absynth is. I was saying it was real as that is what we were told. We had also tryied absynth in Switzerland was that the real stuff as well? I am thankful you have done your research and know the stuff well.