prague day 2

spent most of day in kutna hara---old silver mining town that's reconfigured itself into a cathedral tourist town after the silver dried up a few centuries back. highlight was the massive cathedral, three spires and very cool looking. town itself was very picturesque, as in a post-card. came back, slept, and then went out to party. tasted banana beer, very good. then out to Cross, club in outskirts, and hung out w/very cool group of Swedes and a Czech chick. tasted absenth for first time. not impressed. bar didn't have the sugar or spoons, so we took it straight. bitter as hell.

\prague day 1

arrived in city around 6 in morning. bus system impossible to figure out, and metro not much better. dropped things off in hostel and went for stroll along main shoppoing street is stare mesto, the old town. street is full of u.s. and european brands, completely given over to tourists. money changers everywhere. got good deal on exchange. went on then to the main square in old town, saw the various churches and towers. grabbed b-fast in good bakery. spent a lot of the day in the former jewish ghetto. the whole neighborhood was gentrified a century or so ago, so there's only six synagogues left. of those, the old-new synagogue, first built in 14th century, had the most historical resonance, while the spanish synagogue, built in a moorish style, takes the cake for beauty.

after jewish quarter, we went to lunch. had czech cuisine for first time, not impressed. heavy on meats and dumplings. dan also got cheated when the waiter short-changed him. we went back to hostel, rested up, and then went out later at night. dinner at this italian place, where i tried a four meat combo, all czech cooking---ham, pork, duck, and sausage. extremely heavy. made me swear off meat for a day. then tried to go to this supposedly 14th century beerhall, that ended up looking way too modern and bourgeois, and then to a jazz club, which was empty. were fairly tired so went back to hotel. slept for a couple of hours then jet lag hits. we go down to basement common room and meet erin, the girl who's sharing our room. she was completely smashed. good first day.