Czech it Out!

On April 18-20 Cynthia and I traveled to Prague, Czech Republic with VISUM, which is an international student organization at the University of Mannheim. VISUM is great! They are always hosting a wide array of events for international students including Brewery tours, Pub Crawls, and tours of businesses and museums around Germany. With VISUM, we also toured BASF, which is the largest chemical manufacturer in products made and geographical space. BASF is located in Ludwigshafen, which is just on the other side of the Rhine River. You can see Ludwigshafen in some of the pics from my office window.

Overall, our trip to Prague was superb and very cost efficient! The entire trip only cost $85 Euros per person and this price included the bus, hostel, breakfast at the hostel, tour of the city, a brewery tour, and a dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant. You can see pics of Prague here. The area speaks for itself. Prague is a very nice city. Despite it being a focal point of World War II and the Cold War, Prague remained relatively intact so you can still see the historical features from the Roman Empire.

We went on a three hour tour of Prague, which was in English. Our tour guide was very well adept with Czech culture. He was older and could not only provide historical references but personal references. His insights were invaluable. To see the place where the Czechs announced their move to a republic and then right down the street one of the first Jewish ghettos were Jews were discriminated and persecuted because of their religious and ethnic background was truly astonishing. We then walked up to the Czech castle where we could see all of Prague. We also toured the Museum of Communism, which was very eye-opening regarding the interworkings of communism and how it gained the support of individuals through propaganda tactics.

The brewery tour and traditional Czech dinner were also fun. Although the Czech Republic is known around the world for its beer, Cynthia and I were not at all impressed with the Czech Budweiser. Europeans say there are not many links between American Budweiser and Czech Budweiser, but I do not believe it. In fact, the Czech Budweiser tasted very similar to the American Budweiser, which is to say not good! However, we had some great beer at the Czech restaurant and in the hostel so that made up for it. The Czech beer reputation is restored.

This was the first time Cynthia and I stayed in the hostel so we really did not know what to expect and did not want the movie Hostel to influence our expectations and experiences. We stayed in a room with four bunk beds. Cynthia was on the top and I was on the bottom and we had six other international students in the room with us. Everyone was basically from another country including France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Germany. It was really neat so we hung out with them most of the trip. Room 127 in the house! Or should I say, in the hostel! I also went to two very hip, trendy clubs. The first club was on the 6th floor of a building. You could see all of Prague from the club. The music was techno and the crowd was a bit older. Everyone was really trying to dance, which was pretty funny. I think this guy was getting married because his friends were just a little too old to be jumping around like that on a regular basis. Although if they are anything like the older people in LA, they may do that every weekend. The second club was advertised as the largest club in Europe and I may have to concur. It was five stories with a club and lounge on each side of the floor with its own decor, music, theme, and drink menu. It was a lot of fun because you had ten separate spaces the size of a regular club to enjoy.
On the way to the club, we had an incident. We took a taxi van and we had been warned that the taxi drivers try to get over on tourist. We asked him how much it was cost and he told us 300 Crowns (100 Czech dollars equal about 4 Euros). I was sitting up front and as we traveled to the club the meter was increasing every second! By the time we arrived to the club, the price was 900 Crowns! So the tourists books say to challenge the taxi drivers and waiters and waitresses when they over charge. So we told the guy he said it would cost 300 Crowns. He began getting very upset. We told him we would only pay 500 Crowns. Needless to say, an altercation ensues and he pulls out a screw driver on us. Cynthia thought I was ring leader of this incident, but I was just sitting back watching the French, Swedish, and Italian guys handle it. It was pretty funny to me. We only ended up paying 500. Heeehee.

The aforementioned, however, is not the funniest part of the trip. The bus driver made the trip. He gets his own profile on the site (see below). First, he showed up an hour late so we were out in the cold at 1am to leave and his slow tail showed up late. Then, his GPS did not work in the Czech Republic, and wouldn’t you know he didn’t have a map. What kind of bus driver does not have a map?! It was supposed to take us 7 hours to get there, but it took us 11. Then, when we got to Prague, the only maps we had were the Lonely Planet maps so he proceeds to drive on the tourist walking routes. Of course the bus could not fit down the small tourist roads so he had traffic backed up for a kilometer as we proceeded to turn around in circles! Foolishness! As stated above, we went with an international student group so it was people from all over the world talking about him in several languages. One Australian student said that I could understand stated, “You bloody dumb a*$, stupid a*$, bus driver! You can’t drive!” The French, Italians, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Swedish, and Finnish were all cursing him out in their native language. It was hilarious!

Below you see the bus driver in the breakfast. Everyone was like why is he eating breakfast he doesn't deserve breakfast. On the two pics with the bus, you see the bus driver asking another bus driver for directions on how to get us back to Mannheim from Karlsbad (a bath house city in Czech Republic). The last pic is my fav. Look how far traffic is backed up down that little road. Foolishness!