#prague trip

[i-eat-booooks]

(: Prague was a-m-a-z-i-n-g 🍁🍪!

[seminkodoesthink]

Guys... I've finally seen the only thing I've ever wanted irl

In rod we trust

[fluffykittyscientist]

The main train station in Prague is so big aaaaaa. Like thrice or four times as big as Bratislava's. Feels like a whole ass mall.

[why485]

I flew into Prague last night but I was completely exhausted and didn’t really do much once I got to my apartment. This morning I got some groceries and walked around, just exploring the area. Prague seems to be pretty small, so I got further on the map than I was expecting to by just wandering around.

Here’s a few things I’ve noticed:

Nothing is open on the weekends until like 11:00 and the city is weirdly empty.

Sometimes there are just open manholes and you should watch where you’re walking.

There’s no A/C in my room and I don’t like that.

My window is double hinged (it opens vertically and horizontally) and this weirds me out.

Like the Singapore apartment I stayed at, my window does not have a screen to stop bugs from flying in and this freaks me out.

There are apparently no public drinking laws and I’ve already seen 1.5 stumbling drunk men at 11 in the morning.

Similarly seeing people walk around (in the morning no less) with open beer bottles in hand is a bit strange.

My washing machine is apparently “American style” but I’ve never seen anything like it, and am very confused by how you’re meant to operate it.

I have no dryer so it’s going to have to be the old fashioned way of drying.

The city has Coruscant style construction in some places where a >100 year old building just has a modern building built on top of it.

Getting on/off the trams does not require swiping anything, it’s just assumed you have a pass. Though, I think an inspector does randomly come onto trains and ask to see passes. I haven’t seen that yet.

I don’t know how to say thank you and I feel like a jerk.

Bagging your own groceries while an angry old Czech woman stares at me is an intense experience. I’m sure there’s a better way.

The trams accelerate and decelerate surprisingly quickly.

On the way into the city from the airport, we passed a tram that looked like what you think of when you read “Soviet era tram” and it looked awesome.

Big old churches are neato.

[why485]

Today is my last day in Prague.

The Vitkov monument was the most prominent landmark near where I was staying and could be seen from many areas of the city. Since it became my reference point, I decided to take photos of it from various places I visited.

Click on the photos to see where each was taken.

[why485]

Honest Prague question because this is becoming a real problem. How do you deal with the heat? Is there a secret? I literally cannot sleep at night anymore because it's 28C in my room and unbearably humid. I've seriously been considering the logistics of sleeping at the office instead.

If I can manage to fall asleep (a big ask, I only accidentally did it last night at 4AM because I was so tired), within an hour I'll wake up completely drenched in sweat because of the heat and humidity. I'm getting flashbacks to trying to survive a Florida summer after a hurricane knocks out the power and it’s awful.

[why485]

I haven’t been writing much about my Prague trip compared to the Singapore trip and lately I’ve been thinking about why that might be the case. I think what it comes down to is that it’s just inherently less interesting to me.

The Singapore trip had several things going for it: the work I was doing there was super relevant to my interests. For one, I was there to talk to RSAF F-16 pilots to help solve problems with our F-16 simulator. More than that though, I found the tiny island city state itself, its culture, and its (brief, but fascinating) history very compelling.

Whenever I tell people “hey I’m stuck in Prague for a while” the first response I always get is, “Oh, I hear Prague is really pretty.” I can confirm that it is very pretty. The architecture is intricate, there’s cool old churches everywhere, and you get a sense of history that is unlike anything I’ve experienced. The problem though is that personally, I’m not too into it aside from a superficial appreciation of the aesthetics. For example while out exploring today, I stumbled across the museum, took a peek inside, thought to myself, “Wow, that’s a lot of fancy stuff” and then went outside and into the metro to cool off. 

Though, I did see something about a Battle of Britain exhibit, so I might actually go inside proper sometime soon.

I can certainly appreciate what I’m looking at, and I can assure that I’m still impressed with a lot of what I see. When I accidentally wandered to the St. Vitus Cathedral, it was breathtaking. I think about the work that goes into building these sorts of things, especially considering many are hundreds of years old, and it’s impossible to not be impressed. However on the whole, I guess it’s just not my thing.

Also, unlike Singapore, there’s no weeb stores for me to talk about in Prague. I’ve only found one westaboo store, and it was just stuff you would see a decently sized comic book store.

Something else that’s really been putting a damper on my enjoyment has been the practical living stuff. Living in Singapore was, for the most part, not too different from the US. However here, everything other than public transport (which is stellar) is way more complicated, takes way more time, and just feels less efficient/effective overall. The laundry situation is the biggest example of this and it’s a topic I have such a strong opinion about, I don’t want to get into it here. See also the serious problems I’ve been having with even something as basic as being comfortable in the flat I’m staying in.

To end on a more positive note, and despite what it may sound like above, I do genuinely enjoy exploring the city. It’s walkable in a way I’ve never seen before, and there’s such a variety of things to see without even leaving the city. One of my favorite days so far has been the adventure that was getting to Ctirad, and also getting back. I really love just picking a direction and seeing what I find. For the most part I don’t really follow any tour guides or prepare. I just walk around until something catches my eye, then try to figure out how to get there. The best part is that you’re almost never more than a 15 minute walk from public transport, so exploration is highly encouraged.

[why485]

Bagging groceries still feels like a hostage exchange, but thanks to some tips I’ve seen posted from people on here, I think I have a system.

If I have more than like 2-3 things, I just take everything that I had and then put it back into the same cart I brought it up in. This way I can take my stuff to a nearby Aldi-like self-bagging area and bag in peace.

If I have just a couple things, I have my backpack open and stuff my things inside as soon as they cross the finish line. This still feels like a really stressful Mario Party minigame though, so use caution.