Random Thought: 23

Well,

Europe is essentially over. I spent 2 days in Prague, and it wasn’t nearly enough to do it all, which is fine, because I would love to return, and now I’m on my way to Frankfurt. Tomorrow is all about flying. That’s right. I’m finally going to freakin’ India. It’s so weird, but I’m so happy to be done with this backpacking shit for now.

Anyway, my time in Prague was awesome. I was really annoying though, like I ate Subway three times. THREE TIMES. I couldn’t help myself, they had fountain pop WITH ICE. And they even had the same cookies and everything. It was so good. It was also so sad. The same girl was working the counter during two my visits and I know what she was thinking. I also got Starbucks twice…I don’t even get Starbucks in the US. Oh, and both Budapest and Prague are overrun with TGIFridays. Seriously.

On a brighter note though, I somewhat went all out in Prague. I don’t know if you’ve ever backpacked around a continent, but if you have (and if you did it on a budget), then you know what it’s like to usually skimp on stuff. Like, I hardly ever take the guided tour or make the advance reservation for a few extra euros, etc. But, when you make these decisions repeatedly, you tend to not splurge on anything, which is worse than spending too much in the first place! This kind of happened last year with Jason. Anyway, my first morning in Prague, I went to visit the castle, and I was like ‘Ya know what? I’m gonna go all out.’ So I booked the LONG tour of the Castle (which is 3 hours long), with the full audio guide. It cost me $30….and let me tell ya, it was so fucking boring.

Never again. I will never again splurge for splurging’s sake. If it’s nothing something that’s just supposed to be the sweetest freakin thing on the continent, I’m not buying. I was so bored, I literally just skipped like a third of it. Like, oh, there’s stop 31….I’ll just go right to stop 33.

The next day though, I had a much better experience. There’s this organization called New Europe and they offer free (yes, free!) walking tours all over major cities of Europe. And Jerusalem. Prague is actually the only city on my itinerary that they offered tours in, but others include London, Brussels, Berlin, and probably a dozen others. So anyway, the deal is that you just meet at Starbucks, then these people in red tour guide t-shirts pick you up, you go on a THREE HOUR tour of the city, and at the end, you can tip them if you want.

This was pretty much the best tour ever. The tour guide was like, 22 or something and he just moved to Prague for like 4 months to be a tour guide. He does this everyday and lives off tips. Then he’s gonna move to Berlin or something and do it there for 4 months. What a sweet freakin’ life. That’s like flight attendants. I have always maintained that I would love NOTHING more than to be flight attendant! How do airline employees work though? Like ya know how you’ll go to an airport, and say you get in the Air France line, even if you’re in the US, the employees are French. So like, are they flight attendants and then when they’re abroad they work the counter? I dunno but it’s all interesting.

So yeah, back to the tour. Although let me just say this! When waiting for the tour to start at Starbucks, I met this guy from Texas and he was SUCH a DUMBASS. He had the thickest Texas accent you can imagine, and when our tour guide actually complimented him on it, he replied ‘Yeah, well, I’m actually not as smart as those northerners, that’s why I’ve got this accent here.’ What? And then when the guide was trying to round everyone up to go, he was like ‘Move ‘em along little lady!’ or some shit like that. Oh man. He was from Irving, which is where Winston moved from.

So really back to the tour now! It was awesome because I learned so much about the revolution and about what exactly happened the people of the Czech Republic over the last 100 years. It’s so interesting because people always think that like, after Europe was liberated from Hitler, everyone was saved. But really, things were just as bad under Stalin, and the people of the CR were really under a terrifying occupation for like 50 years. We heard all these really, really moving stories too.

Like there was this story about this concentration camp outside Prague. It was FULL of children, and this one woman (also a prisoner) couldn’t stand to see these children just lose their childhood, so ever-so-slowly, she stole art supplies from the concentration camp facilities. In secret, she would give these supplies to the children and tell them to draw or paint what they dreamed about. They drew pictures of their families, they painted pictures of the roads that they’d see when they finally left the camp, etc, and then the woman collected them and all and buried them. There were hundreds of these pictures, and they kept well underground. Sometime in the 50s, they were discovered, and they’re all hanging all over Europe…the majority are in this Synagogue in Prague now. I swear I almost cried when that story was over.

Did you know that Hitler was going to use Prague as a kind of city-museum, after he exterminated the jews? He handpicked it to be somewhere that people could visit to gawk at this extinct race, and learn about their strange ways. All these really significant Jewish memorabilia and artifacts were brought to Prague for this reason. Well, the Jewish community ironically turned this huge collection into an amazing museum. I didn’t get to go there, but if I ever get to go back, it will be first on my list.

Or, oh my god, we also learned about all the brave attempts of the Czech people to earn their freedom. Like when the US was coming to liberate central Europe, the Czechs received word, and just had a massive uprising against the Nazis. They barricaded themselves in buildings and people fought with their everyday housewares, like pots and pans and forks. They didn’t know when the US would be there, but they knew they were on their way…so if they just kept fighting, they would eventually have help and freedom. Only that the US never came. The US/Soviet line of demarcation feel just THREE HOURS from Prague, so the Czechs didn’t have their freedom until 50 years later.

We also heard really amusing stories, like in the 60s, the Czech leader had given a lot of freedoms to the country, that other Soviet satellite states never had. Like he would allow people visas to leave the country, or the right to criticize the government. Well, when the Soviets heard this, they sent in all these tanks to just completely take over the city and implement all these totalitarian policies. But the Czechs had other plans. I don’t remember how, but word got out that the Soviets were on their way. But the Czechs knew that the Soviets wouldn’t know how to find Prague without directions. So, people everywhere went out into the streets and took down every single street sign and direction sign on the highways. They also renamed every town Dubcek, which is the name of their leader at the time. They changed all the railway routes so that they went in complete circles. It took the Soviets like 2 weeks to finally find their way to Prague…although, sadly, this culminated in the CR becoming the second-most hardline country after the USSR itself.

God I could just go on and on with this, but essentially, this tour was just phenomenal, and I tipped the guide 10 euros. I also met these two really cool backpackers named Justin and Edna (lol, yeah, when she told me her name, she was slightly embarrassed), and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together. We went to this Museum of Communism, which was SO cool. It was full of all this Anti-American propaganda, and it was organized into three sections: Communism the Dream, Communism the Reality, and Communism the Nightmare. We also watched this 15 minute video that actually showed what it was like during the revolution of 1989. It shows all these police beating protesters and journalists being assaulted for having cameras, it was just amazing. So amazing, I watched it twice.
It’s just so hard to believe that the Berlin Wall was still together before I was born. Like, only twenty years ago, all these countries in Central and Eastern Europe were undergoing some of the saddest and cruelest regimes, and also some of the most important revolutions of our time. I just can’t even imagine what that would be like. I mean, that could been my parents…or my friends’ parents, in all actuality. Perhaps one of the best things about the museum was its location: it was above a casino and behind a McDonalds…lol. I also got some great postcards.

I guess, at the end of it all, I’m just happy and proud that I made it this far. I’m safe, I’m happy, I haven’t lost any kind important document, and though I still have about 24 hours in which something could go wrong, I’m still feeling pretty good about all of it. The next couple of days will probably be pretty stressful, but the mere fact that Europe is now over is such a good feeling.

But I also am sad to leave it all behind. I mean, I feel like I just really mastered the art of making friends, and also being on my own and okay with it. But I guess that’s also a really good note to start India on. Though I’m somewhat nervous to get on a plane for a new destination, I’m mostly looking at it as just a really exciting adventure lol. It’s weird, but there’s something that seems so appealing to just being on a plane after all this.

I mean, with a train or bus, you’re constantly afraid you might miss your stop. Or there’s always the chance that your train is gonna split somewhere along the ride and the first half will go one way while the second half will go the other, and you don’t know if you’re where you need to be. And you can’t sleep, lest some creep steal your shit, etc. None of that is really an issue on a plane. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about hundreds of crazy drivers the entire journey over.

And, because I have nothing else to write about, here are my European Awards 2010!

Most eye-opening: Sarajevo, Bosnia
Most beautiful location: Dubrovnik, Croatia
Most relaxing: Split, Croatia
Most serene: Lake Bled, Slovenia
Most fun: Budapest, Hungary
Most boring: Banja Luka, Bosnia
Most liveable: Ljubljana, Slovenia
The location I wish I had the most extra time for: Budapest, Hungary
The location I must return to: Prague, Czech Republic
The location I hope all my friends go to: Mostar, Bosnia

K bye,
Josh A

PS the other day, this Czech guy said ‘Goodbyebye’ to me.

OH! And these are some questions I’ll leave you to ponder:
1) Why is everything in Europe paprika-flavored? Doritos would change their lives.
2) Why is it that everytime you ask someone to take a picture of you, they NEVER attempt to use zoom? It doesn’t make sense. Like, yes, my friends and I would LOVE a picture of a huge concrete wall that just happens to include us in a fraction of the frame.

PPS I love you all very much. Especially Jason :)