Prague/Budapest Sojorn

October 25-26, 1998

Todays Photos

Tomorrows Journal

We leave Nassau Bay, stop by the JSC credit union to get $100 more ready cash - I wonder if my JSCFCU card is worth taking. Get to the airport in plenty of time. Stop at Enterprise rent a car - Chip quits dipping snuff - we shall see!!! - they drive us to Delta. Great seats - emergency exit ones with lots of leg room. We've got these all the way, thanks to Chip who called up the Delta guy and gave him a sob story. Food is pretty good{{At least Rich thought so}} - chicken something - I get Chips salad. {{, mine was some kind of mystery meat and mashed potatoes, Rich ate the salad - the meal was lacking in substance(very little meat)}}

We land in NYC - get moved about with one of those strange people carrriers on wheels. On the NY to Prague flight our seats are screwed up - we decide to chance it and move to the aisle seats anyway. Plenty of leg room - a lady one row back And in the center of the plane has a baby boy - the contraption that the airline has for his is really clever.{{It is a type of ?? that hangs on the wall in front of the seat.}} He sleeps and plays all the way to Stuttguart.

We also talk to a photographer from Czech - he now lives in San Antonio and operates a photography studio. He says he charges a lot and with his european accent the americans seem to like him!! He was a computer engineer before he defected about 15 years ago - now he takes about 6 vacations per year. His ex-wife is his partner in San Antonio. He's going to Prague to visit his sometime girlfriend - she's not to be confused with his girlfriend in the USA. He warns us that we won't find any place to stay in Prague for less than $100. {{Little did he know}} He suggests that we stay on the outskirts of Prague and ride the subway back and forth.

The next meal is steak, rice, beans, salad, tiramisu, and crackers/cheese. Chip eats the steak and mashed potatoes - I get his salad and beans. He's getting hungry now and resorts to eating the crackers and cheese{{They were quite tasty at this point!}} - mine also. The little boy is pretty quiet -his mother plays with him from time to time.

Breakfast is fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice and a roll. Chip eats the hard roll and drinks the juice. I get everything else, He's getting more and more hungry. I suggest that next time he claim to belong to some religious cult that only eats meat and beans {{I will definitely remember next time.}}

We land in Stuttgart -we hope to get off the plane and wander around. No go, they announce that German security will be boarding the palne and that we need to have our passport ready and be ready to identify our bags {{I was expecting a cavity search, fortunately it never happened}}. They lie. We proceed on to Prague.

Jan and her rabbitt

On this leg of the flight we talk to a fellow passenger, Jan. She's from Colorado and is attending some university in Prague for one semester. She has a stuffed rabbit with her. We promised we wouldn't make fun of her and her rabbit - heh heh. Snicker snicker

One of the stewardesses was from CLC, went to baylor, marketing. Worked for an ad agency didn't like it. Is now a stewardess- been for 2.5 years - based in NYC - Manhatten - loves it.

We land in Prague - the first thing we notice is the Budweiser machines in the airport {{They would be Miller Lite machines in Houston If the US govt. would allow it}}. This is the ORIGINAL Bud!!! We decide to buy tram tickets{{Actually we find out that we have to take the bus to the end of the subway line. It took us quite a while to find the bus tickets, which are sold at the newsstand in the airport.}}, ride to the end of the subway, ride to downtown Prague and try to find a place to stay. On the way to the tram we encounter a fellow American (from Maryland) - she moved to prague a few years ago to live with relatives - she's 70 years old and rides for free - she sort of takes us under her wing and helps us buy subway tickets into the center of town. She warns us that it's very expensive in the center of town and suggests that we find a place on the outskirts of town and ride the subway back and forth. She gets us off at the proper metro stop and walks us down to "Cedok" - the major travel/tourist agency (It was once the ONLY one) Chip begins to complain about how heavy his two bags are{{They were getting very heavy after a couple of hours toting them around!! It's my first trip anywhere and I wanted to be prepared. therefore, I overpacked a little.}}. She warns us against sleeping on the streets and to humor her we go into the Cedok agency.

They quote us a minimum price of $80. We decide to go check out a few of the places mentioned in the "Lonely Planet" guide. Chip continues to complain about how heavy his two bags are {{One of obviously had never been to europe, and didn't know what we would need(better to be safe than sorry.)}}

As we're walking along, a short dark-haired lady approaches us. She wants to know if we speak english. We figure she's also american and wants advice/help or something. It turns out that she's in the business of renting flats. She tells us she has a flat for rent near the city center. Cheap. Yeah yeah yeah - we've been warned about that approach. They promise you a great flat - then you find out it's 10 miles out of town. Or they promise you a great flat and it's a dump. Or they promise you a great flat and then kidnap you and sell you into slavery.{{Paranoia}} We insist on her walking us over to the flat{{Actually she insisted that we look

Our landlady makes recommendations.

at it so we could talk price.}} As she begins to unlock the doors I become suspicious - what if she has a gang of thugs hidden in the flat just waiting for us?? What if we have to walk forever to get there?? What if it's a dump??{{Someone is getting a little paraniod, huh!}} We'll just try to be on our guard and hopefully we won't get taken advantage of too much. Chip continues to complain about how heavy his two bags are. She walks us up to the flat - what if it's on the top floor{{I don't think we would have complained, considering the price.}}?? It's on the second floor - two huge bedrooms and a large bath - with the largest bathtub either of us has seen in years. The rooms are furnished with antiques. Including two grandfather-type clocks and the family china - literally!!! Parquet floors and persian rugs. Two single beds in each room {{Of course they were only 5 feet long, not that it mattered, considering the price.}}. It overlooks some church and is on about 8 different tram lines. Chandeliers in both rooms. Great place, we try to conceal our glee as the negotiation begins. We have no idea what a good rate is - but we're sure it's less that she asks for in the beginning. The longer we stay - the less per day it is. {{The rate she started at was about $20.00/person, but we talked her down to about $18.00/person for just the 2 days. When we decided to stay for the week, she brought it down to about $16.00/person.}} We don't want to promise much because we're not sure when we will leave for Budapest.

She starts to give us directions and suggestions. Nice lady - has a 13 year old son and says she manages about 4 flats.

We unpack our stuff - chip unpacks his stuff and hangs it up. I could care less about wrinkled clothing. {{Of course I looked alot better the entire week(priorities).}} I gird my loins for combat{{Which one must do quite often at Rich's age}} - ready to be assulted by pickpockets, rapists, gypsies and so on. Ready for our room to be ransacked when we leave.{{I just dressed in my neatly pressed clothes and rested for a long night to follow. I wasn't too worried about being mugged or raped! It would've given us something to write about}} We hide our money in several places, hide the travellers checks in another, hide this there hide that here. We leave to walk around - worried about if our keys will work when we return {{(At least worried if we can figure out how to use all four of them to get in)}} - worried if any of our stuff will be in our room when we return {{I never even thought about it.}}, etc etc.

This was one of our favorite restaurants. Good food/beer, a little off the beaten path and CHEAP!

Off we go - this town is FANTASTIC - you must see it to believe it. Postcard sights around every corner. We round a corner - there's a restaurant - looks interesting - we recognize some words on the chalkboard menu outside. We go inside. Order dark beer. {{It was excellent for our first european beer}}. I get "Prague Style" goulash with potato dumplings. Chip gets stuffed pork with potato dumplings. His pork is stuffed with cabbage - he hates cabbage {{Rich was happy to trade with me as long as I shared some of the goulash with him.}} .

We leave the place (150kr) {{what a bargain}} and stroll around. We begin to notice the first (and most interesting) of many features of Prague life. The women - there seems to be an endless supply of tall, strikingly beautiful women. Dark hair, little/no make-up, black/dark clothing, large clunky shoes. They look enough alike that many of them could have the same parents. {{Rich started calling them cookie cutters. We referred to them in this way for the rest of the trip.}}

I think this contraption is to keep floating stuff from crashing into the buildings during high water.

We return to the flat - we've decided to stay all week - this place is just too good to leave. Chip goes out and buys some chips {{They only had 2 different kinds, and they both sucked.}} and a bottle of wine {{Which was not too bad(and cheap)}} while I play with my computer, He returns and takes a nap while I work on this publication. We go out again - just walking one direction and then another - all streets look interesting and inviting - we find a crowd outside some store - given the composition of the crowd and general town we figure that some local rock star (or perhaps a local DJ) is going to make an appearance. We move on. We wander around more, finding a restaurnat named the "Adria Restaurant" - interesting only because my mother's name is Adria.
After dark we go down to the Danube River - we can see Prague castle beyond it - up on a hill, We walk along the River - there's a boat/barge type restaurant that's open for the lunch crowd {{It says it's only open from 11:00am - 1:00pm - looks interesting - also looks cold given this weather}}