Playing Tourist

March 22, 2013 (continued)

After we finished eating, Lubos bought a mini-pizza (which was sold at the same deli) to take with him. As we walked towards the center of town to find a bar or someplace to get warm drinks, he opened up the box and offered us some.

“That requires taking my hands out of my pockets,” I said, having lost my red gloves sometime between Kutna Hora and now.

Ivana took a piece. “The pizza is warm,” she suggested.

It didn’t really take much more to convince me. It smelled good and was devoid of vegetables. I took a slice. Once we’d eaten all of it, Ivana took a picture of him with the miniature pizza box saying it should be his souvenir.

 “I’m cold,” Ivana said.

“I am a bit chilly too,” I said. In reality, I couldn’t believe how cold it was walking around town. Initially, only my fingers and face felt cold, but the humid air gradually drained the heat from my core.

“Chilly is less than cold?” she asked.

I hadn’t really thought about it before. “I guess so,” I said. "I suppose it goes 'chilly, cold, then freezing.'"

We continued walking. The two of them were walking hand in hand and talking Czech. It was nice travelling with them. In an odd way, they felt like family. In so many relationships, it feels like constant chatter is required to keep the relationship alive. Sure, there are those long time friendships where two people can drive in silence or spend hours together without saying a word and never question the relationship, but they are few and far between. After knowing Ivana and Lubos for just six weeks, I felt very comfortable with them. I trusted their friendship and was grateful to have them join me on this journey.

Occasionally, Lubos would pull out his iPhone and check for directions. They would check the map and point out a new direction. They rarely told me where we were going in English, but I understood the gist of what was happening.

We passed one fancy looking building that Ivana guessed was an opera house or something. Lubos looked it up and said it was nothing important. We also passed a few very cool looking churches. One showed up on the app as St. Michaels, while the other didn’t show up.

We continued to walk through streets, across parks, and in and out of vacant lots.

“This seems pretty dark for the city center,” I said.

“Yes,” Ivana agreed. She said something to Lubos and he handed her his iPhone. She checked the map and they argued over which way to go. Finally, we settled on one and continued up a few blocks.

In addition to the frigid temperatures, there was snow on the ground and layers of thick ice on all of the walkways. For the most part, I kept my footing but there were a few patches that caught me off guard.

As we came around yet another corner, we approached a little canal off of the river. There were lights under the water that made it cast a blue glow all around. Looking at the light, I realized it was starting to snow. It felt odd being in the second day of spring and looking at this scene that looked like the cover of a Christmas card.

“The water glows blue,” Ivana said, as Lubos checked his phone.

“It must be cold too,” I said. “I’m starting to feel cold.”

“I am freezing!” she said. She walked a few yards up the walkway. As she turned back towards us, she lost her footing and started to fall. She quickly steadied herself, and looked to see if we’d noticed. I had, and we both laughed.

Lubos said something in Czech to her and then told me, “The center is that way.” He pointed across a busy street with three lanes of traffic on each side. On the other side, there was a well-lit walk way that looked like it went on for quite a ways.

We navigated our way over to a cross walk. As we did, Lubos tried running and sliding on the ice. It worked more or less, but Ivana and I did not join him. After we crossed, we weaved our way back into the neighborhood.

After walking for a few minutes, Ivana asked him a question in Czech. He pulled out his phone and they began a very heated conversation.

“Do you want to go to the center, or back to the hostel?” she asked.

“I’m good with either,” I said. I’d enjoyed the walk thus far, but I was starting to get cold enough that any “in-door” option sounded good.

She turned back to Lubos and they continued talking and gesturing. Finally, she turned back to me and said, “Ok, we will go catch metro back to hostel.”

I don’t speak Czech, but I’m pretty sure she made that call.

We cross back across the street and into the park covered with ice. There was a stairwell with a blue sign over it. The sign had a capital “U” on it to mark the underground subway. Our footsteps sounded like Irish cloggers as we raced down the steps and out of the cold. At the bottom of the stairs, there were machines to purchase tickets. Ivana touched the screen to buy a ticket, but Lubos scolded her. I didn’t understand what he said, but I presume it was because the machine was in German and we didn’t know which stop to go to. They talked back and forth and he pulled out his iPhone to look through the app.

“I think Prague metro is better because they have maps in the station,” she said.

Lubos continued scrolling through the app. Ivana shivered and said something to him in Czech. “We are lost like tourists,” she said.

“You get used to it,” I said. She laughed.

We paced around as Lubos tried to figure out where we were. As I rounded the corner, I saw something on the wall. I was about 98% sure I knew what it was, but I went over to look at it. When I stood in front of it, I saw I was right.

“Is this the map you are looking for?” I asked.

They came over and looked it. It was exactly what we needed. Lubos studied it for a while then pointed to different areas on it, speaking to Ivana in Czech. “He doesn’t know which ticket we need to get back,” she said. 

I laughed. “What if we ask someone?”

Lubos agreed and approached a mother and daughter walking by. They spoke in German, while Ivana and I stood off to the side. “It makes me nervous for the US this summer,” she said. “I will be lost like this all the time.”

“It’s kind of exciting actually,” I said. “You get kind of a rush from realizing you’re on your own and every day is an adventure.”

When the two strangers walked off, Lubos said something to Ivana and she let out a whine. “They didn’t know how to get there either,” she translated.

We all stared at the map. “Where are we now?” I asked. Lubos pointed at a station. “And where is the hostel?” I asked. He pointed at another station. I studied it while he pulled out his phone again. A train came into the station on the right-hand side of the platform. I looked at the sign overhead to see which way it was going. Its destination was in the opposite direction of our hostel.

Looking back at the map, I had an idea. “What if we caught this train,” I said pointing to the map. “And rode it to this stop, then transferred to this line, back to the hostel.” Ivana looked at what I was explaining. Then she called Lubos over and explained it to him in Czech.

He agreed.

Pooling together our coins, we purchased tickets. “How much time is it for?” Ivana asked. Lubos answered in Czech. “It’s for six stations,” she explained. “How many stations do we need?”

I counted on the map. “Ten,” I said. She whined again.

“We’ll give it a try, and see how far we get,” I said.

When the subway came on the left side of the station, we go on. The inside of the cars was dirty and the seats were covered in fake, plastic leather with a pink leopard skin print. We found a bench and sat down. “You are good at getting lost,” Ivana told me.

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I said.

We rode along for five stops, until we got to our transfer. We all agreed when we got off, that the Prague subway was a lot nicer. Following the flow of traffic upstairs, we found the platform for the next train.

“Should we buy new tickets?” I asked.

They talked about it in Czech. Lubos finally said, “I think we will be okay.” I chuckled a little. Having a run in with the German police was not a bucket list item for me.

As we waited, Lubos asked me if I knew any German. “Sprechen sie duetsch,” I offered as pretty much the only example I knew. They both laughed.

“Say it again,” Ivana said. I did. The both laughed again. “Your accent sounds funny,” she said. “Say ‘sprechen.’”

“Sprechen,” I said.

“Sprechen,” she corrected.

“Sprechen.”

She laughed. “Sprechen.”

She was howling with laughter to the point that the station was looking at us.

“It is more in your throat,” Lubos said, demonstrating sort of a gag noise. “Sprechen.”

“Sprechen.”

“Sprechen,” he corrected

“Sprechen. Sprechen.”

“That is closer,” he said. Ivana was still laughing.

The subway came and we got on. There weren’t any visible police on the train, but I wondered about plain clothes officers. They were common in Prague, so it seemed possible to me that they would be here as well. Ivana and Lubos didn’t seem worried about it so I tried not to think about it.

This train actually went above ground (sort of like the L in Chicago.) It was much more crowded than the first. I couldn’t help but notice that most people who got on or off did so in a boisterous manner and were all carrying an open bottle of beer.

“Maybe the best parties are in this area,” Ivana said. She wasn’t joking. Finding good parties is a hobby for people from Prague. They are advertised on the streets and hosted by various restaurants, clubs, and businesses.

No sooner than she had said this, we started hearing music. Someone further up in the car had a guitar and was strumming away. From his accent, I thought the song was a German folk song, but when he hit the chorus, the English words were loud and clear.

It was Eagle Eye Cherry’s song “Save Tonight.” I smiled. It was a nice subtle reminder to savor every moment of the trip. Time was going to fly by and the adventure would be over before I knew it.

The subway stopped just across the street from our hostel. When we got off, Ivana pointed to a club. We’d gone into the center looking for a place to get a drink, when there had been one right across from where we started.

There was also a bar in our hostel and we went in there to get drinks. While I saved a table, Lubos went to the bathroom, and Ivana ordered drinks. She got a mojito for herself, a Heineken for Lubos, and a 7up for me.

“Drink up,” Lubos said. “We are going to the club in 20 minutes.”

I laughed. It was 11:45. “I think I am going to bed in 20 minutes.”

He laughed. “I’m kidding.”

Ivana said something to him in Czech and took a sip of his beer. “It’s good!” She said. She normally prefers wine to beer.

“Do you want to try it?” he offered me.

“Sure,” I said, taking the glass from him.

I took a sip. Czech beer had burned my throat and bothered my taste buds. This beer made me straight up gag. I couldn’t believe how awful it tasted. I barely got it down, and immediately washed my mouth out with some soda.

“You don’t like it?” he said.

“No!” I said. “That is…wow…that is…not good.”

They laughed.

“Ok, so we will do sightseeing in the morning,” Ivana said.

“What time do you want to start?” I asked.

They talked to each other, and then she said, “Nine a.m? Is okay with you?”

“Works for me,” I said.

“Ok,” she said. “Then we should go to bed now.”

That sounded like a great idea!