Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. A quick walk into the Old Town feels much like a walk into the past. The architecture was the first thing that called my attention. Being in countryside Czech Republic for two weeks, I thought I had already become familiar with the so-called Czech atmosphere, but Prague is very different from the small Bohemian town of Ceske Budejovice. I found a cheap but surprisingly comfortable room at the Florenc 41 hostel, about twenty minutes from the city center. The area was a bit sketchy and rundown, which in a strange way added even more charm to the experience. It was my last weekend in Eastern Europe that summer, so I had to get busy. I headed over to the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square to meet up with some EGGers. 

 Although US dollars were still strong and powerful in Budweis, the same couldn’t be said in   Prague. Things cost much more, especially in the Old Town. We later found out that the most expensive ham in the whole country is sold right there, across from the Clock. Supposedly it’s really good ham. Considering that Czech cuisine has an extensive variety of pork dishes, that doesn’t come as a surprise. Our group wanted to have a fun evening  without spending too much, so we walked a few blocks east to Pivovarsky Klub, a local pub/microbrewery with six draft beers and many different bottles from all over the world. The rich smell of roast pork is a plus. We very much enjoyed this joint. Ice cold beer served in large mugs fueled our conversation. 

 Prague, like most cities in Europe, has a few free walking tours. On Sunday, we met up again at the Old Town Square for the 11am session, which was very inspiring. The tour took about two very informative hours, during which we got to see the Jewish Quarter, New Town and the famous Charles Bridge (among other sights). We didn’t make it as far as the Prague Castle, unfortunately, but I’ll be sure to stop by next time. We had lunch in an underground bar/restaurant (can’t remember what it was called), with surprisingly good pizza, and an atmosphere that my claustrophobic-self was still able to bear. It seems that cold Czech beer helps me overcome some of my fears. 

Mark, Teresa and I met again later that in the evening for some Goulash (and more beer), and a nice walk on the all lit up Charles Bridge and around the Old Town. On the way back, Teresa and I set up my visit to Barcelona later that week. I dropped her off and then found out that getting lost in Prague is not as hard as I thought. It may have to do with the fact that the maps don’t show some of the newer roads, or where the old ones end. Trying to find inexistent shortcuts caused me to roam around for an hour before “safely” getting back to the hostel. No real surprise there. It got to the point where I was surprised when I didn’t get lost. 

 After five hours of very good sleep, I took the bus to the Ruzyne airport and caught my early flight to Rome. I was very excited for my first trip to Italy. Rome is a city that I had always dreamt of visiting, and that’s where I learned that you should never have high hopes about the places you want to go. More on that later.

  

Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (Part 3)

After eight long hours on two trains, I was back in Ceske Budejovice. I got back a little after 8pm, so most of my fellow linguists had already left the dorms and were out and about doing things. Fabrizio had left me a note saying they our group had gone out to dinner, which reminded me of how hungry I was. The last thing I had eaten was a Zwiebelmett at the train station in Berlin. Raw pork? Yes. Zwiebelmetts are basically raw ground pork with lime and onions served on a piece of bread. Not bad, actually, but certainly not enough to fill me up for the rest of the day. I was starving, and I had to find food.

I headed over to a few nearby restaurants, only to find out that they stop serving food around 9pm. My stomach was growling. I walked back, and had just decided to go to bed when Alex and Tom came to rescue me. The group was waiting downstairs to go to a pub two blocks away, called Domino Bar. I know the boys gave me something to snack on, I can’t really remember what it was. I was going to fill my stomach with cold Czech beer, hoping that it had enough nutrients for a healthy diet. Or not. It didn’t matter.

The pub itself was OK. The staff was unfriendly, but that seemed to be the norm around there. There was a couple of pool tables and foosball, nothing too fancy other than the jukebox the girls seemed so happy about. Good company made a huge difference. It was nice to be making new friends, from all parts of the globe, learning and sharing experiences.

Lucerna (Skuherského 1392/75, 370 01 České Budějovice) was our hangout spot on Wednesday and Friday night. This was a much nicer bar, with a lounge and a dance floor. It was huge too, apparently there was also a nightclub upstairs. It was there where I was first introduced to Becherovka, typical herbal Czech liquor that can very well serve as fuel for your party engines. It is smooth and sweet (and cheap), so we sipped on a few singles and doubles over ice.
Undoubtedly, the place where I had the most fun was Kulečníková Herna Metropol. This billiards bar was much like a small Czech version of Backstage Billiards in Orlando. Cheap booze and darts, pool, foosball, among other table games, and GREAT music. Classic rock galore.  There was a bit of a Western vibe to this joint (Americanized, one may say), but that mix made it a very cool place to hang out and drink some beers. On top of that, amicable competition among linguists is always nice. On that note, Czechs are better than you at throwing darts, regardless of where you’re from. They are better than anyone.

The 2011 EGG Summer School was coming to an end. I made very good friends there, some of which I got to visit again a few months later. I had a great time with them in this lovely Czech small town. I only had another two weeks left in Europe, but still lots of energy left to enjoy them to the fullest. The next post will show a bit of my fun weekend in Prague.

Berlin, Germany

In order to get to Berlin from Budweis, I had to, first, get to Prague, and then transfer to the Deutsche Bahn fast train. Trip duration: right about 8 hours. Some fellow EGGers who were going to Prague for the weekend made the first leg of that journey much more fun. I met the group from Romania at the bus stop, along with Aquiles, another Brazilian. We talked and joked around during the whole three-hour train ride, and in spite of my light hangover, I managed to stay awake. I was having fun. So was Elena, especially after she saw me take a bite of my delicious train-station sandwich and pull a long blond hair out of my mouth. Apparently it is humanly possible to laugh at someone for 45 minutes non-stop.

I had a little over an hour in Prague, but as much as I wanted to go out and do some exploring with the Romanian group, that wasn’t going to be enough time. I said my goodbyes and looked for a place to eat (hopefully hair-free). The restaurant Potrefená Husa is a type of chain with locations throughout Czech Republic and Slovakia. Not my favorite. The prices were a little high (even for Prague), and the food was just alright. The service was a bit slow too, which almost caused me to miss my connection to Berlin. I ran across the crowded station and boarded the DB train, which left less than 30 seconds after that. Phew!

Five hours later, I arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where my friend Angela was patiently waiting for me. I had met Angela in Braga a few weeks before, so since I was “in the neighborhood”, I decided to pay her a visit. We headed over to this tiny pub called Dicke Wirtin (Carmerstraße 9  10623 Berlin) for some ice cold German beer and authentic regional food.  Angela introduced me to “solei”, which is a typical appetizer in German pubs. Solei is a pickled egg served on a plate. It seems simple and bland, but Angela taught me the right way of eating it: cut it lengthwise, remove the yolk, add a bit of vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard, then place the half yolk back and eat each half with one bite. Result: surprisingly good.

After the solei, we had some Kartoffelsuppe (Berlin-style soup), which was also very tasty. I then ordered the roast pork with dumplings and cabbage, which couldn’t have been more German. Angela ordered meatballs in a white sauce, with beets and potatoes. We stuffed our faces and had a few more beers. I really enjoyed Dicke Wirtin (which means “fat landlady”). This landlady filled us up without leaving us broke.

We had a very busy Sunday. The goal was to see as much of Berlin as possible in only one day, which really isn’t much time for such a big city. We grabbed some “Coffee To Go”  and rode the U-Bahn to Berlin Hbf, which is just a short walk from Bundeskanzleramt - The German Chancellery, and the Reichstag, among a few other government buildings. We walked a few minutes south and saw the Brandenburg gate, one of the main symbols of Berlin, which is two blocks from the famous Hotel Adlon.

 

Also not very far from there was the Holocaust Memorial, which is undoubtedly a place that evokes dormant feelings. I was a bit scared and sad upon leaving. Luckily we found some decent currywurst across the street, so that helped a little. I had never heard of currywurst before, but to my surprise it was quite delectable. It’s nothing more than a good size pork sausage with curry ketchup, served with fries. Fast-food was good again.

After recharging the batteries, we headed southeast to explore what was once East Germany. We even saw some Trabis on the way there, and Angela showed me the Ampelmännchen for the first time. In East Germany, the pedestrian crossing signs were different, but remained after the reunification, as a symbol of East Germany. Parts of the Berlin Wall can be seen in different parts of town. The Berlin Wall Monument is a memorial with felt like a brief but enjoyable history lesson. From there, we visited the main former border crossing, Checkpoint Charlie, where you can still breathe a little bit of communism in the air (at least theoretically).

 

Angela and I walked headed over to Alexanderplatz for a quick beer. I wanted to visit a German Biergarten, but we couldn’t really find one that was accessible (and the lingering rain didn’t help). We ended our Berlin tour with dinner and drinks (again) at Potsdamer Platz, For a one day sightseeing experience, I felt like we accomplished quite a lot. I can’t thank Angela enough for the marvelous time I had in Berlin. We sure had great fun together there.

Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (Part 2)

Ceske Budejovice, also known as Budweis, is a charming small town located in the South Bohemia in Czech Republic. I was there for two weeks participating in the EGG Summer School, which was a very rewarding experience for several reasons. As I mentioned in the last post, I will not discuss the academic aspect of it here, but I’ll be happy to share the fun moments I had with my favorite linguists.


  
The first organized party took place on the first Monday night. We gathered everyone around 7pm and took a nice walk to the City Center, for what would be my first mingling event. Two hours and a few half-liter glasses of Pilsner Urquell later, I had talked to almost everyone in the venue. I don’t recall what the bar was called, but I do know for sure that we had a good time there. I made friends with a group of undergraduates from Turkey, who confirmed the hypothesis originated at the Wombats in Vienna: Turkish people know how to party. My boy Nihat seemed determined; if it was up to him, the parties would never end.

 
I also had the pleasure of meeting Adina, Sandra and Elena, from Romania. Much to my surprise, Elena and I hit it off right away, and what started out as an innocent conversation about linguistics was simply the beginning of what would eventually become much stronger (more on that later). Let’s just say I didn’t really know why, but I went home smiling that night.

The organizers had planned four official parties, but we wanted more. We organized our unofficial events to ensure that no linguist would be left behind. We went bowling; we drank beers; we played soccer; we drank beers; we made “sandwiches” and sandwiches; we also drank beers. The hungover faces in the earlier classes reflected how everyone was enjoying themselves. One of these unofficial spontaneous events was the bowling night, which took place at Campus Bowling, a small but well-kept bowling alley located at the nearby Čtyři Dvory shopping mall (Miroslava Chlajna 1510/45, 370 05 České Budějovice 2, Czech Republic). Like most places we went to, no English speakers worked there. Luckily,we always had someone in our group who spoke a Slavic language, generally Serbian or Polish, so we managed to get our lanes and paid a fair price for them.



The restaurants in Ceske Budejovice were much cheaper than anywhere I had been so far. We tried a few places somewhat close to the university, and the average price for a meal and a beer was 100 CZK (roughly $6 American). By meal, I mean a typical Czech meal with all the right fixings. By beer, I mean ice cold refreshing Czech brews on draft (for less than one euro). I had no reason to complain. The food did take a while everywhere we went, but that was because we’d go out to lunch in groups of at least ten. Some of the restaurants barely had room for us. Generally, we found no English speaking waiters, and rarely did we find menus in English. Christen had purchased a survival guide before going there (wise move). I learned that pork in Czech was ‘vepřový’. I was good with that.



There were also soccer matches. Gokhan, Nihat, Irek, Fabrizio and McFadden were just some of the “football” stars that showed their talent to the audience on the 6th and 8th floors. Most of us were there to have fun. After all, they were just friendly soccer matches among linguists, how bad can it be? Calf injury during game two…. won’t point fingers at anyone. Moving on.

Friday night we went to the famous Železná panna (Zátkovo nábřeží, 370 01 České Budějovice), also known as Iron Maiden Tower, for the second official party. This place is a really cool bar located right outside the City Center. The building itself dates back to the 14th century. There’s plenty of outside seating, but there were too many of us, so the place felt small. We hung out there for a little bit, had a few beers, and decided that it was too early to go to bed. What else was there to do on a Friday night? Paradox!

 We walked around Old Town Budweis trying to find a nightclub. I honestly didn’t think we were going to find anything there, since the whole town just felt quiet and silent. Sure enough, after about twenty minutes, our group (of like twenty) stumbled upon this underground dance club called Paradox (Krajinská 33/5, 370 01 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic). Entry fee: 50CZK ($3), well worth the price. I’m not really into nightclubs, but I actually had a good time there. The drinks were cheap, and the local girls were stunning. I believe we were the only foreigners there, as I don’t believe Ceske Budejovice is much of a tourist destination, so the place had a bit of a  ‘local’ vibe. That’s where we saw some of the first EGG couples being formed (no names will be mentioned here). It was definitely great fun!

After a few hours of dancing and drinking some fine absinth and good Czech beer, it was time to walk off the alcohol. The walk back to the dorms took a little over half an hour, and it was generally what we did whenever we went to Old Town. It helps you stay in shape, it helps you sober up (not really), and it helps you socialize. Most of us had decided to go to nearby Cesky Krumlov for the weekend. Some chose to travel a little further and took the Saturday morning train to Prague. I was on that train too, but I was going a little further north, to Berlin, where I was meeting up with my friend Angela. Next post: Berlin, Germany!

Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (Part 1)

The night I spent in Bratislava was fun. The food was great, and the drinks were dirt cheap. The next morning, however, didn’t feel so good. My head was about to explode. It felt like my stomach was inside out, and my liver about to jump out of my mouth. I needed to stay in bed all day, but that wasn’t an option. I had to go to Ceske Budejovice that Sunday for my first EGG (Eastern Generative Grammar) Summer School, which started the following day. I bought a large bottle of water, made my way to the train station and boarded the EC towards Brno, Czech Republic.

The trip took about an hour and a half. There were no empty seats, so I had to stand the whole way there (not fun, especially if you’re hungover). My stomach was growling when I got to Brno. I wasn’t sure if I was hungry or sick, but I knew for sure I didn’t want to see or smell any kind of alcohol. I wanted something like the Caldo Gallego I had in Santiago, or the soup-like concoction my dad makes called “Levanta Defunto” (rise from the dead). I know every country has its own hangover antidotes, and in Czech Republic, I learned that it was called Gulášová polievka.

Gulášová polievka is goulash soup, of Hungarian origin but a Czech/Slovak favorite. It is a very hearty soup with beef, onions, potatoes and different kinds of herbs and spices. This is a must if you’re in the area (hungover or not). I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the fact that the bowl of soup at the train station cost me less than one dollar. I was in Czech Republic, where euros still haven’t been implemented. The Czech Koruna (CZK) is the local currency there, and the exchange rate makes American dollars worth a lot.

From Brno, I caught a bus to Middle of Nowhere, which is the name I gave to the location where I transferred to the Regional train to Budejovice. I can’t remember the exact Czech name of the town, but I know it had three words, with possibly more than forty consonants and at least twenty diacritics. No one at that train stop spoke English. If you can still feel the gloominess and sadness left by so many years of Communism in Bratislava, I can tell you that, in country town Czech Republic, that feeling is ten times more intense. It’s like stepping back into 1980s Czechoslovakia.

I finally arrived in Ceske Budejovice at 8pm that Sunday. I took the bus to the University of South Bohemia - Jihočeská univerzita, where the EGG was taking place that year. I found a seat close to the front and tried not to fall asleep. A few minutes later, I heard a voice that sounded familiar, saying what sounded like my name. Was I dreaming? I looked back and saw Carolina, fellow linguist from Lisbon whom I had the pleasure of meeting during my first week there. We had talked about the EGG then, but arriving there exactly at the same time was a huge coincidence. She was with a large group of linguists that had come on the train from Prague, and right after we got off the bus, I was introduced to each of them.

Like the Braga post, this one will not talk much about the summer school itself, but the good time I had and the awesome people I met in Ceske Budejovice.  Carolina introduced me to a goofy looking Italian guy who half an hour later became my roommate. Fabrizio and I were a two-man team during those two weeks. I also met Alex, who had driven there from his native France with an American named Christen. Veronique had come from Brussels; Nataša and Jovana were Serbians studying in France. Another member of that group was Amui, whom I worked with at FIU. That was our “gang”, which got much larger as new members were being added day after day. We checked in at the dorms, dropped off our bags and headed over to the “City Center” for dinner.

On a Sunday night, that seemed like an impossible mission. Most restaurants we saw on the way were closed. We ended up at Jack Bar Restaurant (Panská 183 370 01 Czech Budejovice) for typical Czech cuisine at affordable prices. This became our favorite restaurant in town. It was a bit distant from the dorms, but it was relatively cheap and had great food and drinks. The goulash soup I had in the afternoon had certainly cured my hangover, so I was all ready for a cold Černy Pivo (dark beer). No regrets there. My liver clapped and screamed words of joy after every sip I took. I was going to be in Czech Republic, where beer is a religion, for two whole weeks! This was just the beginning of a somehow unexpectedly amazing journey, which will be depicted here in the next posts.

Bratislava, Slovakia

The chilly ferry ride from Vienna to Bratislava took a little over an hour. The Twin-City Liner takes you on a fast trip down the Danube River from Schwedenplatz to Old Town Bratislava for €30. There is a bus that costs only €9, but I felt like a little contact with nature would be necessary at some point. There’s a bar on the ferry, where you can order cold cans of Budweiser for two euros. Not the Budweiser we get in the US, but the one brewed in Ceske Budejovice (aka Budweis), the original one. I grabbed a can and headed to the deck, but the cold wind and the effects I felt from the drunken walk in Vienna made me go back inside in less than fifteen minutes. Contact with nature: check! Time for a nap! When I woke up, I was in Slovakia.

I have to admit that my first impression of Bratislava made me think of the famous quote from Eurotrip: “It's good you came in summer, in winter it can get very depressing.” Once we all got off the boat, it almost seemed as if people started disappearing. I found myself alone on a Saturday afternoon in Old Town Bratislava. It was also cloudy and chilly, which contributed to the melancholic feel. The walk to Hostel Blues took about twenty minutes, and all I saw on the way there were a few parked cars, but no drivers anywhere near them. I was in a ghost town.

The hostel was all right. The front desk where you check in happens to be a bar as well (great!), and the receptionist/bartender gives you a coupon for a free drink along with the key to your room. I dropped off my stuff, took a quick shower and came back down for some mild socializing with the other guests. My free drink was a half-liter bottle of Staropramen, traditional Prague beer. I approached a group and quickly engaged in conversation about what to do that night. No one had any idea; they all agreed that it was a little scary out there since it looked like all the locals were in hiding. While some of them chose to just chill at the hostel, I was somehow feeling adventurous. I grabbed a map from the bar/reception and successfully convinced two of them to come with me, an American guy about my age and a Chinese woman in her mid-20s. First stop: Slovak Pub.  


Slovak Pub (Obchodná 613/62  81106 Bratislava - Staré Mesto-Old Town) joined the Tasquinha as one of my top five restaurants. This place was huge. We walked in and saw what looked like a tiny dive bar on the right, with a few tables on the left and stairs leading to the 2^nd floor. We walked up the stairs and saw that the restaurant didn’t have an end. It looked like a maze filled with tables and waiters running around. The mystery had been solved: the streets were empty because everyone was at the Slovak Pub. We chose one of the 75,000 tables, and the waitress came shortly after.

There was something particularly interesting about this restaurant. They have a menu for students, which consisted of soups, snacks and some beverages at a very low cost. In addition, (no joke), if you get an “A” on your exam, you can show them your grade and get free soup and Kofola (Czechoslovakian version of Coke). I thought that was a nice incentive. Our waitress didn’t speak any English, but the menu had English and German descriptions of the main dishes. We attempted to ask for suggestions, and after consulting another waiter and the busboy, she recommended bryndzové halušky and bacova kapsa. The first one was a very rich dish with potato dumplings and lots, loooooots of traditional Slovak cheese. The second dish was unbelievably delicious. Also called Shepherd’s Bag, bacova kapsa is, simply, put, a spicy pork mixture in a potato pancake. A more detailed description of that mixture would be charcoal-grilled pork with peas, chilies, a thick gravy and ketchup, served with vegetables. We shared that and had some tea, while debating whether or not to join the Bratislava Pub Crawl. This one was 15 euros, but looking at how ridiculously cheap everything was, we decided to follow the pub crawl and just pay for our consumption.

After dinner, we walked to the first stop of the Pub Crawl, where we mingled with some French and Spanish travelers. I don’t remember what it was called, in fact I don’t remember a lot of things from that night, but this was an underground pub that served shots of real Slovak absinth for one euro. Keep ‘em coming (bad idea)! One of the French guys lit the shot glasses on fire, so we could drink them “the right way”. A few shots later, we thought we’d check out another place, so our group, which was then nine people, stumbled outside and started walking aimlessly, because apparently that’s what you do in ghost town Bratislava at midnight. The goal was to walk until we found a cool hangout spot, and Tatyana’s eyes convinced us to stop at the Sunshine Bar (Obchodná 37, Bratislava).

Tatyana ‘s job was to stand outside with a tray filled with free shots of some kind of liqueur and talk people into coming in for the “party”. She looked incredibly bored, so I stood there and chatted with her for a few minutes until I started seeing some smiles. Her boss, a 6’5’’ 300lb man, came outside and screamed at her for not doing “her job”. He also gave me that “I’m going to eviscerate you” kind of stare. I could see why she hated her job so much. That dick of a boss was also the bartender, so I met him again a few minutes later. One shot of absinth and a beer: three euros. Give him a five, and it’ll be five euros. Ask him for your change, and he’ll turn purple and annihilate you.

We were just sitting at a table outside when a creepy guy approached us and offered us drugs. He introduced himself and invited us to a party in the outskirts of Bratislava. We didn’t get a good first impression of him, so we politely said “No thanks”. One thing is to approach a local and engage in conversation to then be invited to a party. Another is when a local comes up to a group of tourists and says: “yo, I got some cocaine, let’s go to this crazy party about forty minutes from here”, which we understood as: “yo, I’m going to rob you and most likely kill you and dump your body somewhere about forty minutes from here”. 
 

Everything after that were just hazy memories. At some point there was a bar fight. Some kid took his pants off on the street.  I remember we ate some fruit, might have been a vegetable. All I know is that I woke up at 10am the next day with the housekeeper screaming at me in Slovak, no idea how I got there. I would have believed that it all had been a dream, if my head wasn’t pounding, and I didn’t feel like the devil had punched me in the stomach. Everyone had already checked out, and I was the last one there. In addition, my train to Ceske Budejovice was departing in less than two hours, so I really had to go. I wasn’t in the best shape for the 8-hour train ride that awaited me. I dragged myself to the train station trying not to pass out.