Day 3:
On the third day we went to Prague. It wasn't nearly as cool as the glass factory and the Bohemian Paradise. In fact, it's just a huge tourist trap. The Moldau River runs through the city and is very beautiful, with ornate bridges crossing it every few hundred metres. The only thing that takes away a lot from the beauty is that it is packed with tour boats. The streets are lined with dozens of shops on the bottom floors of old buildings. They sell foods and souvenirs, and there are also hundreds of money exchange stores. Ironically, all the shops and vendors sell the exact same things. In the market in the centre of the city there must have been at least a dozen stands selling 'Trdlo', a sugary bread made by winding dough around a stick over a hot grill. Kim and I bought some of that for 60 Kc each (over 2 euros) as well as a sausage on a bun. Boy did it ever taste amazing to eat something barbequed again. In Canada we barbequed a lot, but it's not such a common thing in the Netherlands.
But now I'm ahead of myself. Kim and I started the day with a tour of the Jewish ghetto (in Dutch with the tour group) but by coffee time we decided to split off and explore on our own. We walked for miles, saw lots of pretty things and majestic buildings, and allowed ourselves to be tourist trapped into taking a boat tour that included ice cream and beer, for 12 euros. Well, the beer tasted like nothing, the ice cream tasted like a bar of soap, and the tour was nothing spectacular, but it was still a neat experience.
Day 4:
We went to Prague again today, this time to see upper Prague where all the big castles are. Kim and I have been sitting up at the front with the bus driver instead of in the very back of the top floor of the double decker bus. It's a better view, and good for the gezelligheid and getting some of our questions answered about Prague and about what we're doing each day.
One of the coolest things we saw today was the changing of the guard at the old palace. It's just for show for the tourists, but it was so fascinating. It's incredible and scary at the same time picturing that is used to be real (instead of just for tourists) and that just a couple decades ago this country used that kind of uniformity and officialness in their communist army.
After touring around the palaces for a bit Kim and I went back down to the river. There were lots of artists and jewelers there. I bought some more souvenirs, and also a painting. I've never bought a painting before, and this seemed like a good place to get one. It was about 20 euros, which is pretty cheap for the amount of time and talent it takes to paint something beautiful.
I don't think I'll ever go back to Prague. It's kind of fake the way the tourists come, get their 'play money' and try not to get scammed while swapping their euros for crowns. Then they buy the traditional foods, get a few souvenirs, take some pictures and maybe a boat tour, and leave with bragging rights and a lot less money than what they came with. Okay, that sounds very cynical. I did enjoy my time in Prague, but not nearly as much as the authenticity of the glass factory, or the raw, untouched beauty of the Bohemian Paradise. I would seriously consider teaching English as a second language in one of the smaller villages though. I would love to learn more about the language and culture of the people of Czech Republic. We'll see where God leads me though. Brazil and Indonesia are also high on my list of places I hope to go to and teach for a while.
Then in the evening Kim and I had a blast! Why? Because we had a traditional camp fire on the beach! Yet another incredible experience in Czech Republic- roasting sausages over a camp fire after scrounging through the forest to find the wood. It's been so long since I've been able to do that! It's very much illegal in the Netherlands. The sky was also gorgeous, and normal again for once. The night sky above Rotterdam is never black. Even in the darkest hour of night it remains and eerily glowing yellow. I guess it's kinda handy that it's never truly dark, which makes it easy to bike at night. But it just doesn't look at all right to have a yellow night sky. The bus drivers also joined us for our 'Canadian experience in Czech Republic'. But we wisely turned in before too late because there was a long drive ahead the next day- 12 hours or so back to the Netherlands.
The Last Day:
The bus ride back was definitely better than the bus ride there. Kim and I alternated between sleeping on our very back seats and sitting in the front to talk to the bus driver. I felt a little bad walking back and forth so many times. It was also Good Friday, so I began the day by reading the second half of the book of John. At supper time all the older people had dinner together, but Kim and I opted out (yet again for financial reasons). We sat outside waiting for a while, and then it got a bit cold, so we went inside and sat in the kids play area... which happened to have a ball room... which happened to be irresistible. I haven't played in one of those since McDonalds got rid of them all when I was six! And you can go ahead and laugh and think we're crazy, but throwing balls at each other was sure a fun way to pass the time during a two hour stopover.
And then it was goodbye to all our new tour friends, and off to Zaaier Kamp! Life just doesn't stop being busy and excited, and that is sure a blessing.
Yup! Life is pretty good right now!
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