Thursday, February 23, 2017

In Prague!

I just arrived to Prague!  While my past trips involved staying at super fancy hotels, I went with something cheaper this time since it was a few days.  I'm very pleased - it is an "apartment" style hotel, so there is a kitchenette and a lot of space.  I had a little bit of an adventure getting here - I had planned to take a specific airport bus.  The internet had said it ran until 10, but it stopped at 9 PM... which I found out about at 9:05 PM.  I went with plan B - take a city bus.  Unfortunately, I had less information written down on the needed transfer, but it worked out.  I couldn't find the tram I had planned to take, so I hopped on the subway.  Luckily, I had saved "offline" Google maps of the area so I could plan a new path to the hotel.  I think my phone company charges by the day, when I used it in foreign countries, so I planned to not turn on the mobile data today. 

So far, everything is going well.  I have wifi, my Italian-style electrical plug work in the sockets here, and there is a hot water kettle for tea.  I haven't gotten to see/do anything yet, but the language barrier is shockingly noticeable.  It is one step up from when I was in Israel, since I at least know the characters they use.  I hope to practice a few words (please, sorry, thank you) to use while I am here. 

I do know one word of the Czech language already - the word for "hi" sounds like "ahoy".  This is easy to remember, because a joke is made about it in the Tom Stoppard play "Rock'n'Roll", which is about the Velvet Revolution.  A British character makes a remark along the lines of, "It is a nation of sailors, or at least sounds like it".  Hopefully I find ways to remember a few more words, or otherwise I will probably (accidentally) end up speaking Italian.  It is at least a European language, right?  I hate to be the American who walks up to people in a foreign country and immediately speaks English.  Somehow speaking Italian seems better...

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