Prague! (part two)

One of the things Prague is known for is its jazz scene so, being a new jazz fan after my Amsterdam experience, I decided I would find some jazz to listen to. I had read a couple reviews of a jazz cellar called Agharta so I set off to find it, which was much easier said than done. The difficulty was partly due to the maze-like nature of old town Prague and partly due to my complete lack of knowledge of the Czech language. Amazingly, I seem to usually find what I'm looking for even after being lost and it didn't take too long to find Agharta. And I was not disappointed.

There's a sign for Agharta on the street but you have to go through a small passage into what is almost an indoor courtyard and then down a series of tight, low-ceiling stairs. I had to duck in a couple places to avoid hitting my head. I went to the bar, got a bar, and then settled in to enjoy the show. Which I did. It was not quite the same atmosphere as the jazz bar in Amsterdam, this one was much more subdued. The Amsterdam show was a good place to be drinking with friends; Prague would have been better to take a date or your parents to. Interestingly, the upright bass player looked a lot like Robert's friend Meltzer.

The show was over at 1AM and since I had to drive to Budapest the next day, I headed back to the hostel to get ready for the drive and then hit the sack.

Prague! (part one)

After driving all day from Bremerhaven, I finally made it to Prague late on Friday night. It took some effort to get to my hostel because although its website showed pictures of its sign on the building, the sign wasn't there in real life. I drove right past on the first shot and even though I figured out pretty quickly that I had gone too far, I was trapped in a maze of one-way streets and pedestrian zones. All the streets are cobbled and I don't speak Czech so it wasn't easy figuring out where the pedestrian zones started and ended. Nevertheless, I found my hostel, parked in a garage, and checked in.

After checking in, I got cleaned up as quick as I could, and then set off to find something to eat and drink. I succeeded so well at finding something to drink, that I can't remember my success (or lack thereof) of finding something to eat.

The next day, I got up, showered and set off to explore Prague which turns out to be one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. The winding streets, the architecture, it was all amazing. I really wish I had had someone traveling with me because it seems almost a waste to have been there by myself. There's a medieval clock tower in the center of the city, from the top of which you have awesome views in all directions. Because many buildings are built so closely together, some of the best views of a couple churches are from the clock tower. Additionally, the clock has a set of very elaborate chimes, and at noon a skeleton comes alive to pull the chain that rings them.


I had lunch at an Irish pub nearby where I had an awesome hamburger and watched the final match of Tri Nations rugby between New Zealand and Australia. It was really cool to watch because it seemed every Kiwi or Aussie tourist in the city was at the pub watching the match. Not only were the younger travelers harassing each other, the older crowd (grey-hairs in their 60s and 70s!) would harass each other too. The women too! The game was pretty exciting. New Zealand was favored to win and they took an early lead. Australia then had 3 unopposed scores and that really set the Aussie crowd off. The Kiwis finally came back to win 28-24 and the pub erupted in shouts and cheers. It must have really worried someone because shortly after, about 8 police cars and over a dozen police officers had shown up, looking ready to control a riot. I was done with that mess, so I left to see more of the city.

I wandered around and found the Charles Bridge which spans the River Vlatava and connects the Old Town to what in the 14th Century were the suburbs and the Prague Castle. As with any structure nearly 700 years old, there is a lot of history in the bridge, including the spiked heads of 20-something revolutionaries which were placed there as a deterrent to future wannabes. There are 30 really cool statues lining both sides of the bridge with various stories attached to them, however these are all replicas of the original 17th Century statues which are all housed in the National Museum now. The bridge was incredibly crowded with tourists, vendors, and street performers and I bought a cool photo of the bridge, cleared of people, and with Prague Castle in the background. Other than my Jeep, it was probably the best purchase of the trip.

Bremerhaven-bound to pick up my Jeep, and then to Prague

The next morning, I woke up at about 6:30, showered, dressed, packed all my crap, and headed to the train station. My train wasn't until 8, but, me being me, I had to set my alarm early since I tend to sleep through those pesky buzzing sounds. It was now time for four and a half hours of fun. There is no direct train between Amsterdam and Bremerhaven and really no indirect train between the two either. Instead, I had to change trains 3 or 4 times, each time paranoid that I was either going to miss the right station or get on the wrong train. I managed though and arrived in Bremerhaven at about 12:30, in plenty of time, or so I thought, to pick up my Jeep and clear German Customs by 2 (the unions which run Germany's public sector have apparently decreed 6-hour workdays for customs workers).

Trying to plan for the unforeseen rail strike or my more-likely oversleeping, I had told my sales-rep in Kosovo that I planned to pick my Jeep up on Thursday, but that it was possible I might not make it until Friday. I reiterated this several times. Still, that was somehow interpreted as I would definitely not be in until Friday. So when I showed up on Thursday to pick up my Jeep, none of the customs documents were ready and could not be made ready until Friday morning. And it is no use trying to cajole German administrative staff into hurrying up the paperwork process. They are efficient within their own rules and carry out their tasks promptly according to their own timetables. They have no concept of American-style customer service. So it was off to a hotel, which the admin staff was gracious enough to arrange, although not enough to offer to pay for.

I had not planned on staying in Bremerhaven and had no idea what attractions or historical sites existed to keep me amused for the day and night so I hopped on the internet to find out. After scouring several travel websites I found out there was nothing. Bremerhaven is a busy seaport with lots of warehouses and holding yards for shipments and doesn't have much else. I took a nap and then set off to find something interesting, but only found industrial storefronts and fishing boats. I did find a decent Italian restaurant close to my hotel and had a pizza and several beers.

After sleeping in, I was back at the port the next day to pick up my Jeep. All the paperwork now in order, I eased through Customs and was on the road, headed to the Autobahn. Driving through a construction zone, I promptly missed the sign for the entrance ramp and drove into a residential area. Searching for a good place to turn around, I ended up in a school zone and got stuck waiting for a rather large group of kids to cross the street in front of me. Finally turned around, I made my driving debut on the unregulated speeds of the Autobahn, which were limited to about 45 MPH because of heavy traffic. Part of me was okay with that because I needed to take it easy on the new engine for the first few hundred miles but I never expected traffic to be that bad all the way across Germany! It would be like driving from Houston to Dallas on I-45 with Houston area rush hour traffic the whole way.

I had originally planned on spending Thursday night in Magdeburg and then having a short drive to Prague for Friday night. Because of the hangup in Bremerhaven I had to nix Magdeburg and head straight to Prague. Google Maps told me it was about a 6-hour drive. Google Maps is a liar. It took me closer to 11. Google always seems to over-estimate drive times in the States and has the exact opposite problem in Europe. Now I know it didn't help that I missed a few turns, but they weren't nearly significant enough to add 5 hours to the trip. Still, I made it to Prague safely, found my hostel, and then found an incredibly expensive parking garage to house my new Jeep for the next two nights.

Stories from my Euro Road Trip: Amsterdam

I know, I know. These are a long time coming but if you know me, you also know that I'm incredibly lazy so you'll have to forgive me. So we'll start with the first leg of the trip, Amsterdam.

Because I was taking my new Jeep outside of the European Union, I had to pick it up in the German free port of Bremerhaven, which is on Germany's Northwest coast. My airport options were Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Berlin. From each of those, I would have a 3 or 4 hour train ride to Bremerhaven, so I made the decision any good young traveller would and flew to Amsterdam.

A friend I know through Matt and Jess Stubbs lives there and just finished a Master's program so I thought it would be cool to see him again, but he decided to flake out on me and visit his family in the States. Luckily, my friend Ann Marie from Texas State was going to be there for a day at the end of a VIP cruise for her auction house (she's an art auctioneer), so I was excited about getting to see a friend from home.

So I flew into Amsterdam, made my way from the airport to the city center and found my hostel, the Flying Pig, which is where Matt and I stayed on our great backpacking trip after we returned from Iraq. If you are young and headed to Amsterdam, that's the place to stay. The crowd is mostly college-aged with a mix of parent-supported backpackers in their mid- and late-20s. It also has a bar and sometimes live music so there's always a lively crowd, unlike some other hostels I've experienced across Europe. Since I got into town relatively late, I stayed in and hung out at the bar, playing pool, drinking beer after beer and finally crashing around 4:30 or 5. Of course I woke up cheerfully as always at 11:15.

Only problem was that I was supposed to meet Ann Marie at the train station at 11:00. So I got up, showered as quickly as I could with my booze-induced headache, and headed to the train station, arriving there at about 11:45. If you've never been there, Amsterdam Centraal is a pretty big place and their currently doing renovations which funnel passengers out through two exits. I had not known this before I got there so for the next 45 minutes I ran back and forth from one exit to the other, hoping to see Ann Marie, but assuming she had given up on her late-arriving friend and gone on to explore the city. Luckily, she was late too and I found her at about 12:30.

We were both starving so we wandered around the city until we found a place that looked promising. Now, I wasn't expecting much since most places in the touristy parts of Amsterdam aren't known for their high quality food, but we had an excellent lunch, with some excellent beer, even if the service was typically European. I have no idea what the place was called. I would make a horrible travel guide author. But lunch was good and afterwards we wandered around the city, stopping for beer every 30 minutes or so, and saw all the main attractions of central Amsterdam, which mostly amount to canals, old buildings, and the red light district. We finished the afternoon drinking at a place called The Old Sailor, which was partly in honor of Jason Henderson, who has just entered Navy Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island. After that, it was time to take Annie back to her boat, which was quite impressive to me, who, even as well-travelled as I am, had never before seen a cruise ship up close. For that I blame Mom and Dad.

After the ship sailed, I headed back to the hostel to take a much-needed nap and to get ready for the evening's adventures. I ran into a guy from Oregon whom I had met the night before and he and his buddy were heading out to a jazz cafe to see some live music. The nap felt great and so did another shower.

After I woke up, I set out for the jazz cafe and when I got there, the place was packed. The guy playing that night was Hans Dulfer, who is apparently kind of a big deal, at least in the jazz world. It was a great show though and I now have a little more appreciation for jazz, so much so that I would find another jazz cafe later on in Prague. But back to Dulfer. The guys from the hostel had met two German girls, one of whose mother lives in La Marque and who was planning on visiting there for Christmas. I, of course, told her how exciting La Marque was but that there would probably not be much left after the then-impending Hurricane Ike came through. While I was talking to her, and unnoticed by me, Hans Dulfer had become upset that I was holding a side conversation, had completely stopped playing music, and announced to the crowd that he would wait until we were finished. Oops.

At the end of the show, the girls wanted to go dance somewhere, but since I was literally the fifth wheel and had to get up at 6 the next morning, I headed back to the hostel to hit the sack.

road trip pictures!

Some pictures from the road trip are up! More will come shortly. These are Amsterdam, my new Jeep, and some pics from the road.

Back in Kosovo

Well, I survived my road trip through Europe. My new Jeep drove great and guzzles gas like I can chug beer. Fun is not cheap! I will have more info on the trip and pics posted as well over the next few days.

I've returned to a colder and wetter Kosovo than the one I left. At least that should provide lots of mud for me to play with the Jeep in!

Thessaloniki Pics!

My latest adventure was down to Thessaloniki, Greece this past weekend. I've got the pictures up now so go take a look!

It's time for bed tonight, but I'll have more details on the trip in the next day or so. Next week, I'm off to Amsterdam and then driving from Germany back down to Kosovo!