Due to the fact that there was absolutely no natural light whatsoever entering our underground dorm (only weird red atmospheric lamps), Em and I both woke
up utterly disorientated. After asking our Swedish roomies the time, we discovered it
was midday! Woops..
Then as true Brits, we embraced Praguish culture by going to Tesco's to do a food shop. Since we didn't understand Czech, we had to take a
gamble on the water bottles... and lost. It was fizzy. Ew.
For the rest of the day, we wandered around getting a
feel of Prague. As hipster travellers, we felt that most of the tourist traps were too mainstream so we stepped off the beaten track to quieter roads. So after crossing over Charles Bridge (a must-see), admiring
street artists and the like, we stumbled upon a John Lennon Wall and pub! Scouse.
Crossing back over the river, we went to Old Town Square in
search of the astronomical clock. 1 hour later there was still no sign of the damn clock so we sat dejectedly on the curb eating our Tesco sandwiches and doing some more people-judging watching. It was only after getting up from finishing our food that we realised that we'd been sitting with our backs to the enormous astronomical clock the WHOLE time.
So we made it back to our hostel after our exploration and thought we'd cook up some pasta in the hostel kitchen. What happened after this was awful.
First off we had a look in the fridge. Big mistake. I think I could see living organisms growing inside it. There were plates of uncovered, half-eaten food stacked up and dripping down the sides. Random slices of bread were strewn over everything as if someone had been practising their aim.
Finding a pan proved to be a challenge and the only one we could find had been abandoned with congealed macaroni in the bottom. After severely sterilising the unhallowed utensil, we finally got our pasta going.
But I'm sad to say that things only got worse as we were cooking the pasta.
A guy came in with a pan and cooked a huge batch of spaghetti. He then dolloped half of it on a plate. After SMOTHERING the spaghetti in ketchup he went to eat. Weird but acceptable.
Then the guy returned after eating. He fished out the pan with the other half of the spaghetti and flopped the congealed and still piping-hot mess onto another plate and proceeded to STICK IT STRAIGHT IN THE FRIDGE. Not covered, not waiting for it to cool, not stirred. Just a hot globule of spaghetti. And this is the same fridge I described before.
After he left, we opened the fridge and could see the teetering plate giving off steam. Vile. But that wasn't the end of it...
A few minutes later, the guy's friend walked in. He fished the plate out of the ungodly fridge, put it straight into the microwave, then smothered it in ketchup and ate it. Absolutely vile.
Understandably, we were completely put off our own food but we knew we had to eat before heading out on a Prague pub crawl that we had booked onto earlier with the Belfastians.
Our stomachs still churning after "spaghetti-gate", we made our way to the Belfastians' lovely hostel and were yet again greeted warmly by the owners who warned us against mixing drinks. The dream team reunited, we made our way to the pub crawl along with two guys who claimed that they were from Liverpool. They were from New Brighton. (Have a look on Google maps.)
This pub crawl was immense. A free t-shirt. Unlimited free vodka shooters, absinthe (it burned the soul), wine and beer for the first hour. We seriously mixed some drinks. 4 bars and ridiculous conversation later ("Andy Murray plays badminton"), we (except 2 of our team) made it to the largest club in Central Europe. It was unbelievably amazing until both mine and Em's shoes broke and my shorts ripped. A creepy teenager who "looked like Jesus" kept following us around so a large part of our time in the club was spent running around the different floors "avoiding Jesus". Bare-foot and exhausted, we made the pilgrimage to KFC and shared an emotional bargain bucket as we said goodbye to our Belfastian friends. The next morning it was time to move on.
