Visitors in Prague!

This past week I had a couple of visitors. My good friends Dana and Joel came with one of their friends, from London. They had spring break so they did a trip of Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and Berlin.

I think they had a good time. I was in class most of the day that they were here, but I tried to give them some insight into Praha. The best advice I can give someone visiting this city is to wander. There are so many hidden churches, monasteries, and beautiful old buildings.

Getting lost in Prague is easy, but necessary. There is no way that you can claim to know Prague simply from visiting the castle, Old Town Square, and the Charles Bridge. Even the New Town has different sights to offer. The other day I went for a run and discovered many old buildings right in my neighborhood that I had no idea existed.

Its a bit chilly out, true, but I have no clue when its going to warm up so you might as well just suck it up and get out there. At least thats what I told the Prague Bicycle Soccer coach when he saw me running. Heres the story:

So I'm running down by the river. Theres a small dock that runs parallel to river, which in turn runs parallel to a main street. I'm in New Town a couple of bridges away from the Charles (I find bridges are the best way to determine where you are on the river). On this particular parallel dock there is a section that is flooded. It rains here constantly. Not necessarily pouring rain, just rain. Constant. Stupid. Rain.

I see the flooded section, but to turn around I'll have to go up steps. Steps are vastly overrated. I never understood why we just can't have steep ramps... Anyways, so I decided why not leap over the flood. Mind you its about 20 feet. If I miss it theres a good chance that my feet might actually freeze (its about -1c outside).

I get a good running start. Clear it. But just as I'm in the air a man on a bicycle goes through the puddle too. He splashes me from the displaced water from his tires. I am soaked in dirty swan water (instead of ducks there are massive herds of dirty swans on the river).

He pulls up next to me and starts to speak some Czech garbage. I like Czech, its only garbage in this instance because I just got soaked and I'm about a mile from home (uphill I might add).

Finally we get to talking and hes the coach of a sport here which involves 2 teams. There are 2 members of both teams. They play on a court about the size of my elementary school's basketball court. They use a ball about the size of a mini-basketball and the point of the game is to shoot the ball into a small goal (about the size of a lacrosse goal) but ONLY by using the bicycle tire. I've seen it on T.V. once. Crazy stuff. Apparently only the Czech, Germans, and Slovakians play it. The one rule that I understand is that your feet can never touch the ground, thats a foul.

Intense stuff.

Anyways so hes the coach of the Czech team. Apparently they are training. He gave me his card and the address of their training facility. It would be good to get into an organized sport again. I might check it out if I get bored.

Dana, Joel, and Katie left Friday, but I think they had a good time in Prague. Most people who visit do. Especially because the exchange rate is so good here (esp. considering the other cities that were on their list).