Let's Party! in Prague

One of those shops in Prague

“A cute little pie of pure happiness” that is how I would like to describe the experience in Prague the capital of Czech Republic. The city which stood beyond my expectations, made me feel that three days were not enough to experience this city to the core.

Vltava River

A chilly weather welcomed me in Prague, got a reason to wear the leather jacket which I was carrying all that while. Exchanged €10 from the bus station to get 240 Czech Koruna (crowns) and moved to the adjacent metro station to take a metro to my host’s place (Mr Michael). The metro ticket machine accepts only coins and I was in short of it. Silva a guy from Portugal standing behind me gave me some coins with that I managed to get the ticket. He was on his way back from Karlovy Vary a small city in Czech which is 2 hours away from Prague. The description about this spa city elicited interest in me to visit that place. We both were getting late and it was close to midnight so I took his number to contact him later and collect information about Karlovy Vary. I thanked him generously; these small acts of kindness reminded the existence of humanity in this world.

Michael had sent me a clear description on how to reach his apartment. He lives with his 9 year old son in the fourth floor of an archaic building constructed during the communist period. The elevator was very primitive and the facilities were bare minimum. He showed me around his apartment, gave his son’s room to use and the spare keys of his whole apartment, to use his facilities as per my convenience. He is a late sleeper so I didn’t disturb him by coming late to his place. We had a long conversation over a coffee, smoke & snacks till 2am.

I woke up at 9am only to realize that I was all alone in that apartment. I had no specific plans for Prague so I expected the city to unfold before me as I move around. I was going through the hangouts in couchsurfing to check what the fellow travelers were doing, also if I can join with them. To my surprise one guy was discussing about Skydiving, I took his number and contacted him over WhatsApp. He provided me with the location and contact number of the skydiving facility. I got ready in no time, grabbed some sandwiches on the way to reach their office by 11am. The previous day they had to cancel the diving due to bad weather. It costs €145 for skydiving and if one need photos and videos will have to pay €90 extra. I decided to go with the complete package. The guy in the reception reminded me that I need to pay the charges only if I am alive after the dive. Lol…I thoroughly enjoyed that statement.  

On the way to the diving spot

They took us to the diving spot which was 80KMs away from the city. The long but beautiful journey gave me enough time to sink in the fact that I am going to do the skydiving which was there in the top of my bucket list for long. The excitement kept me awake while all my fellow divers fell asleep in that van. The view of the descending divers on their parachute gave us a warm welcome to the diving area. It was green all around; the flight took off from the lush green runway. Flying in the rickety aircraft itself was an adventure. The view from the top is breathtaking and it took some time to ascend to the height of 14,000ft. By now the green earth has been eclipsed by the white clouds. I was the third to jump in our group of four. Realizing it’s my turn and when I started seeing the ground through the open door of the aircraft, was the golden moment of my whole trip. It is difficult to describe the emotions going through my mind just before the jump, but it really pumped a lot of adrenaline for sure. Yes! I did it!!!  A fraction of second after my jump I was smiling for this great achievement, I was enjoying each moment of it and I kept my eyes wide open to make sure that I don’t miss a fraction of it. Their video and the photos clearly absorbed my emotions throughout the dive. The 200KM/HR free fall was the highlight of the whole experience. ‘’ I will do it again’’ my mind was saying these words soon after I completed the dive.

We got back to the city by 3pm. I joined the fellow divers who were there in the diving group to roam around the city. Later the guy from Portugal (Sylva) joined us and we moved to the banks of the river Vltava. We grabbed a beer from the local shack and walked through the side of the river enjoying the view. People sitting on the sides against the golden rays of setting sun appeared like stone carvings. The music flowing from the groups performing near the shacks and the bustling young crowd took me to a different level. I clicked some of the best pictures at this place. Silva explained me how to reach Karlovy Vary and the things to do over there. As it was getting darker we moved to the most happening places like the Charles Bridge and the clubs. I reached back to Michael’s place quite late but he was still awake. We continued our conversation and in between he helped me to book the bus to Karlovy Vary.

Market Squire

Prague Castle

View from the castle

Wedding shoot @ castle

Way to castle

My bus to Karlovy Vary departs at 12:30pm so I spend the morning in Prague castle and the nearby streets. Karlovy Vary is better known as the spa town, people visit this city for week’s long spa treatments. It was a small but beautiful town comprised mostly of people in their old age. There were mineral water fountains in every 100 meters. Shops selling specially designed mugs to collect and drink this mineral water were common in these streets. I used my water bottle to drink from those fountains. The water had a strong taste of Iron. I climbed the nearby hill to have a better view of that town; there is this cable car facility which takes one to the top at a reasonable price. Julie; a sociology student from Karlovy Vary took me around the town and explained the history behind each monument. Meeting Julie was a mere coincidence; I overheard her conversation with a German guy about couchsurfing which gave me an entry to their discussion. The association of this city with film industry and theaters is very deep.

Karlovy Vary

Julie

I managed to reach back Prague by around 10pm. The night was still young and the streets were in a party mode.  It’s my last night in Prague and I made it memorable. Like the previous nights I reached back home late but my host was still up. The routine followed and before I was going to sleep I handed over the keys and the souvenir I got from Qatar. That night he made some wonderful pancakes which I relished with a topping of honey. The following day I revisited some of the places in Prague and boarded the bus to Berlin by afternoon 2pm to reach Berlin by 7pm. 

Charles Bridge

Tram