7.5.2000 PRAGUE is beautiful if you can see past the hordes of tourists and all the souvenir stores. The ground floor of most of the buildings around Charles Bridge seem modeled after Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, bad T-shirts and battery powered puppies. The city is split in two by the Vlatava River with the Prazsky Hrad (the Big Castle) dominating the West and the shopping and living in the East.

I had met several groups of people in Berlin who had just come from Prague. They had told me to just trust the “runners” who wait at the train station and let them take me to their hostels. All the people I talked to had great experiences with these “hostels” which were really apartments or sub-leased hotel floors.

So I roll into town without a place to stay booked.

The problem is, the train from Berlin arrives at the secondary, smaller train station, way north of town, and there is only one “runner” there. She drives me into town and shows me a dark, dirty mess of a place with thin mattresses scattered on the ground and a bathroom that looks like it’s still being built.

This is very different from Clubhouse Hostel in Berlin. Too different.

I decide to call around.

I find my way to the main bus station, Narodni trida, which is apparently where the closest public phones are. Except they all require phone cards. I haven’t learned any phrases other than “Do you know English?”

“mlu-vee-teh an-glit-ski?”

No one does.

OK. I’m ready to bust out the phrase book and butcher the Czech language when I hear English behind me.

Other travelers.

I meet Sharon and her friends, all from Australia. Sharon is staying at the Boathouse Hostel which is a little far from the city center but she assures me it’s a great place to stay. I learn that things like tram tickets and phone cards can be bought at newspaper/tobacco stores.

BOATHOUSE HOSTEL is like summer camp. It’s a big dark wood building next to the river, twenty minutes south of Prague on the tram. It’s rougher than other hostels, but it makes up for this in services. Like laundry for 150 korunas (US$3.75) for same-day service, washed, pressed and folded. Breakfast for 50 korunas (US$1.25) and Dinner for 140 korunas (US$3.50). There’s a nice big lounge/cafeteria and as many beers as you can drink for 15 korunas. That’s 40 cents for a beer.

The women who run the hostel have strict rules that allow things to run like a well-oiled machined. They’ll give you the tour and the rules when you check in. You MUST sign up for dinner by 5:00PM. You MUST sign out the day before you leave. You pay for dinner or breakfast as you pick it up from the counter.

It’s a magnet.

A lot of people are content staying in at night, talking, playing cards, chess, filling in their journals, or writing postcards (stamps available there!), but always, always with a beer in hand.

8.5.2000 Wandered around West side of town, around Old Town Square and along the river.