Thoughts on Prague

While I still have internet, I'd like to list some things that I've noticed...

1) The toilet paper seems to have been designed by either my father or the communists. It tears off in 2-square portions. And it is neither soft nor cushy. The toilets have odd flushing mechanisms; they don't have handles, but rather "buttons" to push, which consist of two separate sections. Having experimented with all possible combinations (e.g. just the right, just the left, or both at once), I have concluded that it really doesn't matter which button you push. They all use the same amount of water, the swirl is always clockwise, and it is mostly a matter of entertainment/ confusion.

2) There is only one place that makes dark beer in Prague (all other "Pivo" is Pilsner Urquell, which is no longer my favorite because it is the only pivo to be found most places in Prague). It is called U Fleku, and we ate dinner there last night. It has been serving beer (pivo) since 1499! It was rowdy, loud, cheerful, full of song. In other words, there was not a Czech in the house. We sat with a lovely Bulgarian family who are moving to South Carolina. In the next room, there appeared to be about a zillion Germans who spent the entire evening being serenaded by the tuba and accordian. They all sang so long and loudly that we all wished we knew the words! We tried to think of some American drinking songs, but only came up with "American Pie" and maybe the Grant Union Fight Song. Any suggestions?

3) I miss the sun. We've only seen it about a day and a half so far. It hasn't rained, but it's been foggy and smoggy the past week. In Gunnison, one of our claims to fame is that we have an average of over 300 days of sun per year. Not so for Prague.

4) There are not many places to see geology in Prague. Although the buildings appear to be made of stone, they are almost always actually made of cement. Inside St Vitus Cathedral (construction began during the 10th century) there were fossiliferous floor stones and columns:

When we visited the Jewish Quarter (Josephov), there were lots of Marly Limestone headstones in the cemetary. Interestingly, the cemetary holds roughly 12,000 headstones, but approximately 100,000 people. They ran out of room, so they began burying people on top of eachother, and hauling in new dirt to cover everyone up.

5) Trdlo is my new favorite food. It is suspiciously like an Elephant Ear that one might find at the county fair, except for the fact that it is often covered in whole Hazelnuts. It's also fun to say.