Czech-in with its head cut off

So yes...Prague!

I remember once in 9th grade running into one of my classmates in the cafeteria wearing a t-shirt he had purchased while his family was on vacation in the Czech republic. With horror, I asked, "Does anybody actually go there???," imagining unimaginable poverty, run down streets, land mines...roughly a 1970's era Phnom Penh. I'm sure even Soviet era Prague wasn't that bad, but for some reason that fact that the Communists had left and the country was rapidly rebuilding hadn't hit me yet. At the time, the only other country I had been was Mexico, so I considered my classmate to have been very adventurous.

But look at Prague now...tourists, tourists, tourists! The city appears almost as if it were built for the purpose of entertaining foreigners, old buildings, cafes, bars, over-priced restaurants, hawkers and accommodations on every corner.

I have been here for fewer than 24 hours so have not had the opportunity to scrape beneath the super touristy surface yet, but for the moment, the surface I shall be scraping.

While it took me (as usual) about 3 and a half hours to get from the train station to being fully settled in a hostel, my initial experience is Prague was much smoother than it had been in Barcelona, Rome, possibly Dubrovnik, Naples and definitely Dubrovnik. I had made no reservations here (as the phone in the Budapest hostel was so quiet as to make it almost unusable), but was fortunate to find something right near the city center for what was for me a great price (although supposedlty expensive by Prague standards.) The Dioha 33 is probably one of the nicer hostels at which I have slept (although the two dudes I met from my room were unimpressed), has TONS of people (so it should be easier to meet folks than it has been in other cities) and only costs me about 17 bucks a night.

Hostels are a funny thing. I've paid everywhere from 12 to 40 bucks a night for dormitory rooms but have found little correlation between the price and what you actually get. Sometimes they make your bed every day. Sometime you get a free towel. Sometimes you get no linens at all. Sometimes you have the option of renting linens or a towel. Some have free breakfast, some do not. Some are much cleaner than others. With or without curfews. Everywhere from free to above market rate internet access. Staff that is extremely friendly and helpful (Domus Guesthouse in Reykjavik!) or cruel and cold (everybody but Mark at the Station Guesthouse in Budapest). I like hostels though, and am sad that this may be the last trip where it is age appropriate for me to use them. While I have met a few folks as old as 30 (Australians of course), I have met few people above the age of 22 or 23. I was much comforted by the Bed and Breakfast I stayed in in Napoli, but it was lonely to have so few other guests to meet.

Oh, and what did I do after checking in last night at the hostel? Met these two guys in my room that I did not particularly like, but who seemed up for hanging out (and beggars can't be choosers when it comes to company, right?) We went for drinks to a bar, which was fine. Discovered that despite having some fairly backwords viewpoints on some issues they were fairly together when it came to others.

Any suggestions as to what I should do in Prague are welcome in the comments. I plan on staying here at least 3 more nights after last night.