European Romps with Ben & New Years in Prague

Monday, March 12, 2007
Current mood: contemplative

Well, after my three weeks home, recovering from the trauma of ..Italy (namely my heel, not the actual country, which I ADORE to no end DESPITE all the corruption---but then again, where ISN´T corrupt???? I´d like to know. Maybe Antarctica. Ha. It´s too cold to be corrupt, or so you´d THINK.) ANYWHO. Where was I? Oh ya. So after my 3weeks home with Dolly senior, who looks to become my new (and FINAL) grandmother, listening to all her fascinating stories (I shall dedicate a blog to her soon enough) and letting my poor heel heal, it was BACK off to Europe again to continue my adventures, but with the first two weeks being with Ben, my bro...:

As it turns out, from Dec. 23rd to Jan. 5th, he had 2 weeks off and a strong desire to see at least a little hunk of Europe. So, he told me three cities he wanted to visit: Paris, London, and Dublin, gave me his credit card, and told me to plan it all. I asked if we couldn´t squeeze in Prague as well. He said yes. (He he).

So, we headed off together to Europe, but on different flights (his went directly to London, mine went back to Milan where I had to catch another flight to London and meet up with Ben a day later---That journey was fun considering the 12 hour layover in Frankfort after a 12 hour flight (although I met a REALLY nice guy named Tashi who gave me tips on the Permaculture course I am now going to take and who I spent 5 hours of the layover with) and then spending all night in the Bologna airport, but luckily a 40 year old Philippine janitor named Benvenido (Ben for short) took a liking to me, chatted with me off and on all night (and even tried to give me a necklace he found somewhere). Ha.

Anywho. Of the actual trip with Ben (my brother) there really isn´t too much to say, it was your regular, average site-seeing trip. We had a ball together, bumming around. The major highlight was New Years in Prague.

New Years in Prague.
Well. If you are a fan of UTTER CHAOS, ANARCHY, and ABANDON,---and random flying balls of fire everywhere (AKA fireworks)---then Prague is your place on New Years. Because that´s what it was. UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE.

We began the night getting drunk at our hostel on cherry liquor and cheap absinthe (pretty much green rubbing alcohol), hittin´ up Mc-y-D´s (spelling????) so Ben could experience drinking beer in one (which we just about got kicked out of cause Ben was so drunk and loud, AND because bottles of liquor kept falling out of his pockets onto the ground), then we took the the streets; Ben with the misson of paintin´ the town red and me with the mission to see how many random public places I could pee without getting caught.

We ended up in the main promenade of Prague that led to the Parliament building, a huge wide lane with a patch of grass running down the center, where the party was. And let me tell you OH WHAT A PARTY it was. Lining both sides of the promenade were HUNDREDS of people, all setting off fireworks, and when I say fireworks, I don´t mean those little woozy fireworks like black cats and pagodas and sparklers. I´m talking serious mo-fo´s like roman candles and MORTARS. And the BEST thing about it all, was that everyone had completely given up trying to aim them UP. So LITERALLY fireworks were going off everywhere. Mortars, were not making it up into the sky, oh no, THEY WERE GOING OFF ON THE GROUND, IN THE CROWDS. It was great. You had to keep constant vigilance so that you did not get a bottle rocket, mortar, or roman candle in the face. Occasionally, after a mortar had gone off in one sector of the crowd, you´d see the ambulance rush over. Awesome. Pure awesomeness.

Anywho. So the rest of the night, after most of the pomp and circumstance was done with, Ben and I took back to wandering the streets, Ben so stinking drunk that he was physically stopping everyone we met (which was millions) on the road and wishing them a big boisterous Happy New Years (followed by a "Hey! Ya! That´s Right!" to anyone who replied back). At one point he took to carrying around a red and white striped road barricade (that we were planning to use as an aid for cover for me to go pee--grin) and must have carried it around for hours.

Ahhhhh. Anywho. That was definitely the highlight of our trip. I highly recommend Prague for New Years if you are not concerned what-so-ever with surviving the night with your face and/or both eyes in tact. He.