Laundry & Communism

Today was another laundry day. We had wanted to do it when we first arrived in Prague, but the laundromats are closed on the weekends. So first thing this morning we hauled our dirty clothes to the laundromat expecting to be there for a couple of hours. We were pleasantly surprised when we found out that they actually wash, dry, and fold your clothes and they would be ready to be picked up in just 3 hours. I think it was a little bit more expensive than what we paid in Paris, but at least we didn’t have to figure out the machines or have to get detergent. So now that we had some extra time, we decided to head back across the Charles Bridge and wonder around the other side of the city. We ended up going to the mini Eiffel Tower Prague has. It is a couple of times smaller than the one in Paris and only 2 years younger. We were feeling lazy today so we took the elevator to the top. The view was impressive as you could really see how much bigger the city is compared to the little area we had been exploring. When we were done with this we decided to head to Starbucks to get some hot chocolate to warm up. Unfortunately the weather went back to being crummy today; cold and damp. I think I have been in more Starbucks on this trip than I have been in my whole life and each time we go it is to either get out of the rain, warm up, use their WIFI or bathroom. I think there quite possibly may be more Starbucks here than McDonalds or Subway Restaurants. Anyway, back to our day. Now that we could feel our fingers again we picked up our laundry and decided to go on a communism walking tour. We were disappointed to find out that the company we wanted to use (the same company from yesterday’s tour) did not have a guide available for the communism tour today, but they recommend another company’s tour. That company’s tour not only included a walking tour but also a tour of a nuclear bunker. It was twice as expensive as the other company’s tour but we thought what the heck else were we going to do this afternoon? Well after all the tours we have done you would have to figure one would be a dud . . . and this one was it. I think it had more to do with the tour guide than the subject matter. The guide just talked so fast and it always seemed like he had something more important to be doing or like we were bothering him or something. I don’t think anybody who went on that tour was very impressed. At the beginning of the tour we passed a Russian/Communism themed bar and he mentioned we would get a coupon at the end of the tour for a free beer at that bar. Well when the tour was over he basically said this is the end of the tour and took off. I mentioned to Tom about the free drink coupon so Tom caught up with him and asked him. He told us all we needed to do was show the bartender our receipt from the tour and that would work. I had a feeling he was feeding us a line of bull, but we decided to go check it out anyway. I think Tom and I had more fun re-tracing our steps to find the bar, than we did on the original tour. Of course Tom was sure it was one way, and I was confident it was the other. We went his way first, but it wasn’t where he thought it was. We have often talked about how we thought we would do well on the Amazing Race, but after a couple of weeks on this trip, I have a new appreciation for the contestants on that show and I don’t think Tom and I would do as well as we originally thought. Anyway, for those of you that watch the Amazing Race, today when we were re-tracing our steps it felt like when teams had missed a clue box, or when teams lost their passports and had to go back and find them. Lucky for us we were only looking for a bar, which we found right around the area I thought it was 🙂 . .and no, the bartender had no idea what we were talking about when we showed him our receipt from the tour and said we get a free beer. We bought a beer anyway and enjoyed talking about how bad our tour guide had been. Of course Tom was a little pissed, but I just laughed and shrugged my shoulders because what more could you do? I knew this would just make for good story later. Oh and even funnier, when we were re-tracing our steps we ran into the crazy Belgium lady with the dog from yesterday’s tour. Oh Prague, you have been so interesting to us, but we are ready to leave you. After dinner we came back to our hotel and I actually reserved a room in Zurich for tomorrow night. I don’t know what’s more painful . . .walking around looking for a hotel or spending 2 hours on the Internet looking for one. I think I would take walking around, but I certainly did not want to do that tomorrow night around 9:00p.m. when we get in. Tomorrow will be another all day travel day.