Saturday night, Prague:
Manuel and I trot down the road to the metro station.
We take a short ride to the city and ascend the longest escalator stair I have ever seen, out of the bowels of the post-socialist subway into the warmth of an Prague autumn evening.
Arriving on the surface we step straight into a big street fair. It’s part of Prague’s local wine culture. I remember seeing vineyards on the hillside around the castle earlier today.
As well as local bottles of vino some stands are offering a local brew that’s made out of grapes, but only very crudely fermented. It’s sugary and smells slightly like puke. I forget the name of it after a few glasses. It’s basically Czech-grape-moonshine.
The band hits the stage and the crowd swells into a crush as the darkness falls on the city.
Manuel, me and a bunch of Manuel’s workmates cluster on a rug and swap random travel stories. Manuel works at a language school so everyone in our group is living away from their home culture. There are four Americans, two Scots, an Irishman, Manuel (Venezuelan) and me.
I brought the slab of Innis & Gunn I picked up in the suburbs. It is well received by the off-duty teachers, and nobody seems to mind taking a break from the semi-fermented vino to have a can of IPA, especially the Scots in our group who are tickled pink I brought a slab of Edinburgh beer to a Czech wine festival.
When the rain starts to get serious around 9:00 we relocate to a bar, getting thoroughly soaked en route.
The bar is a cavern of a place, set up in a stone-walled basement. There’s a friendly house dog, a bunch of middle-aged Czech punks and a jukebox full of eighties dance hits sharing the space with our damp, inebriated party.
The beers flow freely. The house tap brew is only 20 crowns a pint, which is equivalent to $1.10. Everyone is happily and inexpensively shit-faced.
(Shit-faced: colloquial Australian term meaning to be drunk enough to fall asleep face down on the floor of a toilet cubicle.)
Prague is a fun place.
Two nights here is not even a visit. I hope I get to come back soon.
