Praha, Pivo, Prosim

First off I suppose the above is grammatically incorrect. ‘hospoda’ is Czech for pub but since the Czech language doesn’t use articles, my insertion of THE might make it just that much more retarded.

But anyway….

I’m not usually a ‘club’ kind of person. I’m all for a good drink and socializing but clubs are usually super crowded which invariably means that one ends up standing in an uncomfortable position for a long stretch of time. Additionally, I like to actually be able to speak to whomever I am with at the time and speak at a normal volume. Screaming in the ear of your friend that you have to go to the WC is just stupid. And then of course there’s the waiting in line for a drink part. This part sucks. If the club is a good one (e.g. busy), the bar will probably be 4 or 5 people deep so therein begins the seemingly endless cycle of bar, drink, bathroom, yell, dance, bar, drink, bathroom, yell, etc. For variety I suppose you could throw in an occasional drink spill or insult shouted from a stranger but the aforementioned is the general form.

Last night I went to The Cross Club. The Cross Club is in a bit of a more ‘industrial’ part of town. I don’t think it’s super desirable to live there but alas, it’s a popular place so I finally broke my cherry and and went with a posse of English teachers. (The place gets bonus points for being one tram away from my flat. Public transportation is great here but sometimes you just don’t want to wait for a transfer. Direct routes = happy)

Here’s how I’ll describe The Cross Club….. I assume that the proprietors of the club bought an old run down warehouse or building and decided to make it into a club. Then, they went to the nearest junkyard and bought all the parts to car engines they could find. On their way out of the junkyard they realized they could use a couple hundred old motherboards so they bought those too. Adding to the pile of crap, mix in a lot of pipes, rebar, moving parts and miscellaneous lights. And that’s just the decor of the downstairs bar. The music played was a random Euro metal mix. It could have been in Czech, Latvian or even Bulgarian–I have no idea. But strangely enough (or perhaps not), it actually ‘goes’ with the look of the bar. There is also a dance area and outdoor seating as well as an upstairs which has a completely different vibe. The upstairs is more chill and decorated in a completely different way. It’s much lighter in two ways–aesthetically and in tone/feeling. The music is different and it’s not densely packed like the junkyard/torture museum/art installation below.

I can happily report that a ,5L dark Kozel or Gambrinus is 28Kc. With the exchange rate presently around 18Kc/1USD, that’s a good price for a drink in a club.

The club’s webpage can’t be rolled over to English but if you check the ‘galerie’ in the toolbar on the left, you can see what the place looks like. Tell me if you think my description is accurate. I would have taken pictures myself but the display on my Nikon is busted. Boo. (The camera still works but I can’t change any of the settings nor can I have the joy of instant gratification. Boo. And this came about 2 weeks on the heels of me washing my mobile while it was still in my pants.)

New Schedule

I have a new work schedule starting this week and it’s going to be interesting. I need to put on my best teacher shoes and really manage my time this semester. God, I need more supplies too. The number of photocopies scattered around my room is embarrassing. I’m so NOT good for the environment. However, I’ll still and try to blog with regularity and I’ll post random stupid pictures of my Euro adventures.

Holla!