My First Time Wasn't Great

I wasn't going to admit this, but I might as well since it turned out pretty well.

So I bought this bike, you see. I got it from a little second hand store right up the street. They aren't a bike shop or anything, so I wasn't expecting anything really fine tuned. Well there was a cute little one bike that I liked and that was one of the best there, so I bought it. The back brakes weren't great and it made some noises, but hey, it's a pretty simple machine, I can work out the kinks.

I rode to school on Tuesday with my new bike and a lot of courage. I mapped out a route that was quick and had bike paths and I was set. Please understand that the campus of NYU Paris is in the 16th arrondissement on the top of a pretty large hill. Not even a hill, but highlands. So once I cross the Seine (yeah the Eiffel Tower is just to my right), it is that final burst before the finish line. Well I stopped at maybe the steepest part of my journey to look at the map. I must turn left, uphill. So with all my might I SLAM down on the pedal to get started again...

My bike breaks, because that is happen when you are close to a destination and have a certain time you must be there. I take a quick look and I notice the chain is off. No big deal, I fix it and try to proceed. Then I notice the wheel is crooked and rubbing and very strangely off, but I don't know why. Well I was in a time crunch, so I walked my bike to school (while holding the back wheel off the ground) another 12 minutes.

The last two days I have left it at school, wondering how much it would be to get it fixed and where I would go. And hoping and hating it and wishing and sometimes regretting ever buying it.

Well today I took control. I folded my bike in half (yeah it does that) and took it to my friend's house who has a big tool box. I know how a bike works and once I went on a bike trip from the top to the bottom of Michigan in 9 days, so I can get the wheel off myself! Again, a bike is a simple machine and I am good with tools and I refuse to pay any more money.

Well, SUCCESS! I fixed my bike. My hands were dirty, I was sweaty, and I'm sure the bolts weren't happy, but it is done. I even tightened my back brakes, fixed my lights and a part of the petal that was making a strange noise. All I needed was a little elbow grease.

So then I rode home on my bike from my friend's house.

On another note, biking is tiring.

Evan and Eric in Prague

Did you know that Prague uses something called the Crown and not the Euro? Well neither did we. But we eventually got it situated and took a bus, a train, then a tram to the hostel. I do believe now that I overpacked a little, but I was lucky enough to have a good friend to help me carry my things.

I had slept little the day/night before, but we wanted to make the most of our time, so after we checked in and I took a shower, we walked toward the city center and the 'sites' on our hostel issued map. I already wanted to die from exhaustion and felt myself getting sick. Eric also got up about 4:30 that morning to catch his flight to Prague. Needless to say we were pessimistic about the entire that city.

And we walked in a huge circle all around what the Czech's call Praha. We disliked it. Their language was so boring and weird that it annoyed us, we didn't understand the architecture and we had no basis of knowledge while looking at anything, and the food was bland. Finally, when I thought it was late enough to go back to sleep, I looked at my watch and it was 4:30pm. We decided instead on a nap in the park. We decided it was a good thing that a stray dog started to lick us about 6:30 because otherwise we might have slept the night there.

The second day was much better. We took a free (!?) walking tour and loved it. The guide worked off tips and he was great, we learned about the city, heard funny stories and it really grew on us. It was uphill from there. It actually is a beautiful city with amazing buildings and a really interesting history...Though we did decide that it not only a stretch, but a lie to call it the Prague Castle. It may be big, but it is not magical enough looking to be a castle. It is a palace, at best.

We searched for Monks at the monestary and never found them, but did drink some beer that they brewed. We went in plenty of marionette stores, of which there are many. We drank a good amount of delicious cheap beer. We learned how to pronounce Dvořák's last name correctly. But we learned only one word in Czech: Po-Mots! (Help!).

We also got offered a combo deal by a man on the street:

"Strip dance, sex, then two free beers"

Though tempting, we were tired.

Czech Inventions:

• Beer (Czechs get angry because Germans get the credit)
• Cubed Sugar
• The word 'robot'

What they like to eat:

• Big Triangles of Fried Cheese
• Goulash
• Boiled Potatoes
• Potato or Bread Dumplings
• Tartar Sauce
• Carp (on Christmas night especially)

A few other of my favorite Prague facts/traditions/stories deserve their own post and will come shortly.