prague: city of snow and wonder!

well first things first. it's freakin FREEZING! i woke up this morning after a jet-lagged tainted night of terrible sleep, looked out the window at the snow falling onto the streets, and suddenly the prospect of getting out in the cold was very exciting!

i want to go back to the beginning however. as i stepped out through the door of the aeroplane at heathrow, i was whacked in the face by a gust of cold northern-hemisphere air, with all the promise of a new morning. it was, after all, a little before 6am. walking through the arrivals hall at heathrow i experienced the first of a collection of uniquely european sensations - the smell of 35 smokers in a little glass box next to the departure lounges, and the novelty of 0 degrees celsius.

i changed terminals on the little bus, and had some time to kill, so i went downstairs into the shops sort of bit at heathrow and started looking around a shoe shop. within 1 minute i was enlisted as an interpreter for a french couple who were yelling about sizes at the poor indian sales girl. so that was fun. ha i also ordered a coffee, and the guys said to me "skinny milk, yeah?" and i said "no, why??" and he said "oh, you just look like you might be on a diet" and his boss started yelling at him. haha it was great. clearly a bit of a legend with the ladies, that one... :)

then my flight was called and we were all put on a little bus to go out to the plane. as i was standing on the tarmac under the grey sky with the wind and sleet and wearing insufficient clothing for the weather, I suddenly remembered the exhilaration that comes from travel. the idea that every moment is for discovery and adventure. that it is what you make it. and in that moment the next two months just opened up before me like the pages of a book waiting to be written in! very exciting.

so i got to prague and neil met me at the airport. it's funny to remember the basis of our friendship (in summary: we met in the hostel in may 2003, talked for 12 full hours one night, then shook hands and took a photo, and i went and took a flight to paris. then a year and a half later he was still here, and my mates richie and rusty were here, and they were hanging out with a whole lot of guys here. then one day one of them asked them "i know this is a ridiculous question because australia's kind of a big place, but do you know jess taylor??". haha. and it was him. so there you go.), because techically we really don't know eachother at all and are hideous at keeping in touch, but we've had some great conversations about very interesting stuff, not to mention sharing lots of interesting books, music etc. so it's been cool. it's good to see him again.

anyway, we had dinner last night, then i came back to the hostel and went to bed at about 9.30. i woke up again at about 12.15am feeling absolutely TERRIBLE - had a bit of a funny tummy, and was jet-lagged like a crazy byatch, so i got up and went downstairs, read a book for a couple of hours and then went to bed again at about 3. then woke up at 9.30 and went downstairs for breakfast, and then got enlisted to do a walking tour with this crazy, angry, hilarious german guy. i think he's an historian, but i really don't know. he's totally anti-establishment, anti-tourist, anti-everything, and uses a LOT of superlatives in his tours. "oldest, biggest, trendiest, first..." so it was funny. and the snow really does make this beautiful city even more so. although, having been here in summer i must say it really is a different experience entirely. prague is somewhat melancholy, or quiet, or reserved at the moment. there is almost a contemplative air to the city, whereas in summer it's just full of bloody brits and their 'stag-dos'. haha. shocking. anyway, i'm going to go and read a book. will write again soon, i'm sure...

j xxx