Prague - the beer capital of world, one of the most liberal minded places across the world. A city known for its crazy parties. But more importantly for me, it was going to help me tick off one of my bucket list items - Skydiving (more details to follow below). I first took an ICE rail from Frankfurt to Nuremberg for my journey to Prague. It was my fist experience on a bullet train which was running at a speed of ~300km/hr. The beauty of city outskirts, picturesque landscapes was a complete delight to the eyes. A thing to be noted for rail rides - vendors typically charge ~INR 800 for seats reservation which is completely unecessary. Later, I took an inter-country bus to Prague which left me amazed at the concept of the European Union. A 3-hour journey via road in India would only enable an inter-state transfer and here I was able to cross over a country.
I reached Prague central station from wherein I had to board a bus/tram to my hostel. Reaching the terminus, my presumption of Europe being a tourist-friendly destination broke. The sign-boards were not informative, travel help desks were not to be found. Even the police and locals seemed least interested to help. It was a reaffirmation of the general perception of Czech citizens being rude. At this moment, I did think that it would have been better to be a part of a organized tour. After much struggle, I finally found out a manual booking platform which to my surprise only accepted czech koruna (CZK) despite the fact that Czech Republic is a part of the European Union. Later, I even had a hard time in navigating myself to the tram boarding point as even Google Maps seemed to have a bad day in office. Finally, a sweet lady helped me out with the correct tram, so much so that she even missed her scheduled journey (later I found out that she was also a tourist). I stayed at Hostel Santini Prague which was close to River Vltava. I would recommend a stay at Hostel Downtown or Czech Inn (part of Europe's Famous Hostels Group). The hostel had another level of demand - cash in CZK currency is the only acceptable mode of payment (not even credit cards). All these are hassles which was not experienced in any other cities across Europe. Keeping these all aside, I quickly buzzed off for a long night which was awaiting me.
In the evening, I took an hour cruise across River Vltava. Bookings can be easily made via Klook. I would recommend a cruise at night as the beauty of artificial lights on the Prague Castle, Charles Bridge simply added to the experience. Later I took a stroll across the iconic Charles Bridge. Its a must visit place in Prague - sort of a pilgrimage point. Although it was windy, I loved the feel of cool breeze on my face. One can climb up to the top of tower to get a bird's eye view of the entire city. On the bridge, one would come across many artists playing melodious tunes on saxophone, violin and trumpets. There would be magicians showing tricks, sketchers, small shops selling key chains, souvenir. Two things which caught my attention were a group of 3 people laying unconventional music and the one-man band. There is a statue of St. John of Nepomuk. A popular belief out there is that a touch of statue brings along good fortune and a return to the city of Prague.
Coincidentally, it happened to be a full moon night. All this while I had only heard about the crazy + rave full moon night parties but now there was an opportunity to experience it. It has been the craziest party that I have attended in my life (minute details of which cannot be disclosed for obvious reasons). People danced their hearts out with strangers, got drunk like anything. Since beer is considered to be a staple food, taxes are not levied on it. Half-litre of beer would typically cost less than 1 USD. As per statistics, an average Prague resident drinks ~143 ltrs of beer annually while an Indian only drinks ~2ltrs. There were quite a few interesting games being played at the venue (at times quite embarrassing). One also had the option to attend a boat party whose insanity level was altogether different.
One can take a free city tour organized by the Sandeman (tips at your discretion). This tour is highly recommended to roam about the city like a local and visit important venues like the Old Town Square, Prague Castle, Astronomical Clock and others. Horrible stories of atrocities, world war would pain the heart enough to take a pledge on not allowing another world war to take place. Later in the evening, walk across to the Letna Park for quick snack + drinks and enjoy a picturesque view of the Prague city. It was a relaxing way to welcome the evening - beautiful sunset, lying on grass, watch toddlers play and being happy about the experience.
Next up was Skydiving - an activity itched to my body forever in form of my tattoo. To be honest, it was only after watching ZNMD that the idea of doing skydiving first came in my mind. Seeing the dive on a 50ft movie screen amazed me like anything. Jokingly I had told my family members (only a few) about my plans but thankfully they didn't consider it to be serious as they were aware of my acrophobia. I had made an advance booking directly via Sky Service who charged me a total of Euros 160 (around INR ~13K) including a to and fro travel by car of 140 kms. We were a batch of six people (2 S.Koreans & Chinese each and a Russian) including me. The instructor was quite funny out there as he successfully tried to ease out the butterflies in our stomach.
Contrary to popular beliefs and what was shown in ZNMD, this was not going to be a solo jump but a tandem one. In order to do a solo fall, one has to be certified with at least 25 jumps. There is a free-fall for only 1 minute and about 6 minutes of parachute fall. But do not be disheartened by this - the experience of diving from 15,000 ft is much more unique and memorable. Just to give a flavor, the highest level of paragliding available in India is only for 8,000 ft. After a 2-minute instruction drill, we were all geared up for the mission of our lives. We quickly had a photo session (probably the last one of our lives). The view from the plane as it was reaching the skies is still fresh in my mind. After the plane reached a certain height, the gates were thrown open. This is it - the moment of life had arrived! The instructor then pointed towards me and designated me to be the first jumper. OMG, why on earth did he choose me first? Even a second jump could have helped ease some pressure. Do I have adequate insurance policies? Did I do the right thing by not calling my mother before the dive? These are some of the thoughts that did cross in those few seconds. I took my first step on the ladder and looked down. The sight scared the hell out of me. It reminded me of Aamir Khan walking on the pipe in a movie to save his friend. Before I could chant Ram Ram, my tandem instructor threw me out of the plane. That one-minute of free-fall is by far the most cherished and memorable minute of my life. I was calm, felt like a free bird who was flying high in the sky with no thoughts crossing my mind. I don't think that I have ever lived a moment/minute fuller than that. The world never seemed more beautiful than this. Thereafter the parachute was opened, the experience was still very unique. At that moment, I wished for time to come to a standstill and let me just admire the beauty of this world. At times, the air pressure up there was too much to handle. By the time I landed on the lush green grasses, my ears were completely numb, so much so that I couldn't hear anything for a minute. I looked up to the sky and thanked God for this surreal experience and wonderful opportunity of lifetime. Hopefully in future I can have similar skydiving experiences in Switzerland, New Zealand and South Africa.
Stay tuned for the next chapter in the series of 'My 1st European Experience' with Budapest being up next..
Comments