Czech Me OUT

Day 4--- MY BIRTHDAY!!!

My amazing friends made my birthday start off with a bang! Right before midnight I had to grab something from my room, came back to the festivities in their room, and they had a little bowl of ice cream on a tray and a lit candle for me to blow out! It was so surprising and wonderful! They had secretly ordered room service for us to celebrate!

And it wouldn’t be a birthday without talking to your Mom and Dad, so of course I spent a few minutes on my Go-phone to call some VIPs. While I am calling home, Ramzi went down to the front desk and had a nice conversation with the manager of the Marriott concerning our “situation…” He told them we had chosen the Marriott because there was a hot tub so we could celebrate “his girlfriend’s birthday” (aka ME) by having a hot tub party. Well, the hot tub had just barely broken, so he told them he wished he had been informed. It’s true though, we were planning on going to the dang hot tub every night, so we were really quite bummed. But…. The Marriott said they would have their general manager contact him in the morning.

I got to sleep in for the first time in months!! (Well, if you call 9 o’clock Prague time or 8 o’clock London time really sleeping in..) To start of my birthday, I wanted to go visit the Czech countryside and see a smaller town. So we finally find the train station, buy ourselves tickets from a lady who spoke zero English, then run around like crazy for 25 minutes trying to find the right platform. Hahaha we looked so dumb! But we finally made it on the right train to take us to Karlstejn.

Elise & I when we finally made it to the bus. Perfectly awake...

The view from the Karlstejn train exit. Uh-oh. There was no castle in sight.

There was, however, a barn!

And a river!

And eventually we found the canyon leading up to the Castle. It was such a charming little village in the countryside. I love Karlstejn.

The view from the castle wall.We loved the churro thingies...

The Prague Girls..

Of course we had to wait for the train for a good half hour. :)

By then, Elise and I were both pooped. Nap-time on the train, anyone?

When we arrived back in Praha, we stopped by the hotel to drop off my friends’ souvenirs, and were pleasantly shocked to find…….. : A Double chocolate mousse cake with raspberries, blackberries and blueberries on top , complete with white-chocolate strips that had a zebra pattern on the back and said “Happy Birthday” in chocolate. Plus, a handwritten note in English wishing me a Happy Birthday from the Marriott Hotel. And then, a plate of 9 fresh strawberries. And a bottle of chilled CHAMPAGNE in a funny little ice bucket. Not many 20 year old Mormon girls get champagne for their birthday! Haha, we didn’t know what to do with it, so we thought we would “pay it forward.”

Me and my Champagne!
And Ramzi & I, since he pretended I was his girlfriend to get this for us.

After a few days enjoying Praha, we had accumulated a small errands list to finish before leaving. On this list: Exchanging Elise’s “Czech ME Out” shirt at the souvenir shop. Ramzi disappeared on our way over there, as he often does, so we just continued without him. He caught up with us at the store and gave me a pretty daisy for my birthday! So sweet of him. But of course, this made the men working at the souvenir shop look at me funny. Someone tells them it’s my birthday, since I was holding the flowers Ramzi gave me.

The salesguy then proceeds to pull me under his shoulder and started acting like best friend. Pay close attention; this is where it gets entertaining.

Here’s how the story goes, unabridged, from the first time I typed it to a friend. You'll die, it's so funny

So I’m just playing along and laughing my head off.

Then he said he wanted to do the little

Kiss/kiss on the cheek thing twenty times for my birthday

like they do in France or Italy

where it's like "cheek cheek" and

lips don't actually touch cheek you know?

Well I thought he was kidding and would get

To three or four and stop, so I just went with it.

I didn’t know he was being totally serious!

At first he was just goin at it and I’m laughing and

Being a good sport,

And then he laughs and says that number 20 has to be

"Somewhere else"

But then he starts counting.... 1.. 2.. 3.. 4..

then he starts jumping back and forth with his counting

12...13...14…….12…...9...11...12...11….12...13...14...15...16...17..18...19.........

and he has like grabbed my face and pulled it up by his

and I'm pulling away laughing

and like pushing him away

but not wanting to be rude

and trying to roll out of his grasp

and pushing him away

but still laughing because it’s hilarious

and my friends are two feet away taking pictures of the whole thing

but he has my face in his hands somehow

and then I tried telling him that I have a boyfriend

I have a boyfriend

I have a boyfriend!! (push push)

and he's laughing and says 20 has to be somewhere else

and it's your 20th birthday

and you're in Praha

and this is how we do it in Praha

so frantically trying to find a way out of this

and begging for help with my facial expression to my friends

who all take pictures of my silent pleas and laugh harder.

So.

I grabbed his face and pulled his head down and gave him this

Quick peck on the forehead

Hoping that would end it all

and it didn't work!!!

and my friends were all just laughing their heads off

and not being helpful at all

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I just sucked it up and gave the sicko a quick peck

Then was disgusted and had to flee from the store

He was just some random creepy salesguy at a souvenirs shop!!

and as I was running down the street, I could hear him yelling, you better

come back next year and the next.....

Such a disgusting little man

With his peppered pony-tail. Ew.

Notice how at first I just think it's hilarious, but I'm a little creeped out and just going with it.

THEN he mentions the "somewhere else" rule and I was DISGUSTED and couldn't escape!

Also, notice how he's holding me so I can't escape. URGHHHH.

After this, we just wandered the city one last time. But we had walked past this waffle/chocolate place millions of times and had been craving them like crazy. So we went back and got a waffle.

We went back over Charles’ Bridge for sunset, then went to the massive mall and ate this incredible Mongolian food. Yummy!! Then we went to some strange Egyptian drink place and got virgin cocktails to celebrate.

The view of the Castle was stunning.

Mmmmm I love virgin cocktails. End of story.

Oh, what a trip! So many unforgettable moments of laughter, giddiness, stress, joy, excitement, exhilaration, hilarity, happiness, can't-believe-that-just-happened---EWWW, and epic-ness!