Arriving in Berlin from Kiev, I found that the hash wasn't running until Sunday. That gave me exactly no time to make it up to Copenhagen to make their hash and return their beloved Kylie, the hottest chick in Copenhagen.
You see, back in Atlanta, via Chatanooga and Birmingham, I was able to hash with the illustrious Hugh Heifer, who had a gift for me in the form of a small (maybe a couple beer cans in size) fuzzy chicken, the kind you would see in a Walgreens or Rite Aid that played a song when you pressed the button on its wing and then danced around in a silly fashion.
He had acquired this chicked, named Kylie, when someone (unbeknownst to him) had placed it in his luggage at Interhash Perth. All he knew was this kidnapped chick belonged in Denmark with the Copenhagen hash and damnit, it needed to get home!
After hearing about my ambitious plans to gallavant around the globe, he asked if I would take Kylie along. Being the somewhat (yeah right?) decent hume that I am, I said sure, why not? Tossed Kylie in my hash bag and continued on my merry way, expecting to drop the Chick off in a pass-thru within a month.
Little did I know that my U.S. travels would take almost two more months of hashing, camping and what-not. All the while, anytime my stuff shifted in the back of my car from turning too hard, or if I was careless in my packing, Kylie would be there to remind me of her presence by breaking out into glorious song.
Then came the airport. Not wanting to have an unpleasant stay in security I carefully removed Kylie's battery and packed her away in my bag, not knowing when, but only that I was now on a mission, not just a task.
Over the next month and a half, Kylie rode along, a silent passenger in my luggage. Coming out every now and then for a brief photo-op along the way. The astrological clock in Prague, the River Liffy in Dublin, with some Oktoberfest ladies in Berlin. I think there are 40 some pictures in my camera of this Chicken with various international landmarks. Far more than of myself (granted I've been the one holding the camera for almost every pic, one of the caveats of traveling alone).
Then the time came. I had a week's lapse between Kiev's Full Moon Hash and Munich for Oktoberfest. I had kind of figured that I would be returning Kylie after the Beerfest, but now was a chance to visit Denmark and return her, eating up a chunk of otherwise spare time.
I booked my ticket to Berlin, acting as a hub for travel to Copenhagen and then to Munich, then proceeded to e-mail and use Hashspace to announce Kylie's homecoming.
Crashspace was procured, a welcoming party was arranged and after three nights in Berlin, I had a ticket to Copenhagen and following an eight hour train ride, Kylie would be home!
I stepped off the train at Kobenhaven H station (there's some missing marks on those previous letters) and walked toward the stairs to see a man, Codpiece, in a Perth Interhash shirt. I shouted, "On-On!" and thrust Kylie in one of his hands while shaking the other. We walked to a nearby local pub where about five hashers were already gathered. Fire in the Ho, Red Carpet and others. Rounds were bought, beer was drunk and Kylie was restored to life as Codpiece replaced the missing battery removed over a month prior.
As we sat and drank local brews and stews, the local musician for the pub brought in his keyboard and plucked away as two old guys (one in drag) sang various classic Danish drinking songs such as... (like I know any Danish, so the hell if I knew what the songs were).
The Codpiece got us all up and we moved on to take a couple more pictures of Kylie in the middle of Copenhagen's red light district. One in front of a tattoo shop with a sign reading, "Yes, it hurts."
One in front of a giant dildo, and one in front of our next stop, "Spunk Bar."
After another couple of beers, I packed Kylie away for the official presentation at the Monday hash and we all went our separate ways, myself following Fire in the Ho to her place where she had a guest room for me.
Arriving at Monday's hash, the Kiev weather seemed to follow, it was damn cold and there was a misty drizzle in the air. The kind of rain where you wish the clouds would simply open up and deluge the city, to get the damn thing over with. Instead it was a consistent light drizzle. Enough that within the first 10 minutes of the hash we were all soaked.
Trail, laid by Her Holynose, was a brief city affair that took us through the twists and turns of the Copenhagen suburbs. FRB's were getting consistently fucked though as the hare continued the remarkable tradition I've run into on pre-lays in the EU where she walked with the walkers, sweeping, and then would mark and re-mark portions of trail as she went along.
After an hour or so of not seeing trail, or coming across falses that came in from a different direction than we were going, a couple of the FRB's and myself just aimed for the On-In which was, fortunately, at the start.
Over the next ten minutes or so, other hashers started to arrive. We pulled out the beer, I pulled out my vessel and Kylie, then we proceeded to jabber about whatever until the RA started circle.
I got pulled in for being a visitor, then I got pulled in again to officially return Kylie home. They started her song, placed her in the circle, then snapped photos until Baby Blow Job's dog jumped into circle, grabbed Kylie by the wing and took off running and shaking its head!
Kylie made it across the world, only to get attacked by a vicious dog the instant she arrived at her home hash...
Fortunately, Kylie was rescued shortly after and with no visible damage. The dog was put on probation and Baby Blow Job was given a down-down for her misbehaving mutt.
Her Holynose was brought in, apparantly this was her 25th hare and she had been reminding mis-management for damn near a month so she could get her 25th hare shirt.
She was given a down-down for being overly persistent, then another to present to her the shirt.
Then I got pulled in again, given a giant drinking horn brimming with beer and was presented with a shirt for bringing Kylie home. Not just any shirt though. This shirt is the one usually given to Copenhagen hashers who are leaving their beloved homeland for other shores.
In short, I was made an honorary Viking Wanker of the Copenhagen Hash! (my High School mascot was the Vikings, coincidence? Yes.)
I drank my beer from the viking horn-taking longer than I think most of them would-before tipping the now empty vessel over my head... who said head?
Circle concluded, not with hash hymn number one, but with CH3's own closing song. One to which I knew none of the words to, but enjoyed just the same.
On-On.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Howling at the Mooooooon!
On the combination of a whim and an invite from one Big Akula at the Prague 24th Anniversary/888/Red Dress Run I ventured into Kiev, Ukraine to attend the Kiev H3's first ever Full Moon Hash!
So, after the half-marathon in Budapest, I booked a train ticket and took the day and a half trip farther East than I have ever been.
Big Akula was delayed in Kosovo with work, so he set me up with the generous Beer King so I'd have a place to stay upon my arrival.
I was waiting outside of the train station, when a bear of a man (teddy? grizzly? Chicago?) walked up in my peripheral vision, stared intently at my Hash necklace and shook my hand. The one, the only, Beer King had found me!
After a quick beer, we took a marvelous Metro system (damn near half a mile underground and with lobby style areas that looked like the ceilings of some of the castles I have visited. Very impressive!
From there we took a shifty mini-bus outside of the main city to his apartment where he warned me beforehand that his place was a pretty standard 3rd world country place and I should be prepared mentally for what it looked like.
Now, I've stayed in some pretty touchy places, so I wasn't too concerned, but this was definitely held its own charm.
I'm going to take a(nother) moment here to state that this blog is more about observations than opinions. Sure I have my views on things (we all do), but my aim is certainly not to offend and I am grateful for every host I have had (and hopefully will have) and hope to repay in kind when the opportunity arises.
With that out of the way, I have to say that staying outside of Kiev has presented me the unique opportunity to see what it is like to live in a place with low economic income and a poor governmental infastructure. It kind of reminded me of Compton in the early 90's, replete with the music but minus the guns.
Tagging was highly present, the playgrounds were filled with either broken play structures or simply overgrown and EVERYONE smokes (except for Beer King, which was awesome since I don't smoke either!). Apparently cigarettes aren't really taxed like they are in the States, so they're extremely cheap and there's little to no monitoring by the government so stores just sell them to anyone. The result is that it's not uncommon to see eight year olds sitting in the playground puffing away.
In Beer King's apartment, the shower also doubled as a dishwasher, hand sink and well, pretty much anything that involved water except for the toilet. The building was clearly falling apart, but without Government involvement there is little anyone can do as it would cost Beer King close to $5000 to fix his place to standard, but like a lot of people, he's looking for work.
Speaking of which, he's an excellent Ukrainian/Russian to English (and vice versa) translator, so if you know anyone who needs those services and want to hook a hasher up, he's on Hashspace.
That night we had a traditional Ukrainian dinner of marinated herring, mashed potatoes and tomato with some local beer, then went to sleep with plans to meet up with Big Akula the next day to discuss the Full Moon trail.
We all met at the Golden Gate pub, an Irish bar owned by a former hasher named Hannibal the Cannibal (he looks almost exactly like the character played by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs!) and along with Unfinnished Symphony, we drove to the park where trail was to be held, walked around and planned out a fairly low key jaunt that basically went around the park, but a touch in the middle to give it some off pavement feel. I optioned to make it a tad more difficult, but Akula was afraid that the typical Kiev pack would get lost and not want to do more Full Moon trails in the future. Fair enough, it's not my trail. As it started to rain we met up again with Unfinnished Symphony and drove back to the pub where we had a couple more beers before departing in a lightly drizzling rain.
The next day we all arrived, chilled by the fall night air and eager to feel the damp grass under our swiftly moving feet from the rain which stopped falling mere hours before, leaving a break in the clouds, through which the white of the full moon shone down on us below.
The pack circled, names were called out and RA Flash Crash blessed the hares in a pope-esque outfit and sent them off with a wave of his toilet wand.
All of two minutes later the walkers followed and us runners (all 4 of us) waited another three before following a well laid trail of... get this, GLOWSTICK BRACELETS!
Nope, no flour for this full moon we were chasing dropped glowing rave favors, howling at the moon every couple of hundred feet or so as we jaunted along, much to the surprise and amazement of the Ukrainian students that we passed by!
As we neared the other end of the park, we sighted the hares, waiting patiently at the beer check as if we took too damn long and a few minutes later the walkers arrived at which point we all joined in on drinking and jabbering about who knows what.
The hares took off again and I led the group in a sing-a-long of Singin' in the Rain before we followed trail again, this time being made more difficult by passing students who kept picking up trail.
With a mad dash to the end, myself and Toto (visiting harriette from NYC) were FRB's followed closely by Atomic Fiddler and Flash Crash.
We had a grand circle in the cold where two hashers got named, Supersonic Leather and Dirty Knees (the latter being my suggestion-yay, I've named a hasher in another continent now!), then transported to the Golden Gate for more beer and a couple games of pool.
All in all it was a successful first Full Moon run, though trail could have been much longer and more difficult. But, that's for next time, right!?
So, after the half-marathon in Budapest, I booked a train ticket and took the day and a half trip farther East than I have ever been.
Big Akula was delayed in Kosovo with work, so he set me up with the generous Beer King so I'd have a place to stay upon my arrival.
I was waiting outside of the train station, when a bear of a man (teddy? grizzly? Chicago?) walked up in my peripheral vision, stared intently at my Hash necklace and shook my hand. The one, the only, Beer King had found me!
After a quick beer, we took a marvelous Metro system (damn near half a mile underground and with lobby style areas that looked like the ceilings of some of the castles I have visited. Very impressive!
From there we took a shifty mini-bus outside of the main city to his apartment where he warned me beforehand that his place was a pretty standard 3rd world country place and I should be prepared mentally for what it looked like.
Now, I've stayed in some pretty touchy places, so I wasn't too concerned, but this was definitely held its own charm.
I'm going to take a(nother) moment here to state that this blog is more about observations than opinions. Sure I have my views on things (we all do), but my aim is certainly not to offend and I am grateful for every host I have had (and hopefully will have) and hope to repay in kind when the opportunity arises.
With that out of the way, I have to say that staying outside of Kiev has presented me the unique opportunity to see what it is like to live in a place with low economic income and a poor governmental infastructure. It kind of reminded me of Compton in the early 90's, replete with the music but minus the guns.
Tagging was highly present, the playgrounds were filled with either broken play structures or simply overgrown and EVERYONE smokes (except for Beer King, which was awesome since I don't smoke either!). Apparently cigarettes aren't really taxed like they are in the States, so they're extremely cheap and there's little to no monitoring by the government so stores just sell them to anyone. The result is that it's not uncommon to see eight year olds sitting in the playground puffing away.
In Beer King's apartment, the shower also doubled as a dishwasher, hand sink and well, pretty much anything that involved water except for the toilet. The building was clearly falling apart, but without Government involvement there is little anyone can do as it would cost Beer King close to $5000 to fix his place to standard, but like a lot of people, he's looking for work.
Speaking of which, he's an excellent Ukrainian/Russian to English (and vice versa) translator, so if you know anyone who needs those services and want to hook a hasher up, he's on Hashspace.
That night we had a traditional Ukrainian dinner of marinated herring, mashed potatoes and tomato with some local beer, then went to sleep with plans to meet up with Big Akula the next day to discuss the Full Moon trail.
We all met at the Golden Gate pub, an Irish bar owned by a former hasher named Hannibal the Cannibal (he looks almost exactly like the character played by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs!) and along with Unfinnished Symphony, we drove to the park where trail was to be held, walked around and planned out a fairly low key jaunt that basically went around the park, but a touch in the middle to give it some off pavement feel. I optioned to make it a tad more difficult, but Akula was afraid that the typical Kiev pack would get lost and not want to do more Full Moon trails in the future. Fair enough, it's not my trail. As it started to rain we met up again with Unfinnished Symphony and drove back to the pub where we had a couple more beers before departing in a lightly drizzling rain.
The next day we all arrived, chilled by the fall night air and eager to feel the damp grass under our swiftly moving feet from the rain which stopped falling mere hours before, leaving a break in the clouds, through which the white of the full moon shone down on us below.
The pack circled, names were called out and RA Flash Crash blessed the hares in a pope-esque outfit and sent them off with a wave of his toilet wand.
All of two minutes later the walkers followed and us runners (all 4 of us) waited another three before following a well laid trail of... get this, GLOWSTICK BRACELETS!
Nope, no flour for this full moon we were chasing dropped glowing rave favors, howling at the moon every couple of hundred feet or so as we jaunted along, much to the surprise and amazement of the Ukrainian students that we passed by!
As we neared the other end of the park, we sighted the hares, waiting patiently at the beer check as if we took too damn long and a few minutes later the walkers arrived at which point we all joined in on drinking and jabbering about who knows what.
The hares took off again and I led the group in a sing-a-long of Singin' in the Rain before we followed trail again, this time being made more difficult by passing students who kept picking up trail.
With a mad dash to the end, myself and Toto (visiting harriette from NYC) were FRB's followed closely by Atomic Fiddler and Flash Crash.
We had a grand circle in the cold where two hashers got named, Supersonic Leather and Dirty Knees (the latter being my suggestion-yay, I've named a hasher in another continent now!), then transported to the Golden Gate for more beer and a couple games of pool.
All in all it was a successful first Full Moon run, though trail could have been much longer and more difficult. But, that's for next time, right!?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
sixty-eight, sixty-nine
A number of significance, if only to me.
I arrived in Budapest roughly 6 days ago, e-mailing the hash ahead of time. I got a response, but it was pretty lackluster, a reiteration of where trail was meeting and a hopeful forward of it to their groups page to see if I could get a couch somewhere.
4 days later I hadn't heard anything from anyone and I had pretty much done "tourist" Buda and "tourist" Pest to the degree I could afford.
Then I found out there was a half-marathon being run on the same day as the hash (and regrettably over the same time frame).
I fired off another e-mail, basically giving a day's notice that I would miss the hash and asked if they were doing anything later that day or had a beer stop on course, then signed up for the half-marathon the next day.
The number I got, 6869.
Coincidence? Hardly, I specifically asked for that number.
The damn thing was pricey, but it included admission to Budapest's famous Baths afterwards and that was the one thing I had decided was out of my price range originally.
So, throwing the prospect of new shoes out the window, I went back to my hostel to register for another couple nights only to find out they were closing for the season.
Shit.
Oh well, I packed up my stuff, and the next morning (Sunday, Sunday, Sunday) I walked the three kilometers to the start in my running clothes with the rest on my back, never hearing from the hash.
After tossing stuff in storage, I had a beer and went to the race start to wait for the take-off.
Two hours, four minutes and 33 seconds later I crossed the finish line.
I won't be breaking any records, but I'm content in that I finished with basically no training (the last distance I've run that's non-hash related was the Las Vegas Marathon back in December) and that I wasn't one of the several who had heart attacks on the course as a result of the 100 degree heat that day!
Getting in from the run, I stopped by the Nike tent to share a beer with a gent who I met the day prior and is sponsored by the company. Yay, beer!
Then I went and soaked in the heated pools of the Baths for an hour or so, got changed and went searching for a new hostel, only getting the last room available in the last one I checked as most every other hostel in the bloody city is either closed for the season or full.
Yep! Hostel is an excellent choice if you're ever in Budapest.
After cleaning up and changing and taking a well deserved nap, I proceeded to go to Iguana, a Mexican restaurant owned by a cousin of sorts that lives out here. He's out of town, but they were kind enough to make me a guest of the house, which was a definite bonus for some excellent food! I hear the restaurant won, "best mexican restaurant in budapest" or something along those lines. I can see why!
So, today I'm off to the train station to get a ticked to Kiev, Ukraine. This should prove interesante.
I arrived in Budapest roughly 6 days ago, e-mailing the hash ahead of time. I got a response, but it was pretty lackluster, a reiteration of where trail was meeting and a hopeful forward of it to their groups page to see if I could get a couch somewhere.
4 days later I hadn't heard anything from anyone and I had pretty much done "tourist" Buda and "tourist" Pest to the degree I could afford.
Then I found out there was a half-marathon being run on the same day as the hash (and regrettably over the same time frame).
I fired off another e-mail, basically giving a day's notice that I would miss the hash and asked if they were doing anything later that day or had a beer stop on course, then signed up for the half-marathon the next day.
The number I got, 6869.
Coincidence? Hardly, I specifically asked for that number.
The damn thing was pricey, but it included admission to Budapest's famous Baths afterwards and that was the one thing I had decided was out of my price range originally.
So, throwing the prospect of new shoes out the window, I went back to my hostel to register for another couple nights only to find out they were closing for the season.
Shit.
Oh well, I packed up my stuff, and the next morning (Sunday, Sunday, Sunday) I walked the three kilometers to the start in my running clothes with the rest on my back, never hearing from the hash.
After tossing stuff in storage, I had a beer and went to the race start to wait for the take-off.
Two hours, four minutes and 33 seconds later I crossed the finish line.
I won't be breaking any records, but I'm content in that I finished with basically no training (the last distance I've run that's non-hash related was the Las Vegas Marathon back in December) and that I wasn't one of the several who had heart attacks on the course as a result of the 100 degree heat that day!
Getting in from the run, I stopped by the Nike tent to share a beer with a gent who I met the day prior and is sponsored by the company. Yay, beer!
Then I went and soaked in the heated pools of the Baths for an hour or so, got changed and went searching for a new hostel, only getting the last room available in the last one I checked as most every other hostel in the bloody city is either closed for the season or full.
Yep! Hostel is an excellent choice if you're ever in Budapest.
After cleaning up and changing and taking a well deserved nap, I proceeded to go to Iguana, a Mexican restaurant owned by a cousin of sorts that lives out here. He's out of town, but they were kind enough to make me a guest of the house, which was a definite bonus for some excellent food! I hear the restaurant won, "best mexican restaurant in budapest" or something along those lines. I can see why!
So, today I'm off to the train station to get a ticked to Kiev, Ukraine. This should prove interesante.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Prague 888; Sundee
Gah it was early in the morning for a hash. 10, bloody, a.m.
We arrived at the start which was by a statue on the other side of the garden hill where all the monks do/did their thing.
B-van, more beer, group photo, then we went on our way with the same runners/walkers set-up as last time. The only difference being that they were actually separate trails!?!?
I brought my Bison Piss Vodka with me and did my best to stay FRB, only falling behind Quick Czech, who (as his name implies) is stupid fast. So fast he actually won some competitive triathalon a couple days before, becoming the fastest Czech in the region. Bloody hell.
About 2 miles in, I pulled off to the side of trail, right where I thought a beer stop should be (as there were no beer stops on this hangover trail), and started pouring cap shots to all the hashers who passed (and about three for myself). Yes, shot check number 1!
Then, as the DFL's finished their drink, I took off again, with aims to be FRB once more and perform a second shot check, finishing off the bottle. I came close, but a few of those FRB's were just too darn hard to catch, so I gave up punishing myself on this big ass hill we were hashing up and just pulled off to the side by a park bench (I figure I covered at least another mile and a half from the first shot check) and started shot check number 2!
Fewer hashers imbibed this time, so I didn't quite finish the bottle when we ended near the top by a pond with a poor statue of a seal who Neptune stripped, swam to, then molested severely.
We carted everything down from the B-van, apples, beer, bagels, beer and beer until Bouncing Czech started circle and we all proceeded to do down-downs for various reasons.
Then each of the visiting RA's got to run a section of circle, calling out their own infractions.
Spare Rib packing taped me to a light post. I almost broke free when beer was placed in front of me, only succeeding in the other direction when Spare Rib mooned me...
All in all it was an amazing circle with a load of great hashers to have made friends with. I taught some new songs and learned some new ones myself. Even met Smartarse, who (I've been told) was the one who started the "How would, you like..." song.
Afterwards we hiked a ways down the hill, ate some great (but a touch expensive) food, then went our separate ways.
The next day I met up with Goldilocks, Puking Cougar, Just Tim and Tailgate and we went to a traditional Czech pub for traditional Czech food and beer. As the rest left, Goldi and I wandered bar to bar, drinking until pissed around 11 at night (pissed means drunk!). I bid him adieu, then went back to my new hostel room for my last night in Prague.
The next day I took a train to Kutna Hora to see an Ossuary (bone church), where this entire church is decorated with human bones. Quite cool... Then couldn't find a new hostel in the area, took a train back to Prague where I immediately booked the next ticket to Budapest. an 8 hour overnight train ride, where I slept rather uncomfortably (but slept) until about six a.m.
As of now, I've been in contact with the Prague hash, they run trail on Sundays, but this same Sunday is the Prague half-marathon. I'll admit I'm a little torn. I think it'd be cooler to do a half-marathon in Prague, but the 100 euro fee is a touch off-putting. Not to mention that my shoes are starting to get in piss-poor shape.
Decisions, decisions.
We arrived at the start which was by a statue on the other side of the garden hill where all the monks do/did their thing.
B-van, more beer, group photo, then we went on our way with the same runners/walkers set-up as last time. The only difference being that they were actually separate trails!?!?
I brought my Bison Piss Vodka with me and did my best to stay FRB, only falling behind Quick Czech, who (as his name implies) is stupid fast. So fast he actually won some competitive triathalon a couple days before, becoming the fastest Czech in the region. Bloody hell.
About 2 miles in, I pulled off to the side of trail, right where I thought a beer stop should be (as there were no beer stops on this hangover trail), and started pouring cap shots to all the hashers who passed (and about three for myself). Yes, shot check number 1!
Then, as the DFL's finished their drink, I took off again, with aims to be FRB once more and perform a second shot check, finishing off the bottle. I came close, but a few of those FRB's were just too darn hard to catch, so I gave up punishing myself on this big ass hill we were hashing up and just pulled off to the side by a park bench (I figure I covered at least another mile and a half from the first shot check) and started shot check number 2!
Fewer hashers imbibed this time, so I didn't quite finish the bottle when we ended near the top by a pond with a poor statue of a seal who Neptune stripped, swam to, then molested severely.
We carted everything down from the B-van, apples, beer, bagels, beer and beer until Bouncing Czech started circle and we all proceeded to do down-downs for various reasons.
Then each of the visiting RA's got to run a section of circle, calling out their own infractions.
Spare Rib packing taped me to a light post. I almost broke free when beer was placed in front of me, only succeeding in the other direction when Spare Rib mooned me...
All in all it was an amazing circle with a load of great hashers to have made friends with. I taught some new songs and learned some new ones myself. Even met Smartarse, who (I've been told) was the one who started the "How would, you like..." song.
Afterwards we hiked a ways down the hill, ate some great (but a touch expensive) food, then went our separate ways.
The next day I met up with Goldilocks, Puking Cougar, Just Tim and Tailgate and we went to a traditional Czech pub for traditional Czech food and beer. As the rest left, Goldi and I wandered bar to bar, drinking until pissed around 11 at night (pissed means drunk!). I bid him adieu, then went back to my new hostel room for my last night in Prague.
The next day I took a train to Kutna Hora to see an Ossuary (bone church), where this entire church is decorated with human bones. Quite cool... Then couldn't find a new hostel in the area, took a train back to Prague where I immediately booked the next ticket to Budapest. an 8 hour overnight train ride, where I slept rather uncomfortably (but slept) until about six a.m.
As of now, I've been in contact with the Prague hash, they run trail on Sundays, but this same Sunday is the Prague half-marathon. I'll admit I'm a little torn. I think it'd be cooler to do a half-marathon in Prague, but the 100 euro fee is a touch off-putting. Not to mention that my shoes are starting to get in piss-poor shape.
Decisions, decisions.
Prague 888; Saturdee
Catching the Metro to the outskirts of the city, I met with close to 100 other hashers and we proceeded to rehydrate with beer by degrees until Bouncing Czech sent us on our way. There was a Runner and Walker trail, but for the most part the runner trail was basically being sent out looking for a check until the walkers caught up and then we all got called to follow the walkers trail. Sound confusing? Gah!
However, about halfway through the runners actually split from the walkers and we went up this large incline to the top of a hill, running through forests on hiker and goat paths and the like. Even crossing through a giant field of harvested something, which (from a distance) gave the pack a sort of surreal, film-like experience. Only about three of us got to see the rest of the pack like that though as we went checking in the wrong direction and ended up on the other side of this massive space.
Catching up, we returned to hill paths through forests until we broke through the trees to the top where an abandoned campsite (note to self if I ever make it back there...) in a clearing gave way to a spectacular view of Prague and another neighboring city to the right. Barring smog, you could see for miles. At least 10.
Giving my knee a great fuck off on the way down the steep hill, we returned to forest trails, past flour arrows that pointed into open wells and onto train tracks, following Bouncing Czech's calls of "No, it's not that way, turn left, you'll see trail in about 100 meters!"
All of which turned out to be true. Insider information?
We arrived at a small creek where trail crossed and went to the right. BC said that we don't have to cross, just go right and we'll be fine. What happened to honor the hare? Whatever, I'm on my last pair of hash shoes. Hell, only pair of shoes.
A hundred meters or so down the way, around a small bend was the first beer stop, with three cases of creek chilled brew awaiting us. I helped to drag it all up to the bridge and we stopped and chatted for whatever amount of time, cha-cha-cha.
On we went, down a long and wide winding road, past tiny playgrounds, people with dogs the size of small horses and various automobiles (!?) until we came to a small pond with two swans swimming about. We all took in the view for a minute and then about 6 of us stripped and jumped in the chilling water. Scaring the poor swans, but enjoying the bond of swimming in probably not properly clean water, oh well.
The rest of the pack took off, so we (after finding one hasher's sunglasses with our feet) came to shore, put our shirts, shoes and socks back on, then shared a small bottle of Bratavolka (Czech liquor) as a toast to our greatness before continuing on the next short bit to beer check number two, Cha-cha-cha.
After the second beer check, I walked and talked with Rumple Foreskin (one of several on hashspace, but he's a D.R.I.F.T.E.R. hasher who knows Rock Hard) for quite a while on the last bit of trail, where we went across a smaller field, up forest hill paths and such until we concluded at a spot that my memory doesn't hold so well (go figure). Had circle, then all went back to our relative crash space to prepare for that evening's party.
In typical hasher fashion, we all boarded the same bloody metro, which helped immensely in finding the place with all the foreign street names and metro stops. The theme was "visitors to Prague Castle" and we showed up in various bits of non-costume (or full costume for a select few) to eat, drink, dance and be merry. There was even a raffle!
The three course meal consisted of smoked herring (excellent), something reminiscent of Chicken Cordon Bleu, and a bread pudding type dessert with ice cream. We also got 2 kegs of beer to drink dry (average about 2-3 beer apiece) and another 4 drink tickets for beverages of our choice (choice!). Somewhere mid-way they held the costume contest. I was in more of my "a night out in general" clothes, but by undoing an extra 3 buttons, shlocking up my hair a tad and gyrating constantly, I joined in as "Vegas Lounge Singer."
It was enough to earn me second place and a bottle of Bison Grass Vodka (rumored to have a piece of grass pissed on by a bison in it!).
I made a personal promise to share it somehow at the next day's hangover hash, then watched the raffle where I didn't win anything, but the lovely Nurse Ratchet gave me her prize of a City Hash tank-top that was too big for her, tré cool!
More dancing with everyone, good times, good fun, drank some beer, but no rum, dee-da-dum!
Went back to the hostel, switched rooms because someone in there was fucking with my shit, and slept to prepare for the next morning's hangover hash.
However, about halfway through the runners actually split from the walkers and we went up this large incline to the top of a hill, running through forests on hiker and goat paths and the like. Even crossing through a giant field of harvested something, which (from a distance) gave the pack a sort of surreal, film-like experience. Only about three of us got to see the rest of the pack like that though as we went checking in the wrong direction and ended up on the other side of this massive space.
Catching up, we returned to hill paths through forests until we broke through the trees to the top where an abandoned campsite (note to self if I ever make it back there...) in a clearing gave way to a spectacular view of Prague and another neighboring city to the right. Barring smog, you could see for miles. At least 10.
Giving my knee a great fuck off on the way down the steep hill, we returned to forest trails, past flour arrows that pointed into open wells and onto train tracks, following Bouncing Czech's calls of "No, it's not that way, turn left, you'll see trail in about 100 meters!"
All of which turned out to be true. Insider information?
We arrived at a small creek where trail crossed and went to the right. BC said that we don't have to cross, just go right and we'll be fine. What happened to honor the hare? Whatever, I'm on my last pair of hash shoes. Hell, only pair of shoes.
A hundred meters or so down the way, around a small bend was the first beer stop, with three cases of creek chilled brew awaiting us. I helped to drag it all up to the bridge and we stopped and chatted for whatever amount of time, cha-cha-cha.
On we went, down a long and wide winding road, past tiny playgrounds, people with dogs the size of small horses and various automobiles (!?) until we came to a small pond with two swans swimming about. We all took in the view for a minute and then about 6 of us stripped and jumped in the chilling water. Scaring the poor swans, but enjoying the bond of swimming in probably not properly clean water, oh well.
The rest of the pack took off, so we (after finding one hasher's sunglasses with our feet) came to shore, put our shirts, shoes and socks back on, then shared a small bottle of Bratavolka (Czech liquor) as a toast to our greatness before continuing on the next short bit to beer check number two, Cha-cha-cha.
After the second beer check, I walked and talked with Rumple Foreskin (one of several on hashspace, but he's a D.R.I.F.T.E.R. hasher who knows Rock Hard) for quite a while on the last bit of trail, where we went across a smaller field, up forest hill paths and such until we concluded at a spot that my memory doesn't hold so well (go figure). Had circle, then all went back to our relative crash space to prepare for that evening's party.
In typical hasher fashion, we all boarded the same bloody metro, which helped immensely in finding the place with all the foreign street names and metro stops. The theme was "visitors to Prague Castle" and we showed up in various bits of non-costume (or full costume for a select few) to eat, drink, dance and be merry. There was even a raffle!
The three course meal consisted of smoked herring (excellent), something reminiscent of Chicken Cordon Bleu, and a bread pudding type dessert with ice cream. We also got 2 kegs of beer to drink dry (average about 2-3 beer apiece) and another 4 drink tickets for beverages of our choice (choice!). Somewhere mid-way they held the costume contest. I was in more of my "a night out in general" clothes, but by undoing an extra 3 buttons, shlocking up my hair a tad and gyrating constantly, I joined in as "Vegas Lounge Singer."
It was enough to earn me second place and a bottle of Bison Grass Vodka (rumored to have a piece of grass pissed on by a bison in it!).
I made a personal promise to share it somehow at the next day's hangover hash, then watched the raffle where I didn't win anything, but the lovely Nurse Ratchet gave me her prize of a City Hash tank-top that was too big for her, tré cool!
More dancing with everyone, good times, good fun, drank some beer, but no rum, dee-da-dum!
Went back to the hostel, switched rooms because someone in there was fucking with my shit, and slept to prepare for the next morning's hangover hash.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Prague's 888th weekend: Fridee
So, the big kicker about the Prague Red Dress Run was that it really wasn't part of the actual 24th anniversary/888th weekend. That meant that the hashers there were simply a portion of the overall attendees the rest of the event.
Early (re: early) on Friday morning, Goldilocks led a small group of us on a tour of the city. We walked many miles, climbing giant hills to reach old monk habitats dating back to a failed Protestant invasion of this heavily Catholic city. We went down the hills to spots that held absolutely amazing views of the city and drank Pilsner beer at authentic Chech pubs where Goldilocks ordered by simply waving with his fingers the number of beers he wanted to get.
Pouring techniques are very consistent, all achieving a lot of head (who said head?). And beer prices ranged anywhere from just over $1.25 to $3 depending on where you went. I did my best to remember the cheap beer spots if only because that city can be quite pricey, especially since I was staying in the heart of Wenscelas (sp?) Square, which is full of tourists.
This year is also the anniversary of when the Russians marched on the city, right up the square, and shot the fuck out of the building at the top with their tanks. Tough luck on them though as the building they thought was Parliment was actually just a really large and fancy museum!
That night Prague H3 held registration for the weekend at an amazing restaurant with a wonderful view of the river and Charles Bridge. The elevated patio out back gave an even better view of the castle.
We all ate, drank our 3 ticketed beers and then grouped up on a scavenger hunt pub crawl. This was slightly marred as we only had one pub open when we got there. Nevermind, Goldilocks quickly found another pub and we enjoyed a frosty gold beverage before moving on, completing all but one of the check list before having yet another (unscheduled) beer and going in for down-downs on the back patio.
I was fortunate enough to get a shirt to commemorate this drinky weekend. My bag is getting loaded with shirts, gah!
We all went to our respective hostels/hotels and slept with plans on getting to Saturdee's official 888th hash with as little hangovers as possible (hah, I don't get hangovers! Well, I get close to them at times...).
Early (re: early) on Friday morning, Goldilocks led a small group of us on a tour of the city. We walked many miles, climbing giant hills to reach old monk habitats dating back to a failed Protestant invasion of this heavily Catholic city. We went down the hills to spots that held absolutely amazing views of the city and drank Pilsner beer at authentic Chech pubs where Goldilocks ordered by simply waving with his fingers the number of beers he wanted to get.
Pouring techniques are very consistent, all achieving a lot of head (who said head?). And beer prices ranged anywhere from just over $1.25 to $3 depending on where you went. I did my best to remember the cheap beer spots if only because that city can be quite pricey, especially since I was staying in the heart of Wenscelas (sp?) Square, which is full of tourists.
This year is also the anniversary of when the Russians marched on the city, right up the square, and shot the fuck out of the building at the top with their tanks. Tough luck on them though as the building they thought was Parliment was actually just a really large and fancy museum!
That night Prague H3 held registration for the weekend at an amazing restaurant with a wonderful view of the river and Charles Bridge. The elevated patio out back gave an even better view of the castle.
We all ate, drank our 3 ticketed beers and then grouped up on a scavenger hunt pub crawl. This was slightly marred as we only had one pub open when we got there. Nevermind, Goldilocks quickly found another pub and we enjoyed a frosty gold beverage before moving on, completing all but one of the check list before having yet another (unscheduled) beer and going in for down-downs on the back patio.
I was fortunate enough to get a shirt to commemorate this drinky weekend. My bag is getting loaded with shirts, gah!
We all went to our respective hostels/hotels and slept with plans on getting to Saturdee's official 888th hash with as little hangovers as possible (hah, I don't get hangovers! Well, I get close to them at times...).
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
On a not quite Midnight train to a place nearish Georgia
So, I'm sitting in a train going from Kutna Hora, CZ to Prague because
I couldn't find a damn hostel where I was. Bloody hell, I was hoping
to leave Prague behind and move on.
Not so much because it's not a lovely city, it quite is. But there's a
nagging problem that it's now such a tourist mecca that it's very
diffieult to really appreciate how gorgeous the city and it's
surroundings really are. Instead you have to drop exorbinant amounts
of money for food and play the 'dodge the tourist who keeps stopping
directly in front of you for another picture' game.
Couple that with a city whose streets are constantly moving, switching
around and changing direction on you and anytime you're trying to get
somewhere on time the wonderment in getting lost in such an amazinng
architectural city turns to frustration. Something I'm not akin to...
As for the hash weekend, Prague H3 showeed myself and several visitors
an amazing time. I made another set of grand hashing friends and even
have started to pull some crashspace for future European traveling!
The weekend started on Thursday as I arrived at the hostel and got
ready for the red dress run. Having picked up a smart little number
while in Edinburgh, I was one of the first 10 of the 40 or so who
showed up. Hardly a contest winner, I was awed by a couple of the
more intense red dresses and a touch disappointed by the 5 or so who
just wore red shirts and running shorts. 'Cmon guys and gals, it's a
red dress run, no need to half ass it!
Trail was up and down the twisty streets of central Prague, near
Wescelas Square and only suffered in the hare using red chalk to mark
the first half, which is impossible to see at night.
There were down-downs, and I brought out Kylie, the hottest chick from
Copenhagen to make an appearance.
We carried on, but ended far too soon for what I know of red dress
runs. Nevertheless, there was Prague's 888th hash the following day!
I couldn't find a damn hostel where I was. Bloody hell, I was hoping
to leave Prague behind and move on.
Not so much because it's not a lovely city, it quite is. But there's a
nagging problem that it's now such a tourist mecca that it's very
diffieult to really appreciate how gorgeous the city and it's
surroundings really are. Instead you have to drop exorbinant amounts
of money for food and play the 'dodge the tourist who keeps stopping
directly in front of you for another picture' game.
Couple that with a city whose streets are constantly moving, switching
around and changing direction on you and anytime you're trying to get
somewhere on time the wonderment in getting lost in such an amazinng
architectural city turns to frustration. Something I'm not akin to...
As for the hash weekend, Prague H3 showeed myself and several visitors
an amazing time. I made another set of grand hashing friends and even
have started to pull some crashspace for future European traveling!
The weekend started on Thursday as I arrived at the hostel and got
ready for the red dress run. Having picked up a smart little number
while in Edinburgh, I was one of the first 10 of the 40 or so who
showed up. Hardly a contest winner, I was awed by a couple of the
more intense red dresses and a touch disappointed by the 5 or so who
just wore red shirts and running shorts. 'Cmon guys and gals, it's a
red dress run, no need to half ass it!
Trail was up and down the twisty streets of central Prague, near
Wescelas Square and only suffered in the hare using red chalk to mark
the first half, which is impossible to see at night.
There were down-downs, and I brought out Kylie, the hottest chick from
Copenhagen to make an appearance.
We carried on, but ended far too soon for what I know of red dress
runs. Nevertheless, there was Prague's 888th hash the following day!
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