Stag Dos and Don'ts

Among the stodgy old tour groups of stodgy old people in Prague, you will find large groups of British or German men in their twenties and thirties who are in town for a Bachelor Party, quaintly known in Europe as a "Stag Do." These bands of men will be easy to find as they are often belting drinking songs along the streets, each of them carrying 2 beers, (Why is the US so slow on public drinking laws? Figure it out, Bush.)and all wearing matching shirts. Scottish Stag Doers can wear kilts with these shirts, but only they have the beards and the balls to pull this off. Some bachelors need an especially big blowout because the poor bastard is marrying someone really awful, so the whole party dresses up in costumes. For instance, they might all dress as French Maids. Or as Superheroes. And that is how our story begins.

In addition to lots of drunk bachelors, Prague has lots of puppets and opera and puppets performing opera. In fact, Mozart's Don Giovanni premiered here a long time ago. So to hit two cultural birds with one American stone, we went to see a puppet version of Don Giovanni. We being me, Brian, Evan my brother, Nelson one of Evan's friends from UCI who we randomly met on the street (see Evan's blog for this story), and Burke, Nelson's friend. Earlier that day we were walking around Prague and I saw this group of 8 men dressed as Superheroes and I thought "Wow, they look silly, I wonder what they're doing." As we walked, we got some food and toured and decided to see the Puppet Don Giovanni. We get to where we saw the show advertised at 7:50pm for an 8pm show. But the show is not here, this is just a ticket outlet. So we buy tickets and take off running to the theatre. And running, we pass the group of Superheroes again. Evan runs by first, then Brian, and by this point the Superheroes must be thinking "Wow, they look silly, I wonder what they're doing." Then Nelson runs by, then Burke and by that point the drunken Superheroes are starting to laugh and a few take off running with us. So Evan, Brian, Nelson, The Flash, The Green Hornet, Batman and me are all running through the streets of Prague. The crowded cobblestone streets of Prague. And does the girl running in the skirt and sandals fall? Or does Batman eat it right in the middle of the street? Batman totally eats it. Silly costumes goeth before a fall.

Moral of the story, the show was awful. Marionettes doing opera are ridiculous.