Absinthe - Just Say No

The alcoholic drink of absinthe is strongly associated with the Prague artistic community - poets, painters and bloggers. As part of his quest to become an internet millionaire Mutleythedog is visiting and will be sampling the absinthe. I wanted to share a few cautionary tales with my readers about absinthe.

Jeremy Van Winkle

I like to tell people the tale of the young Californian, Jeremy Van Winkle (the name has not been changed). He came to Prague to find himself - one morning he found himself straight-jacketed and tied to a bed in a Prague mental asylum. The story began when he bought a bottle of absinthe and started drinking at home, alone. The check sheet records that he was found crawling the streets of Red Zizkov (it's like a set off the film Seven) by the local gendarmerie. Unable to get a word out of him, they carted him away to the local cell which he proceeded to attack. Next step in the well-worn route was an injection and a transfer to the local asylum. Everybody's had that momentary feeling of "where am I?" in the morning, few have experienced this whilst tied to a bed in a white straight-jacket surrounded by lunatics and hooks hanging from the ceiling.

The Aussie Tourists

Another absinthe encounter happened in the aptly named Marquis de Sade bar (pictured) on a Prague side street. I met a hedonistic Australian couple out for a good time. They insisted on trying absinthe. They wanted to do the whole "lighting of the drink" shebang, I couldn't stop them. Anyway, it all went wrong. The bloke lit his drink and knocked it back with elan, only swaying slightly. His missus didn't have the same gusto and gently tipped the drink back and burnt the roof of her mouth badly. I have never seen someone's mood change so quickly. Any Aussie politician would be proud of the tirade she launched at her boyfriend. When it got onto anatomy, it was time for me to leave.

The Case Of Honza

Honza is recently retired and has a liking for the absinthe. He misses his old job as a truck driver and has set up his living room with a seat and a steering wheel so that he can recall his driving days. The absinthe helps him recall the scenery. In the picture, Honza is driving the five hour journey from Plzen to Ostrava and is about to take a comfort break.

Does anyone have any other absinthe stories?