Asia/Europe Travels 2008: Kuala Lumpur Thailand Laos Vietnam Germany Austria Prague (Czech Republic)
Poland Vilnius (Lithuania) Riga (Latvia) Berlin London (UK) Amsterdam (Holland) Dublin (Ireland) Hamburg

Prague (Czech Republic)

Wed 15th Oct

Arriving in Prague at dusk we jumped on a train and tracked down our youth hostel, which wasn't too far from the famous church Tyn. After checking in we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant around the corner. Sally thinks that she had possibly tasted the best salad she has ever had, but I don't know... that is a big call. We wandered back and checked out the jazz club, which didn't look like anything special so we called it a night.

Thu 16th Oct - Prague

I awoke early and nipped into the shower before the rest of the crew awoke. It was raining for a short while, but soon the clouds gave way to sunny skies. We all headed off in search of breakfast ingredients, and could only find some over priced markets down the road in the touristy section of town. Getting a little eager for food I decided to try the other side of town and found a large supermarket with cheap groceries. Its funny how similar supermarkets are, no matter where in the world you are. The only thing that struck me, is I couldn't find a pack of cheese bigger than 200g?? Why? have they not invented large doses of cheese yet? Well at least here they give away free plastic bags so I could actually carry everything back, although they were truly paper thin and broke a couple of times. I also got a little lost but thankfully all you have to do is aim towards the cathedral and the hostel is about 50 metres away. I had been really craving my bowl of cornflakes and milk, having been limited to polony rolls for breakfast for the last three days. It was very good.

Afterwards I just stayed indoors working on my computer which was nice. Siobhan came back at about 6pm and said we could all meet up with her friends who lived in Prague which sounded great as they could take us to some less touristy places, and off we went. We ended up in a pub a short walk from the cathedral and squished around a little table sampling the recommended beer. It was starting to warm up to be a great night. We were told of a great place not far from there where we could sample some of the famous Absinth, so we all went there shortly after. Sally and I tried a shot, and the others stayed for a little while before heading back as they were feeling quite ill. In the corner of the room there was a big circle of locals who looked like students and one guy was singing and playing the guitar. It was the nicest vibe and he was pulling out all the classics mixing in the occasional Czech traditional songs. I was amused when there was a round of Waltzing Matilda and there was this glance between everyone that said "should we sing along or not?". Eventually we managed to join into the circle and it was great fun singing along with them.

It kind of reminded me of the jam after Fairbridge Festival where all the crowds go home, and the musos gather round for a night of jigs, reels and sing-alongs. We kept drinking and eventually the bar seemed to be making notions for everyone to leave. It was about 2am, so Sally and I wandered around the streets trying to find the cathedral (our way home). We came across a night club and wandered in, but it was quite dead, so went home. I will never forget this night, which just sort of happened, and it was Thursday of all days, yet you would think it was Friday or Saturday or something.

Fri 17th Oct - Prague

Well after such a big night I awoke with a slight hangover. It doesn't help either that you are not encouraged to drink the local water, although I just drank it anyway in the end, as there was nothing else really. The plan for the day was to visit the castle. We walked past Dvorak Hall where we played all those years ago, which brought back memories and headed up to the castle. At this stage I was really cold despite it being a sunny day, and I developed a bad migraine by the time we made it to the castle. After sitting in the warm shop for about an hour I realised that it wasn't getting any better so it was probably best to head back to the hostel. When I reached the hostel I had a shower and fell asleep still with a really horrible head ache.

I think I must have needed the sleep because I was out like a light and didn't awake until the others came in at about 7pm. I guess a combination of travelling, cold weather and staying out late drinking the night before can take it out of you. After the others had had a bad experience trying to order food at one of the restaurants (the waiter had a go at Dain for only ordering a soup and side chips from their over priced menu), a home cooked meal was on the agenda, and luckily we still had the pasta I bought in Lenggries. Siobhan crashed out and missed the whole evening which was a shame, but I guess she needed her sleep too and of course being sick doesn't help. The rest of us had a game of 500 after dinner and the others headed to bed early evening. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning typing up my travel blog taking advantage of the fact that I now felt quite awake having slept all day. The headache also seemed to have gone after a Panadol which was a relief. I'll have to rug up better tomorrow!

Saturday 18th October - Prague

After a nice sleep in it was time to wash my clothes, something I was putting off day after day. It was about midday when I finally headed off into town. My head started to feel cold again so I ducked into one of the souvenir shops and bought one of those beanies with the ear warmers. They look quite hilarious but hey, at least I'll be keeping my ears warm, and it worked a treat. On the way to the castle I stumbled across the markets again and for some reason took great delight in wandering slowly through all the trinkets. There were some really creative crafts and although quite expensive I picked out something nice. At this stage my stomach was starting to growl at the precise moment I was passing a pub which advertised Chicken Caesar salads. Now it would be foolish to go walking around the castle on an empty stomach wouldn't it? So I splashed out and had a beer and salad before the castle journey. The salad was pretty average, but not too pricey so I didn't mind much. It was the most perfect weather and I wandered up to the castle slowly taking video and pictures along the way. My headache returned as I climbed the stairs which was a shame because by the time I was at the top I was in the mood to go back. Still I caught some really nice views of the city and had a chance to see the inside of the cathedral.

That evening we met up with a couple of Aussies and having heard good things about the Prague nightlife we went in search of some shots. The 7 of us headed off to the pub we were at on Thursday for a round of drinks. We found a free table however it was very smoky, and when I say smoky I mean there was a thick haze that made it difficult to see the other side of the room. Ok a bit of an exaggeration but for the non smokers it was not pleasant so after a round of beers, and after a round of delicious cinnamon shots we moved on to the next pub. The second place was also the pub we were at first on the Thursday night, which was much quieter and more pricey. Still we tried two more shots which despite being described as plum flavour, tasted more like bad petrol. I almost got a shot of absinth as a chaser it was so bad. Still we had indulged briefly in the local Czech flavours which is important when visiting a country of course. I took this photo of the cathedral at night which looks incredibly eerie towering behind the building in front. You would expect to see this kind of thing in a scary movie or something.

By this point we were feeling a little tipsy, but pushed on bravely until we stumbled upon a nightclub. Now having heard that the clubs here are awesome we thought we would give it a go. It was actually quite a cool place with great lighting a friendly atmosphere and a decent DJ playing all the classics like Jump Around which certainly got us all up jumping around. We danced hard and drank up more beers which were getting a little pricey now. We met some English guys too who were good fun. We all headed home about 4am when things were at the messy end of the night. It was an awesome night out though and great to see some nightlife finally! I would highly recommend it as an alternative to exhibition viewing once in a while.

Sunday 19th October - last day in Prague

As you might expect I awoke late making the most of the opportunity to sleep in. Although the others went off to a Dvorak exhibition, I stayed behind eager to give myself one day headache free and a chance to finally put up my travel blog. Two of the girls staying in the hostel did a big cook up too, and gave me a free feed which was really nice of them. Sometimes you do get a free lunch! We ate in during the evening and just sort of did nothing in the evening which was kind of nice for once.

Monday 20th October - Prague to Krakow

We packed up all our things and checked out of the hostel. We walked to the train and took the short ride to the main station where we had some time to chill before the long train ride to Krakow...