All that Jazz

Monday 16th - Prague
We managed to have a fairly ok sleep in and then it was all go go go! I was quite happy to let Ingo and Clare sort out our plans for the day (I'm a follower that's for sure ;) ) but as we were all clearly thinking about food we decided to head to the centre of town for some fodder.

It was a hot day. Stuffy and hot, with a bit of a blue sky to start off with. We wandered around for a little bit, clicking a few photos here and there (some of which I'll have to get off Clare cause her camera is aWEsome!) then we managed to somehow stumble upon a vegetarian restaurant that woohoo! comes recommended by lonely planet! (I'll take this opportunity to commend Clare and her little lonely planet city guide - Ingo absolutely loved it and it defo had all the good spots in it :D) Anyway we all had a burrito thingee that was scrummy yummy, and a selection of salads from the buffet salad bar, I also got a ginger beer that was a bit of a kick.

After lunch we started our search for the old town of Prague (I'm still not 100% sure why it's classified as that - but it has all the major sites there so good place to start) and when we found a nice little alleyway that also said took you  through to the old town we were quite pleased with ourselves!

Through the alleyway took you into a massive plaza square thing that was ALL cobblestones (in fact the way we remember it the whole of Prague was cobblestones) and this was where we would find the Astronomical Clock (after some argument/discussion and a quick peek into the guide book, Clare and I conseeded that yes Ingo was in fact right it IS called Astronomical not Astrological or Astrononomical ;) ) Where we waited for it to ring (there were hundreds maybe thousands of people there to do the same - but as stated in the LP more something you have to do then actually that amazing haha, but quite quirky to see the "skeleton of death" (name courtesy of debate) pull the chain that rings the bell, while someone stands at the top of the tower waiting to play the trumpet in time. There was a giant statue of Chzek Reformer Jan Hus, and huge old buildings, one of which another Gothic church (they're Everywhere!) with windows that were alone in height over 15metres!

The currency in Prague is hard to get used too. The first amount of money I got out was 2600 kroner and we worked out that 100 kroner comes to around about €4 but it's still a bit weird to hand over a 2000 note when you're buying lunch!
We then went to the Jewish cemetary and bought a pass (for 300ck each) that allowed us into the cemetary and also into 5 synagogues. The first was a 2 (3?) level synagogue with names written in neat lines within every wall. The last name and letter of the First names were in red, and the rest in black with dates either of birth and death or just the year they died. There were over 70,000 names and all were Jewish people from Prague who had been killed in WWII, and it was incredible seeing how many people from one city were lost. There was also childrens art work recovered that were done in different times leading up to the War and during that were interesting to see what the children were experiencing through that time.

We then went through the cemetary in which the last person buried there was in the 1700's and the gravestones were amazing! all crumbling and falling over with the words barely visible on some and then others still quite clear. Some were tiny and others were massive and they all jutted out at strange angles probably due to the fact that there were 11 layers of people buried there! Incredible! We think that they must have had to keep bringing in new soil to keep packing them all in - which sounds awful but I think they just all wanted to be buried there - so much history!

We came out of the cemetary a wee way away from where we'd started and wandered through another synagogue, but we could barely stand anymore so we decided it was time to go.

Walking around we were trying to find a traditional Chzek place to have dinner but it was tricky when we were all still suffering from our not-so-great nights sleep and our ridiculously travel sore feet, but we got there eventually thanks to Ingo's navigation (I'd never really tried to help and Clare had given up by then as well - so much easier to let someone else do it!) and sat down to some potatoe dumplings (Clare) and Pork (Me) and Pork dumplings (Ingo) It's safe to say that Clare and Ingo enjoyed their meals a lot more then I did - just a tad too hearty for me! But it was a cool experience and a nice atmosphere :) Plus we were full off the delicious saugsage soupy entree we had :)

It was then time to subway back to the hostel for some quiet time before heading out on the town ;)

We knew we wanted to go see Frank Ghery's dancing house so we took the subway straight there and then spent a few minutes trying to get the perfect shot. It definitely looks a bit more impressive in photo's that in real life :/ but still a must see so we were happy!

We then went to find a live Jazz bar that Ingo had read about to see what was on. It was in a kindof underground old wine cellar or something that was an awesome cozy atmosphere so thirsty Clare and I got cokes and Ingo a beer and we went and found a table. It was awesome!!! The band were amazing and I got a couple of recordings to prove it! Their name was the Jakub Urban Quintet for anyone who wants to try find them on the interwebs (and you should)
Ingo then decided that because we were in the home of Absyinth we most definitely can NOT leave without having some so he got us each a "shot" as in a 1/2 a cup each :s and after one quick sip I almost gagged! It was soooo strong!!! man oh man! Definitely was not going to finish that one!

When the gig finished we wandered around the city looking for a pub to have another beer in. We found a nice place and sat there for a good hour or so then went to try and find our way home.

Because it was now 1.30am the subway wasn't going anymore, and we had no idea which trams went past our hostel and from where they left either so we walked and walked trying to find a tram stop. Ingo had a fair idea of where we were but at one point when we couldn't find our way we saw 2 policemen standing talking to a taxi driver so we decided to go over and ask. This turned out to be a mistake. At first Ingo asked them if they spoke English and they didn't even acknowledge that we'd spoken to them, then when he pointed to the map to ask how we could get to the tram stop one of the officers got right in his face and said "goodnight." Ingo didn't hear him properly and was asking what street we were on, when the taxi driver pointed and told us that it was over there. Then the policeman said again "goodnight." It was frightening (for me) It was like he was wanting us to get aggravated. But the worst was that I've just never ever thought that a policeman would be like that when all you're doing is asking for directions! Talk about living a sheltered life! Made me feel a bit sick really :(

Which is a shame because apart from the arrogant and a-hole-ic qualities of the 2 policemen we encountered, it had been a really awesome night

So Yay for Prague! Shame your policeforce suck!

(we ended up catching a taxi home after clarifying the price was 250ck and then when we got back the driver put his hand out so I put in 240 (accidentally) and then he said "240?' so I was like "oh sorry!" and gave him the 10 extra, then he shot Ingo a dirty look as we were getting out and I said "what was his problem?" and Ingo said "I dunno! since we gave him more then what he said it would cost", and I said "no, I gave him 250" which was when Ingo said "oh the meter said 280" well now I felt terrible! I couldn't even see the meter so I had just thought the price we'd agreed to at the start was what I had to pay :s So if you're out there mister taxi driver we're super sorry!!!!!)