Tuesday 17th - Prague (the second)
We had not much of a sleep in as we had to pack up and check out of the hostel by 10am. So once we'd decided on the plan of attack for the day we set off.
First to the main train station to put our luggage into a storage locker for the day, (poor Clare had to carry her backpack around with her all day :s) Then it was food time (we could tell from the noises - we were all pretty hungry!) we caught the U-Bahn across the river and then went in search of a place again courtesy of the LP Prague city guide :D It was called cafe Savoy and it was a flashy looking place but not too pricey so Ingo ordered the French breakfast, I had grilled chicken and vege's and Clare went for the dumplings (I think she was in search of the best dumplings while in Prague ;) ) Clare and I also had hot chocolates, that came out with a teeny espresso cup and a metal jug of the most chocolatey hot chocolate Ive tasted to date. My grilled chicken was divine! (yes. I just said "divine") and Ingo was pretty satisfied with his meal... Clare's dumplings we all decided were, not bad, but weird hehe they were cheese dumplings with sweet apricots in the middle and chocolate sauce, sour cream, and sugar and cinammon toppings to choose from - very strange combinations! but we hung out there for a bit and helped ourselves to the nivea hand cream available in the bathroom (very flash) before we headed off to the Prague castle.
We caught the tram there and then walked up the cobblestone path to get to the entrance, awesome views of Prague from there! Once we'd made it inside it was again more of a village then an actual castle. With a couple of churches and lots of shops and cafe's and restaurants, plus the main palace-ey type building (interesting note - I'm writing this on a German keyboard layout so for every ten characters forward I have to go two back to get rid of the ä's and ö's which are where the ;'s and : keys should be, not to mention the z-y swap around... so whenever you see a z or a y you have to understand that I had to type 3 keys in total to get the correct result :p) anyway... a lot of the oldness of the buildings had been ruined a little by the repairs which in a bid to try to fix up the crumbling blocks had just smothered them in plaster completely covering the old sandstone (or whatever it was) blocks and block work :( The main church was pretty cool though. I tried to take a photo of the front facade but in the end had to take it in pieces as I couldn't get far enough away! The inside had lots of awesome stained glass windows that we were pretty impressed by and So Much Effing Gold covering E.Ver.Y.thing. no wonder the church is so powerful - all that wasted (incredibly beautiful and amazing) worth that could have been utilized in so many more productive ways!!! but as Ingo pointed out - all that wasted capital now brings in millions more to these citys in the form of tourists deep pockets.
We spent quite a while there and then started getting bone tired from all the endless walking! We also had gotten lost (Ingo will dispute this but I still maintain that he had no idea where we were - such a massive jumble of buildings and grounds) Plus it was getting time for Clare to head off to make her flight so we headed off for the cable car to see the views and ride it down the hill. If I'd known we'd have to hike a mountain to get to the cable car I would've told them both to meet me at the bottom ;) but really it wasn't that bad I'm just exaggerating as I was soooooo tired of walking by then! but we got there and better yet, it was included in our day subway/tram passes! so whoop! we got on the front section of the cable car and then I sat down and missed most of the views (typical Verity lazy style) but it was nice to not be walking anymore :) We all caught the tram to the subway and then we waved Clare goodbye as she boarded a different train to us :( But it was super awesome to have her spend the time in Prague with us so thanks Clare!!! :D
Ingo and I then went to the main train station and booked our tickets for the night train to Vienna or Wien then went back into the citz and wandered (yep, more walking) over to the not so special bridge to watch the sunset go down behind the bit more special Charles bridge ;) but then got cold so we went and sat down under some trees for shelter. It was too cloudy for a good sunset though so we headed back to the train station and chilled out while we waited for the train.
I must say, that I did really enjoy Prague, there were some amazing things there to see - and sooo much history and good jazz clubs (highlight for me!) ;D but I was quite relieved to hop on that night train... Might have been the guide books all warning about pick pockets, or the general attitude of the police officers from the night before, but I never really felt at ease in Prague, one hand always on my purse, people always invading your bubble (seriously. does no one else feel the need to have their bubble of personal space?!?)... plus sleeping on a train! whoop whoop!
No comments:
Post a Comment