Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and England - Week 19

Europe » Czech Republic » Prague » New Town
September 26th 2013

Published: September 26th 2013

Day 126 – Prague – Czech Republic

It was lovely and fresh this morning as we left. Foggy too. We headed to a former concentration camp at Mauthausen first up. It had some incredible tributes to the different nationalities that had been involved. We climbed down and up the ‘death stairs’ which are these steep steps leading down to a quarry. The prisoners would work in the quarry and have to climb these steps carrying massive boulders. If they couldn’t make it up the stairs they may be shot on the spot or pushed down the stairs. Just horrific stuff. There was a well displayed exhibition with photos, video, audio recordings, artifacts etc. We walked into gas chambers, crematoriums, dormitories and the mortuary. Quite confronting but good to see high school groups attending and learning the history too.

Prague time. It’s raining on and off and it’s already dark but we had a walking tour of the city before heading out for some drinks. It’s a lovely city at night. We wear freezing a little bit but its Prague so who cares. Prague reminds me of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Paris all rolled into one. Beautiful! I have a new favourite city for sure. After our tour we headed to a bar for about an hour before moving on to the five storey night club. We had heard from a few people that it was amazing and every floor has a different genre of music. There’s RnB, Radio Hits, Oldies, Dance and something else. I couldn’t wait to get into the Oldies part and dance up a storm. Well we got there and it was pretty lame. Yes it was a Tuesday night but still… I wouldn’t have minded the quiet as long as there was good music. The music was too old. I never thought I would ever say that but it was. The 1950’s and 60’s may have been good eras but I wanted some 80’s and 90’s gold. We gave the other floors a go but we weren’t feeling it. We headed back to the hostel.

Day 127 – Prague

A sleep-in followed up with a day to explore Prague. Here we go. Dani, Amanda, Kel and myself caught the tram to Hradcany Castle. We figured we’d start on that side of the river and cross over later. We started the trek up the hill towards the castle but we kept getting distracted by the awesome shops along the way. There was this cute little gingerbread shop that had all kinds of yummy creations. I bought a mouse shaped gingerbread which was delicious. Once we got up to the castle/palace area there were spectacular views of the city. We snapped away before heading inside. The St. Vitus Cathedral looms up in front of us first and we had a little look inside it. The stained glass windows are probably the best I’ve ever seen. They were so colourful and used colours I’ve never seen in stained glass before.

For lunch we had been craving Chinese so we managed to find a Chinese buffet restaurant. The souvenir shop next door had some t-shirts so I got one that says ‘Prague – Czech Me Out’. Next up we walked across Charles Bridge. We grabbed a Czech snack which was like a donut but in a spiral shape. There were plenty of people selling things on the bridge but I had to stop at a man selling gorgeous pictures of Prague. He had two that were tinged with purple so I had to get them. We continued across to the other side and shopped up a storm. I got myself a nice ring to remind me of Prague (apparently the pictures weren’t enough). I must still be in my fluoro orange faze cause I got myself some bright orange shoes. They were only about 6 euro. Why not.

We headed towards the Old Town Hall and it was almost time for the clock to go off. A large crowd gathers every hour to watch it and it’s supposed to be quite a let down once you see it. We stood under the Astronomical Clock and yes it was very lame. It has a few mechanical moving things and it finishes off with this rooster giving a very sick sounding crow. Everyone had a bit of a giggle at the rooster and then moved off. It was getting quite cold so we caught the tram back to the hostel, had some dinner and I finally got photos uploaded. Hooray for good wifi.

Day 128 – Berlin – Germany

Back to Germany and a stop at Dresden to break up the day. Dresden was bombed severely in World War II and over 100 000 people died needlessly. They have rebuilt or repaired what they could but a lot of it is brand new. Approx 70%!o(MISSING)f the city was destroyed. A lot of carnage from both sides of the war.

Our trip leader convinced Mitch and Matt to have a sausage eating competition and we all went along to watch. The sausage they had to eat was the third hottest in the world. It was a tight race but Mitch just got there in the end (Queenslander!). Both boys were sweating it out for a while after that. Apparently it’s even worse coming out the other end so when we got back on the bus they played ‘Ring of Fire’ just for them.

It’s back to Berlin (another home away from home) and we’re staying in the usual hostel. Because Kel and I have already explored Berlin we can do whatever we like tomorrow while the others are off on their walking tour. What to do???

Day 129 – Berlin

Kel’s first priority is sleep so I’m uploading photos and things in the mean time. May have to wake her up soon. It’s almost midday.

Ok we’re awake and out of the building. 2pm. A slow start but we got there in the end. A bit of shopping on the cards now. I am desperate to go to this flag store I saw last time I was here. I’ve been collecting a magnet, keyring and pin in every country I visit however I have missed a few pins along the way because they’re not as common as a magnet. This store has flag pins for almost every country so I can complete my collection. Hooray! A big victory for me because it would have been quite expensive to go back to all these countries just to look for a pin. I was missing ones like Egypt, Russia, Lithuania, Poland and for some reason Germany. I got them and I am happy.

We did some more shopping in our usual shopping complex. I finally tried a currywurst sausage and had to get a pretzel too. Later on we had a nice dinner at the hostel with Amanda. We walked the streets for a bit after dinner just to get a last minute look in and to feel the night vibe of Berlin.

Day 130 – Amsterdam – Netherlands

Big drive day today. Once we got close to Amsterdam we visited a cheese and clog farm. An odd combination but there you are. They had four calves so we played with them first up. One was only a day old. We then had a tour of the cheese and clogs by a funny Dutch man. Not funny haha but weird funny. He kept saying things like ‘hello sleepy man’ and ‘hello little one’ in a creepy voice. Bizarre. We got out of there eventually and headed to our hotel. Now I say hotel but it promotes itself as the ‘worst accommodation around’… and it just might be. It’s really a hostel. The bunk beds don’t have ladders so getting up and down was fun (probably worse for the shorties), the sink tap had more water coming out of it then the shower and good luck finding somewhere to put five suitcases.

Not wanting to stay in the room too long we all headed out as a group. We had a walking tour of the town including the red light district. The next natural step was attending a sex show. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Five people from our group got dragged onto the stage to be involved. The rest of us pissed ourselves laughing and were thankful we weren’t up there. We had a late dinner before heading back.

Day 131 – Amsterdam

We started today with a bike tour. I’ve really come around to the biking way of life. Gonna get myself a bike when I get home. We had a lovely ride around the city including the park, museums and to Anne Frank’s house. I could have stayed on that bike all day. We did have to give it back though and then we started shopping. I got myself some clog slippers… in cow print, heehee. Lunch was in a lovely café and we enjoyed the free wifi far too much.

Our farewell dinner was on a floating Chinese restaurant. An odd choice but the food was great. We followed that up with a night cruise. The cruise including unlimited alcohol and I went a bit nuts on the wine I think. As soon as we got off people started heading for a bar and I very sensibly headed home. I fell asleep sitting up with all the lights still turned on in the room. Hey… at least I made it home.

Day 132 – London – England

We drove through Belgium today. Mmmm chocolate! We stopped in Bruges for an hour and had some lunch with everyone. Our group is down to 19 now as we lost a few more this morning. Apparently French fries are actually from Belgium so we all ordered some. It’s not like you had to twist our arms or anything. We also went and purchased copious amounts of chocolate.

We had to say goodbye to our driver Adrian as he wasn’t getting on the ferry with us back to England. Adrian is super sweet. Very sad to say goodbye to him. I had a bit of a nap on the boat and then it was just a few more hours back to London. We had some lovely farewells with everyone who was left and it began to hit us that we would be going home very soon. No more tours, no more bus trips and no more having things planned out for us… just 3 nights in London and 3 nights in Dubai left. ARGH!!! Where have my holidays gone???

Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and England - Week 19

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved