Blogs from Old Town, Prague, Czech Republic, Europe - page 19

So Believe it or not Catherine and I did spend most of our time in Prague. There is sooooo much to do and see and I could not believe it when we only had half a day left to visit the main square. Wenceslas Square, named after the patron saint of Bohemia is part of the historic centre of Prague, a World Heritage Site. It is a traditional setting for demonstrations, celebrations, and other public gatherings. At its centre stands the National Museum, which we rang out of time to visit, and a very large statue of Wenceslas. But what is most captivating of all is the astronomical clock hidden around the corner. It's attached to the side of the Town Hall and very hour a procession of twelve Apostles appear along with a death ringing ... read more

PRAHA Day 44 I took the mid-day train to Prague. On the train I sat with this lady who did not speak any English. We communicated through my few Czech words. In the end she gave me a little flower/lady bug decoration, which I stuck to the back of my phone. I gave her one of my Canada pens, which are beginning to run low. I finally made it to Prague and it is a really beautiful city, many old buildings with big sculptures all over the tops. Since it was late in the day when I arrived I decided to get settled in the hostel grab dinner and plan my following day. ... read more

27/12/2009 After action packed week we hit road again bound for Prague. Having searched for the cheapest flights we ended up having to fly from Birmingham with Ryan Air. The budget of budget airlines! With a couple day packs we caught the train from a frosty and desolate Clapham junction to Birmingham International with some pastry's from Sainsburys to get us there. After a hour delay we made it to Prague. From the airport we caught bus, metro and a tram surprisingly effortlessly to Hotel William our pad for the next three nights. Bundled up in gloves, scarfs and thermals we headed out in search of the Beer Hall pictures we'd spotted at our hotel. Despite the empty hall we agreed it was time to trial the famous Czech beer, and it was delicious. We moved ... read more

"The lost reign over your affairs will return to you people, it will return." ~Line from the 1968 protest song 'Prayer for Marta' by Marta Kubišová . Over the last few weeks we have watched on TV as neighbouring countries celebrated 20 years since communism fell - the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the revolutions in Poland and Hungary. Today it was the Czech Republics turn - 20 years since the Velvet Revolution that ended the communist regime here. We were determined to go into the old town where people were re-enacting the mostly peaceful ('velvet') protest march of 1989, just so we could say we were there. We certainly didn't expect it to impact us in the way it did - probably the most moving cultural experience we have had during our time in ... read more

Since i wrote last i have done the whole northern loop. From Paris we went to Bruges. which is a little medievil type town that doesn really have much to do. There is a quote from the movie In Bruges that goes a little soething like this.... "Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn , so it doesn ." but one thing it does have going for it is the FOOD! glorious food.. Firstly belgium invented the fritz or fries as we like to call them. and there are two main caravan chip sellers that have been competing for years over whose are the besst so naturally we had to try both. And the belgium waffles.. AMAZING! ... read more