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Published: March 21st 2008
Early morning brekkie search
Nikki & Layni thought the snow on the car roofs was pretty 'cool'Following on from yesterday….. and so rest we did. Nik went to bed about 2.00pm with strict instructions to be woken about 3.30pm so we could get organised and go out for an early dinner. Layni headed off not long after and then Debs and I decided that a ‘nana nap’ was a good idea. We woke up about 7.00pm and woke the kids with an option to go out for dinner or stay sleeping… sleep won out for everyone. Layni woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed about 1.00am and could not go back to sleep. Debsy stayed up with her for about three hours and then we did the tag team and she went back to bed. By about 5.00am we were all up, wide awake to see snow on all the roofs.
We had had plans to go to the market the afternoon before to get some essentials, i.e. coffee and milk but didn’t get around to it so by the time we woke up with no dinner from the night before, everyone was looking for something to eat but the cupboard was bare. Breakfast is included with the room rate but that wasn’t due till 8.00am
Retail Therapy Centre
The brand new Palladium Shopping Centre so we ventured out for an early morning search of bakeries, finding one just around the corner. Apple cakes and coffee was pretty good. Brekkie that is provided in the apartment is great with cereal, juice, coffee, tea, two types of bread, cheese, ham and strawberry jam all supplied.
We headed out for the day armed with a bit more clothing than we had on the day before and some new words in Czech - enough to apologise that we are Australians and don’t speak Czech. Czech is not an easy language to speak but the manager of the hotel was kind enough to give us some lessons to help get by. Although most young Czechs speak petty good English, we found that our opening apology was well accepted and really appreciated. Just around the corner from our apartment is a brilliant, brand new shopping centre. It has about 5 levels of shops and everything you would need to do some serious retail therapy. It had a grand opening yesterday morning and the girls were all given beautiful red tulips at the entrance. We found some beanies and gloves which were going to be really appreciated in a few
"Mornos"
The obligatory morning pancake with nutella, snow and all minutes time when we left the store. Layni also found a toy store that sold Bratz dolls and she thought that was pretty cool that you could travel nearly 18,000 kilometres and still find Bratz dolls. She had a bet on the plane with Debs that there wouldn’t be Bratz dolls in Prague and lost so Debs won a 1000 kisses from her baby. The down side for Layni was that if there hadn’t been any Bratz dolls found in Prague she would have got to buy one of the ones she’d seen at Amsterdam Airport!!!
We headed into the old town and it started to bucket down with snow again. It was beautiful. The wet weather gear we had packed for the boat proved to be a God send and we could still wander around the old town, staying warm (relatively) and dry. Layni and Nik still managed to have the obligatory pancakes with nutella from their favourite pancake stall and we grabbed some coffee. Debs has discovered a deliciously sweet treat cooked in the marketplace - a strip of sweet pastry rolled around something like a metal rolling pin, cooked over an open flame then rolled in
Easter bonnet outside Hotel Paris
Most hotels and shops in Prague have some form of easter decoration. cinnamon and sugar!!!
The weather wasn’t what you would call the best but we decided to head up to the castle and have a look around. A few more stops on the way in warm cafes and some hot chips helped fuel the energy levels. We crossed over the Charles Bridge and mingled with the tourists as you do. Even though this is just the start of the tourist season there are still lots of people about. It must be absolute bedlam in peak season.
The castle is huge, taking up the equivalent in space of 7 football fields. Layni was starting to fade a bit and we were tossing up whether to do a guided tour or come back another day. We literally ran into this incredibly nice old Prague Gentleman named Slavek who has lived in Prague all his life. He does ‘unofficial’ tours and we spent the rest of the afternoon with him as our private tour guide. To hear his story about life under communist rule and the ecstasy of life after the revolution was incredible. He still has a tear in his eye when he talks about the 17th of November 1989 when
Restaurant Nikola
Nikki was pretty chuffed with this little eatery the ‘velvet’ revolution finally released them from Communist rule. His knowledge of Prague and the Castle was passed onto us and he really made a special effort to tell the kids as much as he could that would be easy to understand and more importantly remember as they get older. It was a bit like having a caring and worldly grandfather take us under his wing and give us all some very valuable lessons in life. Like all of Europe, there is so much history everywhere you turn but in Prague it seems very condensed and all within such an easy walk. We had a very late lunch with Slavek and we have arranged to do more touring with him on Friday morning, taking in more of the old town and the Jewish quarter.
By the time we got home, everyone was pretty knackered and the girls loved having a great big bath to fill up and soak in. By the time dinner time came around, Nik and Debs decided to opt out and head to bed and Layni and I went across the road to this brilliant Italian restaurant for a bite to eat. Prices outside of the
The Charles Bridge
Entrance to a very old and very famous pedestrian only bridge in the centre of Prague main tourist areas are very good, we had a spaghetti, one of the best pizza’s I have ever had, a beer and a couple of iced teas for Layni and with tip it was about $21.00 - soooo cheap!!
Overall Prague is good value compared to parts of western Europe, obviously there are places you can spend a fortune if you want to but it is easy to find really good quality food for the same, if not less price than at home, so considering the exchange rate at the moment, we are very happy. At the moment you get about 15 Czech crowns to one dollar so once you get over paying anywhere from 30 to 60 crowns for a coffee (actually only about 2 to 4 dollars) everything is pretty good.
We have free broadband in our apartment so will blog away merrily while we can. I think that as we head further down into Croatia, our access to the net might get less and less so whilst our blogs might get less in frequency I think they might increase in content. The blog is such a great way to keep a travel journal for ourselves
and obviously a great way to keep in touch with you guys and we just love getting your messages and emails.
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Hayden, Kim and Max
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Amazing!!
Amazing adventure so far,can't wait to read more, very jealous!!! Love Hayden, Kim and Max