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Published: July 18th 2010
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The train ride from Berlin started out to be a nightmare! There were tonnes of people waiting on the platform and when it arrived we all packed in like sardines. From the outside we had no idea what carriage we were getting into and had to squeeze through 4 carriages past lots of luggage and people without seat reservations to get to ours. It was really hectic and there was lots of shoving going on. We thought we were in Bombay rather than Europe! The 5 euro to reserve seats is definitely worth it! Once we finally got seats though it turned out to be a really pretty ride through the countryside and along rivers, lots of which were flooded.
When we arrived we had a wander around the city and checked out the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle, watched the astronomical clock chime on the old town hall and had a good wander around the old town. Apparently the clock is the most disappointing sight in Europe but we quite liked it!
The next morning Emily and Bec arrived! It was lovely to see them and have some company. We had a lovely relaxing morning wandering around
the city, sipping cocktails on the riverbank and going for Thai massages! The massage was heavenly and we were all floating around after that. After indulging in some more cocktails Lauren arrived! Our group for the long weekend was all together! We had a fantastic night catching up!
The next day we put our heads together and did some planning for the next couple of days. In hindsight we’re not sure that we planned too well!! Later in the day we did a walking tour through the city and saw the key sights including the old part of the town, a Church (can’t remember the name) which was beautiful and strangely contains the mummified arm of a thief who was trying to steal a statue of the Virgin Mary (apparently!), the Jewish quarter and concert hall among others. We had a very enthusiastic guide and learnt about the history of Prague. None of us were really taking it in, maybe this was because of the heat and the thirst we were developing for a cocktail/beer! After the tour we strolled over to the Palace and took some photos with the guards (not mentioning names but someone had a bit
of a crush on one of them!). Then we went back along the other side of the river past the dancing building (Emily’s most favourite building in the world!) and found somewhere for dinner. We decided an early night would be best to prepare us for the big bike ride we had planned for the next day!
We had a very grand plan of hiring some bikes and riding to Kutna Hora where the Sedlec Ossuary (the bone church) is. This is an old monastery where the bones of 40,000 people from the centuries-old crypt have been carved to decorate the church. Bec’s mate had recommended going there and we all thought it sounded pretty interesting and just a little creepy! We are sure the brochure said that there is a self guided ride out there but when we mentioned at the shop that this was our plan we were advised that nobody had done this before. We were all pretty confident though and decided to take it on! Even after it took us about an hour to get out of the city because of the lack of signage we still decided it was a good idea. The signs
didn’t improve and at least a couple of hours was spent consulting the map and looking for signs. As the day wore on and our bums got sorer and sorer our determination only grew! The flat tyre and couple of minor stacks along the way didn’t damper our spirits! We rode through some really pretty forest and field areas. We had planned to have a lovely picnic lunch but ended up on an old overpass when we all decided we needed a break. After about 5 hours of riding we had a pit stop in a tiny village called Benice. We decided we had better re-evaluate as we were still miles from Kutna Hora! I would love to tell you that we made it..... but we decided it was a lost cause and instead rode to Rickny were we could catch the train back to Prague. We had done our best and were beaten by the bad signage! The ride to Rickny through the forest was beautiful and I think we especially enjoyed it because we knew the end was near! By this stage every bump was hurting! We were all relieved when we arrived in pretty Rickny where we
enjoyed some well deserved local cuisine and pilsners before getting the train back to Prague. We finally dropped the bikes off at 10pm! Bloody bone church!
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