Jewel in the Czech Crown

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A short trip away with my sister has taken us to Prague. 12 hours train ride from Pecs, changing at Budapest.

The city of Prague is truely beautiful. The central square, Old Town Square, is full of restaurants, and cafes, and surrounded by magnificently lit churches. These aren't the cheapest place to eat - most of the prices are double what you can pay a kilometer further away, but the square is the place to be as a tourist. Talking of tourists, I've not seen as greater concentration of tourists in one place since I was in London. The streets are heaving with tourists and the street vendors, cafes, pavement tables that go hand in hand with them. On the negative side, groups of drunken twenty something British guys wander the streets like packs of hyeanas, singing out of place football chants, and generally being obnoxious to anyone in their way. If this is a stag party - I vow that mine will never be like this.

We stayed at Hostel Sokol in the Mala Strana, away from the worst crush. The hostel was clean, tidy and quiet only 4 backpackers on the first night.

After 12 hours on a train getting a good meal was important for us. All the places that we ate during our stay were excellent, the average meal about £3 (150K), a good feed with drink, rolling in at 250 Czech Crowns (£5). Prague is the home of Budvar, famous across the world since exported by Budwieser. A half liter of Budvar will cost 25K - 60p, water costs more in a cafe.

Sights and sounds: First day Jenny and I went up the tower on the top of Petrin Hill, took a few photos, sat in a cafe whilst waiting for the rain to lessen. When finally the rain eased we walked down St. Wenceslas Square to the National Museum. Masses of stuffed animals, great collection of semi-precious and precious stones, and a temporary exhibition on water. Really interesting, most of the information is in Czech, but enough English information is available to make it worth a visit.

When I was young, I used to love dinosaurs, I had 6 postcards of paintings, recreating the life of dinosaurs. I was really taken back to find the originals in the national museum, Zdenek Burian, 1905 - 1981, Czech painter who worked with Palentologists to create the paintings More here.

I spent the evening taking photos of the city, lots of amazing views, water, lights, excellent for night photos - though don't expect to be the only one :)

I'll add a Prague computer desktop background very soon Prague Wallpaper

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