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Published: October 30th 2008
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We decided to spend five days in Prague because we left organizing an overnight train from Vienna to Rome too late and could only get reservations the following week. We stayed at Sir Toby's which was a fifteen minute tram ride to the city centre. The hostel itself was an old apartment, which had a chapel annexed to the former cellar. The cellar and chapel are now the bar and breakfast area. The staff were full of information, flooding us with a bunch of brochures and pamphlets about activities to do. We shared our hostel with a Japanese lady named Maki, who would ritually rise at around five in the morning and wouldn't return until late at night, and Ashe, who was a former New Yorker starting her life anew in Prague. We were later joined by two Australian ex-pats from London, Ben and Ash, the former being somewhat similar to the Roberto experience in Berlin.
Prague is full of beautiful buildings rich in either Gothic, Baroque or Renaissance architecture, and there are so many bridges!! Everyone we knew said how wonderful, beautiful, aesthetic and esoteric Prague was, but walking around the city itself was a little bit of a
let down. It was just another huge city, although I could appreciate the romance it seemed to exude as dusk settled and the lights illuminated the many buildings. Walking down forgotten cobblestone alleyways guided by one or two antiquated street lamps, you can see why people fall in love with Prague.
We took part in another "free" (tip-based) tour of Prague, this time with a Czech native, who was hard to understand at times, but her verve and love of the city made it worthwhile. We started off at the Old Town Square, walked the same streets as Franz Kafka, admired the architectural beauty of the National Philharmonic building where a monument to Dvorak stands and gazed at the giant metronome, the connotation of which is lost in the tour guide's broken English, but mostly because I have a very short memory - however!! - it was cool in my mind and my former piano teachers would have appreciated it, I'm sure. As we walked across one of the many bridges to make our way to Prague castle, we stopped at a few interesting sites. There was the Jewish monument, the city's smallest street, an eclectic statue/fountain of two
peeing men, Charles Bridge, Devil's stream (with its array of padlocks scribed with lovers' names to signify their "undying love" - and no, we weren't as corny), the graffiti wall which paid homage to those fallen for exercising free speech during communist times, and the Mission Impossible gate. Yes, that's right. After tackling the hundred odd steps to Prague Castle, we were treated with the changing of guards at the gate and a panoramic view of the city.
A highlight of our time in Prague was, naturally, the food. Czech Republic's predominant fare is meat and vegetarians will find it difficult to eat in this city, although they are trying to incorporate more vegetables and fruit into their diet. We tried the traditional garlic soup and potato dumplings. One standout dish was the duck, sauerkraut and bread dumplings that Mitch had at a restaurant in Old Town Square. Also, a tip for those wanting to do their own laundry in Prague: there only seems to be one laundromat in the city, which was located in a shopping mall, and had about a handful of washing machines and two dryers. So if you need something washed, make sure that the
place you're staying at has laundry services, else you'll spend most of your day waiting in line to get your stuff cleaned.
All the main sites were pretty much covered during the first two days of our trip, so we spent the remaining days with the people we befriended. Mitch went out with Ash and Ben to one of the night clubs that the hostel recommended. He was perked up with shots of Red Bull that he ended up coming home at six thirty in the morning. I, on the other hand, was befriended by seven Bavarian lads who were in Prague for the weekend for a guy's night out. They were a convivial bunch, with two of them starting up a jam session with one intact guitar and another with only three strings, and asked me if I liked the songs by Pete "Moor-ray", who was the only Australian musician they seemed to know besides Xavier "Rood". On our last day, we went to the Alphonse Mucha exhibition and my life was complete. Well, we still have the Louvre to conquer, but this was close.
In the afternoon we caught the train back to Vienna, not before
realizing that we'd left our only working mobile phone back at the hostel. Luckily, Ashe was more than willing to hold on to it before we settle into London when she'll send it over. From Vienna, we were off to Rome.
Dorina
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RON MURPHY
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NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU
HI MITCHELL AND DORINA GREAT TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN ,WE LOVED PRAG WHEN WE WHERE THERE,NANOU'S MOTHER WAS BORN IN THE BOHEMIAN AREA,AND GREW UP IN PRAG.BY NOW YOU ARE IN ITALY WE HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR YOU. OVER HERE ALL IS WELL AND IT IS GETTING WARMER,THANK GOD. OUR LOVE TO YOU BOTH NANOU AND GRANDDAD