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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 next door to its adjacent restaurant in search of some traditional Czech tucker and we weren't disappointed. In the cosy and toasty warm restaurant we tested out the specialities Roasted duck and Beef with creamy sauce and cranberries. We were slightly disappointed that the roasted piglet we'd seen on the fliers was only available if pre-ordered 24hours earlier. Content we washed it down with a
couple more pints and returned to the warm of our hotel keen to catch up on some well needed sleep.
After a fantastic sleep we headed down for breaky before wrapping ourselves up ready to battle the freezing temperatures. We soon warmed up with a climb up to the Prague Castle which towers over the city. Only to realise when we arrived that Carly had forgotton her student card, with plenty of time we decided to return another day and wandered back down the quaint cobblestoned streets with no specific agenda. We found ourselves in the Ledeburska gardens stopping so a quick swing and some magnificent views over the city and the Vltava river.
We wandered down arriving in the Jewish Quarter a strange mix of designer clothes shops and old synagogues. We continued on along the river soaking up with sunshine in search of the Wenceslas Square. Our faces, hands and feet quickly becoming numb we escaped the icy wind in a coffee shop to defrost for half a hour. Little did we realise at the time just meters from the square and Christmas markets. Warmed and refreshed we turned the corner and found ourselves in the
centre of Wencelas Square, stopping for an essential grilled Czech sausage we continued up to the grand National Museum building. With still a good few hours of day light left and beautiful blue skies we decided to head up the the lookout fearful if we waited another day we weather might deteriorate (and we've made that mistake before!!). We made our way to the funicular scronged up just enough change for a ticket waited twenty minutes only to realise we probably could have walked up in less time.
By the time we reached the top the clouds were beginning to roll in, but we climbed the mini Eiffel tower with just the same for 360 degree panoramic view of the Prague with its terracotta roof tops.
Beginning to freeze up again we headed back to our room showered and caught up on CNN news.
Blood circulating again we headed out with in search on just one thing... a pork knuckle! And we doubt we could have down better crossing over Charles Bridge we headed away from the crowds stumbling across a small but quite full restaurant/bar with a pork knuckle for two for only 260 Czech crons roughly equivalent to
ten pounds. We scored a table, ordered a couple beers and waited with anticipation for the 1.5kg of pork knee to arrive at our table (shattered we'd been to lazy to bring the camera!). It arrived exceeding expectations nearly a big as Jez's head. We battled hard for nearly an hour but in the end the pig got the better of us ..... it just couldn't be finished.
After another huge breaky, how we could eat so soon after the previous nights feast I'm not sure.
We headed out stumbling across a massive crowd in front of the astronomical clock, apparently Prague's most overrated tourist attaction..but I beg to differ. As luck had it it was just minutes before the hour and we found ourselves in perfect position to view the display including a rotation of the 12 apostles, a skeleton ringing the bell and a real live trumpeter! Commotion over the crowd began to disperse and we then found ourselves beside a free walking tour with little planned other then making the most of the beautiful sunny morning and cloudless blue skies we figured why not join along. Whilst retracing a lot of our steps from the
day before now we knew what we were looking at and got a good insight into Czech history riddled with war and communism.
From the town square we passed the Powder Tower, Theatre, Spanish and Old-New Synagogues, St. Nicholas church with its mummified arm and concluding at Charles Bridge. Frozen to the core we grabbed a couple sausages and headed home. Deciding to leave the castle to our final day we had a siesta heading out again this time with heat pads in our shoes (thanks Cath!!) to attempt to take some night pics before the Brewary Tour. With large spot lights and huge distances our pics were hazy and disappointing, we gave up on the pics made our way to the meeting point for our tour. With just a grunt of acknowledgement and 'wait ten minute' from our tour guide we wondered whether we should take our cash and do our own tour. But with a few others who looking like they were waiting also we stuck it out. After a brief into our guide took us to our first pub which was also our dinner stop. He wound around the streets a down a deserted alley. Each pub
he promised would be 1) Traditional czech, 2) Extremely unlikely that we would have found it alone and 3) Have no-one loitering in the street as we entered. Tick tick tick! We were guided down a couple flights of stairs to our private room for beers and some traditional czech tucker beef strogonoff with potato dumplings and fried cheese. Afterwards we headed to our second stop which too met all the prerequisites for a dark beer just as the snow began to fall! Our last stop on our official tour was underground cave where they brew there own including a light, dark, honey and coffee beers.
We kicked on with the others to another underground bar for another beer with our mix of aussies, brits and a couple from Brasil. We called it a night a made the slow journey back to our hotel taking care not to slip in the icy slush with an essential stop at KFC on the way home.
Feeling a little worse for wear it was a slower start then planned we tucked into breaky and headed up to the famous Prague castle. We grabbed an audioguide and student tickets and headed straight
for the St. Viruis cathedral. We strolled around dogging the tour groups took in the sights and took in some of the audioguides monotone history.
We checked out the palace, intrigued with the dining hall which was previously also used for jousting competitions. We flew through the other all but empty rooms. Having confirmed the castle is better from a distance we called it a day returning to our hotel to collect our luggage and take the tram, train and bus combo back to the airport. We headed straight to the gate for the most entertaining check in ever as our flight attendance rigamentively checked every single bag and took pleasure in charging anyone 35 pounds that couldn't get their bag in and out of the case without 'undue force'. Sparks beginning to fly and tempers grew as the fastidious checks meant lots of repacking bags and vocal outspurts.
We eventually boarded 45 minutes late but remarkably made it on time. We made it through airport security and to Clapham to Juz and Shea's.
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Heather
non-member comment
I enjoyed your Prague post and photos! Looks beautiful and I hear great things about that city but haven't yet been there. My blog is looking for travel reviews, photos, etc, to share. If you have the time, check it out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com, or email me at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com. Continued fun on your travels! Heather :)