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Published: March 13th 2011
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Wow, it's March already? Time seems to be flying by! Leaving Vienna I was headed to Prague where I planned to spend three nights in a hostel in Mala Strana. The hostel was Little Town Hotel and I highly recommend it to others if you are needing a place to stay – the rooms are really comfy and it is walking distance to everything!
I had to navigate two trains and a tram to arrive at the hostel, and arrived late in the afternoon. I headed out over Charles Bridge and into Old Town. The streets are beautiful and old and lined with lots of little shops – the only thing is nearly every shop is selling souvenires, all of which are the same, to the tourists. I found out that the garnet is the national stone of the Czech Republic and saw many jewellery stores selling beautiful pieces of garnet jewellery. With the intention of just browsing, I walked into one store and came out 20 odd mins later with a very beautiful garnet ring - I was really at the stage of missing all of my normal jewellery so I really needed to buy myself something new (have
I convinced anyone that I am just not obsessed with jewellery? PLUS, I didn't go as far as buying the matching bangle, although it was very hard to walk away without it). Feeling sated with my new purchase I wandered back towards the Charles bridge where I came across a great shop (one of many) selling marionettes! I chatted with the guy in the shop for ages and got a lesson on how to move the marionettes, a very enjoyable time indeed.
After playing with the marionettes I wandered back onto the Charles Bridge which is really beautiful with lots of statutes to look at as you walk across. There are a number of vendors who set up stall on the bridge and they are happy to sell you photographs, artwork, and jewellery whilst artists sit and sketch either portraits or caricatures of anyone willing to part with their money. I went out for dinner with some people from my dorm and had a fantastic tasting goulash served with potato and bacon dumplings – yummo! The following morning I went down to Old Town square and arrived just in time to see the Astronomical Clock chime for 10.00am. This
was a sight listed in the guide book, however it was a little disappointing and there were a few of us looking at each other saying “Is that really it?” I joined a tour group that morning to see the sights of Prague, and ended up being the only one that had paid additional money for a tour of the castle – this meant that I had the guide to myself for the 90min tour. With a little bit of pressure on me that I would have to keep coming up with intelligent questions so that the guide would not think I was dumb and uneducated 😊, I was taken through the castle, the church and the grounds. The church is amazing, even if it did take them almost 600 years to complete it! It has beautiful stained glass windows, the most amusing part being, that in the centre at the very bottom, some of the windows have sponsorship listed on them i.e. Something along the lines of: 'This window is proudly brought to you by...' so very commercial!
In the afternoon I again walked around Old Town and made a very special purchase – a marionette! It took
me a long time to decide which marionette I wanted to buy, and an even longer time being taught how to use it. I decided to name him Charles given that I purchased him at the base of the Charles Bridge and Charles is now safely tucked away in a box on his way to Australia – safe travels Charles! I will have to learn how to make Charles move when I get home, however I feel that my Dad will be able to give me lessons as he seems quite taken with the idea that a marionette is now making its way from Prague to Dennington. I can just imagine that Charles will not sit quietly waiting for me to come back, rather he will be Dad's source of amusement for some time to come.
On my third day in Prague I walked over to the Jewish quarter to look at the synagogues and cemetery that lie within and then had a quiet afternoon back at the hostel. There were a lot of tourists in Prague, potentially the most touristy destination that I feel I have come across so far. The city is beautiful with its many bridges
that span the river and there was good food to be had everywhere. From the many vantage points that I climbed - the castle, the astronomical clock, the Old Town Bridge Tower, you can see why it is called the City of Spires, there are so many churches that the skyline is filled with spires. Wandering into the churches they each have beautiful interiors which means you can't help but want to sit in the quite spaces and just absorb everything.
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