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Published: March 30th 2014
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Day Off in Prague
Sophia & Kelly hired bikes to cruise around Prague for the day The long awaited day had finally arrived--an entire day off in Prague. No hockey trainings, no warm-ups, and no chalk talks. Just one day to ourselves to be tourists in Prague. After five days in the township of Beroun, it felt like we were country bumpkinds heading into the "big smoke" of high-flying city life. The train ride in was interesting as we journeyed across the countryside. I had anticipated an extended suburbia as we approached Prague, but was pleasantly surprised to see paddocks dotted by small villages until just 5 minutes outside Central Station. The station is located in the "old town" not far from the Jewish Quarter and Old Town Plaza. There was magnificent stone architecture everywhere one cast their eyes. Some buildings were spectacularly ornate with elaborate statues incorporated into the facade and rooftops. But even in the eyes of an Oamaruvian, the more common six story stone buildings were remarkable. Every single building in Old Town was older than any building in New Zealand, and each one had been hand-crafted to endure the ages.
Both NZ national ice hockey teams--the Ice Fernz and Ice Blacks--had travelled to Prague together for a day-off, but once we arrived
Grand Cafe Orient
Kelly sips on a fancy coffee and agreed upon a meeting place, we split up into smaller groups and headed off on our own. My room mate Kelly and I buddied up. We had woken up early that morning to plan our tourist hit list, google map our destinations, and plan our route for the day. Kelly suggested we hire bikes for the day to cover more ground--a brilliant suggestion--so we googled a bike hire shop as well. A proud member of the Oamaru Ordinary Cycle Club, I couldn't think of a more suitable way to tour the city.
Once we navigated our way to the City Bike Shop and chose our wheels for the day, we headed to the Grand Orient Cafe for an elegant coffee with a birds-eye view of the bustling streets below. After our caffeine hit for the day, we cruised the streets and headed in the direction of the river, oohing and aahing at the architecture as we streamed past. We headed South along the river and paused to admire the famous Charles Bridge. While the Charles Bridge is famous for its sculptures and busy busking and pedestrian life, the civil engineering and construction of most of the bridges in
Old Town was note-worthy. Made of large stone blocks reminiscent of the Waianakarua Bridge, huge support arches curved gracefully out of the deep riverbed to support centuries of constant and heavy traffic.
From the bridges, we headed just a bit further to the Dancing House--an unusual block of offices with a bizarrely twisted and playful sense of post-modern architecture. The facade of glass and stainless steel twisted and curved in unpredictable ways that left the viewer wondering how it was built. We cruised into the Dancing House at ground level past a swanky-looking bar and straight into the lift. Two giggly Czech girls boardedthe lift with us, green cocktails in hand, and rested them on a tiny table with a table-cloth inside the lift. As we emerged at the roof-top restaurant, we gasped at the immensity of the 360 degree view eight stories below. From the outdoor viewing platform, we drank in the most spectacular view that encompassed Old Town, the river, the old town wall, the Petrin Tower and Prague Castle in the distance. It was truly breath-taking and one of our highlights for the day. Luckily, the roof-top restaurant was closed for service, so we didn't have
Ornate Buildings
decorated with painting and elaborate Stone work to make an awkward explanation about not being able to afford the menu.
From the Dancing House, we rode our bikes across the river and followed its course along the west-side until cutting in to find a small restaurant on a pedestrian plaza for lunch. We refuelled on pasta and gnocci before riding in the direction of Prague Castle. As we approached, a steep street turned into hundreds of steps, so we locked up our bikes and climbed up the staircase to one of the oldest castles in the world. While the grandeur and epic proportions of the buildings are impressive enough, I couldn't stop noticing the paving in the streets. Millions of 100 square-millimetre pavers composed a mosaic of patterns in the pavement, and I couldn't help but stop to think of the millions of back-breaking hours of labour that had gone into creating these stunning cobblestone streets and mosaic footpaths. I also admired the patch-work of stonemasonry that had evolved over the course of time as walls were built and repaired. While the motley mix of both rough-hewn and smooth stone blocks was interspersed with patches of red bricks, a stone tapestry emerged in a graceful way
that told a stonemasons' story spanning centuries.
After visiting the impressive Prague Castle, we headed off in search of the local hockey shops. Kelly had high hopes of finding an awesome brand-new hockey stick at a bargain price. We had a couple addresses jotted down in a notebook. The first destination was a derelict, abandoned ice rink with tags of graffitti on the front iron door. The second destination took us over the river in search of the city ice arena. At the main overbridge, there was no clear footpath to follow on a bicycle, so we decided to try the curving ramps down to the underpass. As we curved down the pedestrian route across the motorway, we descended into the underworld of Prague--complete with homeless men sleeping and tunnels that reeked of piss. Once we emerged to the other side, we found ourselves in a suburb of deteriorating apartment blocks. Every city and town has its working-class neighbourhoods that contrast its more elegant ones and Prague was no exception. We followed the main road up to the rink, but when we arrived we were disappointed to discover that the hockey shop is closed on Saturdays. Alas! We returned
back into town, but decided to brave the overbridge, riding on the verge of the second lane rather than descending into the underpass underworld again.
It was down to our last hour of self-guided independence, so we navigated our way back to City Bike Rentals and returned our rides. After thanking the chaps at the cycle shop, we ambled along the streets towards the Old Town Plaza where we would be convening with our team mates for dinner. The plaza was ringed with spectacular buildings, and featured a church with an astronomical clock in the centre. People of every nationality milled and circulated through the pedestrian zone of the massive plaza, stopping to admire buildings, chat, or watch a busking act. The assortment of buskers in itself was remarkable--there were singers of every age and style, two angels with a perch full of cockatoos, living statues painted in silver and gold, people in period costumes, and even two yogis doing a meditation-levitation stunt! I treated myself to my first gelato as we cruised around the plaza--the hazelnut delight of nocciola was sensational and sent me into a daydream of my joyous days living in Italy and anticipation of returning
there in the week to come.
Finally, dinner time rolled around and our team had convened at the central statue, brimming with stories of their day in Prague. We trooped across the plaza and into the wine cellar-dining room of a fine restaurant. The wine looked tantalising in its post-modern glass case that was juxtaposed to the old, arching brickwork of the basement. While I wished for a glass of Cab Sav or a pint of Urquell Bohemian Pilsner, our team drinking policy preludes any such pleasures during training camp or the tournament. At any rate, we enjoyed a fine meal as a team and we were dazzled to emerge from the restaurant into the night-lit plaza. It had been transformed into a magestic, romantic place akin to a fairy-tale castle. In lieu of a hot date, three of us went to the gelato shop to sample another flavour--the mango was also delightfully delicious, and reminded me of summers of over-indulgence during mango season. We giggled and smiled as we shared stories and savoured the end of our expedition. It was a real treat of a day.
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Oliver Nicholson
non-member comment
Nice
Sounds like a great day, Soph :-) I've heard many great things about Prague and would love to check it out myself one day.