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Prague
Town square
Saturday 10th May 2014 After a bit of a hassle with the front desk of the hotel regarding the rate we should pay, (luckily we had the email from the boss showing the charge) we set off to Paris in the pouring rain.
This didn't let up for the nearly 100km drive, Rags being very diligent in his driving, especially so for the last 20kms or so where the traffic and the constant changing of lanes on the freeway kept him on his toes. With a sigh of relief he handed over the keys to the Budget employee, no marks on the car and everything as it should be!
We had stacks of time at the airport and settled in with a coffee at Starbucks, eating the macarons we had been given as a farewell present by Fred & Helena in Plovan. Judy went off for a walk and 10 minutes later came back with Kevin & Jan! They were on the same flight as us. Happy reunion and lots to talk about.
The flight was uneventful, EasyJet check-in very thorough in making us pack extra bags into each other, checking weights
Prague
Lunch - bread roll filled with goulash. and sizes etc. We both had a couple of kilograms to spare and got away with one slightly larger bag.
Our transfer was waiting for us at the airport, the driver bringing his son who practised the English he learned at school with Judy. The journey in took much longer than we expected and by the time we arrived at the small hamlet (their words), we realised that it was too far from the centre of Prague. This was confirmed when we spoke to the owner, it seems it would take about an hour, first a bus then a train.
Dinner was quite nice but not the hearty food we were expecting. Maybe we have it all wrong and will have to alter our ideas.
Sunday 11th May 2014 Last night we discussed our position and Rags insisted we leave today. He feels we will get either too bored here by ourselves, or waste too much time travelling into Prague city. Judy tended to agree but felt we were letting the owners down.
Rags searched the Net and found an apartment at a greatly reduced price as it was 'last minute”.
Prague
Looking at the palace We booked it and a few minutes later the owner of largeapartments.com rang us to confirm everything. Works out cheaper than where we are and is a full apartment.
Awoke at 0730, had breakfast about an hour later and broke the news to the owner. He very supportive and gave us the bus directions etc on how to get to Prague. Caught the bus at 0921, there not being another bus until 1321 as it was Sunday. From the bus terminus we caught the subway and after a change for one more station arrived in Prague.
On getting out of the underground it took us a little while to get our bearings, luckily the weather was fine as there was little shelter. We arrived at the address earlier than arranged with the owner but texted him to see if we could leave our luggage. No reply but we hung around until someone entered the building we following in and sitting on the stairs until someone came to clean. He was very happy to let us put our gear away and agreed to stay until 1230 to give us the key after he had cleaned up.
The bike
Prague
Looking down one of the main squares (which aren't square!) hire place we intend using for our ebikes, Okolo, was only about 200m away, very convenient. We met the owner, another Michal, a young guy in a very cramped store/toilet/room set in an alley. He was happy to see us, but said he had a problem as 3 of his 4 ebikes had been stolen. He expected replacements before next Thursday when we are due to leave. He seemed an affable sort of chap and we will catch up over the next few days to fit our pannier bags etc.
We had arranged to meet Kev and Jan at the Charles Bridge at 1200 and had to race down to meet them. A few minutes late, then Rags raced off to get the keys from the apartment! The Prague Marathon was being held in the city and by the time Rags got back he felt he had been in it too! The Apartment, set on the second floor of an old building, made it all worth while. It consisted of a large living area, large bedroom, with a kitchen, toilet and shower running off the hallway. All nicely refurbished and presented. A good find!
Judy, Jan & Kev
Prague
Street performers. They are everywhere, this one of the cleverer ones.
arrived soon after, came up to look the place over, then we went out for lunch. Revolucny is the main nearby road and we found a small bar/cafe off this where we had their special dish of a hollowed out bun filled with goulash. Quite tasty but the bread was a little dry so the big glass of pivo (beer) washed it down.
From here we went on more sightseeing, ending up near the museum. We only took photos of this before walking back along the road on which Wenceslas Square stands. Nearby there were many bars and cafes, we stopping at one and paying about the same for drinks as we would at home. This was the cost for being in such a popular tourist area.
Arranging to meet Kev and Jan for dinner, we found a supermarket and purchased breakfast requirements, this being a bonus with the apartment having a kitchen. It gets a bit tiring always going out looking for food, to say nothing of the cost. A short snooze followed before setting out for our evening activities.
Dinner was at a bar we found whilst walking near the Charles Bridge, prices seemed right
Prague
View across town and there was a good crowd. We had to wait at the bar for a table but this didn't worry us too much, we enjoying our drinks. When we did get a table we had a great choice of dishes, Judy having duck, Jan had a pork dumpling dish, Kev had pork spare ribs because Rags had the last pork knuckle dish left in the kitchen. We all enjoyed our meals and the fun and banter we had with the staff. A good night!
Monday 12th May 2014 An early start was had as we had to meet Kev and Jan at Charles Bridge by 0830 because we wanted to tour Prague Castle today. Because of the early start we were able to get our tickets and walk straight in. There are several different tickets depending on how long you want to stay at the Castel and what you want to see. We purchased Circuit B tickets. This gave us access to St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica and Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower. The castle is huge, and we wandered from room to room, hall to hall, then into the
Prague
Another view dungeons and the torture chamber. The latter just reminded us of how cruel Man can be to his fellows.
We had a pizza lunch near the castle; this was a big mistake as we were caught in a typical tourist rip-off scam. Chips and a bowl of bread were delivered to our table and of course as we were all hungry we hoed in! Wrong thing to do; we should have sent them away. That bread cost us about $10 even though we didn't order it! We ended up paying $120 for 2 pizzas and 6 glasses of hot wine. We won't be caught this way again! It was our fault, Jane had even read about this scam so we should have known, we just didn't think.
We went our own way after lunch, Judy and Rags finding the supermarket Tescos where they bought cheese,bread, tomatoes and cucumber (we have to have our vegies says Judy) and drink for everyone's dinner tonight before returning to the apartment. Whilst Judy did some work, Rags went to Okolo's to discuss our cycling plans with Michal and to get a map.
These were discussed with Kev and Jan when they
Prague
Naked boy. A hit with the ladies from what we saw, they obviously like to stroke one bit! joined us for our 'picnic' dinner, they brought the wine and dessert. We looked at several options in regard to how we were leaving the city, how far we would ride for the day keeping in mind that Rags and Judy haven't ridden for some time and that they would be on strange bikes in new surroundings.
Booking.com helped, as did Google Earth, in finding and reserving a hotel room about 45kms out of town. This distance is still a bit daunting for Judy, considering her relative inexperience to the rest of us, but she was reassured by Kev that it would be an easy trip. We intend leaving some time after 0900 and as it doesn't get dark until after 2100 we shouldn't find it too difficult to reach our destination. The promise of a sauna and spa at the hotel should spur us on.
Tuesday 13th May 2014 We spent the morning checking out ladies' hairdressers in the area, Judy and Jan both wanting something done. We went out looking south of where we were, away from the tourist area. One area is obviously a business area for the bigger companies,
Prague
View from our apartment. prices here reflected this but the more reasonably priced didn't have any vacant times for the day. Eventually the hairdresser over the road from our apartment was chosen, it had appointments available later in the day and was more reasonably priced.
Just off Namesti Republiky (Republic Square) we found a large shopping mall with 4 storeys of modern, up-market shops. We did a quick scout around, finding the ubiquitous supermarket in the basement where we bought a few things to add to our lunch, before heading back to the apartment to meet Kev and Jan.
Here we had lunch, laughingly comparing the cost of it to the one we had yesterday, before the ladies went off to the hairdresser, got in straight away leaving the two men to go and check out the Okolo hire place for more maps. This they did and they continued to the shopping mall to get sim cards and a data connection through the company O2. Success was finally theirs even though it took nearly 45 mins for them to get the connection working on our wifi units. They gave excellent service, persevering with it until the connections were working.
Soon after
Prague
Interesting perspective the we returned to the apartment the ladies joined us with their hair cut and styled, looking very glamorous for a couple of tourists. Off we went again, this time Rags leading the way to a bike shop he had been told of, on the other side of the river. Just before crossing the river we noticed that black clouds had built up and seemed to be heading our way. Consensus was to forget about bike shops and rather to go to shopping mall where the weather wouldn't affect us.
On the way down Revolucni we passed a shop called Klimatex selling bike clothing. In we went, Rags spotting some leather gloves at a good price, purchasing them, and he was ready to go! No way! Kev and the ladies were in their element, looking at all the different types of bike clothing as it was on sale and the new prices were quite reasonable. We left, Judy with an orange top to match everyone else's and a new foldable backpack, Jan & Kev with new tops and wallets considerably thinner.
At the mall Rags got into the spirit and he added a new pair of Skechers shoes
Prague
Inside another church and a backpack to his haul, Jan and Kev bought a scarf and a shirt respectively. Judy couldn't get suitable Skechers so that will have to wait.
After dropping off our goods at home we revisited the bar where we ate on Sunday and were welcomed by the same waiter. Hot mulled wine for the ladies, dark ale for the gents preceded the meal where each couple shared a local selection dish of smoked pork, roast pork,duck, white cabbage, red cabbage, potato slices, dumplings, topped with a sausage cut to resemble an open flower. Delicious! Bad luck that we hoed in before we could get a photo. Rags tried to get a picture of another one of these dishes when it came out but instead of taking the photo he kept turning the camera off!
Back at the apartment we did a load of washing in the machine provided, so we can leave here with all our clothing clean as we don't know when we will get a chance to wash them thoroughly whilst on the cycling part of the journey.
Judy had work to do, Rags had the blog to write and washing to hang up
Prague
Town square around the unit, and once again it was well after midnight before the light was turned off.
Wednesday 14th May 2014 We spent the morning packing our pannier bags trying to decide what we needed for 15 days or so of riding on the Greenways Trail. The bags were packed and then unpacked, we changing our minds on what was needed and what would fit. We got to the stage where they were sort of done, we'll probably change our minds later. The biggest problem is the weather, how cold will it be and how wet?
By 1100 we met Kev and Jan in the town square as we had arranged to join one of the free city walking tours of the city. Jane had told us where to meet but she forgot to tell us to meet the guide with the blue umbrella and when we got there the first one we saw had a green umbrella so we joined this group before Jan and Kev arrived. The tours are free but a payment of your choice is expected at the end. They do these tours to advertise their companies and she
Prague
A local artist has different sculptures around the city was doing one of Prague castle later in the day. There were about a dozen people in the group, from England, France, Canada, and of course, Australia. The guide was very talkative and knowledgeable, unfortunately as she explained later, she was taught at school by a Russian teacher, hence her difficult accent. We found her very hard to understand.
Over two hours later we returned to the square having seen the new and old parts of the city, the Jewish quarter, as well as much Czech history dating back to the 4th century. Interesting up to a point but a little too detailed, and with the accent and the cold conditions, we lost a bit of concentration.
We had lunch in the square with Kev & Jan, a dish of potato, cabbage and bacon, as well as a hotdog with one of their tasty sausages. This was a stand-up meal at a table from where we overlooked the square. We parted company here, both parties having different agendas, ours to pack our bags for the final time and for Judy to do her work.
Later in the afternoon we shopped for some food for the evening meal,
Prague
Threatening skies neither of us keen to go out for a meal. We settled for stuffed capsicums in tomato, and with the fresh bread we bought to soak it up, had a tasty meal at home. Accompanied by some Californian wine this brought our stay in Prague close to an end.
Tomorrow we meet at Charles Bridge at 1100, on our bikes for the challenging ride to the Austrian border. This was the main reason we came to the Czech Republic, but we have enjoyed our extra experiences here.
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