I AM IN LOVE WITH PRAGUE (info on Prague and Czech)

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PRAGUE IS AWESOME.
Meeting Bara in 32 mins so gotta bolt. But will type mega fast for 2 mins.
It's the first city that actually has hills!! I was like woooo mountains and hills and a river!! I really really miss seeing hills and mountains. Maybe I'm actually homesick for Scotland O.O !!
Couldn't find anywhere in Slovakia for skiing because it was New Years and national holiday so I might go back there, then head straight for Dresden. Can't believe I only have 10 days left. Less than.

Hostel here is best I've been in so far. It's just like a big open plan house. So I'm staying prague a tad longer. Dingy Austria. Met a really chilled out Canadian at the hostel and we talked about travelling for hours. And he played some guitar and I ate really yummy pasta. Haha this thingy is not much about Prague is it. So he went to Munich or Rome or something today. Then he's going back to Canada. His dad makes his own maple syrup. I was like wow u r really really canadian. I have a new-found love for Canada. Apparently it is similar so Scotland in a lot of ways. So Canadian dude (chris) might come to Scotchland to work. Woo.

Updated later...
I can totally understand why Prague is such a tourist hotspot. It's just soo... lovely! Visit the castle if you are here. The walk up to the castle itself is great because you have to walk through little old streets. And you don't even need to go into the castle to see the stunning view. I went at night time, and I was blown away by the view; I was walking up intending to go into the castle, and I happened to look to my right where the wall begins to encircle the main buildings and I was just stunned, speechless! Of course the castle itself is majestic and defo worth visiting.

Go to Charles Bridge too, (Karlovy Most) even though it's the typical tourist place and I was trying to go off the beaten track. It's just really nice. Prague's biggest club is just before Karlovy Most, so if clubbing is your thing, definitely go there! It has 5 floors so you'll definitely find music you like. Someone I spoke to said that in Prague the clubs are honest and genuine in style. For example a heavy metal club is not just a room painted black with heavy metal type deco. The atmosphere is genuinely heavy metal with the whole works, but it's natural because the people who hang out there have made it the way they want it (heavy-metal dudes!) And same goes for other styles. Unlike places in Glasgow that are all wanna-bes!
Oh yeah this club is called Karlovy Lazne or something. Will check and correct later. And it's on the left of Karlovy Most, just before you begin to cross to go across to the castle side.

For more views of Prague, visit Petrin tower which is just beside the castle. It's better and not as busy as Henry's Bell tower which is in the centre of Prague.

The astronomical clock is ok I suppose, but really nothing special. If you are not into touristy type sightseeing then give it a miss.

Very short distances of Prague will bring you to some excellent places that a lot of tourists miss. For example the twin villages of Turnov and Jicin which are about an hour or hour and half from Prague are great to visit for day trips.

Quick summary of transport in Prague to make things easier: metro has 3 lines: A, B, C, which all intersect in the middle of Prague. Two main train stations are .............. and Praha Holesovice. Then you have trams which are great for local transport; regular and cheap. (All Prague transport is cheap!)

So to get to a lot of places outside of Prague, you can get trains or buses. Trains from the two main stations, and buses from Cerny Most, which is the last metro stop on line B, the orange line. It's a big bus terminal and if you turn up you can get a bus to anywhere that sounds good, like I did! Buses travel from here to all over Czech Republic, and I'm sure even further out too. Tickets are really cheap too: to Spindleruv Mlyn which is nearly 3 hours away it was 140Czech Koruna, which is roughly £3.50.

From Turnov (I really wanted to go here but didn't have time) you can go to a fantastic place of natural beauty called .................. which is great if you want a breathtaking day out away from Prague. It has naturally smoothed towers of limestone which overlook the whole area and there are some rocky paths you can trek along. There is also a restaurant somewhere high up there, and apparently they had their first english-speaking couple in 10 years visit there a few years ago. It takes an hour or so to walk up to this place from Turnov. I will update with more informative details later, need to look for the info I printed off.

If you'd like to visit some Bohemian type places, visit Karlstejn Castle. Don't know much about this place but it's meant to be one of the nicest castles, although it is famous so probably touristy. Castles are really not my thing anymore.

Then you have all your skiing in the north of Czech. I suppose you could go skiing for the day if you were staying in Prague, if you really didn't want to move to some little resort or village. The area surrounding Liberec is good for skiing and then further along to the east towards Slovakia and Poland, which is probably even better. Skiing and snowboarding is super-cheap in all 3 of these countires, really super cheap. Try to find a smaller resort if you go in peak seasons though. The main ones are likely to be very busy, with tourist prices. However it was difficult for me to find a smaller resort because the websites (if they have one) are in Czech, and if you phone up, they are unlikely to speak English. The main problem was the lack of snow though. So really the best thing to do is... turn up to an area you know has snow. I hope this will not be a problem in future years like it was this year but I have a feeling my hopes are futile. Anyway, find out how to get there (train, or more likely bus), find accommodation once you are there, and take things from there. I was really hesitant doing this but it is the best way really. However it may be better to plan things ahead if you go around peak seasons.

Another town outside Prague to visit is Cesky Krumlov, a romantic and scenic little place about 2 or 3 hours out of Prague. Not really a day trip, although you could get a really early train out and a late train in if you didn't want to make use of accommodation in the town. Some people said this was the most worthwhile place to visit when they were in Czech.

There are plenty of other places to visit in Czech Republic; I could spend months and months travelling this country. There are also loads of things you can do here for much cheaper than anywhere else. For example where I stayed for skiing, there was paragliding, bobbing, bunjee-jumping etc.

Some vocabulary I want to remember:

pristi stanice: next stop/station

prosim: please

dukuye (sp?): thank you

yeden: one

bilet: ticket

ahoj (ahoy): hi/hello

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Comments

[omar]

B.
hey, if u r in prague for a few more days, could you maybe tell bara i said hey, and i hope she is wel, hope u hav fun in dresden, and i hav allways wanted to go to canada. love u omar and if u see bara could uu tell her i still hav her beads and wear them every day, thanx xxxxxxxxxx