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Published: December 7th 2007
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Our first meal in Prague
We found a great restaurant on the first night and looked at a few different ones the next night but returned here. Wednesday 5th December
An early start where we did our final packing and washing of sheets & towels before being taken to the airport by Moe & Colin. They have both been great to us and we would have liked to get to know them better as they have some similar ideas & values.
The trip to Prague was uneventful, Easyjet having the best planes and service we have come across with the cut-price airlines. At Prague we decided to use the public transport system rather than a taxi as we had excellent directions on how to get to our hotel through the Net. A us and two metro trains and an hour later we reached our hotel, the City Club. The travel was a bit of an adventure but only cost us about A$3 compared with over $50 by taxi!
We were a little apprehensive regarding the hotel having been caught out before on booking a place on the Net but were very pleasantly surprised by the large, clean and quiet room waiting for us.
Dinner was at a nearby restaurant, Evergreen Club, later in the evening and a good meal of goulash and boar steak
was had. Very reasonably priced too!
Thursday 6th December
After a good breakfast at the hotel we set off at 0930 to see the sights. We headed up one of the main streets to the museum, a large, stately building standing on a hill with a very wide boulevard, Vaclavske Namesti, known as Wenceslas Square, running for 700 metres down in front of it. This had shops of all descriptions on either side and eventually runs into the “Old Town”. Here in the Old Town Square, we found our first “Christmas Market” of which we are going to see lots of over the next few weeks! We enjoyed walking around it and admiring the attractive buildings with their varied architectural styles surrounding it but Rags only bought one of the local pastries being cooked over hot coals and Judy one pair of earrings as we will have plenty of chances when we go on our cruise on the Danube.
We found our way to Prague Castle, on the other side of the river and admired the buildings and views around it. This castle is a city within a city, a place of palaces, churches, streets, squares
and alleyways. Here we saw the impressive and huge St Vitus Cathedral with its 14th century mosaics and the rather more severe Baroque exterior of the St George's Basilica. From here we made our way down to the river and to The Charles Bridge, named after Emperor Charles 1V who ordered it built in the 14th century. It was the only bridge across the river until 1841, now we can count 6 or 7. It is still a magnificent sight with 30 statues adorning its length and various jewelry and art stalls spaced out over it.
By now it was starting to get a little dark and gloomy and we returned to our hotel room after 7 hours of solid walking to rest our legs before returning to the same restaurant we went to last night, this time having another delicious meal of Indian spicy chicken and a rabbit dish.
Friday 7th December
A slightly later breakfast this morning but even so we were on our way by 0930 with our first objective being to book our train tickets to Karlovy Vary, our next destination, and then to ride the funicular train to the top of Petrin
Gingerbread
Judy loved all the little stalls and even though she loves gingerbread she hasn't tried it here yet! Hill where there is a small copy of the Eiffel Tower called the Lookout. Unfortunately it is only open in the weekends but we did enjoy the peaceful walk back down through parkland.
We then had a walk through the Jewish centre and saw the old/new synagogue after having a delicious local lunch at a very touristy restaurant. The rain came in and we sheltered in Tescos, looking for Judy's All Bran after which we walked home via a more local area near the Prague medical services.
On enquiring at the desk where the nearest free wi-fi was, we were informed it was right there in the lobby! We therefore rested our heels for a while whilst getting up to date with the blog before trying to upload later on. After our large lunch we won't be having a big dinner but Rags is toying with going back to the Evergreen Club as they have duck, local style, on the menu tonight.
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Thelma
non-member comment
Prague
Well this all looks very interesting. I love the bridges. I knew there had to have been a bridge somewhere in the world called Judith !!I didn't just name my kids a "Fad Name". And it looks like you are having a feast, Rags, in that first piccie, I hope you didn't eat all of the food in the Pic !!I feel sure Judy's share is there too. Enjoy the cruise, love Mum