Prague, how long is enough?

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The train ride to Prague was long and trying. Mostly because there were an endless stream of people coming into my compartment to check tickets and such. I swear that I had more conductors ask me for tickets in the span of an hour than I had on all the other Polish train rides combined! On top of the 4 conductors in the first hour or so, there were the army guys with their passport check. They were all very nice but they kept waking me up! I finally gave up trying to sleep and just stared out the window instead. The sunrise was amazing!

I managed to get more than 50% off my train ticket just by buying it from the conductors. I just got a ticket to the border (where the conductor refused to honor my student ticket and made me pay full price - they claim that ISIC works in Poland, don't hold your breath) then one from the last town in Poland to the first town in Czech and lastly one to Prague. Basically it was Wroclaw to Miedzylesie, Miedzylesie to Lichkov and Lichkov to Prague for a grand total of about 20 euros instead of the 45 euros (182 PLN) it would have cost otherwise. I was really lucky that I had a printout of the stops because no one spoke English and all I had to do was point at the place names to get my tickets. Really easy! In fact, some Czechs I met later on were impressed that I had no problems communicating with the conductors since apparently, even locals have problems. That's not to say I didn't have any, especially when a Czech conductor came in, looked at all my tickets and kept sighing and shaking his head. I guess he wanted to charge me for a ticket but I sat him down, lined up all my tickets and tried to logically point out that I had no gaps in my tickets. He finally agreed and left. Phew.

My hosts lived a little out of town and getting information from the tourist info booth and the metro ticket stand was like pulling teeth. I had assumed that there woudl be great customer service in Prague just because there are a lot of tourist but what I got, I initially just put down to job dissatisfaction. Some people told me it's just the old communist/soviet block mentality. I guess it's true but I did meet some people who were more than willing to help so it's not the entire country, just some people 😊

Anyway, my hosts were really busy so I joined some activities through the CS Prague group - it was a coincidence that I was there during the Dresden CS invasion so I went swimming, had dinner, brunch, lunch and tea, went on a pub crawl (although I wussed out pretty early) and even a city tour with a bunch of people from dresden and Prague. I also met a couple of others who were just in the area like me. It was really nice and lots of fun. I didn't like the smoking in the restaurants and thought that they shouldn't have bothered with the non-smoking sections since there was nothing to separate the two and many people smoked in both sections anyway. I smelled like an ashtray at the end of every day but the beer was good 😊

The castle and cathedral were gorgeous and downtown Prague was really nice. Quite a lot more tourist here than in Poland but it wasn't too bad. I can't imagine how crowded it would be during the tourist season since at some attractions, I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic due to the masses of people swarming and jostling around me. Another thing I loved about Prague was that food was cheap and came in huge servings! mmmm.... It is all rather heavy though and it's not something to be had everyday. the funny thing is that all my hosts in the czech Republic don't like Czech food. I managed to get dinner and chat with my Prague hosts which was nice because otherwise, I never really saw them since they were extremely busy. They were super nice though.

I also managed to get in a couple of dday trips during the 5 days I was there - Cesky Krumlove and Kutna Hora. There was an overnight/day stop at Hradec Kralove before heading on to Brno for 2-3 day and a day trip to Olomouc. They say that Prague and the Czech Republic is getting more and more expensive but honestly, it was slightly cheaper than Poland and even with all the social events, transportation costs and the day trips out, it was very affordable. I do admit to splurging but my total came up to about 110 Euros for 8-9 days all inclusive. I went a little over my budget but I'd say that is a bargain!

I think that I would definitely love to come back to the Czech Republic as there was so much I couldn't get to during my stay - the black light theater, day trips to the rest of the country, etc. The people I met were great!

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