The story goes that ol Adolf Hitler had a soft spot for Prague so kept any munitians factories away from the city during the war. This combined with the fact it’s so far east means it avoided all those pesky bombs from our friends the Allied forces. Good news for us visitors as this means you’re looking at a Millenia of buildings that offer the biggest range in architecture styles ive seen so far.
Following a fairly quiet first day, the walking tour theme continued as we got the scoop on about 4,000 years of Bohemian history in 3 hours. It’s a pretty intense back story and as with Berlin, it’s a bit of a mind bender that I really knew nothing about.
It’s almost like the more you learn,it makes you realise how little you know. But we are loving the chance to learn more and piece perspectives together as we move between countries of differing political, religious and war-time backgrounds.
After such a successful day we decided it would be a great idea to join an organised pub crawl for the evening. These are available pretty much everywhere we’ve been and Matty in particular was chomping at the bit to get involved. Our first stop saw us head into a downstairs joint that could easily have passed for a bomb shelter where we were treated to 2 1/2 hours of open bar with beer, wine, sangria, absinthe and vodka.
Well travellers to an open bar are like a tubby kid on a cupcake and with peer pong, shisha pipes and foozeball to get things going the party was in full swing long before we got moved on. Cushla was the first to volunteer for a beer pong team and once she abandoned her underhand technique for the more traditional overhand shot, was as accurate as anyone on the table.
The 2nd stop took us to a huge night club, the kind that has girls in white bikinis and high heels dancing on podiums. Not bad at all. It was also the kind of club that serves bottles of vodka over the bar, so we ended up sitting at a table with an Irishmen and a couple of other randoms with a vodka bottle and a coke bottle in an ice bucket getting stuck in. Obviously this wasn’t a strategy that was going to be successful in the long-term and we had some crew members fading pretty quickly. Whether you can actually call it a pub crawl if you only make 2 pubs is pretty debatable, but that’s what the t-shirt they gave me says so I’m sticking to it. A great night out though and always good to meet some fellow unemployed folk who have no idea, or interest in what day of the week it is.
The morning after the night before was far less enjoyable as we had to check out of our apartment and take our gear to lockers at the train station where we’d be returning that evening to train out. We needed a hero and the fine people at Bohemia Bagel stepped up to the plate with their brunch Bagel and unlimited coffee and soft drink deal to breathe some life back into a wounded group. Charged up on greasy food and caffeine we actually managed to do the haul across Charles Bridge and up to Prague Castle which was a real highlight.
Nights stayed – 2
How’d we get here – 5 hour bus from Berlin on Orangeways busline with a drive by of Dresdon. Cheap as
It’ll cost you – well it depends what your after. 100 Kron which is $AU4 will allegedly get you a ticket to the opera, or a coffee at Starbucks. They’re happy to overcharge the foreigners but you’re looking at KR 35 for a pint which is pretty inviting.
English – is broken but ok. The Czechs language is impossible to understand so we didn’t even bother learning the pleasantries. It’s a tourist town so they generally no the numbers in English but we are quickly moving towards hand signal territory.
Tricks for young players – A rum and coke is charged as 2 separate drinks with the coke being more expensive than the priciest beer on the menu. Found that one out the hard way.
Claim to fame – the Czechs drink more beer man for man than any other nation on the planet!!! Half a litre a day per person and that apparently includes babies. Impressive stuff.
Don’t miss – the old castle on a beautiful day gives you an unmatched view of what is truly a beautiful city.
Don’t bother – hanging around old town square for the astronomical clock to come alive every hour on the hour. It’s hard to recall a more underwhelming tourist attraction. The actual clock though is incredible and is pretty much the guinsue knife of time keeping.
What really grinds my gears – Restaurants/cafe’s that “don’t do” tap water. There’s six people sitting down ordering meals and alcohol in 30 degree heat, I don’t think some water from the tap in the kitchen is too much to ask.
Did you know – that Hugo Boss was the designer of the SS officers uniforms for the Nazi army!! They now have a store in the Jewish quarter of Prague. Full circle.