Czech-ing in with Prague

PRAGUE

“No one realises how beautiful it is to travel 

until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” 

– Lin Yutang

About three weeks since we have officially been back, and already it is feeling like a long time since we were in Prague.

 5 days in the beautiful Czech Republic capital capital breezed by, and before we knew it we were moving on to discover the very last country that we would be able to add to the list of places we visited in nearly 200 days of travel (wow, that sounds like a lot when it's counted in days.)

Now that we are home we have the difficult task of settling back in- a lot harder for me since my blissful days of working as a waitress are over and I am now back to intense full-time study. So to distract me from the fact that it really is over for now, I have started sorting through all the 5000-odd pictures I took throughout our travels...which brings me to Prague.

Prague is one of those places that immediately springs to mind when you think of a grand european trip (and fun fact we learnt while we were there, most of the movie Eurotrip was actually filmed in Prague.)

The city has all the trademarks of European cities that I have loved throughout our trip: cobblestone streets- check (or should I say...czech); old town area with at least one cool old building; river separating the two sides; big old castle on hill over the other side.

So here's my 'must-see' of Prague, compiled with just a hint of hindsight and a huge dash of longing that I was back there.

1. Prague Castle

St Vitus Cathedral

Without a doubt, the main sight in Prague is the looming castle across the banks of the river. We saw our fair share of castles throughout our trip, but Prague Castle is something different- instead of having a big building that looks (well, there's no better way to say it: 'Castle-y'), here the grounds are made up of a range of different buildings- churches, the massive St Vitus Cathedral with stained glass windows and ornaments inside, buildings and palaces that used to house the royalty, and little preserved laneways linking it all together. The grounds themselves are actually free to go to, and you can even watch the changing of the guards for free from about 10 metres away.

Changing of the guards at Prague Castle-
sadly didn't do an ABBA routine like the Buckingham Palace one

But to get the most out of the castle, you need to purchase a ticket. We chose the 'express' (read: cheaper) ticket that had all but one of the main sights, which was to climb the powder tower in St Vitus cathedral for a view out over Prague. But this aside we still got to see the rest of the beautiful buildings, and check out the Golden Lane, complete with preserved little cottages from the time.

A not so comfortable looking chair

A preserved tiny cottage on Golden Lane

2.  Walking tour of Prague

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the tip-based 'free' walking tours that happen around Europe are backpackers  every travellers best friend. We did one on one of those particularly cold days that fool you when you wake up- it looks like a sunny day when you look out the window, and then it's about -5 degrees when you get outside.

        


















The tour was really interesting because we really had no idea how bad it was in the communist era in the Czech Republic. They were saved from Nazi occupation by the Soviets, who then decided that they weren't going to clear out any time soon. We visited St Wenceslas Square where a student in 1969 burned himself alive to protest the way the Czechs just passively accepted the Soviets at the end of the war. Hard to think that only happened not that long ago.

3. Communist Museum
After doing the walking tour and hearing a bit about the country's communist past, we decided to visit the Communist Museum. Although I think the museum's kitsch advertising had a lot of the reason we actually went, we found it was a really interesting display of the period of occupation.

So cute, until you see the rifle

4. Kutna Hora Day Trip
About 50 minutes away on a ridiculously cheap Czech train, the town of Kutna Hora is famous for it's Kostnice, a church decorated entirely of human bones. After finding our first macabre bone display back in Rome and and our second more recently in the catacombs of Paris, we thought we'd keep up the tradition and check out this one too. When we arrived in this tiny town, you could instantly tell we were away from the tourist hotspot of Prague. The locals didn't speak much English, but they were about as friendly as they come. When we were reading the bus timetable, we had one man come over and point to the times we needed, and then we had another one point in the direction of the church, and mime a big arch above his head with his arms, to signal that the church was down that way. It turns out it shuts for one hour in the middle of the day- the time we arrived- and since the church lays about halfway between the deserted train station and the town, we caught a 10 minute bus into the town to pass the time until it opened. Eventually we made it to the church, and here it is:

The story goes that a blind/mad monk made the ossuary out of something like 40,000 bones. If it's not too weird to say I had a favourite 'part' (geddit?), the guy made a coat of arms literally out of human arms. Thumbs up for that pun.


5. Czech Food, Beer and Nightlife

A soup bowl, and a bread roll in one? Cheers Czech.

Roast beef with whipped cream and cranberry sauce? Only in the Czech Republic would that all be served on one plate. If I am going to be true to this blog, of course I need to comment on the food, otherwise I can't really say we ate our way around Europe now can I?

After coming from Poland, I think I can see a trend with central/eastern European cuisine- hearty, fatty, warming foods that are glorious to eat in minus temperatures. I mean, I ate crumbed, deep fried cheese. Don't even think that is allowed. But as no one ever said, 'when in Prague....'.

Mmm roast beef and... whipped cream?

But by far one of the best parts of Czech cuisines was the range of great beers they brew there. Not only is a pint ridiculously cheap (around 1-1.50 euro mark), the beers of Prague had Mike very impressed.

One night we got to sample the best of Czech beers and nightlife when we went to a bar called Usudu. From the ground level it just looked like an average bar- plain wooden walls and furnishings and only half full. But after going down a few flights of stairs when you entered it became a cave/cellar kind of thing, with a bar at every level and stairs enticing you to keep going down. The place was insanely cool, aside from the fact that smoking is legal inside there and so we left smelling like we'd had about 20 packs of cigarettes.

6. The John Lennon Wall


This one kind of speaks for itself, but just around the corner from the wall we stumbled across something we really didn't expect. It was Prague's version of Carnival, where people were dressed in medieval style clothes with crazy makeup, there was folk dancing and even a whole pig hung above a fire by its feet! I think that image is what I will probably remember most of Prague.

Thanks for the memory Prague!

This one I probably don't want to remember all that much

 

A Very Merry London- Our First Christmas Overseas

After travelling for four and a half months, I think we can safely say we have met people from all over the world. In the lead up to Christmas our conversations started to change tune a little though- instead of 'where are you going' we spoke more about 'where are you from'; Christmas was on everybody's minds and so we started to hear stories about what Christmas was like in other parts of the world. Jose, the Spanish (Canary Islands) guy we worked with in Oban, told us how they celebrated the story of the Three Wise Men on the 6th of January rather than Christmas Day and Santa Claus; likewise Argentinians celebrated the Three Wise Men, and I had a fun conversation with Augusto from Argentina while we were in Oban comparing how I used to leave carrots out for reindeer as a child and he used to leave food for the Camels that carried the Three Kings. We learnt from a lady on our day trip to the tiny isle of Kerrera that Austrians celebrate the 24th of December, and believe in an angel that delivers presents and then they all sing around the Christmas tree with their families. And by far my favourite Christmas story we have heard of has to be from when we were back in Barcelona, and how the Catalunians believe in the log that excretes presents when beaten with a stick. And so after hearing all of these stories, it was only fitting that our first Christmas overseas was a very international one, shared with people from all over the world. So this post is dedicated to the week we spent in London over the Christmas period and how we celebrated Christmas on the other side of the world.

Although we may have once been dreaming of a white Christmas, we ended up in London where chances of snow were pretty slim. It turns out the whole of Europe hasn't been as cold as expected for this time of year, and so even friends staying in the alps of Germany didn't get snow on Christmas. We returned to London to stay at the hostel we had spent two weeks at earlier in our travels- we wanted to see what London was like over the Christmas period, and plus we ended up filling in for our friend Grace and working at the hostel in Victoria for a few days to cover our accommodation while we were there. We only had 2 hours of work between us to do each night, and even though it meant I did clean on Christmas (only for about 45 minutes), it was over and done with in no time.

With accommodations sorted, it left time for us to experience London at it's best- when the streets were filled with Christmas decorations, where outdoor ice skating rinks were set up, and where Winter Wonderland had taken over Hyde Park. There was definitely a nice feeling being there at that time of year. We spent time battling the crowds last minute Christmas shopping on Oxford Street, before bailing out from the crowds and heading to Camden to find something for each other in the shops there. At least I got the chance to wander around the lights of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street since I was still out shopping when the sun sets at 4pm:


We visited markets of all descriptions again, since that was one of the best bits we found about London in the first place, and even battled on in the typical London rain.

And last but not least, we visited Hyde Park on Christmas Eve to see the huge Winter Wonderland display that had taken over the park- the whole area was filled with Christmas markets, food stalls, German-style bars selling gluwein (my new favourite) and beer, rides and ice skating (which I wasn't sad to say we didn't get to do because all the tickets were booked out!). It was the perfect way to get in the mood for Christmas the next day.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas of 2012 seemed the like the Christmas that kept on giving- because of the time difference back home and skyping both of our families, it felt like Christmas was actually a two-day event this year. In the lead up to Christmas I was missing home (or probably the prospect of Christmas day feasts) more than I thought, and so it was nice to be able to celebrate it with everyone back home. When Christmas morning finally arrived in London time, we had our own little celebration- Mike and I had pancakes and strawberries for breakfast (so it felt like summer at home), then we exchanged presents (I got mike a nice shirt from a cool shop called Spitalfields, and he got me a headband that I wanted, a necklace from Camden markets, and tickets to see the Lion King!).

Since it was rainy we settled in for a day of movies with a picnic spread we had bought with a couple of people from the hostel- first we watched the Christmas classic the Santa Claus, then we counteracted the gooey feeling by watching Kill Bill. Because nothing says Christmas like Uma Thurman with a Samurai sword. That night we were treated to a huge traditional feast with everyone from the hostel as we had our own little 'Orphan Christmas': it just do happened that an Italian guest is also a chef, and so he spent the day de-boning two huge turkeys, covering them in a delicious basting, and stuffing them with bread and roast vegetables. The dinner was DELICIOUS- which is saying something, considering I'm not normally the biggest fan of turkey. We shared Christmas with other staff from the hostel, along with guests from Italy, Spain, China, Singapore and Hong Kong, and finished off the night with bottles of wine. Definitely a memorable Christmas.

We spent another two days in London after Christmas, and we went and saw a matinee of the Lion King on the 27th which was fantastic! Tickets were all but gone and so we managed to snag some last minute seats in the downstairs stalls. This turned out to be great because a lot of the performers came through the crowd in our section to make their way onto the stage- at one point there was an 'elephant' going down our aisle. Afterwards I couldn't get songs like 'hakuna mattata' out of my head, definitely the sign of a good time.