Saturday 28-06 - Prague where the castles are.

The flight to Prague 5-30am. We hadn't slept all of Friday night. All packed up, we waited or 2-30 to arrive to we could move to the airport. We said farewell to Hostel ARS. A great place to stay. Board included breakfast. Since we were going to miss breakfast, the manager had made up breakfast bags for us. How awesome. They had juice box, danish thing, youghat, snickers and a big bag of pretzels. I felt that was beyond their duties.

We were early at the air port and there was no where open to check in. So we occupied ourselves with books and musics, Eventually I spied a man setting up brochures and address labels behind a nearby counter. In a daze, we passed through and boarded a shuttle bus. It was cold. For the first time in so long, I had goose bumps. Which would have been refreshing if I wasn´t so tired. We boarded a very small plane and set off. About an hour later we landed and got onto an identical shuttle bus. It all looked the same. We could have circled the airport for an hour and I wouldn't have known.

We were still asleep but excited. Peter (who had booked our travels at STA) had offered us to stay in an old castle. At first we said no. It seemed expensive and was sure to be out of the way of anything we wanted to see. Plus we had already stayed in a castle like place when we went to Italy with the folks a few years ago. He spent quite some time convincing us to stay there, as when would we get another chance like this. So we agreed. It would be a cool place to stay and worth the trek to the city.

We found ourselves on the bus to the metro. Then on a tram. For a long time. We got off where told and looking around, realised we had to travel further. We had to travel to the end of the line. A very long trek indeed. Josh and I agreed that the castle would have to be amazing for this effort. Turrets and all.

What we found was a small, dated building shoved into some apartment blocks. And on top of a restaurant. Not a castle. Not a castle and in the middle of absolutely nowhere. If it were London, this place would be outside zone 6.

We were pissed. We were tired and sore from dragging our backpacks all this way and not in a good mood. We grabbed the keys and went upstairs. We went straight to sleep to clear our heads. We got 4 or 5 hours sleep,until till 3pm.

Then we packed up and checked out. We explained the situation and asked what refund we could get for the other 4 nights but were told we´d have to talk to STA. We weren´t going to let this just pass, we were completely misled by STA. He said IN a castle, not NEAR a castle. Damn straight we were going to get our money back. Now we´d have to find somewhere else to stay. Somewhere closer to civilisation.

We walked for 20 minutes to find a ticket to get back onto the tram. By now it was sunny and hot. We gave up our search at the first sighting of a free taxi. He dropped us by Charles bridge on the east side of the river. There were people everywhere and tightly packed old buildings and tourist places. Civilisation. When it rains it pours. We had a tiny map to guide through the crowds and winding streets to the main square of the place. By a big tower with a clock was the tourist info centre. We picked up a list up hostels. We sat outside the clock tower, leaning in our backpacks. We leaved through the list and checked our Lonely Planet guide of Prague. In the LP we found a place that looked nice called the Clown and Bard. We booked a private room for the first night and beds in a 5 room dorm for the rest. They gave us directions there.

This is kind of how I pictured backpacking. Wondering around, finding places as we went. Not practical nor a good idea really, but more of a romantic image of the carefree traveller.

We took the metro again, but only a few stops. The hostel was in an area just outside of the city, with lots of bars, pubs, mini-markets and other hostels. We took the long way from the metro, using conflicting directions given to us by different people.



The hostel was nice. Blue walls and orange furniture. All keys had giant wooden blocks on them. All the rooms have names and not numbers. On the first night we stayed in Alice.



Once settled we walked down the street to a cheap Chinese place. There are many in the area and they are all cheap. I had chicken rice with mushroom and bamboo. Plus red bull.



We looked up some places to go out that night. There was an indie dance clubs called Studio 54. It needed a few stops on the metro to get there. We walked down until we found it, but the doors were locked. A sign on the door said it was open 4am to 1pm. A bit early yet. So we decided to walk back to hostel, as now the distance didn't seem undo-able.



We got to the Clown and Bard´s street. On inspection of the map, there was another club quite close. A ´guilty pleasures´ club called Termix. I thought, what the hell, lets keep walking and see if we get there. We walked on.

At about 12 we reached the club and went in. It was full and loud and great. We danced away the stresses of the day. I let all my pressures melt away. I forgot my almost 2 days without sleep.



We met a nice group of people and all danced together. The drinks were much cheaper than Greece for a nice club. Nearer to cheaper Perth prices. At 4am we all decided to go somewhere else. At first I wanted to go to Studio 54, but thought I could do it another night. Instead we followed the group of new friends to and another near by dance club.

We stayed for the short while, but by then the red bulls had worn off and I was exhausted. We walked home at 4-30. The sky was already light.