Sunday 06-07 - Our training.

We checked out of the Prague Lion and started to walk to the train station in the middle of the city. It was hot again and having backpacks on didnt help. When we got there we were told that the train to Vienna (Wien) left from another station and we would have to take the metro there. So out again and down to the metro. Which is annoying because you need a ticket for your backpack as well as yourself.

Getting to the station we got our passes validated and waited for the train to arrive. This was a special trip for us. It signified an end to the hideous flying and the start of our Eurail train journeys. We sat on the platform with all the other young backpackers.



As the train pulled in everyone rushed to get on first. Like us they didnt have a seat reservation and had to find decent unreserved seats before they were all gone. We got on with them, not knowing how the system worked until some nice Americans helped us out. The first carriage we tried was full so we jumped into the next one. We found 2 free seats in one of the 6 person compartments and settled in.





The 4 hours passed quickly with a combination of sleep, Ozy and Chaucer. I have now finish the Gerenal prologue and the knights tale. Though I might take a Kafka break, being a lot easier to read then old English poetry.



We made our way to the Wombat Hostel via the tram.



It is the largest and most modern we have stayed in so far. Dinner was chicken schnitzel roll.



We went down to the bar (Wombar) and had drinks. We met some nice English and American and Australian people there. At one point there was a siren. The barman called out ´free shots at the bar´ and poured a mystery drink down everyone´s throats. Drank a bit more beer than I should have, but still had a good time.

Saturday 05-07 - Segways and Sarahs

We woke up early to catch the most amazing tour ever. The segway tour of Prague. Earlier in the week we had spotted a group a Segways zooming past. We got excited but it but then let it go.

We got to the square early, about 10-30am. The tour wasn´t set to start until 11 so we waited for the segway guy to show up. The meeting and sign up point was by the astronomical clock. About 10 minutes before 11 we asked another walking tour guide, who it seems was connected to the segway tour. He called segway guy for us, who soon showed up. The tour group consisted of us and an American couple.



Our tour guide was a cute Slovakian guy named Pavo, a few years older than us. We walked behind Pavo´s segway to their HQ. He gave us each a segway and some practise using them. I was nervous at first. I´ve been in 3 car crashes and one moped crash; the latter of which has left scars. I didn't really trust myself with motorised transport. I nervously stepped onto the foot mat.



The acceleration and braking is quite intuitive. You move your weight forward to go forward and back to go back. Turning the left handle controls steering. After a few minutes I got right into the hang of it. I was zooming along with the rest of the group.




Our route took us to the old square and past the Jewish quarter. We travel down the river and cross a bridge to the west side. We continued south to Kampa, where we segwayed through the park. We crossed another bridge and made our way up to Staramestro to finish off. The tour took 2 hours. We passed a large black box in the middle of a street. Pavo explained that this was a ´blind café´ for charity. Sounded interesting so we decided to go back.

The feeling of being on the segway was incredible. Zooming along (at top speed 15kph) and just feeling so free. Both relaxing and energising. definitely worth the money.





After lunch we stopped for cheap Chinese. The outside was very ornate despite being inside an empty shopping centre. There were some interesting names for the dishes. We ordered Chicken with 3 flavours and chicken of surprising taste. They both tasted like generic Chinese food. Also surprising, was a the taste of beef in one.





We strolled to the Jewish quarter. When we planned to do the quarter, we completely forgot that it was a Saturday. Most things were closed. We managed to see some of the cemetary, despite it also being closed. We weren´t too stressed. We had seen many synagogues and the like in Poland and Israel. It was similar to Poland, with the old building decorated with some magen davids.



We found our way back to the blind café, named coffee in the dark.



It was a charity program meant to simulate blindness in everyday life. All the wait staff are blind as well. We were met at the door by a man named Peter. We each put our right hand on the shoulder of the person infront of us. Peter led us into the first room and shut the door. It was very dark, but still had some visibility. Peter led us into the second room. I´ve never been in so much darkness. There was nothing,not even the impression of movement or my hand in front of my face. There was nothing.

By now my instincts told me to move in small, shuffling steps. We were led to our table and our hands were put on our chairs so we could find them. I carefully felt my way to my cushioned chair and felt around the table. We waited for our waitress. We called for her and then waited. It occurred to me how it would feel if this was your life. Not knowing if you had been heard or where she was. Totally unsure. It was unnerving to say the least.

Eventually she came to serve us. I asked for tea and Josh got coffee. Her talking become silence (I assume she left). We waited. Soon the silence became her talking. She told us to put our hands on the table. I felt for the edge and laid my hands flat on the surface. I heard her put something on the table. She took my hand and put it against the cup. It was strange feeling so helpless. We sat for a while drinking our drinks. I listened to the sounds of the place,shuffling and talking over the crowd. It was made even more off putting because every one was speaking Czech. I was without sight and couldn't make sense of what I heard. I felt the heat of the tea through the cup.

The time came when we wanted to leave. We called for our waitress but had no way of knowing if we were noticed. Peter came and asked if we were ready to go. I fumbled out of my chair. I was starting to get anxious by this point. He led us out in a line. As he opened the outer door he warned us to shut our eyes. He was right. The light was so bright it hurt. Slowly I squinted my eyes and let the light come streaming through. We paid for our coffee and were given little souvenir coffee cups.

I was glad to be able to see again. It was quite an experience, one that I´m glad I didn't miss.

That night we had arranged to meet cousin Sarah and her guy Cooper at their hotel. They had just arrived from Vienna that day so this was the only chance we had to meet up with them. It was also Sarah´s birthday.

We stopped of at a bakery and picked up a big slice of black forest cake. We walked up to Sarah and Cooper´s hotel. We were met outside by Sarah with big hugs. It was great to see her again. We went up to their room to drink the free birthday champagne they were given. We caught up on gossip. We gave travel advice for the respective countries we had been to.

Then we walked down the road to a Greek or maybe Turkish restaurant. What we ordered and what we all got didn´t have a lot in common. But the food was decent and no one knew enough Czech to argue, so we laughed it off.

Josh and I led the pair on a walk to near our own hostel. There was a bar we had stuck our heads into the day before that I wanted to try out. U Sudu must have been a cellar or a bunker during the war. It was made up of small rooms that could only be reached down long flights of stairs into the earth and dark rounded tunnels. The atmosphere was great though, really chilled. There were lots of locals too, which is always a good sign. We drank and talked until the time seemed right to move on. We moved back to Lucerna music bar because it as near by and we knew it was a good time. When we arrived the songs were mostly from the 90s. They become more 80s later in the night. At about 1 everyone was feeling tired so we hugged again and parted ways. A great night and a great chance to catch up with them.

Friday 04-07 - Pizza and Kampa

I woke up late and relaxed through the morning. At around lunch time we left. We got pizza in the old town.







We walked through Kampa, a large park. Despite being a few hundred metres from the packed and bustling Charles bridge, Kampa was quiet. All I heard was the water of the river and the rustling trees. There were occasional people walking about to break the silence.

We went into the Kampa museum of modern art. There was an exhibit we saw a poster for that looked interesting. It was called Re-volution by the Cranking art group. Outside the museum there were giant plastic animals.







Inside there were pieces that involved small plastic animals stuck into buckets of clear plastic resembling water. There were neon plastic statues of ancient greek like heads, with plastic food or rocks stuck all over them. These were named ¨migraine¨. The expressions of unrest of the heads and placements of the food/rocks really captured the pain of migraine. Then back over the bridge.



We passed through the old square as usual. This time, though, we noticed something different near the tour group meeting point. The was a young guy on a segway. Handing out brochures for a segway tour of Prague. It was 100Australian, but looked so amazing and excited. We happily took a brochure and thoguht about doing the tour the next day. The idea became more and more appealing as we walked on. By the time we reached the hostel we were set on the idea. A segway!! We could ride around like those wanky types you see. I´ve always wanted to try one. It seemed well worth blowing 100 dollars on.

In the evening we finally drank our absinthe. Then headed to the nearby Lucerna music bar, which has 80s and 90s video parties every weekend. Lots of fun dancing.

Thursday 03-07 - Prague Lion

The day to move to the new hostel. We had breakfast and then checked out of the clown and bard. We metroed down to our new place, the Prague Lion. It was nice to have a private room again and a private shower. The place was in Nove Maestro, the newer area. Around us was a more vibrant nightlife, with cafés and restaurants. We strolled down the main street, which was filled with shops and a McDonalds.



Further on we intersected a busy stretch of road very much like London´s Oxford Street. Was lined with international shops. We stopped into a few to pick up a few more tops. My wardrobe change over was now complete. We ate chicken schnitzel or lunch.





The skies were threatening to rain all day. We were on our way back to the hostel when the first few drops came. We quickened the pace to match. Soon after we were safely inside the rain came. It poured more than I´ve seen in all of Europe. There was lighting and thunder that shook the buildings. It was to so loud the car alarms went off every time. We had wifi in our room, helping us to wait out the storm.

Wednesday 02-07 - Kafka

I had a really good sleep in. I only got down to breakfast at 12. Luckily breakfast at the Clown and Bard goes to 1pm. I wrote some blog drafts while drinking tea.

Today we went to the Kafka museum. It was across Charles Bridge, near the Lennon wall.





Out side the museum was a large K. It was a good indication of what was inside. The museum itself was in part museum of he life and works of Franz Kafka and in part a modern art gallery. All through the gallery there were background sounds. Sometimes water in a creek, sometimes klezmer music.

Glass displays the talked about the writer. They used words I haven´t heard since english literature class in high school. They talked in abstract terms and were far more eloquent than most museums I´ve been to. The exhibitions were similarly unorthodox.

The photos of his old neighbourhood were not just hanging from a wall. They were submerged on black rocks in foot high glass tanks spanning the length of the room. The light and ripples created an interesting distortion of the pictures.

When they talked about the circles of his life, there were circular exhibits, each exploring aspects that same his work. a lot of mention was made of his father, who had a significant effect on his life. He was fascinating. Others passed us as we stood there, taking care to absorb everything. I hadn't realised that he died of TB. His end sounded unpleasant.

There was a section talking about his well known works and giving brief explanations of their meanings and the history of their writing. Most of this was through a winding black hallway. Black because the walls were lined with giant black filing cabinet draws. Random wall telephones played a foreign voice through the receiver (maybe Kafka´s?). There was a white room panelled with mirrors. A black shape was projected onto the white wall amid unnerving sounds.

We left the museum in a daze. Looking at Josh´s watch, I was shocked to find we had been in there for 2 hours. It felt like maybe 30 minutes. The museum shop was full of things I wanted to buy. I could have bought almost everything in the shop; the posters, badges, note pads and shirts. I settled on a nice hard cover version of The Metamorphosis.

Back to the hostel.

Tuesday 01-07 - The peace wall.

We were up early today for a full day of sight seeing. In fact, we were up so early that breakfast wouldn't start for another hour. So we decided to get our own breakfast instead of wasting an hour waiting for the hostel. We stopped on the way to the train station at a Tabak (mini-mart / off license) and grabbed some croissant shaped rolls and multivit juice. We sat in the park by the station andd ate breakfast and watched all the work people hurrying about. Apparently drinking half a carton of the juice gave me my recommended dose of just about every vitamin ever. Cool.



We started off at Prague castle. We just followed the other tourists up the hill. There was a gorgeous view of the town and the castle.



There were gaurds by the gates. The kind of gaurds that stand very still while people take photos next them. I didn't want to be one of those people. There was also a statue of the first President, Tom.



The czechs like to tell people they are angry and surly. I think its like what we tell people about Australians being surfies and riding kangaroos and drinking forsters. If these rumours of poor temperment are true, they are built into the architecture. The gates of the palace were decorated with figures. One was a man about to stab another man. In the second statue a man was beating his opponent with a club. Friendly folk.



There was a vast courtyard with granite set flag poles behind the gates and guards. Then an entrance to another building and another large courtyard. This one had a fountain in it. We realised we should have come earlier, as the crowds of tour groups had begun to gather en mass. We were still just ahead of most though.



We bought tickets to the castle that allowed us into the Old palace, the Basilica of St George and Golden Lane. First we went to St Vitus Cathedral, which was free to get into. The outside was a set of dark gothic towers that rose above the other buildings. It was beautifully ornate. It was completely covered in gargoyles. Some looked like dragons or monsters while others looks like screaming people. There was a short que to get in, which was a lot longer behind us.

Inside, I was hit by the sheer size of halls. It had echoing spaces, surrounded by columns. The large windows that decked the walls were made up of intricate stained glass scenes.





The roof had interesting crossing patterns that continued down the walls. Around the walls were golden trimmed statues of religious figures. At the front was an alter,following on to a tomb decorated with flying angels.

Next was the old royal palace. It was basically a large room with a few decorations and a nice view over the city from the balcony. In and out in 5 minutes. Not particularly interesting. Golden Lane was a road of old style house which have long since been converted to tourist traps. We walked through quickly. On reflection, probably didn't need the ticket. All the best bits of the castle were free anyway.

We walked down the long path back to the street and found a small park for lunch. Lunch was cheese sanwiches we made that morning. We walked further and found St Nicolas´s Church,apparently a good example of Czech baroque. St Nick´s church was one of the better things I saw that day. It had a fraction of the visitors of the other St Vitus. There were no tour groups and loud guides or constant flashes of cameras.

It was quiet and cool and had a feeling of piece about it. You sit in a pew and take a breath, then you look up. The frescos covering every part of the ceiling are amazing. They gave the illusion of decorative architecture around the edged of each painting. So skillfully done we couldn't tell were the painting started. The main piece went from building to a sky scene with angels and clouds. It maintained this almost perfect perspective of looking upwards toward the subjects. Then become distorted as it reached the clouds.



Further on was an impressive dome in the same style. And many gold trimmed statues. I just sat there for a while to take in every detail.





We were peckish after all the touring, so stopped in to a café for tea and cake. The cakes were a raspberry cheesecake and a caramel cake. Both were generous portions, tasty and rich. We couldn't finish them between us.



Next we found the Lennon wall. After his assignation in 1980, some young Czechs painted his picture on the wall. Others followed with pictures and slogans of peace. It was illegal during the communist period and kept getting painted over. Now it is a legal graffiti wall apparently. Every few years it gets washed over though, so no one´s experience of the wall will be exactly the same. There is a bust of John sticking out of the wall so he face will be there no matter what it looks like.



Right now there are lots of peace slogans and Beetles lyrics, some portraits and a picture of John with a beard.





The highlight of my day. I don't know exactly why. It´s just a wall with graffiti on it. Most is just boring and there´s a lot of illegible scribbles. Its not what´s on the wall, but what it represents. There´s just a feeling that comes from being there. Every person who has ever written on the wall is connected, even after their work is painted over.





We decided to come back on another day and see it again.

I left feeling calm and at peace with the world. I strolled down the busy bridge, packed with people. I didn't feel the crowd was there. Imagine played in my head as I watched the boats and hot air balloons floating past the distant bridges.



We got back to the hostel and brought Ozy downstairs to the bar. While typing we had a bit of beer. Mistake. We returned to the Chinese place and got the same food and brought it back to the hostel. We sat at our room´s table and devoured our meal. Then returned to typing, this time in our room. Mistake. The moment I sat on my bed I collapsed. We slept through the evening and woke up at about 10-30pm. By then it was too late to attempt the karaoke night we planned to try. It was just to far away and we were too tired. We sat at the bar and drank red bull, but it didn't help. I desperately wanted to salvage the night, but it looked like it wasn´t going to happen.

New rule I decided: no beer in the day. We just end up asleep. Also no typing in bed.

Monday 30-06 - Catch up

Today was a catch up day. I really needed a catch up day. After the early night, I woke up late. We wondered down to the bar for a late brekkie. They make good breakfasts. Then we set off with a set of tasks to accomplish.

We stopped off at a supermarket and a pharmacy first to stock up on things like soap and plasters and neurofen. Then we went to find clothes. The idea with my clothes packing for this trip was to bring basic tops and change them when they were worn through. They are now worn through. And stretched and stained.

I also now have a better idea of what I should be carrying around with me. Some of the tops I brought are not really suitable, but I don't want to wear them out. So I sent them back to London to sit with the rest of my things.

We found a giant shopping centre near the city which looked good. On the way there was an exhibit of amazing animal photos. It was set up in the street. Below each large piece was a description of the animal and a statistic about how screwed the world is. Things like poverty and environmental disaster. Depressing, but the pictures were good.

Inside the shopping mall we found H&M and some other shops. We went in there first because I knew it would the basics I needed to replenish my clothes selection. I found a green top and a red top. I thought I might go back later in the week.



We walked around the shops for a while then had lunch at the restaraunt-food court there. I had my first taste of the purple salad they always have here. wasn´t too bad, kind of like coleslaw.

We headed back to the hostel and updated blogs.