When you can find return transport plus three nights accommodation for under 50 Euros, who can say no to a trip to Prague? Not me! The coach took about a million years to get there (5 hours) but it was so worth it. Quite a few people I know are not really very keen on Prague, but I think it is a lovely city. Even though there are loads of undesirables there as it is increasingly popular as a stag/hen weekend destination, it is still nice. Having said this, I'm not sure I'd like to go during the summer. Last weekend it was snowy and very pretty. In the Old Town Square there is a really nice Christmas Market. It was nice to go somewhere different as the markets in Wienna are getting kind of old now, and they are about half the price in Praha!
It was SO COLD, but actually no snow fell while we were there. I think if the weather had been worse we would not have done so much sight seeing. It was nice to see all the statues on the Charles Bridge because last time I went they were nearly all covered up for renovations.
We mostly did touristy walking around and beverage based activities on the Friday, as well as a route march to find the castle which, despite its size, I managed to lose. It was fun though and we got to see a bit of Prague that you wouldn't normally (ie the residential areas). However, we found it eventually and it was nice. What visit to a Post-Communist country would be complete without some kind of display of military prowess? We were not disappointed, as there was a marching band and some kind of official looking ceremony going on. Didn't get any photos though because there were too many people.
We ended up in a Czech restaurant for dinner. It seemed quite traditional but it did have a tourist menu so maybe it wasn't that authentic after all. We had the most disgusting soup I have ever eaten in my life. It was white and had big clumps floating in it. It looked quite a lot like cottage cheese soup (I am almost doing a little vomchen thinking about it!). Both of us ate about one mouthful before giving up. We were later told that it was traditional Czech egg soup. It was basically boiled egg whites in hot milk. I am not a fan.
We spent the evening wandering around the Christmas markets and watching choirs which was v nice and made me feel v festive. Afterwards we ended up in Prague's biggest Irish pub talking to the strangest people ever. There was Happy Moldovan and Miserable Albanian. You can guess which one I got stuck talking to. I tried talking to him in English, German and even French but he still sat there and looked at me like I'd put a puppy in a bag and smashed it against a telephone pole.
Saturday was a bit of an effort because we were really tired from the night before. After a very disappointing English Breakfast we went on a mission to find the John Lennon wall. We got there eventually but not before we came across some kind of Big Dog Conventions and some huge baby statues. Oh, and I know every European city wants to think it has the original "love lock" thing, but Prague was the first place I ever saw it so I will let them have the honour of inventing it in my head.
We also didn't get much sleep on Saturday night because of other people's very loud drinking games in the hostel. It was SO ANNOYING. However, we survived just about and came back to Wienna for one final week.
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