I'm sitting in a lovely hostel in Prague after a great day in this beautiful city. Prague is jam packed with tourists but it is easy to understand why when you have a look around this place. Despite the numerous tacky souvenir shops and the hordes gathering around the old town square, this is one beautiful and unique city. It has to be my favourite European city to date...
However I do have to backtrack a bit as I've been slack and haven't been providing any updates about this holiday. It's hard to believe that I've only been in Europe a week as, in some ways, so much has happened although in other ways the time has passed quickly.
So let me start from day one...
Kate and I arrived in Frankfurt on 5 September after flying for 26 hours via Hong Kong. We then had to navigate our way to Frankfurt's train station to catch a train to Berlin, a 4 1/2 hour journey. All up we figured we travelled for 35 hours to reach our final destination and a most welcomed shower! Considering the journey we pulled up pretty well and didn't seem to suffer jet lag.
We spent five days in Berlin catching up with Tracy, Markus, Anne and Mark. Aside from the family/friend reunions I spent some time exploring this interesting city with such an incredible history. There is a lot to see in Berlin so I recommend anyone spend at least 3 days there to do it justice. To name a few of the sights I went to the Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Museum, Checkpoint Charlie (very, very tacky), the DDR Museum, Chalottenburg (a summer palace for one of the Prussian royalty - an impressive palace but a tad small for my own use). Tracy and Markus also took me out to the countryside for some schloss hunting and to see some German villages. It's an easy city to get around with a good transport system that is easy to decipher and a language that is ok for English speakers to have a go at!
I have discovered the joy of 1/2 litre beers and was extremely delighted to find a Coopers Pale Ale in Tracy's local bottle shop. I should add that this shop was located in east Berlin, not in a tourist area, so this was very impressed and excited with this finding. I would have taken a photo if I had the courage to do so!
Kate and I hopped on a train to Prague yesterday (Monday), a 4 1/2 hour journey from Berlin. The section between Dresden and the border is very scenic and is one to add to the list of places to explore in the future. We walked a sweaty 30 mins from the train station to the hostel in Prague - the weather has been great last couple of days, 28/29 degrees. We managed to land ourselves in a great hostel (Czech Inn - thanks to Anne for her recommendation) and managed to locate a great place for dinner with $1.50 half litre beers and pizzas the size of small nations! This is my kind of town! Today we did a free tour of the city which was a great introduction. Suggestion - do the free walking tours in Europe. They usually show you the key sights over 3/3.5 hours and all you have to do is tip the guide at the end of the show.
This is one amazing place and you can understand why it is so touristy when you come here. Apparently it was saved from large scale destruction in WW2 because it was Hitler's favourite city (the only time I have agreed with the man!) I don't believe my photos will ever do it justice but it really is a beautiful city. The architecture is amazing. You could get lost in it's windy streets for hours on end and there are countless places to stop for your 1/2 pint when you get tired and thirsty! There are a lot of bars hidden in alleyways and in basements of centuries old buildings. This place has so much character. I could spend ages here!
We are supposed to be going to Krakow on the overnight train tomorrow night but we are going to try to change our booking so we can stay here another day. Fingers crossed we can do but if we can't, then we'll have to try to come back another time.
Enough for today. I'll post again soon and will post photos when I find a computer where I can download some from my camera. Tomorrow - another day in beautiful Praha exploring the palace and surrounds...
