Czech Republic

Friday 27th May, 2011

Checking out Prague by foot

We had a quiet laid-back day today exploring Prague. It is quite a beautiful city with architecture that is reminiscent of Paris, in that it is very intricate but with more detail on the building facades.

Our Accommodation

We found our way to the old part of town and spent quite a few hours looking at the sights which included the old Town Hall with the Gothic Tower, the Horologe (Astronomical Clock) and a few churches.

Astronomical Clock

“The Prague Astronomical Clock or Prague Orloj is a medieval astronomical clock attached to the Old Town Hall in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still operating.”

After lunch we walked to the river and the Charles Bridge and saw Prague Castle on the hill overlooking it. As It had started to rain, we didn’t get much of a look at either and at that point decided to call it a day. We are taking a tour tomorrow where we will be able to explore both these beautiful sights in more detail.

Let’s just hope that it is not raining…

Prague streetscapes

Saturday 28th May, 2011

The Ultimate Tour

Angela’s Birthday…Happy Birthday sweetheart

We had decided today to take a tour of Prague to make the most of our time here. After looking through a few brochures we picked the ‘Ultimate Tour’, which as Murphy would have it, was less Ultimate than the brochure stated. It was an interesting day that started with the tour guide having turned up with a microphone that didn’t work. Not so great when you have 35 people that need to hear you.

She wandered off in search of batteries and left us hanging for 25 minutes only to return without batteries or microphone. While she was gone we stood around joking that we had all been scammed… luckily we hadn’t been.

Thankfully we scored another dry day for our ‘Ultimate Tour’ which combined walks, a boat ride, three course lunch and tram ride to the old castle. It was a really good overview of the city and gave us a taste of some of the sights that were worthy of more exploration.

After starting in Wenceslas Square, we covered Charles Bridge, the Old Town, the Jewish Ghetto, the Lesser Quarter and Prague Castle.

Angela got a nice surprise at lunch when she was presented with a mini Birthday cake and a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ by all the tour group.

Nice!

Charles Bridge

“Charles Bridge is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vltava (Moldau) river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the early 15th century.”

Prague Castle

“Prague Castle is a castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia.

The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept within a hidden room inside it.”

Old Town

“The Old Town of Prague is a medieval settlement of Prague, Czech Republic. It was separated from the outside by a semi-circular moat and wall, connected to the Vltava river at both of its ends.

The moat is now covered up by the streets (from north to south-west) Revoluční, Na Příkopě, and Národní—which remain the official boundary of the cadastral community of Old Town.”

Happy Birthday to my girl

After the tour finished we wandered back into the Old Town for a drink to cap off the days activity. We decided on Café Rott, whose waiter had been kind enough to allow me to use their toilet earlier in the day when most wouldn’t. We had a couple of drinks each and then decided that, as we liked the feel of the place, we would make dinner reservations. We asked our waiter friend to reserve us a table for a bit later on, as we wanted to watch the clock perform its show in the Old Town Square on the hour.

We went to pay for our drinks and our friend told us that he would add it to our dinner bill after we had eaten. We couldn’t believe it and we were surprised in his trust of complete strangers. We returned about half an hour later and had one of the nicest meals we have ever had. It was outstanding – Angela said she would rate it 11/10. They even had a piano player softly playing in the background who provided great ambience. A really nice night…

We really enjoyed our evening, decided to call it a day and walked back to our hotel. 

PS. Angela would like to say a BIG thank you to everyone for her Birthday messages…

Sunday 29th May, 2011

Our last day in Prague

We had a very relaxed day for our last day in Prague and spent the first part of the morning repacking our suitcases, in preparation for the evening’s flights, before walking into town for some more sightseeing. The weather was nice and sunny so we went back to a few of the places we had been before to get some better pictures.

On our ‘Ultimate Tour’ the previous day, we were told about a hotel that had an outdoor courtyard on the sixth floor that was a nice place to have a drink. We went up for a drink but decided that we would have lunch there as well as the menu looked good. We were above the rooftops and got a whole new perspective of the old town centre… and some different photos…

After lunch we wandered around and had a drink at the hotel that was used for some of the scenes in the Titanic movie.

We then made our way back to the hotel for our pre-booked taxi. Luckily we had a different driver from the one who delivered us and the trip to the airport was much more civilised, and safe. Angela was well pleased.

We boarded our plane at Prague on time for our hour flight to Frankfurt, after some problems at the check-in counter where we were told that we weren’t in the system (or something to that effect). The lady at the counter went and talked to her supervisor while Angela and I stood there waiting, nervously looking at each other.

Finally the supervisor came back with tickets for us, much to our relief, and we were checked right through to Singapore.

We boarded for Singapore on time and settled in for our 12 hour flight. We will need to put our clocks forward 7 hours so I’m sure we will be well tired by the time we reach our destination after a largely sleepless flight…

Trip progress
Day 45 94%
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