Praaaaague!

THE JOURNEY

Two one-hour train rides, then 12 hours on the night train... which had to be totally spent horizontally in cabins of six, no room to sit upright... alicia counts down the minutes til our arrival


and just when we think we're making good time, our german cabin couple, on their way to Budapest, translate the announcements for us to reveal that we are still in Germany, the train has broken down, and at this bright sparkly hour of 6am we all have to get off the train and wait for another one (in the middle of nowhere). so here we all are. not quite sure why that lady at the front is smiling.

i certainly wasn't.


three hours on another train...

AND WE FINALLY ARRIVE: PRAGUE DAY ONE


...renamed by us as 'the city without vowels' - the Czech language seems to be overly generous in their use of constanants.

Vaclavske Namesti (Wenceslas Square) with the main museum at the end. We walked up and down here every day treking to our hotel and back.

There should have been a statue or monument here, I felt.

My guess is that these troopers were just taking it easy having an afternoon nap in preparation for a megga evening of clubbing ahead?

the famous 'easter markets' that fill the squares throughout april

alicia admires the beautifully decorated eggs

Okay it wasn't THAT cold, but these furry Eastern-European-Polish-Russian-Czech hats were EVERYWHERE (this smile was quickly wiped from my face when the guy explained to me that it was 'real rabbit' as a selling point).

The view towards Hradcany (the Medieval castle district)

The 'squashed coke can' building - a rare example of modern architechture. It's actually just an office complex.

we went to this bar on the old town square in Stare Mesto (old town) called 'U Prince' with terrace views. we wanted a souvenir teaspoon but the waiters weren't very cooperative or sympathetic to our touristic needs...

This was the beginning of several spooky deja vu moments - it was the first time we met our four Australian friends from London who were also on a four day holiday and who we uncanilly and spookily bumped in to EVERY SINGLE day for four days after this first meeting.

The view from U Prince over the old town square.

view from the ground with those cool colourful little czech buildings

This dude, in the red, should win an award for arm-raising stamina. There he was, all day, every day, holding up his sign (which he wouldn't let us take a photo of) that read 'The experienced guide'. expereinced in what?

The old town square

More easter markets!

We walked past these traffic lights every day near the clubs and didn't realise til the last day that they were all rude little figures! (not sure if you can tell from these pics).

Prague at night...

view of Karluv Must (the Charles Bridge)

and the castle area in Hradcany again.

Karlovy Lazne. The club we went to a couple of times. 'The biggest club in central Europe' (we haven't actually been able to establish where the boundaries of 'central Europe' officially are, but it was impressive nonetheless). 5 stories, with each one a different style of music.

50 kc entry (1 euro 80 cents!), a wine just over a euro, this is the 'cheap' side of Prague we had been looking for...

The R&B level with cool coulour changing sync lights in the background.

Our Australian friends (randon meeting #2) also enjoying the cheap drinks...

Two of them - Bryce and Bart (Sorry, you can tell snap-happy Alicia was in charge of the camera again!)

This is great - the top level is a 'chill out lounge'. By about 3am, these happy travellers had obviously enjoyed the cheap drinks a little too much...

The next morning!

a random little church with a random little easter czech choir

view from the charles bridge, towards the palace and Hradcany.

absorbing culture and conteplating life

trying to gather our bearings from my trusty lonley planet pages

what we thought was a relaxing wander turned out to be quite a steeply inclined labourous hike

but worth it for the views back over the bridge

watching the changing of the guards, which i found a very amusing experience. very wierd guys who take life FAR too seriously

The cathedral of the palace, Kralovska Zahrada

inside the cathedral














from the cathedral tower, up 287 steps looking directly back down on to rooftops and steeples. points to alicia for her artistic composition.

Random meeting number #3 with aussie boys - this is Kris.

LAST DAY

The sun was out, and after another night of clubbing we thought relaxing on the hillsides in Mala Strana (the little quarter) through the spring blossom trees towards the town was a perfect way to reflect on our time, plan for our next adventure, and prepare ourself for another train trek back to the land of the tulip.

back in the dreaded matchbox room on the train, we were relieved to find that we had the six-bed cabin to ourselves for the first couple of hours.

can you see how squishy it is with no room to sit up?? we had a party anyway, with our mp3 and speakers, our fruit and nut supply, and our travel diaries.

this time we were only three hours late arriving at our final destination. another freaky coincidence though - the german couple who had translated the train annoucements for us on the way to prague were not only travelling back on the same day as us, but on the same train, and in the same cabin as us on the way home! tassie no longer seems so small...