Europe: Days 23-26
Prague, Prague, Prague!
In an attempt to be a more savvy backpacker than I have been previously, I decided to take the overnight train from Krakow, rather than fly. It was the same price as a flight, but as it was my accommodation for the night, I figured I'd give it a go. The train left Thursday night to arrive on Friday morning, which makes for a 9 and a half hour trip. The experience was ok, being quite similar to all the other night trains I've been on throughout the world. The bathroom on this one was probably cleaner than some of the others, but otherwise it was much the same. I was in a birth of 6, with two triple bunk beds, and thankfully I had the bottom bunk so I didn't have to make the climb up 3 levels, which for some reason I struggle with (I cannot gracefully ascend or descend a bunk bed - I'm incapable). The train was packed, as Thursday was a holiday (1 May) so there really wasn't much breathing room. But it was ok, as I pretty much went straight to bed when I got on.
Once in Prague I met up with my friend Kathryn and her boyfriend Nick. Kathryn and I grew up together and now she is on holiday in Europe and since we had some overlap in Prague, we met up. We started by walking over Charles Bridge, which is a touristy footbridge connecting two main parts of the city. It wasn't too crowded at this point, so it was a nice enough walk and once on the other side we decided to do a old car tour. It was pretty cheap split between 3, so we got in an old fashioned open top car and were driven around for nearly an hour to look at the sights. The driver gave a bit of commentary, but it was hard to understand him with his accent and the street noise. Plus, I'm pretty sure half the things he pointed out were churches, with the comment, "very nice church inside." It was actually a good thing to do right away, as it helped us get a feel for the city and where things were. At this point it was lovely and sunny and we were all in t-shirts.
After the car we walked up to Prague castle, but were met with chaos. I have never seen a tourist attraction so busy. It was crazy, there were people everywhere. The line to get in the church at the castle was never ending and we could even walk more than on or two steps without getting absorbed into the crowd. So we made the decision to try the next day and instead went to a nearby church, which we had heard was a very nice church inside. We found it was just ok - it had some pretty weird art (think severed breasts on a silver platter), so we found that aspect interesting.
We then went and crossed Charles Bridge again, which was a mistake as it was chaos. Once again, stuck in a hoard of people (the kind of situation where someone inevitably says "moooo", thinking they are original and hilarious), unable to take more than one step at a time. So at this point we decided to stop and get some lunch at an outdoor beer garden on the river and take a break. I was not expecting the crowds, but apparently, not only was Thursday a holiday, but for the first time in decades, all the nearby Eastern European countries had the same 4 day weekend. So pretty much all of Eastern Europe was in Prague.
After a couple beers on the patio, the weather started turning and by 3:30 we were in the midst of a full on thunderstorm. We went to the old town square and found a covered heated patio, where we bunkered down and played cards and drank. Not much else to do when it's pouring rain and you can't walk anywhere due to crowds. Luckily, Prague (aka the beer capital of the world) is not a bad place to be stuck in a pub or beer garden. We ended up stumbling out of the pub for dinner at 9, and had a really good Italian meal, before walking over and having a few more cocktails at a nearby cocktail bar.
The others were a little slow moving Saturday morning, but I was fine, so I decided to go for a walk through some neighbourhoods before meeting up with them. I was wandering fairly aimlessly, making for a interesting looking crooked building, when I came across an old wall full of bullet holes with a little memorial on it. When I stopped to take a look, I realised it was the church where the men who assassinated Reinhard Heydrich were eventually caught and killed by the nazis. I read an excellent book recently (called HHhH) about the assassination, but had completely forgotten it was in Prague. Heydrich was a high ranking Nazi who seems to have escaped some of the notoriority that other Nazis (like Himmler, Goring, and Goebbels) have had...likely because he was assassinated half way through the war. He was a terrible man; he was the "brains" behind the operation and was largely responsible for the Holocaust. He was nicknamed "the blond beast" and "the hangman of Prague" and even Hitler was said to have made comments on how scary he was....which says something. Anyway these 2 Czech soliders assassinated him while he was driving down the street outside of Prague in 1942. They made it away and holed up in the crypt of this church with 5 others, but were ratted out and eventually had a standoff with the Nazis as they tried to stay alive. Obviously it didn't end well for them. There was a little museum there and a memorial to these relatively unknown men. You can also enter the crypt and see where the various stages of fighting occurred. So that was a very good, unexpected find on my aimless walk.
In a lot of these European cities, I find walking around is the best thing to do. The cities are often compact and beautiful, so just walking around and looking at stuff is often a good pastime. Prague is beautiful, and a fun city, but the crowds and weather really put a damper on it for me. I definitely preferred Krakow. However, with that said, I did enjoy Prague and can see why people love it so much.
My last day in Prague was more of the same. I went up to the "Eiffel Tower" of Prague, which is a radio tower overlooking the city. I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be really good. The view was spectacular. The weather also started to warm up, so that was nice. It was a balmy 14 degrees on Monday! I tried to go to a KGB museum as well, which I had read was a quirky thing to do. It is just some Russian guy's private collection that he gives a tour of. But when I went, he wasn't available for an hour and I didn't feel like waiting.
Since I've done so much walking, here are a few things I've noted:
- Here, liquor stores are called "absinthe shops", even though they sell beer, wine and all types of liquor.
- There are lots of sex stores, and strip clubs scattered throughout the city.
- On Saturday, we came across a "beer spa" which, after an internet search, turned out to be a place where you sit in a bath of beer and can drink unlimited beer (not from the tub you are bathing in) for an excessive amount of money.
- The food is quite hit or miss. I found that sticking to stew type dishes (Goulash and beef in gravy with dumplings) was usually a safe bet, but deviating into other Czech dishes, often resulted in fairly bland food. On Sunday, with my stomach upset and it being freezing cold, I went out to find a stew, and had something called "svickova" which is braised beef in a vegetable gravy with cranberries and whipped cream, and Czech dumplings (which are doughy bread). It was excellent and my stomach agreed.
- there are less homeless people in Prague than Krakow (or at least, less aggressive homeless people). In Krakow, it seemed like some sorry looking little old lady would come up to me a few times a day, mumbling something in Polish and putting out her hand. In Prague, all I saw was the odd beggar in a kneeling position.
And now, I'm off to Venice :)
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