Prague - one of our favourite cities in Europe!

Ever since coming there in 2004 I dreamed of coming back to Prague - with its beautiful bridges, pointy roofs, great beer and food, and the grand cathedral on top of the opposite bank which you can see from almost anywhere. The train departed Berlin at a very early 5:39AM on Saturday morning and after having slept for a tiny bit we all played a bit of cards and had some sandwiches for breakfast while admiring the forest covered cliffs outside.



After leaving our backpacks in the hostel (it was again the infamous hostel Junior with it's commie clean rooms and commie breakfast - but for 20 EURS a night who's complaining?) we wondered the city. We climbed the hill on the taller bank and walked along the city wall passing the monastery. Had a huge lunch with the infamous beer 'Velikopopovski Kozel' followed by a honey cake 'Medovik', which gave us (excl. Jack of course) nostalgia of Russia. We wondered the streets some more and even managed to see England lose to Portugal while having dinner, the result of the game of course assisted our digestion muchly. The amusing writing on the chalkboard in the restaurant (see pic.) also made us laugh. In german 'ficken' means 'fu8king'... and it had the Party Men to go with it.

That evening we decided to go to the big local nightclub and Julia retired to the hotel for a quick nap before more partying, but Jack and I went on to do a Ghost Tour. The tour was rather disappointing and for 250 kronas (about 10 EUR) we felt slightly cheated. But the very funny accent of the tour guide almost made it worth it. For example the word 'square' (as in 'Town Square') became 'squuur', which took a while to get used to and produced numerous giggles from a few people on the tour. Along the various stages and stories of the tour, her assistant would run out from around the corners in various ghost outfits and "scare" people... very funny.

As the tour ended it was time to go to the club. We were positively impressed - 5 floors of loud different kinds of music and interesting looking lounges. 1st floor - R&B, with VERY energetic teenage girls wearing almost nothing. 2nd - some electronic type of music with no one dancing, but a big stretched out figure out of gold plastic suspended over the dance floor. 3rd - techno with songs like 'around the world', again no one dancing. 4th - the glorious 80s with almost a full dance floor. 5th - can't remember. So we decided on the 80s of course. Jack got a beer and Julia and I got a mojito each... and we found a nice spot to dance almost in the middle of a dance floor. They played a few songs from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack which was a VERY pleasant surprise and made us very happy. But just as we were getting more into the swing of things some guy next to me dropped his glass with beer and little bits of glass decided to find home in the bottom of my foot (I only brought one pair of shoes, which were open sandals - BAD choice for nightclubs)... so slightly bleeding I hobbled to an available chair where Jack tried to get them out... but from walking all day my feet were filthy and he couldn't really see much. So we decided to get a band aid and retire to the hostel. Julia ran around to find one... but apparently the "biggest club in middle Europe" doesn't have a First Aid kit! It also didn't have a working lift which left us hobbling down four flights of stairs where we tried to ask for a band aid again and after a couple of passes from one person to another, some security guy came from the outside with a bemused expression... the following conversation followed:

Jack: "She has glass in her foot - do you have a band aid?"
Security Guy: *looking bemused*
Polina *in a somewhat agitated voice*: "DO...YOU...HAVE...A... BAND-AID???"
Security Guy: "Yes" *continues standing and looking bemused*
Polina: "THEN CAN I HAVE IT PLEASE?" *raised eyebrows*
Security Guy: "Yes" *proceeds to go to some corner to what looks like almost a safe, and produces band aid, bandages, antiseptic and scissors (which he almost dropped on Jack's foot)... Julia was very apologetic and kept saying how they wouldn't give her anything - the bastards!

So anyhow, we bandaged up my foot as best we could, caught a taxi home, hobbled up three flights of stairs and Jack got to reminisce in his SES days while patching me up and complaining how dirty my feet were after walking around all day. I must say he hasn't lost his touch, and after the offending bits of glass were out, I was completely fine the next day! Hurray!

Sunday we spent shoe and crystal shopping, coffee drinking and generally lazing about on the streets of the beautiful Czech capital. We also went to the Mucha museum and saw some of his most famous lithographs - also very beautiful. And then it was time to catch our train home.

Whoever said that Germans are punctual has lied. The DB (Deutsche Bahn - aka. German Train Service) has almost never departed/left on time... and this time it departed 25 mins late... but we were only 10 mins late by the time we got to Berlin and got to experience some friendly (a first) border guards. My Mum suggested that the lack of punctuality must be only in former East Germany and has rubbed off from the commies - it's a good theory.