Our alarms went off at 7 am. Bright and early. We had to check out of the hotel by 9 am, so we tried to be efficient. We got ready pretty fast and left our room by 8:30, left our luggage in a storage room and went off to explore Prague in greater detail. We took a metro to Vyšehrad and strolled around the beautiful park. Saw the Church of St Paul and Peter, and the graveyard near it. The grave of B. Smetana was there, and that was just about the only name we recognized. No Franz Kafka there, or at least we didn't find it.
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| View over the Vltava river |
It was time for lunch, so we got on a tram, hoping that it would take us somewhere where we could eat. It turned across the bridge, which we didn't expect, but didn't really mind either. After a while of walking back and forth and trying to ask for directions, we found some shopping mall and had coffee with cake at Coffee Heaven. Pinky spotted Sephora, a make-up store, and I spotten New Yorker, an awesome clothes store. We visited both, and didn't really find anything interesting, although Pinky bought nail polish.
After that little detour we took a tram back across the river and to the Petrin Hill. Saw the creepy monument to the victims of communism and took the funicular up to the top of the hill. We walked around there and saw the observatory, the beautiful gardens and the wannabe Eiffel Tower. Pinky would've wanted to climb up there, but we didn't have much cash left, and so decided against it.
The victims of communism and the Tower
We began walking down the rather steep hill and out of that area. We then headed uphill again, towards the Castle. It was cool, as all castles tend to be. There were huge crowds of tourists everywhere though. Otherwise, the city of Prague seemed very empty - only the Castle area and the Old town were crowded. The massive church (St Vito's Cathedral) was very Gothic, and beautiful inside. It was so tall that it didn't fit into pictures:D
We then walked down and out of the Castle area, and ended up in a park. There was a pond with fishies in it. And also a mama-duck with several baby-ducklings. They were cute. We walked further into the park and there was some important building there (I wanna say courthouse, but I'm not sure. The Czech language can be tricky at times). The wall made of artificial rock was pretty cool too. Oh, and there were peacocks, one of which was completely white. We were getting hungry again, so we left the park and found a place to eat. We settled on KFC, because we were too hungry to look any further. The food there wasn't very good, but at least it's something we don't have in Finland.
I wanted to see the astronomical clock in daylight, so we began walking in that general direction, and on our way stumbled upon a strange sculpture made of keys. Lots of people were trying to get the keys off, and of course we had to try as well. I was too weak to succeed, but Pinky found some good spot and came up with a proper technique and managed to detach two keys. So now we have something to remember Prague by. Another souvenir from Prague that I have is a bag I bought there. One of those touristy black bags with "Prague" in white and red (Pinky got a similar one in Berlin). I left my old shoulder bag in some phone booth, because it was so old and worn. What can I say, some people throw coins in fountains, I leave bags in phone booths.We also walked past the Dancing House - it's so cute.
We then took a bus to the Troja Palace. Pinky managed to lose her day ticket, so that was a minor setback. It also started raining right when we got off the bus, so we went inside some part of the palace and stayed there for a bit. Once the rain stopped we went outside and walked around the park. I love parks, and this one was no exception. And the air was fresh after the rain, so it was nice. The whole area was deserted - it really felt like everybody was in the Old town...
We went back to the Old town, got some groceries and headed for the hostel. Both of us were exhausted from all the walking. And we saw just about everything we planned to see in Prague, although not in such great detail.. At the hostel, we got our bags and hung out at the "bar" - used their free internet and played cards. We left for the train station, and the train was already there when we got to the track, so we found the right wagon and boarded. The ticket dude took our InterRail passes and made marks on them with a pen!! I was slightly annoyed at that, but tried not to show it. Our compartment was empty, and right outside, the ceiling lamp was making the most annoying sound. Everyone that walked by tried hitting it, but that didn't help. The ticket dude hit it a couple of times too, and then said something with his funny Czech accent that sounded very funny to me. A British girl moved from the sitting places to our compartment, and all of us went to sleep. I slept very badly because the train kept stopping, or then went really fast and shook from side to side. But I couldn't hear the lamp noise, so I guess it stopped once the train began moving. :D
-Brain
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| One of the many lovely views |
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