The European Extravaganza!

Prague Castle is the New Hogwarts

Today marked day 2 in our 3 day stay in Prague. It looks like we will be taking that day trip to the bone church tomorrow, because we've essentially seen everything we care to here in the main city (sorry if that offends you, Fil!). We allowed ourselves to sleep in a little bit (to the mature hour of 8:15), although because our hostel is situated on a very busy main road, screeching tires and honking horns were the soundtrack to our sleep so who knows how much good the extra time lying in bed did.

We set off for Prague Castle right after breakfast, and because it was slightly raining, there weren't very many tourists there (Note to Fil: No American tourists were present. Sorry if that offends you.). In order to get to the Castle, we had to not only take the metro, but a tram as well! Not only did we pull this off with no problems, but we got to watch this woman from our hostel miss the train, which was good because we don't like her (Sorry if that offends you, Fil). I told Laura that if she came over to talk to us, I would pretend to be deaf. Ahhhh, good times.

Anyway! Prague Castle was quite picturesque, although not literally because we did not want to pay for the photo permit (which seemed like a rip off anyway, since most of the buildings that you were purportedly allowed to take photos in should you buy the permit then had huge "No photo" signs in them). Alas, we weren't able to take the guided tour because the first one in English wasn't taking place until 1 pm, and it was 11 am when we arrived. We also didn't want to pay for the audioguide, because while I'm a big believer in paying slightly more to ensure yourself a good time (rather than saving a few bucks and hating it), it seemed a bit ridiculous tha the audio guide cost more than the entrance fee itself! As it was, we paid almost $10 to get in... we didn't want this whole excursion to cost nearly $20 (because it really wouldn't have been worth it... sorry if that offends you, Fil). Instead, we contented ourselves to wander through the buildings, narrating it as though we were at Hogwarts. We found the Hufflepuff common room, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, complete with wardrobes for boggarts to hide within (we kept waiting for Berlin to pop out at us... one was so big we expected the whole of Germany to appear!). I also serenaded us with John Williams medelies, which was prompted when we saw a man wearing and Indiana Jones hat. We got some really nice panoramic shots of the city (yes dads, we have been using "panoramic assist" on the cameras), and had a nice stroll through the castle's gardens.

We decided to take the tram back down the mountain, and then make our way to the Jewish Cemetary. When I tried to buy my ticket at the vending machine, the machine ate my 20 Kc coin (for an 8 Kc fare! That's like, 60 cents it was ripping me off!) and it didn't give me my ticket! We began fishing with our fingers up into the machine, and Laura eventually managed to pull out a wad of sponge someone had shoved up into the machine to catch people's spare change. Jackpot! We managed to abscond with 75 Kc... which amounts to about $4.50... which amounts to a large meal. Take that Prague thieves! Outsmarted by two "clueless" Canadian girls.

When we finally made it to the Jewish Cemetary, we were rather hungry, and decided that we didn't really want to pay $10 to only see the Cemetary long enough to take a picture (you have to pay admission to see all of the Jewish-related sites in one lumpsum) (oh, and: sorry if that offends you, Fil), so we decided to head back over the Charles Bridge so I could try and get myself that Official Absinth Spoon I had seen yesterday. Mission accomplished (it's so cool!), we bought the makings for sandwiches for tomorrow's day trip, and actually have enough bread to eat for the next few days. We were going to buy the entire loaf, as it was only 17 Kc, but it was too heavy to pick up with one hand, so we opted for the half loaf. We also picked up some juice (so Laura could fend off her imminent scurvy) and some potatoe chips (in order to fend off our impending malnutrition and subsequent fainting). We ended up getting a bag of "bacon and horseradish" (I thought the white vegetable on the front might have been turnip... I guess horseradish makes slightly more sense) and a bag of a flavour we can only describe as "roast dinner". For 55 cents, how could we say no?

We then headed back into the Old Town to eat a proper meal at The House of the Little Bears (which we had been dying to eat at ever since we found out that was its name in English). We splurged a bit on lunch (or, "linner" if you prefer, as it was at 4 pm), but the food was really good and well worth it. We figured you could tell who the tourists were based on the size of beer: only tourists were ordering the 300 mL Budweisers (hey! They were only 75 cents!).

Since today could also be dubbed "The Day of Food", we headed across the street to Tesco, to pick up some snacks and try to find some appropriate breakfast food as the hostel does not provide meals in Vienna (our next stop). Of course, we pretty much kids in a candy store, focusing mostly on cookies and chocolate, but it was also just fun to wander around and remark at how incredibly cheap all of the food was. You get so used to things being like, 25 Kc, that you sometimes forget that 100 Kc is only 5 dollars... and so when your grocery bill comes to that (as mine did) and you have almost a weeks worth of food... well it's a little bit crazy.

We still haven't figured out how to exit the subway station near our hotel in such a way that we leave through the door we enter, and despite our constantly trying new ways to get out, we always seems to find ourselves in the exact same spot. It's completely bewildering. On the way home, Laura almost got killed as the traffic lights weren't working and she (foolishly) assumed that all Czech drivers would be as curteous as the one that stopped to let us cross. Thankfully, she escaped unharmed (and untouched) but I think both of our jaywalking days are over (even if the crosswalks here are ridiculously slow and you can wait for 5 minutes without being given the right to walk even if all directions have a red light).

That's pretty much it for today. Day trip to bone church tomorrow, which should be interesting. So this is what it feels like to have "down time". Weird.

Sorry if that offends you, Fil.

posted by Steph @ 5:27 pm