The flight to Prague was uneventful, we landed in the early evening to cold and a bit of snow lying around the ground. The people who we rented our apartment sent a man with a van to collect us. Which was great - nothing is worse than arriving in a new place in the dark (particularly where the language used is not keen on vowels) and then trying a to find transport.
We elected to stay in what they call the Old Town part of Prague. It's basically the same architecture as contemporary european but squashed tighter together and older cobblestones. The monolithic chic favoured by the communist rulers thankfully absent. Plenty of those buildings were available in the form of apartments as you drive from the airport - no wonder alcoholism became a national sport.
As with Paris the entrance to the apartment was just a door in the wall straight on the street - a street thronging with tourists to boot. The door looked ancient but with a card reader to get in, 1890's meets Motorola.
Two floors up, a old apartment converted with all the modern conveniences. The ceiling must be at least 15 foot high but warm and cozy. Radiators for the win.
We grabbed something to eat locally, cheap and cheerful. The Czechs haven't adopted the Euro which makes it very cheap to visit, even in the expensive tourist areas - but not so cheap to live. They all head across to Germany to buy their electronic equipment apparently.
The next day I headed up the hill to the Prague castle or Prazsky hrad as it's known in Czech. This joint has a mixed history - people who have resided there include the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, Presidents of Czechoslovakia and now Czech Republic... and the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia - that dark prince of the SS - Reinhard Heydrich.
It sits on the hill overlooking Prague and the river Vltava and it's pretty much what you expect from an ancient castle in the middle of Europe. Apparently the largest castle of it's age in the world.
I wandered around poking my noses into different areas, I would have liked to get into the royal gardens but they are closed until the 1st of April it seems..(although that could be just a joke) so I had to content myself with looking over parapets and taking photos of innocuous doors and stone work to see how many other tourists would rush over to take a picture of something that simply shouldn't be missed.
At regularly intervals a group of 3 soldiers all dressed in blue and warm hats would march down to the entrance of the castle and back again up the hill - they looked pretty bored. There were so many tourists that they had to send another soldier in front to clear the way. People seemed to expect the soldiers to just move around them. Fascists!
It was getting quite grey and cold so I wandered back to the apartment and read up on the Unbearable Lightness of Being, a novel about the Prague Spring (decided against actually reading the novel though - history is interesting enough without adding the existential layer) while I waited further instructions about where we were going to have tea.
As it was Helen's birthday we decided to go to a flash place - right on the river, the food and atmosphere was excellent equal to many top tier places in Sydney. The big difference was price - we probably paid a third of what you'd expect to pay for a similar meal near Circular Quay or Darling Harbour. We walked back to the apartment feeling pleased with ourselves and dodging people trying to entice us into dodgy looking nightclubs. They have this strange habit of putting a huge TV screen in the window showing people dancing and drinking inside... as if to convince us that real nightclub things are going on inside. It could be pre-recorded for all I know.
Tomorrow : Kafka and Golem (no..not the Tolkien kind).
Homework : The invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw pact and the "normalisation" period after Prague Spring undermined the goals of international communism. Discuss.
We elected to stay in what they call the Old Town part of Prague. It's basically the same architecture as contemporary european but squashed tighter together and older cobblestones. The monolithic chic favoured by the communist rulers thankfully absent. Plenty of those buildings were available in the form of apartments as you drive from the airport - no wonder alcoholism became a national sport.
As with Paris the entrance to the apartment was just a door in the wall straight on the street - a street thronging with tourists to boot. The door looked ancient but with a card reader to get in, 1890's meets Motorola.
Two floors up, a old apartment converted with all the modern conveniences. The ceiling must be at least 15 foot high but warm and cozy. Radiators for the win.
We grabbed something to eat locally, cheap and cheerful. The Czechs haven't adopted the Euro which makes it very cheap to visit, even in the expensive tourist areas - but not so cheap to live. They all head across to Germany to buy their electronic equipment apparently.
The next day I headed up the hill to the Prague castle or Prazsky hrad as it's known in Czech. This joint has a mixed history - people who have resided there include the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, Presidents of Czechoslovakia and now Czech Republic... and the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia - that dark prince of the SS - Reinhard Heydrich.
It sits on the hill overlooking Prague and the river Vltava and it's pretty much what you expect from an ancient castle in the middle of Europe. Apparently the largest castle of it's age in the world.
I wandered around poking my noses into different areas, I would have liked to get into the royal gardens but they are closed until the 1st of April it seems..(although that could be just a joke) so I had to content myself with looking over parapets and taking photos of innocuous doors and stone work to see how many other tourists would rush over to take a picture of something that simply shouldn't be missed.
At regularly intervals a group of 3 soldiers all dressed in blue and warm hats would march down to the entrance of the castle and back again up the hill - they looked pretty bored. There were so many tourists that they had to send another soldier in front to clear the way. People seemed to expect the soldiers to just move around them. Fascists!
It was getting quite grey and cold so I wandered back to the apartment and read up on the Unbearable Lightness of Being, a novel about the Prague Spring (decided against actually reading the novel though - history is interesting enough without adding the existential layer) while I waited further instructions about where we were going to have tea.
As it was Helen's birthday we decided to go to a flash place - right on the river, the food and atmosphere was excellent equal to many top tier places in Sydney. The big difference was price - we probably paid a third of what you'd expect to pay for a similar meal near Circular Quay or Darling Harbour. We walked back to the apartment feeling pleased with ourselves and dodging people trying to entice us into dodgy looking nightclubs. They have this strange habit of putting a huge TV screen in the window showing people dancing and drinking inside... as if to convince us that real nightclub things are going on inside. It could be pre-recorded for all I know.
Tomorrow : Kafka and Golem (no..not the Tolkien kind).
Homework : The invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw pact and the "normalisation" period after Prague Spring undermined the goals of international communism. Discuss.
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