One day in Olomouc, Czech Republic

Up and out for breakfast, which meant a ten-minute walk into the old town, full of incredible statues and fountains that greet you in the main square. After snacking on some food in the square, we stopped for a coffee before starting the sightseeing. It seems the Europeans are really into their milk foam, and our macchiatos came topped with a mountain of white airy milk shaped into a cone, which was quickly scraped to the saucer. A great bunch of coffee snobs we are.

We walked towards the river to a church with a very grand exterior (although the interior views were slightly disrupted by the loud vacuuming being undertaken). It was nearing midday, and we decided to make our way back towards the town square to see the 12pm viewing of the communist astronomical clock, where workers have replaced the original figures of saints. Reviews had told us it was very uninspiring, and it certainly lived up to its reputation, but had us laughing at the pathetic speed at which it turned, and the huge crowd it had drawn despite.

From there it was off to a café which was famous for its dark and white chocolate pies… so we tried them both… delicious. Chocolated up, we walked around some of the old fortifications down by the river, and across to the botanical gardens. They weren’t anything special, and seemed to be quite a random mix of different things, but we did have a peaceful walk amongst the greenery before ending up at another square in the old town. Sadly, a parking lot had been built around the beautiful statues. We found another church down an alleyway that looked very plain from the outside, but turned out to be one of the most stunning interiors we’d seen through Europe.

After a vegetarian lunch at a cafeteria-style eatery, we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in a park (where Andy got to enjoy his favourite activity known as tops off time…) then we had to collect our bags before jumping in a taxi to the train station. Luckily the speed-racer taxi driver got us all there unharmed. After a bit of a delay our train arrived, and we were on the way to Prague.

We decided we couldn’t keep carting around the Eger wine (through yet another country), so shared it amongst us on the train. Yes, still out of the classy 2L container. Our train arrived just after 9pm in Prague, and we were staying that night with a couchsurfer, Eva, who had named a bar for us to meet her at by the train station. She was running a bit late, and we made our way there to what turned out to be the rowdiest sports bar on a touristy street filled with cabaret clubs and noisy blokes. A soccer match was playing on the big screen and the bar was filled with people; not really our kind of place. Deciding to wait outside turned out to be an interesting event in itself, as Andrew became a leaning post for an old drunk guy who desperately wanted a hug (and who we hoped was not a cleverly disguised pick-pocket).

Eva and a friend of hers arrived, and we all decided to skip the sports bar and headed to a strange wee bar down the road that looked like someone’s living room, and we were the only ones there. We stayed there for a while, the boys tried some Czech beer, and then we caught the last train back to Eva’s place. She lived a 15-minute metro ride away, then a 15-minute bus from there. Her place was an apartment in a communist-style apartment block, and was a really nice place she was renovating. Eva has travelled a lot, once lived in Kazakhstan for a while, and now works between Prague and Kazakhstan (hadn’t met anyone that had lived there before). We sat up and chatted for a while, were introduced to yet another gorgeous kitten, and then retreated to bed.