Oct 2008

Awaking in the dark for our early-morning bridge walk, we threw on our clothes and ventured out into the crisp morning, as Prague party-goers made their way home from their long nights out. Walking quickly, as the sun was rising, we tried to get there as quickly as possible, and my memory flashed back to the American cowboy reminding us that Prague’s streets are curved, and that unless you know the shortcuts, you can end up walking in circles… We didn’t end up back where we started at least, but it can take awhile to get anywhere… We arrived to about ten people strolling on the bridge, (far less that the hundreds during the normal hours of the day!) including a couple having their wedding photos taken, early morning joggers, drunken Irishmen. We got some fantastic photos of the first rays of sun over the surrounding buildings hitting the sculptures lining the bridge, and the river.

Very tired by now, we found a café open on our way back to the hostel and had coffees and bakery delights before heading back to pack and check out. Leaving the hostel, our first stop was the train station to book tickets to our next destination (Dresden in Germany), and to check our luggage into lockers, and then we made our way back into town. Initially getting lost when we left the station in the wrong direction, we finally found the river to guide us back, and walked its length towards the metronome on the hill (although it wasn’t a very pleasant walk down the very dirty river). We passed through a beergarden and ended up at the huge, ticking, swaying contraption, which looked interesting from afar, but the area was so badly covered in graffiti, a wire strung with shoes swung above us, and sitting in the sparsely dry area, the metronome didn’t quite have the same effect from up close, where the loudly creaking mechanical noises filled the air.

From there we were due to meet Djali and take out a paddleboat on the river. We got some picnic supplies together and walked down to the river in the sun. Splaying ourselves out on the grass on one of the islands, we unpacked our goodies and picnicked until Djali arrived. We then jumped into a boat to take a spin around the bridges. It was such a warm and clear day, the sun danced across the water (as Frank Gehry’s ‘Dancing House’ appeared to mimic in the background. Birds ducked and dived around the boat, skidding into the water, and we spent an hour swapping over paddlers and passengers (and one stop up to a river-side dock to buy a beer for Djali and Andy to enjoy while it was our turn to paddle), before we had to leave for the station to catch our train.

Djali joined us for the ride to the station, and when we discovered the train was running late, we waited at the only dingy bar in the station, and got a bit ripped off by the owner for some Sprite since we couldn’t speak Czech… But hey, it was our last day in Czech and we had to use up the coins anyway… We made our departure, and were off to Germany again.

A short two-hour train ride to Dresden, and the boys took advantage of the first-class travel and ordered beers to their seats (not that it’s like first-class flights where you don’t have to pay). We arrived at a gleaming new train station, and an outlook onto a new city filled with glass structures. Dresden was almost completely destroyed during the war, and so much work has gone into building it back up. Even the trams were amazing, and the best we’d seen on the whole trip. We were staying with Christine from couchsurfing, who we’d met through our hosts Urs and Rahel in Zurich and had offered us a place to stay. She was in-between flatmates and had the place to herself, but was leaving to stay with her parents the following day to study for her exams, and offered us to stay on without her, which was incredibly generous.

We all jumped in the car to find some dinner, and Christine drove us to one of Dresden’s many castles. Deciding to ignore the cordoning-off tape, we ducked under and around the side of the building in the pitch-black night to the stunning balcony overlooking the river and fountains. After a quick view, we drove to Neustadt, the good place for bars and shopping, which almost had a Wellington vibe to it, and sat down at a beergarden for dinner and a drink (okay, maybe not quite Wellington…). A friend of Christine’s from Architecture school joined us, and we stayed eating wurst, potatoes, salad, and chatting over a drink before we called it a night as Christine had an exam early the next morning.

The morning alarm was firstly ignored, and then cancelled, so we slept past sunrise in silent agreement that we would postpone our early morning bridge expedition until the next day. This turned out to be a good idea, as we were about to try and cram all of the high (meaning tall and towering) points of Prague into one day. The thought was already a bit tiring even after sleeping in. We began to head towards the centre point, and main tourist draw-card, the castle, knowing we would be battling the crowds by the tourist-train load. The climb to the top provided great views over Prague, and luckily the sun had come out to greet us.
We entered through the gates past the ‘Thunderbirds’ guards, who we swore were plastic people until we got closer. Odd. Highlights were the Basilica of St. George, Prague’s first Romanesque Church, which was a very different style to any we’d seen, minimalistic in a way. The Old Royal Palace had an expansive hall filled with variations of castle models, and led us through to the area where a religious argument resulted in people being thrown from a window (I don’t know the complete historical story…) and thrones and paintings filled the rooms.

The incredible St Vitus Cathedral was busier than Notre Dame, and you had to walk at a slow crawl to move through the space. Intricate sculptures filled the huge area, and light streamed through windows, hitting dust particles in the air. Besides the onslaught of tourists, it was quite a spectacular space. Golden Lane led us back out to the gates, and is a street of tiny houses built into the castle walls where people apparently still live, but is not much more than a line of tourist shops. After a brief visit to the towers filled with old torture devices, we decided it was time to leave for lunch.

After a nice healthy lunch we walked down the other side of the river, past the canals in a very beautiful area. We ended up at the John Lennon wall; a wall dedicated to peace and love, with a sculpture of John’s face, and wrote our names in the paint. After a coffee we climbed up the St. Nicholas Church tower, although we had to wait for a mother holding her kid over a drain to pee right in the entrance… It was a great view once we reached the top. Hundreds of spires throughout the city from the number of churches everywhere. We then visited the church itself, a baroque painted space, where you could visit the second level to an exhibition of painted scenes from the bible.

We left and conquered the hill that leads up to a huge tower you can climb, based on the Eiffel Tower, and given the hill that its standing on, its apparently as high as the Eiffel Tower itself from its peak. Hot and bothered, we snacked on icecreams on the way up, and then climbed to the top of the tower. Fantastic views, but it was so crowded at the top we couldn’t last long crammed into the enclosure. We were meeting Djali for dinner, and had an hour to spare, so quickly ran back to the hostel to change, and then met her back near the tower to try out a restaurant halfway up the hill. As we approached, the sound of a wedding band playing some atrocious music filled our ears, and we discovered the restaurant was booked out for the event. Back down the hill, we went to another of Djali’s recommendations, which was a Czech restaurant with delicious food and beer. All lovely slow-cooked meals…

Full and content, we made our way across one of the bridges, past beautifully lit buildings, and lights streaming across the river. Thousands of birds flew up over the museum lit from below, a breathtaking sight, and one we tried to capture on film unsuccessfully. We stood for a few minutes clapping and whistling, trying to recreate the moment, but gave up and headed for a few cocktails before leaving, as this time we WERE going to get up at 5.30am for Charles Bridge.

Feeling as if we were now nearing the end of our trip to some degree, and a bit exhausted because of it, we all had a bit of a sleep in before heading into the main city. Eva couldn’t host us the second night as originally planned, as she had to go away for work, but had organised us another couchsurfing host for that night. We were going to have a relatively short day in the city before going to our new host Djali’s place for dinner.

We caught a tram towards Vysehrad, an ancient hilltop fortress that also serves as an escape from the crowds of central Prague. After walking in the wrong direction for awhile, and ending up at a whole different metro stop, we caught the metro back to where we started, and decided it wasn’t worth trying to find the castle again without a little coffee cure. We then climbed the hill to the fortress, which unlike Prague’s main castle (and main tourist attraction) is free to see. The southern side gave us great views of Prague, beyond the city centre and out to the blocks of communist apartments. It was a quiet and peaceful area, and a nice start to what we knew would be a very tourist-filled visit. An immaculate garden of sculptures was a cemetery, and home to famous Czechs. It lay beside yet another glorious church. After seeing so many, my memory is failing me in distinguishing one from another at times…

We strolled back down from the castle to walk along the riverside into Prague, passing by Frank Gehry’s ‘Fred and Ginger’ (now called ‘Dancing House’, which we took some great photos of later…), and onto one of the islands in the river with a great view of the crossing bridges. We thought we’d check out the paddleboat hire place on the Sunday. Eva had suggested a place she loved called Le Louvre for lunch, which was not far from the island. It turned out to be quite a fine dining place, but relatively inexpensive in Euros. The boys chose well and loved their chicken dishes, and while my vegetarian meal was sadly very bland, the place was great.

It was then time to be on our way to Djali’s, via a supermarket for some dinner goods, and to pick out a few bottles of Czech wine (a random choice, which ended up being pretty good). We bypassed Eva’s place to collect our gear, with flowers in hand, and waited in her neighbourhood until she could meet us. The boys decided to grab a quick beer at the local pub, which was a dark and dingy place, and Eva later told us it is open 24/7 and she usually steers clear of it. Cheap as chips, the tiny place was filled with workers and smoke and we took a seat outside in the sun. Eva joined us for a beer before leaving to catch her flight for work, and then we jumped on the bus to find our way to Djali’s.

We arrived to her area, which was a ‘tech-city’, and home to all of the offices of IBM etc. Greeted with a big smile, we shared some cheese and wine before dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal while we learnt of Djali’s travels. She studies in the UK, so is constantly travelling back and forth, and also lived in Amsterdam for a while as well. Almost ready for bed, but not quite, Djali told us about a beergarden in the forest by her place that we should visit. We grabbed some torches and trekked off into the night. A very strange place to have a beergarden, it seemed like we were walking for a long time, down a narrow path surrounded by forest, with only the light from our torches and not another soul in sight. We reached an enclosure with a family of deer, and then straight up ahead, the lights of the beergarden emerged. A few others were there, but the huge table-filled garden was basically empty. After one drink we headed back, the walk feeling a lot shorter on the way back, and off to bed.

After eggs for brekkie, we all got a little too comfy at Djali’s and we had a few things to sort out, so we didn’t end up leaving her place until lunchtime. Djali had invited us to stay for the weekend, but we had already booked a hostel that we couldn’t cancel, so agreed to meet up with her that night instead. We packed our gear up and headed for the hostel in the centre of the old town, dumped our gear, and then thought about lunch. A US cowboy (literally, he was a travelling rodeo cowboy) was staying at the hostel, and gave us some great advice on things to see and do, marking out a map for us.

We followed a recommendation for cheap authentic food, and retreated into a wee Czech place around the corner from our hostel, and ordered from the friendly waiter who suggested an apparent favourite of his for Josh’s meal. After forgetting our order and having to ask for them again, we ended up waiting for an hour, getting hungrier by the minute, and impatient, as we just wanted to get out and see the city. On the upside, we did miss most of the rainstorm tucked away inside. Our food finally arrived, and Josh’s was by far the most interesting you could say, and he was definitely the one who lost out on this occasion. His traditional Czech meal comprised of a dish of beef schnitzel cooked in a cranberry cream sauce, but garnished with a huge swirl of whipped cream. Of a canned variety. Hmmm…. My goulash with horseradish and salad was delish, and Andy’s smoked meats and dumplings was pretty good so he said…

We eventually got out of there and made a beeline for the old town. The place was jam-packed with people, and a lot of the tourist areas have become ridiculously commercialised. But behind all of that still lies a city filled with beautiful architecture and a lot of history. Passing by the powdertower by one of the architecturally stunning theatres, we ended up in the main square, which is dominated by the huge statue – Jan Hus monument, the Town Hall, Tyn Church (1365), and St Nicholas Church (1730s). A Salvidor Dali exhibition was on, but was mainly of his ceramic work and portraits of him, so we passed. A visit to Tyn Church was followed by a trip to the communist museum (recommended by the cowboy). Interestingly enough, it’s in the same building as McDonald’s and a casino… The place was an overload of information, and while incredibly interesting, I struggled to read the text and difficult translations, but realised just how much some of these countries have been through.

We were supposed to meet Djali and some of her couchsurfing friends for dinner, but it was quite far out from the centre and we were only halfway through the museum, so we decided to meet them for drinks instead. It meant grabbing some dinner from the dreaded tourist zone on the way to meet them, which tasted like dreaded tourist food too. Past the stunning museum, all lit up at night, through yet another underground tunnel worthy of breath-holding, before we emerged on the other side to climb the hill to meet the group at a beergarden. We arrived just before they did, and sat down for a drink before a swarm of people from every corner of the globe emerged. A few Prague locals, a few stopping by, and a few staying on a while. Everyone had stories to tell about places they’d been, including a guy from Australia who rattled on about his hatred for Amsterdam before discovering we were moving there. A wine expert from France who imported wine from all around the world, including New Zealand, and we suggested a few of our favourites that he should try. He said he would order some cases and host a New Zealand wine party if we go back to Prague.

Everyone was really lovely, but we decided to leave the group after drinks when they decided to go and hit some clubs, as we were planning to get up at 5am to visit Charles Bridge by the light of early morning and beat the unrelenting daytime crowds. Our walk home down the main street let us bear witness to some of the trashiest bars I’ve seen in a long time, including woman in leopard-print skin tight attire dancing to techno and flashing lights with ultra cool sunglasses on outside clubs trying to entice you in. Back to the hostel we thought…

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.

We packed our gear and left the hostel, walking via the old town, and the boys climbed the tower in the centre for one last view over the area while I looked after our gear at the bottom. It seems I didn’t miss out on much, as they said it was completely underwhelming, and you could only look through windows and not venture onto the balconies. There was a bit of a mad rush to get tickets to Wroclaw (pronounced 'Vrotswav') and food before getting onto the train, but we managed to make it to the train and get seats with time to spare. After a four-hour train ride, we realised both Josh and I had left our towels in Krakow (Josh had originally had his first one taken, and Mary from the hostel had replaced it with a spare one, which he’d left behind. Mine was still sitting drying by the window… the only thing I’d left behind so far!) So it was off from our quiet hostel (very different to the hostel of the same name we were staying at in Krakow) to explore the old town, and find new towels…

We strolled around the large main square, and found a camping store along the way. The area is lined with colourful buildings, and a modern fountain in the centre. In need of food, we went to another cafeteria-style place recommended by Lonely Planet. It was near the university and a bit of a student haunt, but as it wasn’t study time, it was a bit quiet and we got in just before closing. It was a bit difficult to order as they didn’t speak much English, but our hand gestures were hopefully easy enough to understand! We did end up with three tasty cheap meals (even if some were positively drowned in sauce), but had to almost shovel them down as we soon became the only ones in the whole place and they were waiting to close.

We walked a few of the outer blocks and past the river, noticing the hundreds of bridges that cross it at various points. Back to the centre, and a guy at the information desk recommended a few places to go for a drink, so we went and sat down in one of the quieter bars to map out the next day. We needed to sort out what time we were leaving for Olomouc in the Czech Republic, which meant checking the train times online, so after one drink it was back to the hostel for some more planning. Now realising we should have really planned this part earlier, it was going to be more difficult to get there than we thought. Even though it was a short distance, the train route was going to take eight hours, and we would be cutting it fine on time to see both Wroclaw and Olomouc as the train only left a few times a day. After much debate about whether to just leave Wroclaw in the morning, go straight to Prague and miss Olomouc, have one less day in Prague, and so on, we came to a compromise. We would have to get up really early and do a half-day in Wroclaw, travel to Olomouc in the afternoon and have an early night there. Then we would do a day in Olomouc before leaving in the evening for Prague. Although the thought exhausted us somewhat, we were here now, and we needed to make the most of it. It was then off to bed for as much sleep as we could get before our 6.30am start.

Rising as early as we planned, Josh woke to some unwelcome visitors with his turn of a dose of bedbugs… After a quick breakfast at the hostel we made our way to the train station to book our tickets for Olomouc. From there, we were half running, half walking to see as much as we could before our train left at 1pm. Past the statues of the ‘anonymous pedestrians’, great photo-worthy statues of workers appearing to retreat underground on one side of an intersection and appear on the other.
We walked around the river to the Panorama of Raclawicka, which is a 360° painting of the 1794 battle of the Polish peasants against Russian forces. It is an impressive 114m length by 15m, made of canvas pieces sewn together, and is housed in a specially designed circular building so it wraps the walls. An incredibly detailed painting, it would have been better to admire it without the obligatory accompanied tour with audio guide… Our next destination was Ostrow Tumski (Cathedral Island), which is a peacefully serene place, scattered with churches and pristinely maintained buildings. We visited the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and caught the lift (the first lift we’d seen in a church tower) to the top for a great view.

On our way to get food for lunch we ended up visiting a few more churches, and strolled through the city on our way back to the hostel to get our gear. After an hour stopover in Ostrava, a very industrial Czech city, and battling the woman in the train station to use the toilet with Euro coins since we had no Czech money yet, we were back on the train to Olomouc. Arriving at 9pm, we caught a taxi to our accommodation, which we finally made it to despite our taxi driver getting lost three times; lucky the fares are so cheap… We relaxed with a few glasses of our red wine from Eger in Hungary, and ended up getting enthralled in Shawshank Redemption, even though it was dubbed over in Czech. It seems we had all seen it so often we could follow it regardless…