Final day and night in Prague

The second full day in Prague went off about as crazily as the first. I have always said that I have a lot of luck, both good and bad, so much so that I often tend to not get too upset when things go wrong and sometimes miss / don't make the best of opportunities when they come my way, but today sadly was not my Czech friends day.

When we started I had forgot to switch my mobile on first thing and so by the time I did and we got in touch half the day had gone by, and already as fate would have it there were already some family issues that she had to attend to first.

After we met up we did have a nice stroll around the city, but by early afternoon the family issues had resurfaced and we needed to take a brief detour out of central Prague in order to deal with it and then once that was resolved on the way back to the hotel she stopped off to get a topup card for her mobile and uncharasterically bought one from a shop instead of from the bank.

As soon as we sat down she phoned up to apply the credit to her phone but there was a problem and when she called the operator she was informed that the card had been stolen and worst of all was that she had not asked for a receipt in the shop at the time.

I really felt sorry for her, as I was the naive tourist and yet here she was getting all the bad luck and even getting conned from the stores, but then she always did say that the city was full of thieves and cutthroats and that her dream was to live in another country!

I think it all goes to show that no matter whether you are a local or a tourist, the keywords are always be vigilant, be paranoid, be careful and only then can you begin to let your guard down and have a little fun.

With today being the morning of the 15th, after days of glorious sunshine the rain finally returned to Prague and as it was two full weeks since I left the UK I think that this is as good a time as any to go over a few things that I have learned on the way.

1) Pack as light as you can - one pair of shoes not five, etc., etc.

2) Get to grips with the local transport as soon as you can. Although it may be a bit daunting, it is not only cheaper but often quicker and less hassle than trying to navigate yourself or get ripped off by taxi's - licenced or otherwise.

3) Ensure that your accommodation is both central to where you want to be / what you want to do and easily accessible by public transport.

4) Get a good map of the city, keep hold of it, and don't be afraid to take it out and look at while your out. Trust me, the locals know your a tourist a long time before you give yourself away by carrying a map with you.

5) Ensure you have copies of everything and an easily lockable suitcase / rucksack and extra mini padlocks for when your accommodation just isn't a secure as you want it to be.

In a few hours I will be saying goodbye to not only another country but also to the whole of Northern Europe, as from here on in it is central and then south Europe before on to South America.

All in all Prague is a beautiful place filled with lots to see and do both nightlife and culture wise, full of restaurants and if you can befriend or better still already have a friend in one of the locals it can be a magical place ... just keep one eye on your wallet and ensure that you get and keep the receipts everywhere you go.

Prague by day and by night

Prague is a city that constantly amazes and surprises me, which I am very pleased about.

I was unsure if the first full day in Prague was going to be better than the arrival and I am very please to say that it was, although certainly having a friend in a foreign city goes a long way to making a bad place bearable, a bearable place good and a good place amazing.

Previously I have already said how fabulous the cities architecture but what is equally pleasing is the view when looking down on the city from its highest points, like its own mini Eiffel tower or from the top of Prague castle.

For anyone who is not keen on walking up steep mountains you can get a Funicular tram / train which runs up the short but steep hill to reach the bottom of their Eiffel Tower for around 26 Krona, which is almost nothing, but I advice that you allow yourself the luxury of walking down again as the views are great and you get to pause along the way for refreshments and photo opportunities against statues of their greatest love poets.

The tower itself has no lift, relying on a pair of winding stairs that rise up inside it like a double helix and both ways are clearly marked so hopefully you wont have to go past too many stupid or ignorant tourists trying to get past you heading the wrong way.

However it is not for the feint hearted or anyone who is afraid of heights as not only is the tower tall but it is also very thin and narrow and once at the top even a slight gust of wind is more than enough to make it ebb and sway gently in the breeze.

With my Czech friend playing gracious host and guide for the afternoon and evening I was able to learn that the best place to wait and try you hand at celeb spotting was at a famous local cafe located just by the bridge, which is also supposed to be one of the most expensive hereabouts to get a coffee, and I was not at all surprised to see that it was also one of the only buildings in the area to have any graffiti on it { probably from one of its patrons after looking at the bill for a round of drinks! }.

Although I never did find a place to get any washing done today, I was thankful that I can get it done first thing on Monday before I catch the train to Vienna, and I tried not to let this spoil my fun overfly.

Nighttime in Prague is a very different place than it is in the day and here more than every you need not only your wits about you but a great sense of direction and a map.

The biggest problem with the city and its free travel maps are a) the roads are not roman roads { i.e. they are not straight and almost always bend or curve away deceptively }, b) not all the roads are signposted, c) on a map not all the roads are labelled, and d) the roads do not run north to south or east to west.

Thus it was that even after a days travelling in a city where I am now able to identify key buildings, armed with a map and a compass I was still unable to find my way back to the hotel without going past it two or three times.

The biggest hindrance to finding anywhere in Prague is pride and thinking that you have studied the map enough to understand and second guess its twists and turns, so trust me when I say that unless you were born and raised here { or have Jedi powers }, no you haven't.

Although you might not want to stand out like a naive tourist by carrying a map and looking at it, this is probably the only way you can successfully navigate the city unless you stick to the main roads and are prepared to go the long way round everytime.

However, feeling slightly familiar with my surroundings, once my guide returned home for the night I chose to once again strike out on my own after dark { 8pm onwards }, minus all valuables and money as per usual in case the worst should happen.

In the media I had heard that Prague had become a hot favourite for stag and hen parties to head off to, and from walking down the main strip at night I am now certain that for once the media was neither lying nor even applying too much artistic licence.

In fact, walking after dark around Prague ignoring the occasional person on the street like myself, you could broadly categorise the majority of people out and about into once a handful of groups, although far and away the majority that was larger than all the rest put together was the number of Brits out on the lash celebrating something.

1) GBR stag or hen party guest; 2) Local teenage girl trying to look older; 3) Coloured balding tough guy type; 4) Tramp or vagabond; 5) Single lonely local guy in cheap bar.

Because of the many strip bars and "loose-women-for-hire" night clubs there does not seem to be a large red light district in the centre of Prague, which is just as well with the number of drunken Brits that there was wandering around with more spare money than sober brain cells.

The real shame is that not only do the Brits abroad seem to delight in shouting their loud mouths of to other pedestrians from across the street, but they are also ridiculously easy to eavesdrop on for information if it is concerning what they have done to whom, especially once they are together in bars.

Without even really trying hard I managed to overhear enough of a banter / conversation to get a good idea of what went on from one group who had just returned from one such club on the south side of town.

There is a club where the neon light advertises non stop action, and after following a selection of painted red arrows you get to a door where the bouncer / bar man lets you in and offers to fix you a drink for a standard price.

Once inside you are faced with a small confined room filled with comfy red armchairs and a selection of slim young looking women of various degrees of good looks. After looking at the menus printed on plastic cards { in English }, you chose what you want and with whom, pay the barkeep and then trolly off to have your time of fun with the girl that catches you eye the most. Although I am sure that some services must cost extra, by all accounts you can have anything from a quickie for EU $50 to a whole night for EU $300.

For myself however I have always felt that one indication of a city's standing is its McDonald's and sadly although it is open 24 hours, the one the centre of Prague { which also seems to be the only one in Prague 1}, comes very low down the list. Luke warm fries that were neither crispy not flavoursome, sold out of Apple Pies, no signs of milkshakes that I could see and the burger, though not totally devoid of taste, was probably the most pathetic looking specimen that I have ever seen.

I have a proper online identity

OK ... I just checked on Google, on Yahoo, on MSN and on ASK and if I type up just my name, nothing else, then my blog is always in the top two or three hits for that search engine.

 

It would appear that with so many blog entries posted, and such a unique name, that I have finally managed to carve a niche out for myself.

 

Now all I need to do is fill it with something that is worth finding in the first place :o)

Prague First Night - The City Centre

At last I have found an architects dream, a place where the history of the city is visible all around and the mark of graffiti is found only down the darkest of alleyways.

If anyone likes European History and the great buildings of any of their favourite cities then they truly must come to this fabulous city and marvel in all its glory.

Down every street, along every tram route, past every street corner and from every angle looking down from the great Prague Castle itself, high on its mountain top, you can see why the Bohemians wept with joy when the founded the city and why they laboured long and hard to make it as beautiful as it could possibly be.

Although the roads and streets are as chaotic as a acid induced spiders web, one cannot help but be prepared to overlook this when you consider that when the city was created mass transit and automobiles were concepts that didn't exist at the time.

I have climbed part of the Great Pyramid of Giza, I have walked an incredibly tiny amount of the Great Wall of China, but nowhere have I been to has this amount of beautiful architecture everywhere you look, from a town hall or embassy, to the palace and castle and even the most humble of cafes or souvenir shops, literally you cannot go anywhere and not notice the effort and craftsmanship that made the Bohemian empire a thing of pride and wonder.

It does not fully excuse the modern day occupants, but possibly the soviets are partly to the blame for the damage to their collective psyche.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, here are a few more photos.

Laundry Issues in Prague

Before I left I had a gut instinct that Visa's and dirty washing laundry would be the two major problems that I could not really do much about with regard to preparation as I knew that these would have to be dealt with on the road.

I was bang on about the laundry being a problem. In an effort to keep my rucksack as small and light as possible without missing some of the essentials I chose to pack only a single pair of spare shoes and seven days worth of clothes.

Knowing that I was staying a full 2 days free either side of a days travelling meant that I thought that I should rarely be out of the chance of a wash cycle somewhere either at the start of the end of a days trek.

Sad to say that the hostels idea of washing and mine are not on a par and my experience in the Czech hotel is not much better. Yesterdays blonde sourpuss faced receptionist { who could out pout Victoria Beckham on her best day } dropped the bombshell that as I had arrived after 4pm that day that I would have to wait until the morning before I was able to take my laundry down.

However, todays receptionist, who was also blonde but much happier and perkier, took great delight in telling me that the hotel would be more than happy to take care of all my luandry requirements on Monday.
Monday, yes as apparently today is a weekend and if the hotel takes anything to any local supplier they are told that they will not get anything back til Monday, and its unlikely that it will be early Monday either!

I am here in my shorts and travel t-shirt that I wanted to hold onto for special photo opportunities without wearing and risking the chance of ruining or getting it dirty, and before the end of even the first fortnights trip I am having to use it for a full weekends wear. Arghhhhh.

I tell you, hostels are cheap and chearful, well some anyway and only if they have anyone on reception to let you in in the first place, but I am seriously thinking that trying to organise a string of hostels back to back was a mistake, and the feeling in my gut tells me that I will find out very soon if it is a little or a big mistake.

However, the sun is out in all its brilliance, I can safely { or at least i hope i can } leave my luggage and rucksack back in my hotel room and go galavanting around the city free of encumbrance and now furnished with a map of the city.

Note to all ... GET A CITY MAP BEFORE YOU ARRIVE in a city or else you can find yourself in some very strange places, especially if the directions you are given are inaccurate or if the train / bus makes an unscheduled stop and you get off at the wrong side of town.

A Rant about Prague

There is a lot to like about Prague, it is just a shame that there are so many god damn Czech people here that dont give a shit about foreigners.

:-
The hostel gave out crap directions of how to get there,
the taxi drivers had no idea where the place was, when i did get there he had no change,
when we tried to check in the hostel receptionist was gone for over 2 hours,
when i went to grab a meal the restaurant had no change,
when i tried to use the internet cafe they charged me extra as i wasnt a member of their club,
when i tried to get a different hotel it was fully booked, the gogobar hawkers try to entice me in even when i had a huge rucksack on my back,
when i tried to get a massage the place was fully booked,
when i did finally manage to find an internet place and try to get a standby room they said that it was too late to book for today and so i had better try direct,
the bus stops do not have big enough maps to see where you are,
when i finally managed to get a room it was a lot of money for a tiny triangular bedroom,
the wifi name and code the receptionist gave me was wrong,
the laundry service was only available first thing in the mornings,
the mini bar only stocked coke and kitkats and the tv only had 5 channels.

I could go on, but I really dont want to give off to much of a negative image on what I have seen is a warm, beautiful, cheap and historical city trying to drag itself into the twenty first century.

Basically I had a really naff start, I'm hot, thirsty, pissed off, tired, lonely, broker than I had planned and I just hope that things improve in the morning, cos so far this place is making Dresden look good and THAT'S scary !!!