Next stop was Prague in the Czech Republic. Just like Budapest, I immediately fell in love with the city. We arrived on the train from Vienna late afternoon on Day 29 and set out to explore that evening, wandering down to Old Town Square and Charles Bridge.
Later that night we went to the Ice Pub! A bar completely made out of ice. Even the cups are ice. They provide you with a poncho and gloves and only let you stay in 20 minutes at a time because it's so cold!
Day 30 found us on another hop-on hop-off bus - they are definitely the best way to see a city if you're on a tight schedule. We explored all the main sites over the river in Mala Strana (the lesser town), spending a few hours in the castle on the hill, chomping on fresh pineapple and watermelon from a street vendor and wandering through the narrow streets outside the castle walls.
After looping back round the city on the bus, we got off back in Old Town to explore the many winding streets and alleyways and browse the souvenir shops. Prague is another city with beautiful old buildings I loved to photograph. They all have such character, with their own styles and all different colours.
Charles Bridge in Old Town is an adventure in itself, by 9am it's packed with tourists, beggars, buskers, street artists, souvenir stalls and more. It also provides some amazing views of the castle on the hill in Mala Strana opposite Old Town.
That night we had dinnner in a Medievil Tavern. Dinner came complete with a show of medieval brogues having sword fights, belly dancers and fire breathers. All including audience participation! The food was served on metal plates and cups, the 'serving wenches' stay in character all throughout the night and the decor was great - a ceiling covered in skulls!
The only downside to Prague, also similar to Budapest - and probably because we visited in the middle of summer, was the massive number of tourists, with way too many skanky teenagers. It gets so busy in the middle of the day, you can't move and the shops are like saunas with everyone shuffling around crammed in like sardines. It's almost impossible to get pictures of the main sites without an ocean of people in the way. 'Almost' impossible.... that is, but not completely! We solved that problem on a couple of our early morning runs with my handy iPhone camera in tow. While the party goers were sleeping off their hangovers only the serious tourists were out of bed and we were amongst the few.
Running in so many different places was a definate highlight of the trip. From navigating the run down cobblestone streets to dodging the patrons setting up shop as the sun came up, we got a lot more into our days by seeing some of the sights via run!
Day 31 was a looooong day. We checked out at 10am but didn't have to catch the train til very late that night, another sleeper train, so it meant we had the whole day to kill with no option of going back to the hotel for a rest.
We started off visiting the KGB museum where a very enthusiastic, most likely ex-KGB member himself, guy showed us round and gave us a run down of the history of the topic. Next up was a visit to the Museum of Medievil Torture during which I came to the conclusion that I need some of those options for use at work!
After strolling around the main tourist sites one last time and buying some souvenirs we'd spotted over the last two days we were left hot and tired, sick of walking, sick of crowds and sick of being in the sun - but with no where to go and long time to wait! We ended up in the park next to the train station, reading in the shade to kill the remaining time before a healthy dinner of Burger King to complete our day.
Needless to say we slept well that night despite being in a too short train bunk in a stuffy cabin, arriving the next day in Poland!
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