Day 38 – Prague

We had slept in a sauna last night. It was so warm – unbearable even – but only because we were up in this loft area, the rest of the room was not as bad. My t-shirt was actually as if I just took a quick swim during my sleep. We couldn’t lie in so both of us got up and went for a shower. My girlfriend had to go downstairs to the shower but the boy showers were right beside us. They were see- through to a certain extent and only one of them had a curtain.

After breakfast we checked out with a group of 20, who were all staying to visit some Metallica concert – their shirts and heavy metal style gave it away. We also decided not to take the free rolls with us and pay for something that actually tasted nice instead. It was much colder today and we brought jumpers with us just incase.

The plan was to visit the Castle. I took us the wrong way and we walked much longer than we needed to. We seriously should have brought a pedometer as we have walked a lot of needless miles already! Crossing the famous Charles Bridge took a long time because there were so many buskers on it, from artists to comedy acts and to bands. We also noticed that the older the band, the better they were. The younger ones just had something missing.

Before the castle, we also saw a line of penguin statues and 2 large babies, all made by the same person that designed the ‘womb woman’ from yesterday. The castle itself was huge and we didn’t know where to start. However, there was an outdoor concert at 1pm played by the Castle Guards, so we found out where that would be after asking 3 guards (who couldn’t speak English) where it was.

We watched on in awe at the seat placement for this concert. They could have put more in one line and made them a bit straighter. The concert made up for it though with a mixture of classical and show tunes. One of the music stands also blew down because of the wind but they were all professional and continued on.

When it was over, my girlfriend had to put my rugby top on because it was getting colder and colder throughout the day, but not that cold that she couldn’t have a nap in the park. When I got bored of people watching and hungry, we left to go back to the cheap restaurant we went to last night – the one with the cheap cherry cider and disgusting bread – and got 2 plates of chips to share. I got a beer, even though last night I wanted the cherry cider, so we needed to stay for another cider after our food. The waiter was no more interested in working and was on his phone or talking to his friends for most of the time. My girlfriend got annoyed when the ketchup took so long and was about to go complain.

A man and his two dogs also showed up, one of them running inside and returning with a waitress and a bowl. She had brought out all the bones from the kitchen and gave them to the dogs. They must do it everyday as the dogs waited outside and was strangely cute.

On the way back to hostel, we bumped into a parade of Krisna, a celebration with drums and singing in a mic. Everyone went to the square and were doing all these weird dances and promoting their god. Instead of converting our religion, we went back to change for our concert and when we got to the opera house, had to wait outside a cocktail bar for it to open. I was playing with an artificial plant and with a piece of chewing gum, which I thought was a bud.

I thought that it was going to be a big orchestra but there were only 9 on the stage. It was a really good chamber concert playing some of the classical favourites and the soloist was amazing. It was disturbed however by the barman next door mixing his cocktail drinks sometimes.

After the concert and on the walk back, we watched all the acts – some awful breakdancing, puppet shows and comical bands. We also popped into a restaurant to have some goulash for dinner, before getting our bags from the hostel. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea as the hostel was packed. Luckily we got away without much fuss, and started towards the train station.

Everywhere you looked there were street performers in Prague and sometimes you just have to stop and watch them. One gang were playing with fire and when one of them dropped their stick of fire, he did 10 press ups as a punishment, which added a nice touch.

In the train station we needed to spend the rest of our Czech money but only had enough for 2 soft drinks. The train was delayed by 30 mins of course, but when we boarded, we had our own cabin to ourselves and were able to lie sideways and fall asleep without any distractions. Before I went to sleep, I had to charge my phone in the bathroom again so I could set an alarm.

I woke up in Bohumin, the place where all trains change carriages and the drivers have a small break. I noticed that the trajn was dayed a further 110 mins now. How does that happen? I changed my alarm accordingly and went back to sleep. Let’s hope that there isn’t any more delays on the way.