The Golden City

This year I wanted to give Christine something special for her birthday and I though a romantic weekend for 2 in a city of her choice would be a good idea. She loved it and decided on Prague, a city she has wanted to visit for a while.

Using the opportunity that my folks were here and I had leave I decided that this weekend (just passed) would be perfect timing and as the grand parents were willing and able I thought I would organise it. It is also our 14th year since we met and this is our 10th year of marriage so it was a special occasion.

I booked us into an upmarket hotel in the centre of Prague, with swimming pool and good traffic connections. Brilliant idea as we were able to leave the car in the garage (after all this is the Czech republic) and walk or take the trams to where ever we wanted to go. Unfortunately we had left the camera at home so we were walking around using Christine’s IPhone as our camera – and this was clearly not going to work, so in addition to looking over the old city we also started to look for a new camera.

Actually I should fill in some basic background information first. We have been thinking about buying a proper Digital SLR camera for some time, because our camera doesn’t really take very good pictures. And we want a camera that can also take video’s. So we thought we would see what we could find in Prague, hoping it would be cheaper than in Austria.

The old city of Prague is a beautiful and not “horribly” overcrowded city (like many other capital cities in Europe). It was very pleasant for us to walk around, even if the weather was not perfect on Friday. We walked the length and breadth of the old city even getting as far as the Jewish quarter (famous for its graveyard and ridiculous prices). We didn’t go in, as we didn’t feel it was worth paying the massive entry fee just to look at some dead people. One thing about tourist cities, they make their money through tourists, and boy must you pay through the nose for just about everything.

We looked at some of the old towers in and around the old city and also the Karlsbridge where the tourists (yes we are also tourists) became unbearable. At this stage we headed back to our hotel, via a camera shop we had seen earlier, for a much needed swim and some R&R and we even managed to catch the last 30 minutes of “le tour” – oh yes, and we did buy a camera at the shop, one that I have been wanting for a while (Canon EOS 550D). Slightly more expensive than buying it over the internet, but we were able to use it immediately – so all good.

On Saturday we headed up to the fort immediately via tram and stopped at a little cafe for breakfast (unfortunately a bit of a let-down) before getting up to the fort. Here again I was struck by the sheer amount of tourists. People really do only go where it is well known. We often went down side streets, finding to our delight smaller more interesting shops and cheaper more Czechish restaurants. Their loss is our gain I say but we did have to see the fort and Prague from the hill so the traipse up the hill, tourists and all, was well worth it.

After this we wandered down to the river and along its shores for a few hours, also a very interesting and beautiful experience. We then strolled over the Karlsbridge on our “roundabout” way back to the hotel. By this stage we were both footsore and weary so we didn’t want do anything more this day, except head off to our favourite restaurant for a final evening meal in Prague.

The restaurant was great – we had been there on Thursday night already, and had had a great meal, and this evening it was just as good, although it was far too much – I wasn’t able to finish all of it. When I complained to the waiter that the starter wasn’t really small, but more of a main meal, all he said was “This is Czech small” – so I guess I know for future reference. One dish is enough, even if it is a starter….LOL

On Sunday we packed up early and headed out, getting back to Henndorf in time to celebrate Gitte’s birthday and a bang up birthday lunch. I had a great time and I can recommend Prague to anyone wanting to experience a bit of Czech culture.