Thursday 15 January 2009

Behind the former Iron curtain - CZ

WOKE UP AT AROUND 6 30
Had to drag myself out of the bed to see the Sunrise at the Charles Bridge .Tough it was a bit of a disappointment becs of the cloudy weather the old town square and the Karluv most had very few people in it so it was a bit of a treat to have the place to myself.

Kutna Hora

Only Ossuary probably in the world to have the interior of the church decorated entirely of human bones .30,000 Human skull to honour the dead .Getting there meant me catching a train but i taught i could see the pissing statue and then get to the station , But in the process got lost terribly.So in the end travelled ticketless on 2 trams to Malostraska quick change at Muzeum arrived at Hlavni Nadazi (prounce it however u want)



Long Escalators on Prague Metro

10 :47 Am still running in the station to catch the train .I was praying that there would be no one at the counter ,by luck there was no one 171 Kc return and dashed of to the platform like a sprinter. Well all the jogging practice has come in handy now.


10:52 am on the train which i think is going there and 10:54 train departs Just in time again !!!!!


Got off met some random tourists who turned out to be really nice Americans on their year out.The Ossuary is called The Church of Bones

This is perfect example of when thy say Don't judge the book by its cover!!!.It looks like a perfectly Quent little church just as any but BUT the devil is certainly in the details .

Human bones can be used for decorations


Crest

This town was virtually wiped out because of plague which had about 30000 human bodies .When a half blind priest came up with the idea of decorating this church with Human bones joined together only with human bones!!!

Impressed is the least degree of adjective i can use to describe this place .I was amazed as to what a human bones can do when they are stacked up together!!

After this amazing tour walked around for a bit with some polish girls i found and saw some more beautiful church . Had to sadly leave the company of these lovely girls to catch the next train.This was another JIT story but i wont bore u with details but here is the brief run down

It happened becs i went to the Kutna hora city station rather than the main one where no one could speak english .But managed to get the ticket to get there so no problem

Dekuvee

Came back to Prague and Dashed of towards the Dancing building to meet my American travellers to do some Drinking .

Drinking Absinth and washing it with some Brown Budvar beer Well nothing can beat a good drink night ehhhh

Dancing Building


Absinth

Let me tell u this Absinth well i have never tasted such a vile stuff in my like .Ever with 2 Sachets of sugar it felt like i was burning my entire Intestine!!!!.Its banned every where in europe but legal in CZ (well the LSD content decides that) have to check this claim tough !!

Next day i woke early after the guy who was sleeping in the lower dorm was snoring like an elephant.

Visited the Tyn church , Astronomical clock went on top of the tower to get superb views of this wonderful city .All this time i am wondering all these years of communism there is one good thing that has come out of it .

They have preserved their unique artchieture , Quent houses and excellent hospitality to welcome people with open arms .

Altough now run down from large scale capitalism and Mac's its still a beautiful place to visit.
Next stop was the Castle hill and a St Vitnus Church which again was like a jewel in the crown very impressive sphires and the hills give u a great view of the city below

Looks like disney land (very magical and very nice)

My Time in Czech Republic was coming to an end

I had been in this country only few days but it had given me a taste of Eastern europe which i might or might not visit in the future.And certainly make me want to go there !!!!

Got on a Metro without tickets to get to my hostel to get on the train to Vienna(Wien).Dont ask me y i didnt buy a ticket call this stupidity or anything else i had laid my hands on 50 kronas and thats all i had so didnt want to waste on buying ticket on my last journey !!!!

Monday 5 January 2009

Behind the former iron curtain - CZ


Ok here it goes

NO funny story with this one .It was lunch time and my manager came up to me and asked me if i had taken any holidays last 5months turns out i have not had a single day out !!!! How surprising lunch time i am on google .

A week later i have a cheap ticket to Prague (bmi baby) and flying out of Bratislava !! wht route could i possibly take .My complex mind evaluated all the possibilities faster than a P4 processor and told me this

Go to Prague - Budapest - Vienna - Bratislava ( fly out )

This was decided much before i had a look at the train schedules and journey time between them. Well chaos rules !!!!

As my wise uncle would put it "Get in the water only then will u learn to swim"

Ok rite let bring in some order , I am not that unorganised did check some train times and the travel plan changed slightly.

Prague - Kutna hora-Vienna-Budapest- Schentendre- Bratislava

11 days 3 major cities cant be that bad to catch in some local action as well i taught. So made a special emphasis to stay in Hungary for 4 days.

Whts more Hungary and Czech are cheap.

K packed up the night before i left .Only the first nights accomodation sorted 6 hrs before I flew.u guys must note that i am using this trip to measure my reaction reaction to compleatly unplanned trip to make my self ready for bigger things :) .
Tu as commence LA

Excitement kicked in so couldn't sleep a lot finally when i eventually dozed of to sleep it was time to get up . Ok Tea toast and run at 6:30 in the morning to catch a bus to the airport

As always Just in time Running and panting !!!!! Turns out the bus is late so i am saved .Made it to Prague without any major issues .Came out to take some sort of Bus to the city

Issue No 1 . All i had with me was around 2oo Krone note and the machine would only accept coins .32 Cz Krona for a single ticket!!

Was trying to figure out how to get change when i talked to a CZ guy and he paid for my ticket Whooooo ho wht at welcome made it to the metro station and then took a metro travelling ticket less and no with a luggage supplement (God knows wht would have happened if i was caught). Got of at a station called Muzeum walk to the hostel

Checked in a quick nap after i meet Gasper , more of him later.We talked a bit he told me he is working in Slovenia and here to visit his brother who is studying .I took this opportunity to invite him for a couple of drinks .... oh my brother knows a lot of places was his response, well rendezvous point confirmed i head into town.

Prague has a archieture unique to itself although now attacked by tourists hungry and hung over from the endless Stag parties what they probably miss is in my view one of the most unique ,Quint city in this world.Beauty as a word has its own definition here. The archieture is uniquely and impressively Gothic .







I was bowled over ,What an impressive city .Once the sun sets a unique Prague comes to life Step into the Mala Strana u are transformed in time to 16th century .The small cobbled street ,Quent little cafes and the Gas lights take u to a different era all together







Whts more Pilsner Urequelle - For those who don't know Pilsners taste awesome in CZ infact this is where it is from . Taught about having a proper CZ meal so pub ,Pilsner and pork it was


Roasted Pork neck and a Pivo sorted me out.
Back to the hostel where Mr Gasper was waiting with his brother and a friend .Quick round of intros and off we go for a nite out in town.

Sittiing in a Pub ordering pilsner where they are glad to come to your table and ask if u want more as soon as u finish a pint . Made me wonder how much i could have :) plus it was cheap about 60 P a pint


Plus these people where teaching me Czech as we were drinking !!! Bonus lol

Aparrently I had 5 and these guys had more and still as hard as a rock !! Man these guys knew how to drink.Next after a couple of fotographes we staggered off to another pub and another and i don't know

In the end peeed in full view of other people next to the Bus stop and headed of to another pub( i remember this)felt like i left a bit of myself in Prague lol .After this ,the details are a bit Hazy(becs i dont know) made it to the hostel allrite and slept like a log.

Woke up with a hang over headache (how surprising) off to see the sights again .Booked into to do an adventure activity and then off i went .The high risk adventure activity finished i came bak

Again out to see the Karluv Most,Namesti Republisky etc.


Got lost seeing all the local sights and music .

Next day it was time to go to Kutna Hora the place of a very interesting ossuary . Sad bye to my Slovenian friends and I headed out to catch the train