Prague

Arriving in Prague, we were met by a very rushed Raph. He had planned dinner and a tour for us, and we were running late. To make matters worse, I stuffed up the hostel reservations, taking us to the hostel that we actually only had one night in at a later date, Margot's time was chewed up negotiating with the owner - at this point we thought he had it wrong, so were pretty annoyed. Boy was my face red when we realised what I'd done, a bit later in the evening. After a very rushed but nice dinner, we joined the tour, which consisted of being driven around the town in a van, while a woman in the front seat delivered a relentless speech about the sights, none of which we took in. The tour ended with a trip to a very bizarre "singing fountain", which seemed to go on forever. All very incongruously awesome.

The next morning we very embarassedly moved to the correct hostel, which was in a very central location off Wenceslas Platz. While M napped, I went to reconnoitre the town with Raph. We poked our noses in a lot of churches, took lots of photos, and saw quite a lot or the old city. Eventually we met up with Margot again and walked across the Charles Bridge, at which point it started to rain. Undaunted, we bravely found a pub and retired for a couple of beers - even Margot drinks the beer in Prague! Afterwards M and I went back to the hostel for dinner, before heading out to Raph's old haunt on the other side of the river to meet up with him and some of his old AIESEC buddies for some drinks.

On Tuesday morning we were pretty lazy, and got going quite late. Again we met the Raphscallion, and this time went up to Prague Castle. We convinced him to actually pay to go inside, which he'd never done, and I have to say it was pretty awesome. Very mediaeval feeling, unlike the lovely 18th and 19th century palaces I was starting to think were all that was left. There was a huge stone hall which used to be used for indoor jousting contests, and we also saw the windows out of which some heretics were thrown. My favourite bit was St. George's Basilica, parts of which date back to the 9th century. Golden Lane was a bit odd - tiny tiny houses built originally for soldiers, then used by goldsmiths in the 16th century, but now restored or rebuilt, and painted by an animator. They look like a fake disneyland street, and are now trinket shops. On our way down M and I stopped to look at a restaurant, and Raph went on to meet Michela. However after making it across the bridge, Michela and her friend went off to rest, so Raph and we went to get dinner, eventually finding one at a cute little underground place called the Fat Mouse, where Raph had taken Westgarth while he was here. After dinner we retired to Raph and Michela's small hotel room and enjoyed great company and conversation until past 1am.

The next morning we slept in, of course, then went to the main square and looked at the Mucha museum. Alfons Mucha was a Czech graphic artist, whose images are iconic of the Art Nouveau style - look him up, it's all floaty beauties surrounded by blossoms, and that sort of thing. We bought a pack of cards with alot of his images on them. Heading back outside to the square, we met Raph again, and walked across the river to take the funicular up to the top of the hill with the mini Eiffel Tower on it. I've already forgotten the name. We wandered around the gardens up there, and looked at the view, and found lots of ourselves in the very cute little mirror maze, set up in a little fake castle, presumably at the same world fair for which the tower and the funicular were built. We took the long way down again, and went to a brewery, the name of which I can't remember, to try some local delicacies. We had some very nice beer - again Margot found one she liked - and I finally tried pivny syr, which was as strong as Raph had promised me - it's basically cheese and pepper and chilli and stuff all mixed up with a little beer. Pungent. We spent the evening walking around the old town.

On Thursday we met Raph again (you can see a pattern emerging here), and we went to the supermarket and stocked up for a picnic. The beer here is amazing. You can get a half litre bottle of very excellent beer for 10 crowns, which is about 75 cents or something like that. We took our stash and walked along the river to Vysehrad - the smaller castle, or what's left of it. There is a nice park on top of the hill there, and there were lots of wedding photos going on all around us as we sat on the grass and feasted on meat, cheese, bread and beer. It was a wonderful lazy afternoon. Afterwards we parted, and M and I returned to the hostel. After a rest, we headed out again, through a sudden torrential rainstorm, to the restaurant we'd espied the other day, on the hill under the castle. Courtesy of Bill, I had some money to take us out to a birthday dinner, so we'd chosen this restaurant, with tables on a terrace overlooking Prague, set in the site of King Wenceslas' old vineyard. Thanks to the rain, their was a terrific rainbow, and the sun came out again and we had a brilliant view, and it was all very romantic. Prague really is a beautiful city.

On Friday morning, after checking out, I determined to climb the tower of the old town hall. And boy was it worth 100 crowns. Not only was there an elevator the whole way, but the view from the top was unparalleled, granting a total 360 degree panorama of Prague, from a point at its centre. Also it was built in the early 15th century, and I'm a major sucker for old stuff. After descending, we met Raph again - for the final time! - and went for a coffee, before saying farewell to him and to Michela, and making our way to the Hlavni Nadrazi for our train to Cesky Krumlov.