European Vacation Day 10 - Vienna to Prague

I forgot to mention yesterday that I think I might have gone mad. I say this because we watched Euro Trip on the bus and I really enjoyed it!

In the maze like gardens

We found the Palm Pavilion

Fuzzy ducks - try saying that when you're drunk

Today we started off with a trip to  Schonbrunn Palace, the Hapsburg’s summer palace in Vienna. We spent ages walking around the gardens and I saw my first ever red squirrel! It was very exciting.

J at the big fountain

the palace from the top the hill

red squirrel!

We then headed for Prague, stopping at a service station where they really wanted to sell us kebabs (the conversation went a bit like this: “Do you have anything vegetarian?” “Kebab?” “no, no meat. Potatoes?” “Kebab?” “no, potatoes” (Server gets someone from the kitchen, who then tries to give us kebabs) “No, potatoes” (points at potatoes. Confused looks, then 2 plates of fried potatoes are provided. Yay!)

We got in to Prague around 5pm. When we checked in they had all the names mixed up so for the duration of our stay I am Mr Rumbold and J is Miss Fox. Dinner was at 7pm followed by a walking tour at 8.30pm.

the gang in Wenceslas square

me in the square

Walking around Prague as the sun went down was excellent. Despite the (other) tourists it felt much less claustrophobic than Budapest. We saw Wenceslas Square, the Astronomical Clock, Tyr Church, Charles Bridge and the castle (from a distance). I expect we will visit many of these again tomorrow.

Hradcany castle

one of the towers on Charles bridge

It is weird that there is a Marks & Spencer and a Debenhams on Wenceslas Square. There’s a C&As too.

We got a chance to speak to our driver TomTom today, as he came out on the town with us at night. He got the job a year ago with no experience of driving buses or coaches at all, which is pretty amazing.

Some of the Aussies didn’t go on the tour as they were going to watch the Germany-Australia game in the World Cup instead. They were beaten 4-0 so that was time well spent! ;)

It was a lot cooler today, in the low 20s. By the time we started back from the centre of town at 11pm it had started to rain. It was pretty heavy when we got back to the hotel, but hopefully it will pick up again tomorrow.

This feels like a bit of a disjointed entry, probably because it is now after midnight and I am very tired, so I’ll call it a night.

Mr Rumbold.