European Vacation Day 11 - Prague

A free day in Prague to do whatever we want. What more could you ask for? Not much, I can tell you!

At breakfast there were a few faces even paler than mine, as a lot of the party (including Aussies drowning their sorrows) had overindulged on the absinthe last night. When I asked Scott how he was doing, he just shook his head at me with a glazed expression on his face. He couldn’t remember how he got home (Amy informed him that he ran home) and Erin couldn’t figure out why they left the pub (Amy informed her that it closed for the night).

We headed into town and after a slight detour (overshot by 3 tram stops) we passed under the Powder Tower and onto Old Square. We bumped into Amy, Katie and Mariam, who had all bought prints. We carried on around the market and ended up getting one too.

the Powder Tower

It was lunchtime by now so we had lunch at a vegan restaurant between the market and Old Square. I went nuts with the self serve and ended up with the soyameat & olive pasta AND the mushroom & ROBI meat stew with potatoes.  It was awesome.  This was followed by some strawberry and banana ice-cream which was delicious.

us in a little park we found

After lunch we walked towards Charles Bridge, stopping at a small park with a fountain in it. There seems to be sights such as this all over Prague, which is great for just wandering about and seeing what you can find.

The old town end of Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge is a large cobbled pedestrian bridge with massive gothic looking towers at each end. There are stalls set out all along the bridge and, like most of the rest of Prague, there seems to always be a band of some description busking away. They all seem to be very good too.

Castle entrance

St Vitus cathedral in the castle grounds

We walked up to the castle, which is a collection of buildings in a similar way to Edinburgh Castle. Big difference here though – it is free to enter, you only pay for the museum parts. Also there is a gigantic cathedral in the grounds which dominates the skyline. Disappointingly Golden Lane was closed for renovations. After out tour leader telling us we shouldn’t miss it, that was a pain.

back of the cathedral

St Georges church, also in the castle grounds

We had some beers in the Lobkowicz Palace, drinking beer from their own brewery that has been in operation for over 550 years. Beer and alcohol in general is pretty cheap in Prague (though not as cheap as I believe it once was). In the bars around our hotel and some of the centre a 400ml glass of beer is 25 koruna, which is about €1. Unfortunately we have only had beers in our hotel (just under €2) and in the castle (around €3.5), but we’re not here to drink so I’m not really bothered. It does explain how the rest of them got so rat-arsed last night though.

beers!

very colourful window in the cathedral

We walked down the steep hill from the castle back to Charles Bridge, and on to the Old Town again. I collected a souvenir paperweight – a loose cobblestone that had found it’s way onto the road. It seems most of Prague’s streets are cobbled with very small (5-10cm square) cobblestones which looks much nicer than flagstones or tarmac.

We ended up back at the same restaurant for dinner as it was so good before. I got a bit carried away with the self serve and ended up with some spaghetti Bolognese, pinto bean & carrot stew and a slice of pizza. It was awesome.

We got the tram home and the stop just before ours was right outside Viktoria Zizkov’s football stadium. It’s really small, and you can see the pitch from the road. I might try to get some pictures tomorrow morning before we leave but I don’t think there will be time. [There wasn’t] Made up for missing the San Siro though! Sort of.

Ironically, with this being about the coolest day yet, cloudy with sunny intervals, temperature around 20 degrees, I have managed to burn the back of my neck by not taking care to apply sun tan lotion. I think I’ll have a bit of a tan when I get home, but it’s all relative as I started off from a sort of white/blue colour.

Prague has been excellent and definitely the most beautiful city we have been to so far. We only saw half the things we could have so hopefully we will get the chance to come back. As J said today, Prague is a lot like Edinburgh, only bigger. There’s a castle on the hill with a steep road full of restaurants, pubs and souvenir shops leading down from it. Wenceslas Square is Princes Street and there is great architecture all around the town. The big difference is the massive river Vltava running through Prague. Maybe we could flood the gardens again?

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.

European Vacation Day 9 - Budapest to Vienna

It’s funny being on a tour with a set itinerary. There are places you visit that you would really like to spend longer in. Ljubljana was one, Vienna is another. This surprised me a bit as I had no expectations of it at all. It was just a stop before Prague, and I knew nothing about it.

The town hall

Town hall

After a 3-4 hour journey from Budapest we got a short driving tour before dropping our bags at the hotel. Back in town J and I walked from the Hofburg Palace to the stunning Town Hall, where there were lots of sports for people to try. We carried on to the parliament building, which seemed to have three statues of guys punching horses, which was weird.

Pow, take that!  Animal cruelty - Austrian style

holocaust memorial

I had left our vegan eating info in the suitcase so we were flying blind but walked past a fancy looking vege restaurant on the first street we came to! It was closed though. Our guide book had suggested a little square with a holocaust memorial as an interesting site to see and as we entered the first restaurant there was vege too! Ninety percent of the food was vegan so J had a fake chicken salad and I got Austrian wieners with fried potatoes. Very tasty indeed! 

Weiners!

We then carried on to St Stephens church which was very impressive both inside and out, and again very different to the others we had seen on the tour. We walked past the opera house back to the Hofburg for the bus back to the hotel.

inside St Stephens church

Vienna opera house

The weather on our holiday thus far has been spectacular, with sun all day every day and temperatures mostly in the high 20s, with a few days in the high 30s, today possibly reaching around 40 degrees. This finally changed tonight though, and with some style.

We had selected an optional excursion to an Austrian orchestra in one of the local palaces. We arrived and went out onto the 2^nd floor terrace for a drink as it was still very hot at 8pm. Looking out we could see dark clouds and J saw some lightening. Then we noticed a massive bank of black cloud rolling quickly towards us (pretty much like in Independence Day when the alien ships first appear). The wind started to pick up so we went inside. Before we even got to our seat one of the windows blew open and smashed outside. The others came in saying that all of a sudden the wind had blown all the tables and chairs over. It then started hailing! Andy and Wen E were very excited as they said they had never seen hailstones before.

the orchestra

The performance began to a backdrop of lightening flashes and occasional low rumbles of thunder. The performance was good with some pieces being accompanied by dancing, and some by operatic singers. By the break I was drenched in sweat (as I had been for the last 3 days) as it was so hot in there under the chandeliers. The storm had passed so we got to go back outside and it was noticeably cooler. The seconds half continued in the same vein and I was very happy when they played the Blue Danube as it is one of my favourites (and no, I don’t like it because it is at the start of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’m not a philistine. I like it because it was at the start of Frontier: Elite II on the Amiga).

the opera singers and a baldy head

On the way home we passed a street where the scaffolding had been ripped from the wall of a building by the wind, hopefully no-one was hurt. TomTom said the tram network was out too.

I meant to mention earlier that the architecture of Vienna is just beautiful. In the town centre there just seems to be street after street of these massive ornate buildings. It is well worth a visit. 

the Hofburg

there's stuff like this all over Vienna

My final thought/rant tonight is loosely about etiquette. Really just about how not to be a total douche.

Firstly, if someone has a bit of a coughing fit during a performance, there’s not much they can do about it. You shouldn’t let it bother you. You certainly shouldn’t angrily look daggers across the room in the vague direction of the person coughing each time they cough, because then you look like a tool.

Secondly if a performance is taking place with a visual element, such as dancing, in a flat-floored room don’t hold your camera up over your head recording the whole damn thing blocking the view of the people behind you. If you have to be that much of an ass-hat then sit in the back row.

And thirdly, when visiting the amenities to pass water if there is a urinal free use it. Do not take the only available cubicle and then proceed to piss with the door open as if to mock anyone waiting, and then take so long you must be passing kidney stones.

C’mon guys, just obey Wheaton’s Law. It ain’t rocket science.

European Vacation Day 8 - Budapest

38 degrees again today.

Lots of lions about, this one's guarding the castle

I’m not really sure whether I like Budapest or not. I think it’s growing on me, or at least I understand it better. It’s a big place (2.7m inhabitants) and seems to be very much a working city, not so set up for tourists. There is one street that is all tourist shops, with each one selling exactly the same stuff, but at different prices. Our fridge magnet cost 250 HUF, whereas some places were selling it for 600 HUF.

The parliament building

St Marks church

Today we left the hotel at 8.30am and took the metro across the river to Fishermans Bastion and St Marks Church. We then walked to the castle and got lost trying to get out the other side.

J and the Fisherman's Bastion

view from the castle of the Liberation Monument

part of the castle complex

We walked over the Chain Bridge to the impressive St Stephens Basillica. It was very opulent inside with gold everywhere. We had a big lunch then walked to the market. The whole ground floor was fresh food stalls and the upper floor was all tourist shops. After an hour or so we came out with a handmade Hungarian lace placemat.

J at the Chain Bridge

at St Stephens Basilica

inside the Basilica

Price of goods in Budapest are not as low as I expected. Food is reasonably cheap, but other goods are the same price as many other places.

We walked from the market to the Gellert baths, where we enjoyed a spa afternoon. There were 2 indoor pools, one effervescent and one heated to 36 degrees, and 2 outdoor pools one heated and the other a large one with a wave machine. Turns out with the wave pool you are better off in the deep end, as we found out when we moved to the shallow end to get out. J couldn’t keep her balance and was traumatised by the time we got out. I enjoyed it, she did not!

Gellert baths

There were 4 of our tour mates in the baths, and we met 3 others leaving as we arrived. Before we left we sampled the thermal baths. There were 2 heated pools, one at 36 degrees and one at 38 degrees. The 38 degree one felt considerably hotter, Andy made a good point that it is probably because it is above body temperature and the other is just below.

When I went back into the thermal rooms a second time a strange thing happened. I went straight to the steam room, which was around 70 degrees, from there I spent a couple of minutes in the cold pool (18 degrees but felt like an ice bath) and then went into the 38 degree pool. As soon as I was submerged in the water I started to feel a tingling in my arms and legs that seemed to be deep in, not in the fingertips or toes, but starting about half way down the fingers. It lasted a couple of minutes and when I came out I felt invigorated! It’s hard to describe how it felt so I’ll leave it at that.

me in the restaurant

We then walked to a vegan restaurant and had a great traditional Hungarian dinner before walking back to the hotel for a beer and back to the room about 9.30pm. In all we were out for 13 hours and I’m shattered.

J was less keen on Budapest than me, and I was so-so on it, so I doubt we’ll be back. However it is a nice place, with a reasonable amount of tourist attractions (I even saw a Trabant parked on our street) and the people are quite friendly and mostly speak excellent English (useful as Hungarian is fiendishly difficult – it is similar to Finnish which is supposedly one of the hardest languages to learn). The city is however very busy all the time, traffic is a nightmare and it is a bit dirty looking. I got to see the Danube though which I think is the widest river I have ever seen. It’s not blue though, at least not here.

Oh, and they have Tesco here, and C&A. Who knew?

Had a great nights sleep last night, the best yet thanks to the air conditioning, and am looking forward to another before we head to Vienna tomorrow.

One final point of note is that when we left this morning Scott ran past us on his way back to the hotel. We caught up this evening and it turns out he had run from the hotel to the Citadella and back (a good 8-9km with a solid 5 minutes running up steps) which he had also done last night after we arrived. Now that’s just showing off! (the dude has done Ironman competitions, how jealous am I?) He and Erin watched the World Cup in a pub today with a World Cup trophy-shaped four litre beer cooler at their table. With that on offer maybe even J would watch the World Cup.

eagles AND swords?  Too awesome.

European Vacation Day 7 - Ljubljana to Budapest

Today was mostly a day of travelling. When we arrived in Budapest we went to the Citadella which offered amazing views over Budapest, which really showed the geographical difference between hilly Buda and flat Pest. Here also is the Liberation Monument, which is a distinctly Soviet statue commemorating Hungary’s liberation by the Soviets from Nazi Germany. Our bus tour was truncated by traffic, but we still saw Heroes Square and Vajdahunyad Castle, which has a very Eastern European look. We went out for a walk before dinner. First impressions of Budapest are not great, I think it may be where we are staying but it seems a bit grimy and very busy. Definitely down to the area is the number of strip bars and sex shops nearby, though that just reminds me of our old flat in Tollcross.

The Danube seen from the Citadella

The architecture of Budapest is quite imposing, on a similar scale to Paris and London. The central area looks nice, and we will explore more tomorrow on our free day.

Heroes Square

Vajdahunyad Castle

It was 38 degrees today, the hottest yet I think.

Yes, it was hot

European Vacation Day 6 - Venice to Ljubljana

We left Venice early and headed into Slovenia. By mid-day we had reached Postojna caves. These caves were so much bigger than I expected. After we took the Temple of Doom-style train to the start of the tour we stepped out into a massive cavern that must have been around 50m high. The walking tour was 3km and took us through several large caves and over a bridge built by Russian POWs. The whole thing was staggering, from the natural phenomenon to the human engineering required to build the route we took.

Not easy to get good pics in the caves

After this we went straight to our hotel in Ljubljana. It is in a resort on the edge of town with a pool and beach volleyball court. Very cool! We were then taken back into the centre of Ljubljana and dropped off at the Triple Bridge. From there J and I walked along the river to the Dragon Bridge, then took the funicular railway up to the castle. We went up the tower in the castle and got some great views of the city.

Us at the Triple Bridge

The Dragon Bridge has one of these bad boys on each corner

Ljubljana was a very lovely city and the people were very friendly. We had dinner at a vege cafe and then went for a couple of beers at one of the many riverside bars. The people seem quite sporty with hundreds of cyclists and many rollerbladers. It’s all much less pretentious than the UK as well. I saw no-one in full tour-de-france style cycling gear or any big brand name mountain bikes, just normal people using efficient modes of transport. It’s a bit of a shame we can’t stay longer as we both really, really like Ljubljana.

J in Ljubljana's old town, castle tower in the background

It's a long way up to the top of the castle!

Oh, and Slovenia is almost entirely made of trees!

King and Queen of the castle