Geoff and I arrived in Prague last night and have enjoyed our time here so far. It is a unique city, you feel as if you are walking within the walls of a large castle complex. There are some amazing churches, synagogues and castles within the old part of the city, which includes the Prague castle located on the top of the hill looking over the town. The city, from what we've seen (which is by no means the whole city), is very touristy, even in the slow season. At night it is a bit Disney-esque with the castle-like buildings, the cuckoo clock (the main clock in the centre of the old town has rotating puppets that come out on the hour) and tourist shops/restaurants. The clock in the centre of town, however, is pretty amazing. It is a solar clock that has been running for 600 years with 75% of the original parts!
Things like goulash, potatoes, onion soup and pork knuckle are big favourites for the czechs. We have been feasting; this morning I had sweet pancakes with fruit (essentially fruit that is wrapped in a thick crepe and topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce). For dinner, it was vegetarian goulash and a gorgonzola salad drizzled with honey, mixed with grapes and tomatoes. The best so far in Europe has been the pastries; the apple strudel I had today was made with a dense crepe and warm cinnamon apples, all washed down with hot chocolate made with cream, so thick it looked almost like pudding. I also can't forget to mention the $2.50 0.5 L pilsners that are the Czech Republic's beer claim to fame, very tasty.
Today, we took a three-hour guided tour through the city by foot. There were some really interesting points that came out of the tour, like: did you know Hugo Boss designed the Nazi uniform? Hitler also preserved the jewish quarter in Prague as he eventually wanted to retire in Prague and open the one and only "museum of extinct people". It was also interesting to hear more about Vaclav Havel, the famous playwright, poet and dissident during the Soviet era, who eventually became President after 1989. He was a big fan of rock music (which had been outlawed during the Soviet era), and invited some bands to come play at the Prague castle, including the Rolling Stones. The Stones ended up playing at the castle and found the castle a bit dark at night, so Mick Jagger, I guess a fan of Vaclav and Prague, ended up offering to pay for lights to be set up to light up the castle at night.
Tomorrow night Geoff and I have decided to take an overnight train down to Budapest (approx. 8 1/2 hours). We've decided to fast track some of these northern cities to get down to where it is warmer - at least in the Vancouver temperature range. Today, although the low was only -5 (max -1), it was cold being outside for an extended period, especially when we didn't bring full winter gear like boots! My almost all mesh Nike Frees just weren't cutting it today :).
Anyways, will write soon from Budapest! Some photos from the last 2-3 days in Berlin and Prague:
Museum Island, Berlin
Skin eating fish
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