The rollercoaster ride of Barca-London-Amsterdam-Munich-Berlin is a hard act to follow, and Prague did its best. That being said it hasn't been my favourite city in Europe, particularly because it was sightseeing in Prague that led me to realise that I have had my fill of museums, monuments and churches for this trip (except maybe Italy).
Prague has been the first city that could be considered Eastern Europe, and what they say about the money is true. With a conversion rate of 17 Crony to the Aussie dollar you feel like a millionaire everywhere you go, and at these prices you kind of are one. Maybe the cheapness went to our head because I wouldn't normally spend money on a service involving fish eating the dead skin off my feet. Quite a strange experience, it was like being tended to by hordes of tiny pedicurists. I kind of feel bad for the fish though. Maybe they don't even like skin and that's just all they're given. I mean if I was hungry enough I'd probably eat the dead skin off YOUR feet to survive. Picture that image - not pretty.
The fish-foot place, as we called it, was next door to our hostel. On the other side was a gym which I loved, and below us, a pizza restaurant! How's that for location! We ate at that restaurant at least once a day during our time in Prague.
One of the things we were looking forward to about Prague was the famous pub crawl ending at the biggest club in central Europe - 5 levels. Wow right? No. Wow is wrong. Terrible, terrible club.
Level 1 is entry level. Nothing happening there.
Level 2 is 'radio hits'. Bad music happening there.
Level 3 is 'oldies'. Octogenarians happening there.
Level 4 is 'hiphop', the only decent level.
Level 5 is 'chillout'. Chilling out happening there. Who comes to a club to chill out?
So basically it was more of a one level club than a five level establishment, but it's one of those places you just have to check out I suppose.
The part of Czech Republic I was most looking forward to did live up to my expectations - the Sedlec Ossuary. 700 years ago some holy ashes were sprinkled on a small cathedral an hour's train ride out of Prague. As a result everyone in Europe made a pilgrimage there to die so that they could be buried on holy soil (history's pilgrims make the modern world-youth-day 'pilgrims' look like slackers). Anyway, there wasn't enough space to bury all the bodies, so 10000 of the skeletons were used to decorate the interior of the cathedral, because nothing says 'Jesus loves you' like a pyramid of human skulls, or better yet a chandelier containing every bone in the human body (except the cocklea, don't worry I asked). It was quite impressive the spectrum of art that can be created using the dead - there was even a realistic bird made out of bones. The tour to the Ossuary also took us to some churches and monuments, but more interestingly we had some traditional Czech food which is all heavy and served with bread dumplings. One meat dish is topped with jam and cream which you stir in before eating. Doesn't go quite as well as with a scones - there was probably a mistranslation when the Czechs heard about them...
I bumped into a Grammar friend, Ben Rees who'd been traveling solo for 10 months, wandering the streets of Prague, and we had a good ol' fashioned hang. Other things of note in Prague were the promoters. They emerged after nightfall like vampires to heckle you every five metres trying to get you to visit some strip club or another. Some were friendly, asking a lot of questions and making conversation, while others were more to the point, muttering in a thick accent 'hi boys - titty bar?'. Annoying, but funny.
We now head further south-east into real Eastern Europe with the intention of doing something a bit different. Less museums and sightseeing, more of something else. But who knows what awaits me when I step out of this bus in Bratislava. I barely know what's happening in the bus itself. You see I'm not in a seat, I'm in a bed which I found in a trapdoor next to the toilet. How random is that? It's like sleeping in a vibrating coffin. Strange stuff indeed.
31 days to go...