I promise that on one day on an overseas trip there will be no story to tell, but today is not one of them:)
Awoke to sunshine. The plan was to follow John's new best friend, 'blog man's' tips for a cruisy day around the city and to suss out some hidden gems. Now we need to be reminded at this stage that neither John nor I, checked what year Blog Man' (BM) wrote his pearls of wisdom which will come back to bite us later in the story:)
We wandered the streets, into the new part of the town with John providing commentary as we went. All the 'must sees' from BM were ticked off and at this stage we were pretty chuffed about the day. On BM's recommendation we headed to the rooftop restaurant atop of the UPrince Hotel in the old city square. Apparently one of the best views in all of Prague - big call, but on reading the menu, how could you not be impressed. Big bold letters stated that it was in the top 15 of best rooftop restaurants in the world. Have you ever wondered who actually collects this data? Is there someone who travels to every rooftop restaurant in the world and then rates them? Top 15 for what? Napkin quality, cutlery, seat comfort, arrogant wait staff, exorbitant prices? I think I could have a stab:) I suggest the rater may have been related to or sleeping with one of the owners, but it was a pleasant sojourn anyway. The plan now was to escape the madness and head out of town on foot to Prague Zoo. We wove our way through the streets, headed across the river, through the worlds biggest park and life was good. John kept commenting how there were very few tourists, and it soon became clear why. We walked and walked and walked, heading further and further away from the city, but BM had assured us that the Zoo was a must see, so we soldiered on, through the heat and muscle pain with the hope that around the next bend the entrance to Zoological Nirvava would appear. By this stage we were 4hrs into the journey, it was nearing 4pm. I am sure you can guess the next bit - what time do you think the zoo may have closed? BM failed to mention this info. We found a cafe in a street, where it looked like time had stopped. We were told we were on the very edge of the Prague town border. Few people ever dared venture to such back blocks and to be honest, even the locals looked miserable about living there!
Rested after a cleansing ale, we felt pleased that at least we could catch a boat/cruise back to the city. BM had assured us. As we wandered down to the river where we expected our 'carriage' to await, it soon became clear that no said boat seemed to venture into know mans land where we had found ourselves. Onwards we trekked, for hours hoping that the next bend in the river would reveal our ride home. Our spirits remained hopeful, although conversation was sparse. Occasionally one of us would pipe up with "haven't seen many tourists around here", which gave us a giggle but didn't solve our dilemna. It was then that John decided to check BM's blog - surely he wouldn't lie to us. It was then the cruel truth was revealed to us that the blog was actually written in 1998, and since then a couple of 'minor' changes had been made - most relevant to us was the cutting off of access to the boats upstream of Prague. Tears welled at the realisation that BM could no longer be a person to be trusted, and we now found ourselves on our own. We could see the city but it was soooo far away. Nothing else to do but keep walking. And walk we did. We had left our hotel at 10 and returned at 6 - it may have been one of the longest days of our lives and I am still coming to terms with the fact that we actually saw nothing:)
We were starving, and decided to go Traditional. A pub recommended by our front desk girl. Oh dear - no pig should have been treated so poorly in order to end up on my plate. It was described as being stuffed and at least that bit was accurate:) Johno had a duck dish which had a side dish the likes of which I have never seen before. Picture 4 large discs, each about 1cm thick with a firm but stodgy texture. The jury is still out, but John is adamant that they were potatoes. One small mouthful was enough to bind any human intestinal system for months.
A big day - and tomorrow is a whole new adventure. Off to Prague Castle.