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We caught the train to Prague or Praha as the locals call it. Our view this time was some hills but also very flat parts too. There was a never ending river too which im yet to find the name for. We arrived in blue skys which was gr8 seeing it was forecast to rain everyday. Prague was untouched by the war so the old town is very old & many areas are Unesco listed. The Jews were quite free in Prague unlike other parts of europe so there is an old Jewish Ghetto that thousands of Jews lived in with very old Synagogues, one has a Gothic interior that's how old it is. Although there are not many Jews living there today only about 4000 as of course being part of East Germany thousands were taken away to camps & those who are still alive do not like the memories attached. We saw churches, castles, town halls & much more which the earliest started to be built in the 1200s. The Charles bridge named after king Charles 4th took over 40 yes to build made all from stone, hard labour! The old city used to get flooded a bit so they built up the city & much of the old city is underground. We visited the underground & some are now restaurants, pubs & bars. We found an underground bar with mojitos for 80k which is $2, Tan was in heaven. We did sone tours around the city & one to an old bone chapel which is self explanatory. A bit creepy but artistic at the same time. As soon as we say we are Auzzies, everyone asks about the floods. It's made big news in Europe I doubt it got a mention in the USA though. One man explained the amount of flooding in QLD was the total size of Germany & France which puts things into perspective for the locals.
One of the main things we noticed in Europe is that people take & walk their dogs everywhere. Into bars, shops, trains, laundry mats everywhere. It made us miss Jax but also realize how well behaved the dogs here are. They hardly use leads but there was a lot more crap mixed on the side of the roads with the snow mmm pretty! So overall many of the buildings have been restored so the outsides may not look very gothic but the insides usually are or are of baroque style created in late centuries. I prefer the Baroque style probably because it's prettier with angels as opposed to gothic gargoyles but I think the real gold is what won me over the most. If you ever wondered where your crystal is from, it's most likely is from Prague. Now I know why our crystal glasses at home are the brand Bohemia & where the name comes from. You can buy cheap crystal & pretty stained glass but as we still need to travel a bit we didn't buy any.
Trying to organize the taxi to the airport we were told not to use the taxi's near our hostel as they were mafia! Brought memories of the movie Hostel back so we took their advise and got a driver to take us. Scare tactics? Maybe.. Did it work? Yes.
Off to Beijing
Scotty and Tan
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