czech republic
prague
July 20, 2012
Right now we are on our seven-hour layover in Paris. The flight from Atlanta to CDG was probably the hardest flight ever for me. I did something I've never done before; I took a sleeping pill for the flight (so did Robin). I seldom sleep for even one second on planes, so I thought maybe I could be better rested when I got there. Well... Robin was in and out of sleep but I was wide-awake. It seemed early enough to take another, so I did. Meanwhile, there was so much commotion going on with carts and people up and down, that Robin also woke up. Now neither of us was really falling asleep, so we each took another half. She fell asleep, and I sort of did too. But it was angry, hard, restless sleep, with extreme restless legs. There was nothing fitful or restful about it. I could barely walk off the plane. I was extremely nauseous, very very dizzy, and did nothing more than crawl to an available couch and slept for 90 minutes. It's now three hours later and I still feel exhausted, headachy and hung over. I KNOW it’s the damn Ambien. I think I am better off just staying up all night watching movies, then heading for some airport hotel immediately when we arrive to sleep it off. That has worked well for us on other trips. How I envy the people who can sleep on planes!
Right now we are on our seven-hour layover in Paris. The flight from Atlanta to CDG was probably the hardest flight ever for me. I did something I've never done before; I took a sleeping pill for the flight (so did Robin). I seldom sleep for even one second on planes, so I thought maybe I could be better rested when I got there. Well... Robin was in and out of sleep but I was wide-awake. It seemed early enough to take another, so I did. Meanwhile, there was so much commotion going on with carts and people up and down, that Robin also woke up. Now neither of us was really falling asleep, so we each took another half. She fell asleep, and I sort of did too. But it was angry, hard, restless sleep, with extreme restless legs. There was nothing fitful or restful about it. I could barely walk off the plane. I was extremely nauseous, very very dizzy, and did nothing more than crawl to an available couch and slept for 90 minutes. It's now three hours later and I still feel exhausted, headachy and hung over. I KNOW it’s the damn Ambien. I think I am better off just staying up all night watching movies, then heading for some airport hotel immediately when we arrive to sleep it off. That has worked well for us on other trips. How I envy the people who can sleep on planes!
July 21, 2012
We slept in until almost 9 am! Since I am a Platinum Marriott member, all our breakfasts are included in the concierge lounge. A great way to save some money. We decided to do the six-hour walking tour, which cost just under $60 each. We started the tour in the Old Town Square with about 15 other English-speaking people. The buildings are absolutely amazing! Prague was one of the most preserved cities during World War II. Each street is just block after block of these huge, very detailed buildings. Everything is really clean. I think we saw almost all tourists the entire day. You can recognize the Czech people because they are not very friendly and don't smile at all. Maybe all those years of communism, or do they just get tired of seeing the tourists?
We slept in until almost 9 am! Since I am a Platinum Marriott member, all our breakfasts are included in the concierge lounge. A great way to save some money. We decided to do the six-hour walking tour, which cost just under $60 each. We started the tour in the Old Town Square with about 15 other English-speaking people. The buildings are absolutely amazing! Prague was one of the most preserved cities during World War II. Each street is just block after block of these huge, very detailed buildings. Everything is really clean. I think we saw almost all tourists the entire day. You can recognize the Czech people because they are not very friendly and don't smile at all. Maybe all those years of communism, or do they just get tired of seeing the tourists?
After the Square, we saw several Jewish synagogues. Apparently before the war the population was 20% Jewish, now there are less than 7000 Jewish people. We saw the house where Franz Kafka was born. Then we went down to the waterfront and got on a small wooden boat and did a tour on the Vltava River. We went under the very beautiful and old Charles Bridge, up the river to where there were two different levels of water, and then down a small canal. The air was fresh, cool and crisp... So different from being in Atlanta.
Robin was somewhat of a celebrity on our tour, because she had been to Prague when it was still a communist country. Everyone wanted to know what it was like then. Our tour guide wasn't even born yet when Robin was there in 1980. Robin said it was dark, grey, and depressing, with very few people on the streets. The stores hardly had anything on the shelves. Far different now. We walked down one street that had very high end shopping - Prada, Rolex, Hermes, - you name it.
After the boat ride, we saw the astronomical clock. They were shooting pictures of a wedding party at the foot of the clock, the first of several weddings we saw. The clock, like everything else here is hundreds of years old. It had several different clocks; one was a calendar.
Robin was somewhat of a celebrity on our tour, because she had been to Prague when it was still a communist country. Everyone wanted to know what it was like then. Our tour guide wasn't even born yet when Robin was there in 1980. Robin said it was dark, grey, and depressing, with very few people on the streets. The stores hardly had anything on the shelves. Far different now. We walked down one street that had very high end shopping - Prada, Rolex, Hermes, - you name it.
After the boat ride, we saw the astronomical clock. They were shooting pictures of a wedding party at the foot of the clock, the first of several weddings we saw. The clock, like everything else here is hundreds of years old. It had several different clocks; one was a calendar.
After, we finally went to lunch at a restaurant that was part of the tour. Not a place I would have picked! It was a medieval restaurant in a very dark and scary basement. It was mostly lit by candles and candelabras. The waiters were dressed like monks. (Except they were smoking in the side station!) I opted for the very authentic Czech food of potato soup and goulash. The potato soup was good... But the goulash was like brown "salt gravy" with a few chunks of fatty beef thrown in! We sat at long wooden tables. We had two couples from Dublin and one couple from Madrid sitting with us. I think that I will have to try goulash again in Budapest, rather than some cheesy themed tourist restaurant!
Then we were off to Prague Castle, which really doesn't seem like a castle at all. It is the largest castle compound in the world. The president works there, not that I know who the president of the Czech Republic is...! It was quite cold and windy up there. Robin, in usual fashion, refused to listen to me when I told her the forecast could be as low as 50 degrees. Whatever the temperature is on the balcony at home, is the temperature everywhere in the world. She had goose bumps on her arms the whole time. But the view from the hilltop showed a sprawling beautiful Prague. The city really is romantic and gorgeous!
Some interesting facts about Prague: the city is actually 70% atheist or agnostic. Although there are dozens of old churches, most are used as concert halls! Beer is cheaper than water. Our tour guide must have let us know that no less than ten times. The oldest buildings (predating the 1800's) did not have numbered addresses, but were know by a picture engraved in the walls. Like the "green lobster" or the "red lion". These are the things you discover on the tour that you wouldn't know otherwise!
After the castle, we went to the John Lennon wall. It was a wall that someone had graffitied the day after his assassination with pictures and tributes to him. Despite the communist police repeated efforts to whitewash the wall, tributes would reappear the next day. So it has become the only legal area to graffiti in all of Prague.
The tour finally finished more than six hours later on the very crowded Charles Bridge. Very, very touristy. You could buy all the caricatures of Brad and Angelina that you wanted. We also touched the St. George statue for good luck. The tour was finally done! Long, but well worth it.
July 22, 2012
We started our day doing a dry run to the train station. We have a 7:42 AM train to Budapest tomorrow. We bought our tickets online at home, but they are all written in Czech. We will be dragging our suitcases several blocks. The streets all have very long names with several streets converging onto a town square, so it's very easy to get lost. We found the huge busy train station, and hopefully will be able to get to the right platform and on the right car for our 7-hour train trip tomorrow.
We started our day doing a dry run to the train station. We have a 7:42 AM train to Budapest tomorrow. We bought our tickets online at home, but they are all written in Czech. We will be dragging our suitcases several blocks. The streets all have very long names with several streets converging onto a town square, so it's very easy to get lost. We found the huge busy train station, and hopefully will be able to get to the right platform and on the right car for our 7-hour train trip tomorrow.
From there, we headed towards Wenceslas Square. This is the area where the Prague Spring took place in 1968, resulting in Russian tanks rolling in and suppressing the revolution. The Velvet Revolution also took place here 20 years later. It's now a huge shopping and cafe area.
We then went to the communist museum, all written from a Czech perspective. It was really very interesting seeing how it started as the this hopeful ideology that another catastrophe like World War II would not happen again. Everybody would be equal. But what a disaster it turned into, with everyone being paranoid about who was talking to and spying on whom. The museum had many artifacts from the late 40's through the 70's, including replicas of a workers mine and a store with nothing on the shelves. They also had many posters of anti-American propaganda and how they were so advanced compared to us. There was also a creepy mock interrogation room. I took Robin's picture with a giant statue of Josef Stalin.
We then went to the communist museum, all written from a Czech perspective. It was really very interesting seeing how it started as the this hopeful ideology that another catastrophe like World War II would not happen again. Everybody would be equal. But what a disaster it turned into, with everyone being paranoid about who was talking to and spying on whom. The museum had many artifacts from the late 40's through the 70's, including replicas of a workers mine and a store with nothing on the shelves. They also had many posters of anti-American propaganda and how they were so advanced compared to us. There was also a creepy mock interrogation room. I took Robin's picture with a giant statue of Josef Stalin.
No trip ever would be complete without Robin's trip to the fresh market! This market was called "Havel's". However, it was mostly tourist junk, with just a few fresh fruits thrown in. We then headed to a vegetarian restaurant called "Clear Head" that we read about on TripAdvisor. It was EXTREMELY hard to find. We walked around and around and around in circles, passing the same passed out drunk fat guy who had vomited all over his leg, and now had flies circling him. (I honestly don't know if I have ever been anywhere that has had this much drinking and drunk people. I don't remember Russia being this way... Although Key West and the French Quarter come to mind!) We finally found the restaurant in a very narrow alley with just a nondescript wooden door in the stone wall. But it was worth the wandering. The building is five hundred years old, the inside was dark, but the tables were lit from the inside, and the dark blue ceiling had lighted stars - much like the inside of the Fox theater. The food was really good... Plus we only spent $12!
Then Robin had me walk up to the replica Eiffel Tower at the top of Petrin Hill. It took us about 90 minutes to walk uphill 325 feet above sea level, with supposedly some 299 steps thrown in. My feet were killing me! But the view was awesome! Plus the weather is unbelievable, in the mid 60's. Perfect for a long walk.
Located at the base of Petrin Hill was this series of sculptures commemorating the victims of communism. Although the lower stairs showed a whole man, the further up the stairs it showed the man as more fractured and decayed. My interpretation was that it showed how communism slowly robbed this man of his soul.
Afterwards... the reward for the 3 hour walk was apple strudel (again!).
Thank You for my wonderful life! Now on to Budapest.....
Located at the base of Petrin Hill was this series of sculptures commemorating the victims of communism. Although the lower stairs showed a whole man, the further up the stairs it showed the man as more fractured and decayed. My interpretation was that it showed how communism slowly robbed this man of his soul.
Afterwards... the reward for the 3 hour walk was apple strudel (again!).
Thank You for my wonderful life! Now on to Budapest.....
