www.OllyAndBecca.uk
Mille at the National Space Centre

Prague

Olly

Becca

Ben

Ellie

Pete

Ramaine

Rob

Chris

In July 2005 a group of eight of us, the motley crew above, went to Prague. Here I offer my take on what we did.

First night drinking in Prague

Day 1, Tuesday

At Gatwick airport the strangest thing happened, Ramiane bought a book. Now I had heard that she can read but I have never witnessed it. Arrived in Prague at about 9pm. God bless EasyJet with their cheapness.

Got to the hotel only to be confronted by the night porter, and he lived up to the guide books warning, he really didn’t want us there. Good old Gunter, how we would come to love him.

Went exploring to find sustenance, eventually found a pub. My my, it was so cheap. Sadly it was only the beer that was cheap, and not being a beer drinker it was spirits for me. The spirits were still cheap, just not by that much.

Day 2, Wednesday

Got up bright and early to have breakfast, well 9:15 at least. True to form they didn’t have any tea, well being English and all I had prepared for such an occurrence, I had my own.
We decided to go exploring as a group in to the town centre. So, after a short walk, we found the tube stop, surprise surprise their tube puts our beloved system to shame. The trains were clean and air conditioned. There were only three lines in all of Prague though.

We found the astronomical clock in the centre of town, very pretty. Whilst wondering around the town we came upon a sex museum, enough said. After going back to the hotel the eating really began in earnest. With a proper meal costing the equivalent of about a fiver we really couldn’t say no. I seem to remember seeing Ramaine with her book in her hands, hmm.

Astronomical clock in Prague town centre

Day 3, Thursday

By now the tourist in all of us was trying to do its thing, so all of us, except Rob, mounted an expedition to Prague castle. Now it’s not just a castle, it’s an entire complex of buildings situated on top of a big hill. After almost all of us struggling up the side we eventually got to the top. To begin with we went to the museum of the area, found out many cool things.
Next was the cathedral. It was HUGE, it had a very tall tower which we decided would be a cool thing to climb, so up we went. It was a small stone spiral staircase, with people going up on the inside and down on the outside. After about a million steps I was starting to feel both knackered and incredibly dizzy. After us all getting to the top the first thing we did was to sit down and catch our breath, who says the young are lazy and unfit?! After much panting and sweating we were ready to admire the view, it was amazing, if you go to Prague and you don’t see this you are a fool. Now for the trip down, well on the way down we encountered a slight problem, two, lets say Americans, decided to climb the staircase when really they shouldn’t have. So asthma/panic attacks ensued. This slowed our decent to a nice leisurely pace and so I avoided the dizziness.

After wondering around the complex for a while we happened across a tram stop at the hill, dammit. Rather annoyingly whoever had the guidebook told us that “oh yeah, I remember it saying that now”. Having discovered the steak it had to be eaten every night. Mmm.

Prague castle

Day 4, Friday

Well by now, as is standard procedure for the English, we were starting to feel the effect of the local water. I’m not entirely sure what they put in it, whether it be fluoride or rat poison it eventually got to most of us.
Now Prague boasts the largest nightclub in all of Europe, well we couldn’t not go could we? So we donned our glad rags and headed out. The club is called the Karlovy Lazne and is next to the Charles bridge. The rumours are right too, the place is huge. It seems to be a series of clubs stacked on top of each other. I didn’t even make it to the top. It was however, unbearably hot inside. Five minutes was all you could last on the dance floor. Needless to say fun was had by all, especially Pete who perhaps had a little too much fun.

Day 5, Saturday

The girls, in that I include Pete, thought it would be a good idea to go shopping and take advantage of the cheapness. All was going well until Pete made the final transition from being male and started spending uncontrollably. After a quick scuffle his credit card was parted from him and the spending halted. While the insanity that is shopping went on Rob, Chris and myself went wondering. We spent most of the day sitting in the sun in the centre of a nearby market.

Day 6, Sunday

By this point we were all starting to feel the strain of actually leaving our places of sleep everyday. So a nice relaxing day of nothing was had. I’m pretty sure that I saw Ramaine with that book again, she must be using it to attract intellectual types.
Since so much merriment was had the first time in the club it was decided to revisit it. Once again looking dapper we hit the town.

Jewish cemetery in Prague

Day 7, Monday

Prague has a very strong Jewish history, for hundreds of years they have inhabited a picturesque quarter of the town centre. It is here that they have six museums. Well worth the money I feel. One of the most disturbing things though was the list of names on the walls of one of the museums, on it lists the names of all the Jews killed in the war. There is also a cemetery to visit. It has graves of Rabbis dating back hundreds of years. Rather oddly though, it is very high up above street level. The reason for this is the every now and then when they run out of room they just cover the entire place with more soil and start the whole burying process over.

It was here that the travesty of the trip occurred, I dropped my glasses in the street and they broke.

Day 8, Tuesday

Prague is famed for some of its emotionally tortured writers, none more so than Kafka, with this in mind a trip to the Kafka museum was essential. You can really see why he’s so weird when you wonder around here.

After Kafka Becca and I wondered around and found the torture museum. Ow! I think we both agreed the most painful relic there was a frame on which you were hung upside down with your legs spread, from here the executioners take a saw to you and work their way down until you are split in two.

This being the last night it was thought necessary to go drinking in the centre of town, so off we went. We drank cocktails in a few bars around the main square.

Guys pissing in Prague

Day 9, Wednesday

And so to the last day of our trip. With money to burn, well the exchange rate will eat it otherwise, we head out to the Charles Bridge to get some souvenirs. After some money spending we happened across the Kafka museum again, outside is a rather interesting statue, with which we had much fun. Then back to the hotel to get the taxi back to the airport. Only a couple of hours delay at the airport. Shock horror! Ramaine finished her book!

All the pictures here and many more are in the Prague section of the photo album.

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