Prague!!

The BOY says:

And finally, our final leg on our 9-day trip through ‘slightly-off-centre-and-to-the-east’ Europe was Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. Having heard horror stories of pickpockets, scam artists and other would-be undesirables, we were on an extra high alert when we got here. However, the city proved surprisingly peaceful and accommodating, something we really needed after a 6-hour train ride.

The Prague Skyline

After a good night’s rest, we embarked on our own walking tour of Prague, trying to take in most of the major sights around the city in an afternoon. We made our way past the Prague National Museum, the famous Wenceslas Square (which is not really a square, just a wide road), under the powder gate, through the Old Town Square, across the St Charles Bridge and finally arriving at the famous Prague Castle. By this time, we were totally beat and gave up trying to do anything else and took the tram back to our hotel where we napped the rest of the afternoon away until it was time for dinner, where we went for a simple Chinese ‘cze-tzar’ meal and retired to our hotel room soon after.

The National Museum of Prague

Wenceslas Square (the museum in the background)

The powder tower

The famous Tyn Church at Old Town Square

The world famous astronomical clock!

St Charles' Bridge

The next day, we went straight to the Prague castle, determined to get a thorough run-down on this attraction on the last day of our trip. Having accidentally alighted at the wrong train stop, we found ourselves outside of our handy map and somewhat lost. Fortunately, Prague castle is big enough of a landmark for us to gravitate towards and we eventually entered the medieval compound through the back door. Here, we saw the actual Royal Palace, St George’s Basilica and the famous St Vitus Cathedral. Once we had taken enough photos, we headed straight back to the Old Town where we signed up for a river cruise on the Vltava River and did our sight-seeing on something other then ‘Bus 11’.

The castle gates

St George's Basilica (one tower is bigger then the other to reflect medieval gender status)

St Vitus' Cathedral

The guide that we registered with for the river cruise told us an interesting fairy-tale story about Sir Bruncvik and his lost sword. Bruncvik was a native Czech who went abroad to seek out adventure. And as how fairy tales go, adventures usually find the protagonist. After numerous adventures, one day Bruncvik stumbled into a forest where he witnessed a cosmic battle between a lion and a 9-headed dragon. Bruncvik decided to help the lion and together they defeated the dragon, chopping off all of its head. From then on, Bruncvik found his best friend in the lion and vice versa and the 2 of them became inseparable. With the lion, Bruncvik came to another kingdom in a strange land who were plagued by demons. Naturally, Bruncvik and his lion made short work of the demons and the Kind awarded Bruncvik with a magical sword that allowed him to chop off the heads of all his enemies just by shouting ‘Off with your heads!” and knighted him Sir Bruncvik. By this time, Bruncvik had grown tired of adventuring and began to make his way home to Prague (naturally encountering many adventures en-route but none a match for his magical sword of course!) where he reunited with his wife and died a ripe old age. Sadly enough, his lion and best friend, died of a broken heart just days after his death. The lion lives on as the 2-tailed lion in the state symbol of the Czech Republic. As for Bruncvik’s sword, it is said to be lost but many believed that it is buried under his statue at the St Charles Bridge and one day, when the Czech Republic is threatened again and lay at the very edge of ruin, the statue of St Wenceslass, patron saint of the Czech Repulic will come to life, uncover Bruncvik’s magic sword and lead the Kinghts of Blanik (knights said to be sleeping in the mountains of Blanik) to battle and slay all of Czech’s enemies and bring peace and prosperity to the land again. As you can see, ‘Praguers’ as they fondly call themselves are either extremely imaginative or very very free.

Sir Bruncvik!

Saint Wenceslas!

The cruise was a novel experience. Immediately upon getting onto the small boat, the crew, all decked out in sailor’s uniform, served us some gingerbread and hot wine. The hot wine was really peculiar at first but in the unrelenting cold, it came in quite handy. Our river guide gave us a quick run-down of all the major sights we could see from the boat and some interesting tidbits about the city as well. Unfortunately, our refreshing ride lasted only for about 30min and that was it.

Our rustic tugboat.

The River Vltava

We took the time to go check out the narrowest street in Prague. This was extremely interesting. In order to avoid people getting stuck in the middle, this alley is actually controlled by a pedestrian crossing light, i.e. only cross when the green man flashes. Following that, we headed back towards Old Town and did our last minute shopping for gifts and souvenirs and as you’d expect of Goon, last minute snacking at the Old Town Square. After which, (since she is never full) we went to have dinner at a somewhat traditional Czech restaurant.

Looks like Goon should lose some weight.... block the whole street!

One of many reasons why Goon is getting fatter.....

Having nothing to do, I persuaded Goon to go on a Ghost Tour with me. Basically, a local guide brought us around the more secluded parts of the city and told us stories of ‘ghosts’ that are rumored to still haunt the area. It was interesting, but not fantastic. The tour company even arranged for someone to dress up as a ghost and burst out of dark alleys suddenly which I found pretty amusing. I caught him twice lurking in the street corner although I must apologetically admit that I kind of ruined his entrance for the third and final time.

And that was about it for Prague and that wraps up our longest trip yet. Not only did the trip take a lot of time, but a lot of money as well and as such, we won’t be traveling anymore until our next major trip which will be to Jerusalem!