Prague January 2007

Catch-up post this time is the first European trip we did after arriving in London.

We had arrived in London late September, it took us a little while to settle in but we were keen to get in to some European travel. At this stage we weren't sure how long we'd by in London for. We were still only planning on being there for a year or two so were keen to get some travelling under our belt.

We planned a trip with a few friends, which allowed us to draw on our collective experience and also meant we had safety in numbers.

Just a 2 night stay from what I can figure out looking at the photos which meant just 1 full day of sightseeing.

First thing I can remember from the trip is flying in to Prague. We flew over a lot of snow on the way which was beautiful but it wasn't until we came in to land I started to think about how our plane would land in heavy snow - not something I've had to think about before. I figured they must be used to this so decided we'd be fine. And we were.

Next challenge was finding our accommodation. I think this involved a taxi, or maybe a tram.Either way I don't think it was easy as we had no Czech and the locals we came across didn't have much English. We got there in the end. I didn't get any pics of our accommodation, it was pretty basic but they must have had reasonable heating, otherwise we probably would have died.

I think it might have been late afternoon or evening when we got to our accommodation, a little exploration I think is all we had, this included a little explore, snowball fight and maybe snowman building...

First night just near our accommodation

This wasn't scary at all

In the morning we woke ready for a day of sightseeing. The snow had been pretty solid overnight.

Jackie and Fran, there is a car under there

 Being relatively new to proper cold weather I didn't have ideal cold weather clothing. My biggest issue, just visible in the photo below was shoes. Here I am modelling a pair of brown leather work shoes. Designed for looking stylish in a carpeted office. The didn't offer much but they were the closest thing I had to anything water/snow proof.

This guy had the right attire (including bayonet) 

Prague is known for it's Gothic architecture, this is what a lot of our sightseeing involved. Given this was our first European adventure we quiet taken by this, I guess though if you'd already spent quite a bit of time in Europe it might have been a bit repetitive.

See the ice coming out of the gargoyles mouth.

It is impressive

It is beautiful

Snowy

 Something interesting that was happening around town while we were there was semi regular fire engine sirens. We eventually found out what this was about. The firemen were removing the icicles hanging from rooftops. I guess these things could cause some serious damage if the landed on someone's head.

Danger

Jackie looking suitably attired. 

Not a lot of food memories, onion soup was one and it was a good memory being a very welcome winter warmer. I also recall going to a restaurant/bar type place,down some stairs, Turns out it really wasn't designed for tourists but we managed to somehow get some food, served an large pieces of wood.Can't recall exactly what we ate but it had to be hearty to keep us going in the cold. 

Inside having a famous Czech beer, warming up and eating something. 

The famous astronomical clock. It does more than tell the time. 

Statues on the Charles Bridge

I would like to come back when it's warmer to sit at these tables and enjoy a beer. 

Quick trip, made a little longer but the fact that we managed to get on the wrong tram so spent a while heading away from the airport. We did manage to catch our flight ok though so no major hold ups. 

And that was that. We were so excited to have our first trip done, we certainly learnt a bit like, make sure you've got the right type of clothing and 2 night trips are probably too quick.

We were hopeful of getting back to Prague but it didn't eventuate, I'd like to go back some day in summer when we could do some sitting outside in beer gardens and watching the world pass us by. Hopefully we get a chance to do that one day.