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Three nights in Prague…no ice hockey but a football match
We arrived in Prague mid afternoon on Tuesday after a hot four hour journey from Vienna on a train with unfeasibly small windows and crazy American accented announcements offering car hire at every stop.
After some discussion as to whether we had agreed, or only talked about going to watch the crucial clash of Sparta v Slavia Prague ice hockey teams and asking for directions from a decidedly uninterested in sport looking receptionist at our hostel, we headed to the home of HC Slavia Prague. After some time and some wrong turnings, including an unscheduled, but not wholly unwelcome visit to Slavia Prague football club's ground (just for the record the first football ground visit of our trip so far) we found the ice hockey rink.
For a country and city supposedly ice hockey mad things did seem a little quiet and low key - unfortunately the fixture had been switched to the city's main indoor arena, all in all a bit of bummer. Our main learning of this little excursion was that Prague may have many beautiful buildings but the Slavia Prague ice hockey rink and its immediate surrounds do not fall into that category.
Wednesday was more successful. Mapped up we spent the morning strolling around the fantastic old town, moving from one historic landmark to the next. After constructing a couple of walking tours (something we're now very adept at) and a bargain set lunch for less than three euros each we headed to the Vysehrad hill top park for views of the city and an afternoon snooze in the late summer sunshine.
To avoid the crowds, and on the advice of the aforementioned hostel man, who clearly knows more about the sites of Prague than he does about ice hockey, we waited until 10pm before we headed to Prague castle which holds a dominant position towering over the city and within its grounds also contains the cathedral. The place was virtually deserted except for a splattering of soldiers and looked magnificent in all its floodlit glory.
We then walked down the hill across the famous Charles Bridge which was much more pleasant than our earlier crowded crossing.
Unfortunately, the sun did not shine for our final day in Prague. The morning was spent visiting the excellent Communist museum which provided details of what happened in the Czech republic after the second world war right through to the velvet revolution. With no small amount of irony the museum is located behind the city's largest McDonalds.
After the disappointment of the ice hockey we agreed, after some discussion that we would try and see some football instead (it seems that David is missing his subscription to Sky sports). As luck would have it (!?!), Sparta Prague were playing in the Europa league against PSV Eindhoven that evening. The ground was not full but had a good atmosphere nonetheless and the game was pretty entertaining, particularly the second half.
PSV equalised twice, the second from a dodgy looking penalty in the last five minutes (see photo paying special attention to the extra official behind the goal), much to the vocal disappointment of the local crowd. Sparta didn't really help themselves though - when they conceded the penalty they only had 10 players on the pitch as, in an attempt to time waste, a Sparta player had tried to boot the ball away after the whistle had blown, but had inadvertently belted it into the delicate areas of a team mate who eventually was forced to make use of the stretcher.
Jenny's take on the football: I enjoyed watching my 2nd live football match (the 1st being Ipswich Town against Millwall some years ago), particularly the 2nd half when there were actually some goals. It's a good way to see some local culture and my conclusion is that football, like cricket, is much better live than when its constantly on the telly. The other good thing is that I must have earned some good wife brownie points which I can cash in next time there's a 'boring' museum I want to visit - watch this space.
With that in mind we're now off to Berlin….
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