Hi everyone! So sorry about the late entry. I've been trying for days now to log on but it wouldn't let me

Today I must say I have out done myself in the planning and reading a map department! I will get to the reading the map section in a second. So yesterday evening I Googled sightseeing in Prague and picked the hop on hop off option to see the sights around the city. I downloaded the map and time table and found out that the first tour starts at 10 at the Old Town Centre so I figured if I were to leave at around 9.30ish that should give me plenty of time to get to the town centre in time.

So I was up at the crack of dawn again! One would think that when you're on a holiday you would actually try to sleep in... Nope not my body. Maybe I should start going to bed later then I might sleep in. When 6.30 came around I got dressed (couldn't be bothered to do my hair so it went up in the good old fashion bun), packed my bag for the day and went down to level -1 to the restaurant for breakfast. The breakfast buffet was so much better than the breakfast that was supplied at the Gates Hotel. I had some scrambled eggs and bacon on a piece of toast, some juice and some yoghurt with I think some chocolate clusters. There was a variety of cakes and sweets as well but I couldn't bring myself to eat them at that time of the morning.

As I was leaving I noticed there was small Nutella spreads so I took a bulk of those to take with me to snack on. Totally off the subject but did you know that if you freeze these small portions of nutella in the freezer and when you take them out they just pop out and they melt in your mouth like Lindor chocolate. It's aMAZing!! You should totally try it one day!! haha there may be bulk small nutellas in the freezer at crossfit. Just what you want to have right after a full on deadly session...

Anyway where was I? oh right so I went upstairs and collected my bag and went down to the reception and asked how far away was the Old Town Centre. I was given a map and three different ways of how to get there. The first one was to just walk there, it was about a 25 min walk. the other two options involved catching trams and then changing to buses and it all looked to hard with a high chance of me changing onto the wrong tram and bus which then I would probably end up on the outer suburbs of Prague. So I went with the safer option of walking 25mins. So this is where my aweSOME map reading skills come into play. I didn't get lost and I actually got there earlier than I expected. I was so proud of myself I even did a air fist pump in my head as I didn't want to look like a total fool.

I saw the hop on hop off man standing at the centre of the square and when he said hello I thought to myself ahhh my first fellow Aussie. He was from Sydney and after almost a week of only hearing foreign languages and hardly understanding the english that was being spoken it was just so nice to hear a farmilar accent from back home.

It's only taken me two whole days to finally work out the Czech money system (it's so confusing) I paid for a city tour and decided to do a boat tour as well.

After waiting a short 10 mins to wait for the late arrivals we started the first part of the tour walking with a guide through the Old Town stopping at the key points of interest. My favourite part of the Old Town would probably be the Black Town which is one of the oldest existing buildings in Prague. It was built in 1135 as a eastern gate of the Romanesque fortification of the Prague Castle. I just love old buildings with a story and history and I also believe the statues on the town are also holding gold swords. Gold was a really BIG thing back then and it had to on display back then for everyone to see.

We got to the second checkpoint and hopped onto the bus and set off around the city. There isn't as many checkpoints as the tour in Berlin but the checkpoints were very far apart. We past the famous Charles Bridge named after Emperor Charles IV, Our guide said he was the best man Prague ever had. Surely there has been many great men since back in the day...

I stopped at the Prague Castle checkpoint (it wasn't actually a castle but many buildings, cathedrals, gardens with a non water moat around it) there was a Prague Castle tour and I asked if I could change the boat tour to the castle tour seen as it was the same price. Going on guided tours I think is much beneficial than exploring by your self because the guides are so passionate about the history of their city they get so enthusiastic talking about each thing. I really enjoy the tour. We then watched the changing of the guards which was very interesting. The post had to be guarded 24 hours a day and I was thinking to myself the poor blokes that have to stand in the one spot and not move for 24 hours. I felt sorry for them. Then the guide mentioned that they change guards hourly. I totally knew that!! The picture I selected for this entry is the Castle's Cathedral. It is the most beautiful building I have EVER seen! Truly amazing!!

After the changing of the guards that had concluded the Prague Castle tour. Definitely a better decision then going for a boat ride. After the tour we could either stay and explore the castle a bit longer or head back to the bus and go onto the next stop. I decided to stay and have a look about in castle gardens. It's a very beautiful place. I found myself a bench and snacked on my nutellas. I then continued down the gardens and took a few more photos of the buildings then decided to head back up to the checkpoint to go to the next stop for a bite to eat. I looked at the time and I had only 5 minutes to make my way back up to the bus. I tried to run but I didn't wait to look like a fool. As I walked out of the garden gates I saw the bus leaving. My time management skills with making it back to the bus isn't working work as well as I hoped.

It looked like I had to wait 30 mins for the next bus so I took a toilet break and could you believe that you had to pay 50cent euro to use the bathroom. Now that's just ridiculous is that?!?!? I looked at the souvenir shop afterwards and bought some postcards and went up to the bus stop to wait for the next bus to arrive. A few tour buses arrived as I was waiting this one guy inparticular looked down on my like a piece of crap and screwed his nose up at me. who does he think he was somebody important?!? I think not!! I don't know why but he made me really angry for some unknown reason. Since there was alittle wait from the us I decided to work on my tan. I swear this is the longest time I have spent in the sun for over a few years now. This would explain why I am so ghostly white but I keep telling myself that a natural tan ages your skin therefore when I'm in my 60's I will have amazing looking skin.

I jumped on the next bus and traveled to the next checkpoint Strahov Monastery. I had a look around, took a few photos and the guide from the castle your said that there was a restaurant there and they make their own famous beer there. As I walked in I instantly smelt the smell that reminded me of when I was growing and I used to help dad every weekend bottle his home brew beer. I'm pretty sure that dad could give them a run for their money. They smelt exactly the same! I sat down at one of the tables, had a look at the menu and saw CHICHEN, POTATO AND VEGIES!! I could hardly wait to eat the vegies and omg when I tasted the potato it tasted as good as nana's ta-tar (potato if you didn't know). It was like music to my taste budds. So bloody amazing because I feel like I've been eating malteasers for like breakfast, lunch and dinner AND they also had free wifi. WINNING!! I've only started to realise in this last week how much our generation really relays on technology and the internet. After trying to eat my lunch as slow as possible just so I could check all my emails and get up to date on everyone's lives through facey, I made my way down to the bus stop. While I was waiting I saw a police man on one of those segway things in the carpark and I literally watched him ride from one side of each vechicle to the next. what is this world coming too?!? Surely he could have walked from car to car. I couldn't stop laughing, I was just beside myself!

I jumped on the bus and missed the stop as I wasn't to fussed or interested in looking at the Strahov Stadium. The next stop I got off at was the stop called Kampa Island. From this stop you could walk to the Charles Bridge but my feet was starting to get sore so I just took some photos from the nearest bridge. The landscape veiw was just so breathtaking and amazing. I have no doubts that the view would be a photographers dream! After taking a few photos I made my way back to the bus stop and in true aussie style sat in the gutter and waited to rest my now very sore feet.

The next bus that I got onto was one of the live guided buses. The ones that I've only been on are the prerecorded commentary buses. On the way to the next and finally stop before heading back to the first checkpoint the guide was talking about the prices of beer compared to other drinks available. He was saying that a beer cost 20 crowns, water cost 35 crowns and softdrinks cost 45 crowns. How ridiculous is that?!?!? No wonder so many people are drinking beer like it's going out of fashion. Also the cigarettes are cheap as chips as well!! but I think the government is finally about to introduce the cigarette tax so the will hope this will reduce the amount of kids smoking. But the same laws apply like back home that shop employees can not sell cigarettes to minors and like always that doesn't stop them.

The last stop was outside the Hlavní Nádrazí train station which is the main station for Prague and also the station I arrived into from Berlin. I figured I would just get off at this stock and walk back to the unit, saves me walking an extra 20mins more then I had too. As I was walking back to the hotel I stopped off at the National Museum to take a few pictures. I am very pleased to say that I didn't need the map at all to get back to the hotel. I was very impressed with my efforts.

Once I arrived back at the hotel I didn't really need to eat and dinner because I had such a late lunch. I jumped into the shower (by the way this is the smaller shower EVER. 40cm x 40cm. It's crazy, I'm surprised I even had enough room to spin in a circle). I jumped into bed as I had to get up early to pack because I was getting picked up at 7.30 for my flight to Athens

Anyways I'd best be off. I also read on facey the other day that the twins won The Block. Yay!!

Sbohem (goodbye in Czech) for now!

JB

Xox