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I'm writing this blog at 8pm on a moving bus from Prague back to Berlin with free WiFi, technology still amazes me! I want to send a big "Danke Schon!" out to the universe also for this free upgrade to business class! I've hummed and haahed about the best way to blog about our trip.. Writing at the end of each day required way too much dedication on my part, so here is the full on, novel version! Feel free to hit the "close" button at any time..
Day 1: Running on 4 hours sleep from working until 1am the night before, we make our way to the main bus station in Berlin. By noon, we are in Prague. Isn't continental Europe awesome!? You can be anywhere within a few short hours. 5 minutes into our holiday, the train station is where we encounter our first adventure! A close call with a pickpocketer leaves us super aware that we're not in typical Western Europe anymore. After changing our euro's to crowns (CZK) and feeling ilke a millionaire with their currency, we head off with just a street map to find our hostel for the night. We arrive at Clown and Bard Hostel and I immediately fear for my life.. lol It's dark, dingy with some very intesting looking characters drinking at the bar. Realising that life is all about being out of your comfort zone, we grab a drink amongst them and get comfortable for the night. 8 hours of socializing later, we are very "happy" and decide to stumble upstairs to bed where we hear all sorts of fascinating sounds through the paper thin walls..
Day 2: We awake in Prague and it is Valentines Day. I think back to 5 years ago when we first started dating. Our valentines day consisted of leaving swimming sports early and driving to Thames for a bite of KFC haha I never would have guessed we would be frollicking throughout Europe just a few years later. While our time at Clown and Bard turned out to be a blast, we were keen for our next hotel which SURELY had to be an improvement. After getting lost for around 1hour, we found Hotel Propopka. To our delight, it had natural light and carpet! It's these little things in life that make us smile.. We stayed in a district of Prague called Zizkov. I read online that it has more bars and clubs per capita than any other European city. I'm inclined to believe this. Literally every street was lined with clubs, bars, pubs and restraunts. We spent the afternoon exploring the streets by foot, finding hidden treasures at every turn and marvelling at the amazing buildings and architecture. We had a lovely wee valentines dinner at a real authentic Czech pub and restraunt and headed back to the hotel for a proper shower and sleep!
Day 3: This is where the title of this blog entry comes into play- "The balloon and the anchor". I liken this to Ry and I when we travel. I have a real, true, passion for traveling and discovering new places. It's a feeling I can't really put into words, but when I am on my way to a new country, I truly feel "alive". I'm like a hyped up toddler running in circles, getting in everyones way and missing out on half the good things because I am just THAT excited to be there. Ry is my anchor. He brings me down a notch and has a way of making me appreciate being in the moment. While I would happily put on my sneakers and run around a city, he slows the pace and reminds me that time is on our side. It's actually a surreal experience to just dawdle through streets, not having a particular plan of where we may end up, and finally noticing all the people rushing by missing all of the amazing bits of a city that you simply have to slow down to see.
Without my anchor, I would simply float away.
We spent most of the day visiting places that people travel halfway around the world to see. Normally we try and avoid these tourist traps, but the Prague Castle (Prasky Hrad) and it's grounds were absolutely stunning. The history and sheer brilliance of the architecture was what made this visit a highlight of my entire trip. Ry mostly enjoyed the war side of the tour (armour, weapons, tourture chamber, prison etc) but even he was stunned at the interior of the St. Vitus Cathedral. It was absolutely huge and had the most amazing stained glass throughout. Easily the most stunning building I've ever set foot in. After a few hours, and on my 3 year old like hyper trip, we explored more landmarks of Prague such as Charles Bridge, taking photos every few steps. One thing I would recommend to anyone coming to Europe is to invest in a really good camera. Ours is average, but does the job.
Being very cultured and well traveled we argue between McDonalds or KFC for lunch.. Sometimes in a super foreign place, you need to have the comforts of home!
Day 4: We spend the day exploring Wencelases Square which was buzzing with people. A great place to shop, eat and pick up some super cheap bits and pieces to take home! As Saturday night approaches, we were originally going to do a pub crawl.. However, the more we travel, the more we are finding our travel style. Turns out, ours isn't doing what everyone else does lol We decide to hit the town without any definite plans and see where we end up.. We ended up in a -7 degree chiller in dorky silver jackets drinking cocktails out of ice glasses. Awesome experience and snapped some cool photos! As we were deciding what to do next, a friendly Jamaican man told us to check out the Reggae Bar down a side street. So, of course we did! More interesting characters filled this bar! (Prague seems to attract the most interesting of all... lol). Super chilled vibe and super cheap drinks made this a neat way to end our night out!
Day 5: Due to Night 4 taking it's toll on us, not much was achieved during day 5 lol Ry slept and played his new addiction (4 pictures 1 word lol) most of the day. I took this opportunity to venture out on my own- no way was I wasting a whole day in Prague! I was told today that it's scientifically proven that men have a better sense of direction than woman. This is a comforting thought as I wandered around lost for HOURS looking for the biggest tourist attraction in all of Prague - the old town square. So, I didn't find the square on my own but I made it back to the hotel in one piece, without being hit by a tram or abducted by extra's from hostel 3.. (Joking Mum!!!! hehe ;) )
Day 6: In true kiwi style we took advantage of the free all you can eat breakfast at the hotel before checking out at 10am. With my human map beside me we found the old town square with ease (typical...), had an incredible lunch at an underground restraunt (another highlight of my trip!) and soaked up the atmosphere in our last few hours. We spent the time waiting for our bus people watching at Florenc Bus station- a notorious hot spot for beggars, homeless and pickpockets. We watched a very clever group of 3 woman and a young child systematically try to scam tourists into buying their "Hugo Boss" perfume.. I can smell a knock off "Hugo Boos" from a mile away.. My Nan always used to tell me how interesting it is to just sit and watch people, I never understood this until this afternoon. Our business class bus pulled up at 6pm and we shrugged our shoulders and hopped aboard! Stoked that our 22 euro tickets scored us business class seats ;) All in all, Prague was an absolute magical city that deserves all of the hype it gets! It had a thin layer of snow and was ridiculously romantic, especially at night. If you ever have the opportunity to visit- grab it with both hands!
(If you have made it to the end- two gold stars for you! We hope you have enjoyed reading! )
- comments
Bird Shot Milz & Black ... I can't believe I read that all - sounds mad ass ... I seen the pictures too hahaha the f***en one where yous went out and had photos with the ice vodka OMG that would be a dream come true :)
Milly Thanks Bridge :) It was such an awesome city, the Ice Pub was a highlight, you would have loved it!
Kirsty Wow another heart moving blog loved it! Like PPop said a lot of people can travel through you guys and one day of course travel with great tips from your blogs! I like how you said can travel your own way and don't have to hit the major spots just take what you want in ;)
Cheyene Emery-Broad Kia ora korua...wow, you two have been busey...lol As with most whanau..(or is it just mine..lol) im dying to hear what their food is like??? And is their kaimoana like ours...kina, paua, pipi etc. It's been so good to hear that between you both theres no show of anyone picking your guys pockets..lol Thanks again for sharing your adventure :-)
Milly :) Kia Ora, Yes, sure have been keeping ourselves busy! Food here is very very good. The meats and cheeses are super high quality. Often the biggest meal of the day is lunch with just something light for dinner. In Germany, they are famous for their sausages (Wurst, in German) and rightly so! As for seafood, we haven't really tried much. Come to think of it, we haven't had any! Not surprising for me as I'm not a fan but Ry was an addict (especially with Oysters). There's probably a few reasons for this.. The biggest would be that every menu is written in German so it can be really hard to understand what your ordering! In supermarkets there's definitely a lack of seafood, especially fresh! This could be just here in Berlin or because of the season. We'll put it on our bucket list to eat at a seafood restaurant and get back to you! :)