Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Prague update

All right, let me start off from where I left off. The last post was a rather crappy one. I'll do this with pictures.

21/06 -23/06

Firstly, I must tell you all about the hostel I am at - it's a GREAT one! If any of you are going to Prague, you HAVE to stay at Sir Toby's! It has a great kitchen stocked with all kinds of utensils, free hot chocolate, coffee and tea all day round, except when the kitchen closes at 11pm. Free wireless internet (if you bring your laptop around), great people stay in the rooms, a beer garden at the back, and its own pub downstairs! (Big screen TV included!)

OK time for pics.

Prague Castle and Charles Bridge on the right. To dispel a popular urban legend, Charles Bridge is actually not the oldest bridge in Czech Republic, as "Lonely Planet" would point out. There existed a small bridge beside it that actually linked a row of houses, but I think it's not there anymore.

Me and the background.

My fave black and white shot in Prague.

The head of the Charles Bridge.

Some flowers blooming in spring. Europe is ever so amazing cos of flowers. Why doesn't Singapore have these? A Jewish Cross that the Nazis didn't destroy during WWII when they occupied Prague. On the cross, it's written in Yiddish, "Holy holy holy", referring to the King of Jews, The Almighty Jesus Christ.

The Dancing Building. The surrounding buildings are just normal ones, maybe the Czechs should decorate the place up a little, otherwise this great looking architecture looks so out of place. Or maybe because the rest are so boring, the Dancing building stands out!

The Old Town Square. There was the Czech-Italy World Cup match when we first got there. Unfortunately the Czech lost, and there were a lot of broken hearted people out there. My heart went out to them totally.

Fashion show by adidas. Great models!

Lucie, Joe, Judita (my Czech friends) and me in Prague. It was great to meet them after 2 months after Oulu. Met them on the second night I was in Prague, how cool was that!

The next day we visited the Prague Castle on the other side of the bank from the Old Town.

Prague Castle. It was used as a castle for the people. In case a war broke out, the king decreed that the people should be allowed to stay in the castle for shelter and in turn, they would fight for him if so needed. The castle is huge, the biggest in Europe, measuring 618m by 340(?)m, about 79 hectares, and therefore as many football fields.

Note: 618 is for sure correct, but the rest of the numbers may have been mixed up a little.

The royal guards decked in blue garb. Nice coloured uniforms for the Bohemian guards, charming don't you think?The drain covers. Each one of them in Prague is decorated with a nice design and the name of the area it is in. The Castle Entrance with 2 royal guards. Every tourist went camera happy with the guards. Probably cos the uniform colour is so unique.

My turn. The guard stands really ramrod-straight. When it is around 3pm and the sun shines really strong, they wear sunglasses. Cool!

The views overlooking from the castle. Look at that! St Vitus' Cathedral looks impressive eh?
Cool view. The tallest building here is the TV tower. A present from the Soviets to the Czechs. Was kinda of a compensation for something I can't remember.

Tale of the charming old town centre and the ominous clouds hanging over our heads.

The astronomical clock in Prague. There are several in Europe (I think about 6). To make an accurate clock, you have to know that the Earth rotates about the sun, and in an elliptical orbit. This clock was made with the idea that the Sun rotated about the Earth, so really, it is inaccurate. Every hour on the hour, the 2 windows at the top pop open and 2 sets of 6 figurines rotate. Then the skeleton on the right plays some music, but it's very unimpressive.

Wenceslas Square and the statue fronting it. Wenceslas is Prague's patron saint. The Square is actually not a square at all, and in fact the measurements are exactly the same as the Prague Castle (618m by 340+m)!

24/06/06

CJ and me took a day trip to Cesky Krumlov, a town three and a half hours by train from Prague. This is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) site so we felt we had to go, especially after getting some recommendations from fellow hostelites. That is a great thing about hostels, that everyone shares information about where and when to go, something you will never get when you stay in a hotel. Word of mouth information is always the best, cos it's PERSONAL and not the official thing.

We took the earliest train at 6.23am and arrived at 10.30am. Great timing, but I had to pull myself outta bed at 5.10am. LOL. Anyway, the weather was hot, and (I think) I got more burnt, but then I am so dark by now it doesn't really matter anymore.

So pictures!

Český Krumlov.And just in case you didn't understand when I meant Český Krumlov was beautiful, this is it. Castle and river. We rafted along this river (350 CZK) and had so much fun!


And no more pics can be added cos of some fault of Blogger's.

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