Day 24 Monday 24 April 2017

On the train from Prague to Munich with extremely dodgy wifi, so will see how it goes.

A big thank you to Flashy for his detailed explanation of the term 'defenestration',  as an ex altar boy he would certainly be familiar with the latin roots (so to speak) of the word.

As the train left Prague the sun was shining, it was about 2 or 3 degrees but promising to be a fine day.  The wi fi on the train isn't up to giving me a weather forecast for Munich so I will just have to wait and see.

The train is just crossing the border, leaving the Czech Republic and heading back into Germany, still about 3 hours to Munich.  Everything just got neater and tidier so I think we have crossed the border into Germany.

I need to gather my thoughts a bit about Prague.  They certainly don't go out of their way to make visitors and tourists feel welcome.  There is no signage in English or German, even at the tourist spots.  At the station this morning trying to find the international train departure area was difficult as the station signage was all in Czech.  Once you got to the international area the departure information board had a smattering of information in German and English.  Even the French do better than this.

The other thing is that you always have the feeling that the Czechs are trying to separate you from your funds.  As an example, if you go into a bar they may have some pretzels hanging from a wooden frame on your table or on the bar.   Hmmmm you say, I might have one of those, at your peril, you will be charged through the nose for it.  The other trick is to give you a basket of bread with your meal, hmmm you think I will have a piece of bread. Again you will be charged extra as the bread is not included in the price of the meal.  If you don't touch it you won't be charged.

But I did like the old town and the medieval feel of the place,  it was an interesting town to walk around as you were never quite sure what you would find at the end of the street, or even where you were actually going to be.  The buildings and the history were all interesting and like a lot of these European cities they have been at the centre of dramatic historical events both recent and in the distant past.

The Jewish quarter was interesting, pre 2nd world war Prague had a Jewish population of I think 70 to 80,000; after the war the Jewish population was something like 2,000.  There are something like 6 or 7 synagogues in the Jewish quarter and a Jewish museum.  Hitler had the bizarre idea of putting all the material looted from the synagogues all around Europe in a Museum in Prague, although this never quite got of the ground for some reason or another.

Must be nearly time for a beer on the train, so I will see if I can post this and I may come back to it later, or then again I may not.  I might need a nap after my beer.