Days 22 & 23 Saturday & Sunday 22 & 23 April 2017

First up, Clair, thank you for your comments, but of course the difference was that I always knew when I'd had enough and knew when it was time to go home.

Flashy, you are right about the word hotel emblazoned on the front of the building, it is very handy.  The other thing is it is the only word in the Czech language that has any resemblance to the English equivalent.

To the guys at the Shrine, have a good Anzac Day, I trust it all goes well without too much drama.  I will be in Munich for Anzac Day, might have to find the nearest RSL for a game of two up.

 I have never used a map for finding my way around a city as much as I have done here.  And I am not alone, street corners are clogged with people looking at the maps and trying to compare them to the incomprehensible street names.

The city of Prague is an old European city and few of the streets go in straight lines and most are narrow.  So you start off walking along a narrow winding street going in a certain direction thinking that you know where you are going to end up, and then lo, you pop out onto a square somewhere nowhere near where you intended.  Not a problem, you just reorientate and head of again.  Most things are close and easily  walkable, eventually.

Prague has three really significant tourist attractions and a heap of lesser ones.  I will deal with the biggies.

Tourist attraction number one is the castle/cathedral complex.  The castle is high up on a hill, castles were usually built on hill so the occupants could drop boulders on any attackers.  On Saturday, which was wet and cold (8 degrees max less 4 degrees wind chill, felt like 4 degrees) I decided to visit the castle and cathedral and a number of other sites on the hill top.  I could have caught the train up or walked, I chose to walk.  This involved a rather long walk, mostly up hill and when I got to the square in front of the castle there was a queue of people about 300 metres long standing in the wind and the rain waiting to get in.  Not this little wood duck.  I visited a couple of the lesser sites on top of the hill and made my way back down again.

This brings us to major tourist site number two, the Charles Bridge.  This was named after some important bloke called, wait for it, Charles and was built in 1342 or thereabouts.  Tens of thousands of tourists visit this bridge every day.  Now, dont get me wrong, this is a very nice bridge and it crosses a very nice river, but at the end of the day it is a bridge across a river.

I bet you can hardly wait for biggie number three.  Number three is the astronomical clock in the old town square.  This clock is in a tower that was built in 1342 or thereabouts.  Every hour, on the hour the clock puts on a little show, this involves two trap doors above the clock opening and the disciples appearing in the little windows, 6 on one side and 6 on the other.

This display last 45 seconds!  Hundreds of people wait in the square in front from one hour to the next to see this, it is almost like it is a miracle of some sort.  The Czech tourist people claim this to be the most visited tourist attraction in Europe!

It may not sound like it but I have enjoyed my stay here.  Walking around the old town streets is an adventure with lots of little bars, bistros, ice cream shops and food stalls.  The market places, and there are lots of them are great, busy and colourful.  There is a huge amount of history here, and they even invented execution by defenestration (look it up).

After yesterday's sojourn up the hill and back down again, I visited the Fat Cat Pub and Brewery for lunch.  This is a bright modern bar, in contrast to the older style bars which are quite often dark and gloomy, although their food and beer are still good.  Anyway the Fat Cat served a taster flight of 6 of their own brews.

I had one of those followed by a number (I think three) of their light ales (light in colour, not strength) and to eat I had the roasted pork shoulder.  This is a Prague standard and every restaurant has it on it's menu.  Most places state the weight and mine was 1kg (including the bone of course), this was served with mustard and dried sauerkraut and strangely a toasted loaf of bread.  This was extremely filling and I staggered out of there about 3 in the afternoon with a tummy on me like a poisoned pup.  The pork shoulder, 3 half litre beers and the tasting flight cost me 1,000 krowns, including tip, or about $50 Australian.

I haven't even got to good King Wencleslas, save him for another day.

I am going by train to Munich tomorrow (Monday), so more good food and beer to come.