Prague
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Check back previous posts later for Salzburg posts.. I decide to whine about today first..
It's back to Prague again for me.. for the rest of the group.. they had high hopes about so called Europe's Most Beautiful City. But it was disheartening to see that we met with disappointments after disappointments...
First of all.. the train to Prague cocked up. Yeah. It was supposed to be one straight train to the city but somehow halfway we had to get off.. get on a bus (which at that time we didn't know where it'd bring us to or how long the journey would take).. and then board a train again which was delayed for 40 minutes. The whole journey was a fiasco. The train conditions were terrible. Bad start.
Second.. the hostel was a disappointment. Ok to me it was a normal standard hostel.. but to the rest of the group that was pampered with good hostels all the way till now.. squeezing in a 9 man bunk with shared toilets and showers seemed to be a terrible inconvenience. And breakfast was disappointing too. Sigh.
Brought them to the Old Town Square first.. which well.. no one seemed terribly impressed. The Astronomical Clock was a disappointment to the rest too.. as probably they expected much more from the Clock that would prance into life every hour. Probably not as lively as everyone expected it to be. Not that early in the morning as well.
We did the usual stuff by walking around.. Brought them to the New Town and the usual photo spot of the St Wenceslas statue and the National Museum. Again no one seemed interested in photo taking the statue nor the Museum.. which probably was because we were still dulan with the burger guy that gave us attitude just barely an hour before.
Heading down to the river banks.. they were already lamenting that Prague was not as pretty as they had expected. Yeah.. I guessed as much.. When I was in Budapest I thought the Danube River banks were much nicer than Prague's. Before heading to Petrin Hill I finally stumbled onto the Dancing House which Matt showed me on a photo before. Nothing fantastic. To me and, of course, to the rest of the group.
Petrin Hill was another great disappointment. It was the only part of Prague which I haven't been there myself the previous trip.. and was expecting a panoramic view after scaling the top of the hill. After a 26Kc funicular ride up the hill with superb views on the way up, we ended up on the top of the hill SURROUNDED BY TREES! The only way to get the intended view was to climb up the Observation Tower which we had to pay for. Mind you, the keyword is 'climb'. No lift no elevator. And climbing is definitely not high on our list of activities.
Hence we went downhill in search of a better view, without trees.. and found what we wanted at the funicular intermediate station. Didn't stay long though.. as our ticket only allowed us 75 minutes on the hill. Damn stupid.
Went to chill at this coffee/ice cream place and ordered frappucino.. which turned out to be merely milkshake for me. Tamade. Slept while the rest played cards.
We had an early dinner at some Chinese restaurant.. expensive, yes. And again I am eating Chinese food in Europe. But what to do?
Walking along the river banks with the late afternoon sun gleaming behind the castles made me regain my affection for this little city. Budapest may look nicer on the whole but Prague does have it's quant charms. Never mind what the rest feel.. I still think this place is worth this second visit.
Charles Bridge was thronged with tourists. Much more than the previous time. Maybe because it's Summer now. Tourists made it irritating for phototaking. In fact, Prague is FULL of tourists.. even more than Czech citizens themselves I feel. Which made everything so expensive. Yes, that was another disappointment for everyone. To think I still told them previously that Prague is a cheap place. I probably forgot that I was still converting to Pounds rather than Singapore Dollars the last time I came. Either that or the global inflation phenomenon riding on the Summer tourist season drove prices to ridiculously high levels.
Point is.. I feel kinda bad that everyone is not having an as good a time as they expected to have in this city.. after all I was here before and should be able to be a good 'host'. There are 2 more days here and I hope the castle tomorrow can save Prague from further condemnation from the group. Otherwise.. oh well.. I'll just feel suckier.
What's worse.. I left my bottle of soap in the communal shower last night and it's probably cleared away. Tamade gotta spend money buying soap.
Sigh.
Signed off at
6:57 am
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th reader
