The travels of Tim and Megan: Christmas in Prague

Monday

We had been told that as Christmas Eve is a public holiday, and is actually more of a holiday than Christmas Day itself in the Czech Republic, that nothing would be open on Monday; even the Christmas markets were due to close at midday! So after a little sleep in, we headed back to the Old Town Square once more to get our last taste of the little doughnut things and hot roasted nuts. These did not disappoint, and nor did the hot dogs we bought. Tim is willing to stick his neck out and say that that was the best hot dog he has ever eaten.

As 12 noon was approaching we wandered off to walk the streets and explore some more of Prague. We managed to find our way to the Charles Bridge, a magnificent huge bridge, lined with statues of various saints and religious figures down either side, and with a beautiful tower archway at either end. Charles IV had the bridge built in the 14th century, and the first statue, the crucifix pictured below, was erected in 1657.

We crossed the Charles Bridge, fighting our way through thousands of tourists, many of them in big clusters gathered around a tour guide holding an umbrella aloft to signify their importance. We also passed an organ grinder (see photo below) and several vendors selling artwork or beautiful photographs of Prague.

Across the bridge we had to stop in for a drink, as our fingers had lost feeling once again. The bar we stopped at was nice enough but the service was poor, something we had got used to unfortunately, and we had to ask a few times for the bill and then wait for almost 15 minutes before they brought it to us. No tip for them.

Back on our side of the bridge, we strolled some more narrow cobbled streets, marvelling at the beautiful old buildings all around us. Prague really is beautiful. To our surprise, most shops and bars were open all day, as were the Christmas market stalls...seems we were misinformed!

Another stop off at a bar (this time an Irish pub) to warm the hands, then back to the apartment to sort out our key issue. When we had left in the morning, our keys would not fit in to the lock on our apartment door any more. The door had locked, but now we could not get back in. We were delighted when a locksmith appeared just as we got back there, as the receptionist we spoke to earlier in the day just didn't want to know about it. With a new lock installed, we were away laughing once again.

We ventured out to a mini mart and picked up some beers and bubbles for Christmas Eve and then we had a beautiful dinner (and extravagant desserts) at Cafe Wow...the sort of restaurant name we got used to in Vietnam!

Tuesday (Christmas Day)

We had a big sleep in on Christmas Day and after Tim eventually got over the fact that Santa had not found his way to the Truhlarska Apartments in Prague, we set off for Christmas dinner. We snaked our way though narrow streets and once again crossed the amazing Charles Bridge and explored some more of the other side of the river.

There are hundreds of hidden shops, bars, art galleries and cafes tucked away in the back streets, where many tourists will never venture. Prague Castle is built on a hill over-looking the beautiful city below. So we made the steep climb to the top of the hill, which was actually good, as it warmed us up a bit and made us more hungry for Christmas dinner!

We'd booked a Christmas dinner at a restuarant at the back of Prague Castle, it was one of the only ones we could find that wasn't going to force us into the previously mentioned carp speciality as a main course. Instead we dined on turkey (with a slightly odd side of mushroom lentils) and baked apple/chocolate cake for dessert. Not as good as our mums' dinners but still very good.

After lunch we wandered around Prague Castle which is absolutely enormous. It is almost a small town in itself. It is the largest ancient castle in the world at 570m long and an average of 128m wide. It dates back to the 9th century and it has grown haphazardly as various rulers have made their own additions over time. The castle has always been the seat of Czech rulers as well as the official residence residence of the head of state.

The grounds are split into three separate courtyards, one of which houses the magnificent St Vitus cathedral, and then several cobbled alleys with shops and cafes. One of these alleys, Golden Lane, is a beautiful lane full of tiny, colourful cottages, which were built in the 16th century for the castle guards, but were later used by goldsmiths...hence Golden Lane!

One thing we noticed about Prague is that it is heavily populated by dogs. Of course the down side is that the footpaths of Prague are heavily populated by dog shit. So we had to balance taking in all of the beautiful sights with balance being very cautious where we stepped! We got through unscathed!

Wednesday

Boxing Day was a rest day for us. After an early start to check out of the apartment and get a taxi to the train station, we then had an 11 and a half hour train journey from Prague to Zurich, with a stop over in Munich for an hour and a half.

The train was pretty good and the time flew by. The scenery was amazing, especially through Germany, where there was thick snow on the ground. While they won't count for our official country tally, we passed through both Germany and Austria en route to Switzerland (four countries in one day!).

We liked Munich from what we saw of it...that is, the inside of the train station and a lot of snow. We are sure to be back there next year for Oktoberfest.

We arrived in Zurich just before 9pm and enjoyed the short walk to our hotel. After dropping off our bags we headed out for some dinner at a big beer hall. The food was brilliant and reasonably priced.