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Prague – Day 25

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Today was a free day to do as we wished in Prague. We had no planned activities today so both Rhian and I took the opportunity to sleep in. We woke at around 9am and organised ourselves to go downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast and a little more stuffing around we left the hotel to catch the tram into the city with our normal group of tour buddies.

We began the day by retracing our walking tour from the night before. Only difference was this time it was at our pace and it was daylight. We stopped for lunch as a group near a big church. It is in the old part of the ‘old town square’ by this big astronomical clock. Kristy told us to look at what the clock does at the top of the hour. The clock has a few moving statues that “do something”. We could not decicipher what it meant. She told us on the bus but we don’t remember the meaning.

After lunch we continued walking the path we had travelled the night before until we reached the river. We crossed the bridge and found ourselves at the Parliment Gardens. From here we lost a couple people from our group who continued on too explore the castle on top of the hill. The rest of us headed back towards the river for some more photos with the geese.

After our photo stop we walked back over another bridge from the opposite direction we had visited it the night before. We were looking for a rooftop terrace Krizti told us about. We found it and went up top for a look. At the top we had to split into two groups because they could not fit all nine of us on one table. I had an iced coffee and a slice of cake while Rhian had a coffee and a Creme Brulee.

Once leaving the rooftop terrace bar/cafe the other boys departed back for the hotel while I hung back with the girls while they did the typical shopping and visit to H&M stores. Around 5pm we all got on the tram and headed back for the hotel. Once arriving Rhian and I both stayed downstairs making use of the WiFi and I eventually made my way to the bar for a couple drinks before dinner.

A large group of us meet in the lobby around 7pm to walk down the road for dinner at a restaurant called Mood. The place was pretty much empty until we arrived so the manager was happy to accomodate us all. I had pork belly and it was great, could have had it again. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went straight to the bar to try and get rid of the rest of the Czeck money. After a few more beers I retired back to the room. We left the country with around $200 which is now useless. Work out to less than $10 euros rougly.

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Vienna to Prague – Day 24

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Today we had an 8am departure from the hotel. Our destination today was Prague capital of Czech Republic. On the way to Prague we stopped at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, we only had one hour here. This was far to short. You could easily spend half a day or more here. With our short time all we could do is skim the place. Quickly walk through and take in as much as you can. We did see some of the doorm rooms and some of the cells. The main place I wanted to see was the gas chamber. This was the last place we looked at. It was downstairs below the museum. The room was very small and I was surprised at how small this one was.

However many died in the very room. We also saw two of the crematoriums and one of the original ovens still exists. Sad to think how many people were cooked inside the very walls. In the book of names of people who gassed Rhian fround three Rzepecki’s. Photo attached below.

After the visit to the concentration camp we got back on the bus and drove for another hour or so before stopping at Tesco for lunch. Tesco is the equivlant of Bunnings , Woolworths, Toys R Us, Harvey Norman all in one place. What ever you wanted you could get here.

After lunch it was direct to Prague. We arrived in Prague around 4pm. We had a couple hours to relax before needing to meet downstairs. Around 6pm we meet downstairs in the lobby. As a group we caught the tram from outside the hotel into the city. We had a walking tour lead by our tour guide. We were shown the sites of Prague but I don’t know the names of the places.

After the walking tour we had dinner as a local restraunt. We were located right at the back of the restraunt. The menu was set it conisited of twiggy sticks with a little ribbon of pastry with a slice of cucumber and tomato. Main was weird, it was veal with this weird fruit/nut bread that tasted plain (it was a dough conistancy, soft)and gravy lots of it. There was a slice of lemon, on top was strawberry jam and on top of that was cream. It was strange on the plate but was nice on the bread. The bonus we did receive a free stein of beer on arrival. Rhian didn’t want hers so I got extra one. After dinner Rhian and I caught the tram back to the hotel with a small group of people from our group.

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Budapest to Vienna – Day 23

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This morning we got an extra forty five minutes sleep in. Our departure from Budapest was not until 0850. Rhian and I had another awesome breakfast down stairs then returned to get our bags. The tour group was waiting outside the hotel in the cold waiting for the bus. Kris got stuck in traffic so we froze.

The drive to Vienna was not too long and Kristzi played the movie Grease on the bus. We arrived in Vienna around 1pm. This gave us three hours of free time in Vienna. Rhian and I had lunch with Tyler, Jess, Rob and Lolly before hgeading off to do our own thing. Our own thing consited of Rhian shopping. However her shopping was mainly clothes for me.

I got a new jacket / trench coat. I don’t have one at home. Will have to make good use of it over here because I don’t think it gets cold enough to use at home. We will see. I also picked up another cardigan and three more T-shirts. Delays the washing by a few days. Rhian also got a new coat.

We met the tour bus again at 4pm to take us back to the hotel for check inn. Once we got to the hotel and checked in it turned out that the singles had got rooms with double beds. We changed rooms for one with an actual double bed but we lost out on the bathroom. We went from a descent bathroom to a tiny shoebox bathroom. Oh well.

We did not have long until getting a lift on the tour bus back into town. Some from the group were going to an optional dinner and Opera concert. Rhian and I (me) were not interested and spent most of the night wandering the streets just looking around. It is a pretty city like most european cities but I didn’t find it as good as Budapest or Paris.

We stopped for a quick beer and coffee at a cafe in front of a church. We then walked for a little more before finding a place for dinner called Medusa Restaurant & Club. It was a little expensive. The total bill came to about $100 euro. This is the same as we spent the previous day in Budapest. However it made up for it in the quality of the food. I had the pepper streak. It was not large but I think it is the best steak I have ever had. I don’t know how to describe it apart from it was perfect and melted in your mouth. You have too have had it to appreciate it.

After dinner we walked back to where we were meant to meet the bus. The bus was not there so we walked along the canal and into the park. We came across a film crew setting up to film something. They had all the lights and light boxes setup in the gardens of the park. We made our way back to the bus again which now was there but locked. Rhian wanted a coffee so we walked to the closes cafe / bar to the thearter where the others were. It cost us $15 euros. One coffee and one beer. Aparently a cover charge for the live music was included too. Pretty much $1 euro for each minute we were there.

We then went back and got on the bus to go to the hotel. The others were eight minutes late coming out of the concert. We went back to the hotel and published the blogs for the last four days then went to sleep.