Tag Archives: holiday

Prague to Berlin – Day 26

Holiday, , ,

Today was yet another travel day. We were up early to have breakfast and be on the bus for an 8am departure. On the bus we watched the movie Inglorious Bastards which is a movie Quentin Tarantino made while on drugs. If only the second world war went down the way he depicted it. Was good entertainment to fill the bus ride. Our lunch stop was in Dresden. After getting off the bus our tour leader gave us a short walking tour then we had around an hour and a half free time. This was also our lunch stop so that is what we all went looking for, food.

Krizite told us about a curry place that has really hot curry. We did find the place that she was talking about but it was not a curry as I had expected it to be. It was a saussage with a curry sauce. This is not really what I felt like so a small group of us went to a grill house just across the road. Rhian and I both had enchiladas and I had my first beer in Germany.

After lunch there was only enough to time to walk back to the bus. We reached the bus with only a couple of minutes to spare. We were then back on the road to Berlin. We stopped for a short service stop just before we reached Berlin. The bus had to wait an extra five minutes to leave because Rhian had not returned from the toilets but the Brazlian girls were just behind her so they got the watch for being late.

When we reached Berlin we went straight into the bus tour. We stopped at Treptower Park which is a memorial to the soviet soldiers killed in the war or conflict. Did not grasp the full explination. After getting on the bus we drove around and saw most of the sights that we would see in more detail on the walking tour tomorrow. We saw what remains of some of the Berlin Wall. I was surprised at how small it was. But you have to remember it was actually two walls and a no mans land in the middle. If you found yourself in the middle you would have been seen by a guard and shot dead.

After the bus tour we arrived at the hotel and checked inn. We have another four star hotel so it is quite nice and the WiFi works well in the room this time. We meet for dinner just before 8pm and the bus took us into town to a german beer hall for dinner. The beer hall was called Hofbräuhaus Berlin and they had the true HB beer. I do not know what the full name is or if HB is the name. Almost everyone in the group had a 1L stein of beer and many photos were taken.

I even bought a propper 1L stein glass to bring home. The entree was some form of vegetable soup and the main course pork knuckle. The meat again was some of the best food we have had on the tour. Loved it. In the little over an hour we were there I had 2L of the awesome golden beer. The bus brought us back to the hotel then we all went out to one of the local bars.

We found ourselfs at one just around the corner from the hotel. It was empty before we got there and so only had one girl behind the bar. We pretty much took over the place. Rhian and I only stayed for one drink because I want to save myself for the pub crawl tomorrow night. I am sure the next blog will be interesting and probably a long one.

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Prague – Day 25

General, ,

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

Holiday, , , ,

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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